Meandering on Monday in Madrid

Yes, It´s now Monday, and I´m in Madrid. At last, I´m experiencing the temperature on the high side of 20C. Lat time I can remember it there was during the heat wave in Stockholm in June. Coolest summer I´ve ever spent, believe me.

I believe the last time I wrote anything I was still on Odense. Since then, I´ve spent a few days in Copenhagen, then flew here to Spain yesterday. Lets see if I can remember what has happened. I do recall arriving in Copenhagen in a rainstorm. Really glad I´d made a reservation, as the hotel was fully booked. Not a pleasant thought, looking for a place to stay in a rainstorm.

Took it fairly easy in Copenhagen this time, as I´d been there at the start of the trip. The one memorable thing was a trip up to Helsingor. There´s a castle there that is really worth visiting. Not so much the inside, but the views of it from the outside. And if you are a theater or literature buff, you´ll appreciate the fact that it was the castle, Elsinore, in Shakespeare´s Hamlet. And I´ve found out that he wasn´t the original author of Hamlet. A Dane named Saxto (I think) wrote about someone named Amelet (sp?) much earlier. And an Englishman named Kyd wrote a similar play a few years before Bill wrote Hamlet. In any case, the trip to Helsingor was worth it.

Other than the trip to Helsingor, I just wandered around Copenhagen, taking in the sights. Walked out to see the Little Mermaid. I´d seen her only from a boat tour the first time. Not nearly as impressive as we´re led to believe. Near her is an Anglican church, one of the few, perhaps only, in Scandinavia. St. Albans, I think. Even looks different. A piece of old England in Denmark. And I found the answer to something that´s been puzzling me ever since I got to Scandinavia. Nearly every church I´ve been in has had a ship model hanging in it somewhere. The docent at St. Albans told me it´s a Scandinavian custom, perhaps Lutheran, as nearly all churches are Lutheran there. It point the way to heaven, or the right path.

My last problem in Scandinavia was, fortunately, quickly resolved. After an afternoon of strolling, and visiting an Art museum I´d missed the first time, I came back to the hotel to relax. Sign outside said Fully Booked, and I said, again, "Glad I´ve got a room." But my card key didn´t work. Seems they´s only billed me for 3 nites when I checked in, rather than the 4 I´d reserved. Minor panic on my part, because of the sign. But again, all ended well. They hadn´t counted my room in the Fully Booked group, so I just paid for another nite, and then my key worked. Sigh of relief.

I´d mentioned the sad state my umbrella was in. It finally gave up the ghost. Counting on good weather in sunny Spain, I unceremoniously deposited it in the trash bin as I left the hotel.

The flight to Madrid was uneventful. There isn´t much information at the airport here to let you know how to get to town, unless you want a cab. Lots of cabs, though. I finally figured out the buses with a bit of help from an attendant, and made it to the central bus station. But the info office was closed, so how do I get from there to where I´m staying? Decided on lunch, and then waited around a while. The sign said something that implied "Be back in a minute". True, after a loooong minute. The fellow there quickly showed me how to navigate the Metro, and all was well.

After settling in the hotel, I took a walk around town. Can you believe I left my camera in the hotel?. That was two days in a row! Hard to believe, if you know me. I really enjoyed the sights, and decided I´d just spend my short time here wandering and taking in the scenery. I´ve been in so many museums that I think I´m temporarily, at least, burned out on them.

Today, I took my camera along, and have been just sauntering along. I´ve come to the conclusion that Madrid is much like Rome. You can turn into any street you choose, and be pleased with your decision. Really a pleasure to take your time and enjoy the atmosphere. You do have to accept the traffic noise, and a lot of people, but i think it´s worth it.

I did stop at the train station this afternoon to check into a ticket for Barcelona. Glad I did. The wait to buy a ticket is a long one. As it was, all the second class tickets were sold out already, so I had to settle for 1st class. Pity. It turned out, due to language problems, that I leave 2.5 hours earlier than I´d planned. The clerk didn´t understand my broken Spanish, and he spoke no English. So I get up a bit earlier on Wednesday.

I became spoiled while in Scandinavia. I started out by always saying "Do you speak English, Please?", but the answer was always "Yes", so I got out of the habit of asking. I´d better start in with the "Habla Usted Ingles por favor?" because the answer in most cases here is "No." If I pay good attention (which I didn´t at the train station) I can get by, but not very well. Pepe, I didn´t study my Spanish like I promised.

Today, I covered most of what looked interesting to the east of my hotel. Tomorrow I´ll head west and see what that reveals. Looks even more interesting than today´s journeys. So now, it´s time to send this, post it on the blog, and head for a good night´s sleep.