Eating and drinking across Madrid
Today we slept in a little bit, then got quick bite on the way to the Museo del Prado. While walking there, we ran into a protest against cutting down trees on the Paseo del Prado, a beautiful boulevard down central Madrid. We weren’t sure what was going on until we got close, but they had tons of people chanting to drummers in the middle of the street. We checked that out for a little bit and then headed to the museum. It’s a wonderful museum, but it’s not laid out all that great, and it’s pretty easy to get museum burn-out. Afterwards we each bought 2 paintings outside from street vendors – Spanish-themed oils for Mike, and watercolors for me. We strolled down the Paseo del Prado and got midday tapas in the same outside square as last night, but in a different place – in fact, the same restaurant I ate at a few years ago. We followed the Paseo down to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which is a lovely museum with a lot of 20th century stuff, including Picasso’s Guernica. Fantastic. After that we stopped for another drink in square just outside, near hotel where Emily and I stayed in ‘99, near the Atocha train station that was bombed a few years ago. Afterwards we cabbed back to hotel to rest up for a few hours – 4 euros again – so cheap. After a few hours, we went to small tapas bar across the street and to an outdoor bar in the middle of the Paseo del Prado, but since I was dying for paella, we sought out a paella restaurant waiter recommended near Gran Via. It was 10:00, but they still said they couldn’t seat us for an hour. We went down the street to another paella joint, with an English/Irish group following behind us. They couldn’t get us in there, either, so I suggested we go back to the first place and hang out for an hour – hey, the Spanish eat late, anyway. As it turns out, he could seat us right then on the second time around – maybe he thought we were all together with the Brits behind us, or maybe he was just playing hard-to-get, who knows. The seafood paella was fantastic, by the way. We decided to go out around there, where there were lots of little bars. We walked up the street, but when we realized we were getting further into the gay district, we turned around and ended up in fantastic little modern bar. You know it’s a good place when it’s not obvious it’s a bar from the street and all you see are translucent glass sliding doors. We stayed there for several rounds, where the drinks were good and the waiter was great. We cabbed it back again to the hotel – lovin’ these cheap Madrid cabs.
On our way to Madrid
Today Mike and I flew to Madrid. He really wanted to go to Spain while he was here, and he chose Madrid over Barcelona – probably the right choice if you want to see the real Spain. We metro’d down to meet Lynn and Sally at their lovely hotel on the Places des Vosges (Pavilion de la Reine) for breakfast, which was fantastic. Sally told me that she and Lynn really liked Mike, and I have to say that I did, too. We took the train to Orly around 11:30 via Bastille, just to check it out – and I have to say, there’s not much to look at there anymore. Guess it all got blown up in the Revolution. We had a 2:00ish flight direct to Madrid on easyJet. We met a nice Canadian couple in line to board; the guy was from South America, and he and Mike joked about visiting "the motherland." I gently suggested that we might hang out in Madrid, but they didn’t bite. Oh, well.
When we got to Madrid, we took the train from the airport to the city for 1 euro. 1 euro! It was over 9 to Orly. Plus the train line to the Madrid airport is brand-new – it wasn’t there the last time I was here a couple of years ago. We checked into a fantastic hotel in Madrid, just north of Retiro Park. We laid around for just a little bit, then headed to Puerta del Sol – a must-do on the to-do list. It was terribly crowded down there, but we got a few cheap tapas & drinks just off the square. The crowds were starting to get to us and it was starting to rain, so we went to Plaza Mayor and got more tapas (or as Mike called it, the Plaza-not-so-Mayor.) (Mike bought a nice silver cross for his mom on the way.) When we needed a break from the eating and drinking, we walked towards the Palais Royal, just to check it out. Then walked back towards Plaza Mayor to find real food – preferably paella – but we ended up getting drinks at nice patio area, on same the square where I’d eaten a few years ago off the Paseo del Prado. On the recommendation of the waiter at the Plaza Mayor bar, we went to Calle de Huertas for going out, where we checked out a few places and finally landed in an Irish pub. After more drinking, we decided we needed to balance it out with more food, so we went to a great little tapas bar nearby. It was nearing midnight, but on the Spanish eating schedule there were still large friend groups still eating. After they kicked us out from there, we cabbed home – for 4 euro! Gotta love those Madrid prices…
Night on the town with Mike
Today I went into the office, since I can’t take off every day that Mike is here. I had a good meeting with the marketing guys, Frederick, and Dave Freeman, which was one of the most constructive discussions I’ve had here. After work I went back to the apartment, where I was meeting Mike. I wondered what he’d done all day, but as it turns out…nothing. He hadn’t even left! He was all ready to go but was so tired that he couldn’t even make it out! We got our act together, though, and headed out. We were heading down to the Champs-Elysees, but we spontaneously stopped off for drinks at the little bar I’ve been wanting to try across the street. It’s a great little place with tables outside, and those big floor-to-ceiling windows that make the inside meet the outside when the weather is nice. Afterwards we headed down to the C-E – it’s pretty at night, all lit up, and much less crowded than the daytime. We walked towards the Arc de Triomphe, and ended up having ok steaks at a touristy French restaurant on the south side. We made it up to the Arc, admired it, took pictures, and metro’d home – but not without another round at the neighborhood bar across the street. What a great find!
Mike arrives!
Today was fantastic. I took today off, since I knew Mike was coming into town today, and by the time I drive from the airport to the apartment and to the office, I’ve killed a few hours. Plus getting him the keys and telling him how to get to the apartment is non-obvious. When he came out the tunnel at baggage claim, he looked pretty tired, which made sense when he said he hardly slept at all on the way over. He napped for a bit when we got back to the apartment, then we headed out to meet Sally and Lynn at the Musee d’Orsay at 3:30. They’d planned to do it today, and since it’s something that Mike needs to see here and they’ve got a temporary Cezanne-Pissarro exhibit I want to see, it sounded like a good plan. They paid – they insisted – and we spent hours in the museum until they kicked us out at about 5:45. Mike loved the impressionist works – he really likes Monet & Co. – and they really are wonderful in this museum. Good thing we hit all the must-sees first!
When we got out, Lynn and Mike said that I had 20 minutes before they had a beer in hand. Apparently I was appointed cruise ship director and was supposed to come up with the dinner plan. We had two choices – stick around the left bank, or head back towards my apartment, which Lynn & Sally wanted to see. We chose the latter, but that meant that it was an hour until they had a beer. Oh, well, c’est la vie – things just take longer here. By 7:00 we went to my favorite Italian restaurant, La Rughetta, but they didn’t open for another half hour, so we went around the corner to a little pub. We did eventually end up at an outside table at La Rughetta, then we walked back to my apartment for Lynn and Sally to see it. They loved it. So glad I took today off!
Dave, Sally, and Lynn are here
Today was a good day. I picked up Dave Freeman at the airport, and he happened to be on the same flight as Sally and Lynn, who were bringing lots of goodies to replace what was stolen (camera, iPod, book, etc.) Plus it was just fun to see them at the airport. All three of them came down the ramp at the same go – all birds with one shot!
After a day of work, Dave and I had dinner at a little Chinese place around the office – nothing too exciting, but actually pretty decent food. Sally and Lynn were tired after their travel day, so I’ll just catch them tomorrow. On the way back to the apartment, though, they had all possible on-ramps to the A1 blocked, so after a few roundabout trips, I had to go a completely circuitous way back home that took a lot longer than the straight route. No explanation as to why everything was blocked, either. Oh, well, no biggie.
Observations on Parisian living
Well, another day of rain. Bummer. Jimi and I were supposed to meet up early afternoon to see the Bonnard exhibit, but as it turns out he was too hungover from last night. Just after I left his place, he and his friend opened a bottle of wine, which turned out to be the fatal flaw. Aren’t we too old for this now?! Before I knew how sick he was, I still headed down to his neighborhood, just to walk around and check it out, and besides, if he did feel well enough to go out, at least it’d be easy for us to meet up. Oh, well, next time.
Since I didn’t end up having much on the agenda today, I’ll use share some other observations on French living.
#1. Mandy, you will be happy to hear that a lot of the public toilets on the streets are free now. You said you thought they shouldn’t be paid; now they’re not. Hooray.
#2. They clean the streets with water here, which seems both completely futile and completely wasteful. The Parisians seem to be somewhat environmentally conscious about some things – I see people hauling all of their glass down to the one recycling bin in my neighborhood, and Sophie’s 8-year-old was learning about recycling in school – yet they insist on cleaning their streets by running little rivers down the curbs. The theory is that it’ll take the trash along with it, but it neither does that nor does it do anything for trash on the sidewalks or the middle of the streets. Therefore it still requires guys in fluorescent bibs with plastic brooms to sweep stuff into the little rivers they’ve got flowing down the curbs. Go figure.
#3. They have cars here that you can drive without a license. Here’s how it works. If you get caught by a speed camera or you get a ticket while driving, you get a certain number of points deducted. Everyone starts out with a certain number of points, and when you’re down to 0, you lose your license. In the mall at lunch once I saw a teeny car advertised with a big sticker saying you could drive it without a license. Emmanuel explained to me that if you lose your license, this is the car you have to get. So apparently when you lose your license, it doesn’t mean that you can’t drive; it just means that you have to get a newer, smaller car. Again, go figure.
Another lazy, rainy day
Today I headed to the giant market – Marche aux Puces St. Ouen – to look for a wallet, but no cigar. I bought a few food items from different vendors around my street and finally tried the café right downstairs for coffee. If it hadn’t been chilly and starting to rain, it would’ve been really pleasant on the little square there. I went to IKEA for some basics – with my social life heating up I decided I did actually need a full-length mirror – plus I knew that I could use a few extra towels for guests starting to roll in.
By mid-afternoon I’d had enough alone time, so I sent a text message to Jimi, and I met up with him for drinks, along with a friend of his staying with him for the night. We went to a couple of great bars in his neighborhood, the Marais, including one I’ll go back to – Chez Richard. Somewhere in there, Jimi and I made plans to meet up tomorrow (a work holiday) to see a Bonnard exhibition that’s only here for another week – he said it’s something he really wanted to see, and it sounded good enough to me. Oh, and I also learned – from his friend – that Jimi has a girlfriend (which I discovered since she’s the background of his mobile phone.) Interesting, since he’s been happy enough to flirt away and not say anything, although I’m not sure I cared enough for this to go beyond flirtation, anyway. When they finally kicked us out of the bar – I think they stop serving at 2 here, too – we walked back to Jimi’s, where I caught a taxi home.
