Toledo, Madrid, Brussels and home...

Thank you Master Yoda for a fun trip!

My son loaned me the mascot for the trip.

The walled medieval city of Avila, Spain

How do you bring closure to an experience like this?  What a rich sociology and history lesson it has been. Many days of hands-on learning with realia, right there for you to manipulate and understand first hand.

After two weeks, I know enough to know that I don't know very much at all about the rich history and wonderful people Spain, but I want to learn more.

Oldest Restaurant in the World: Botin, Madrid, Spain est 1725

Granted, my experience in Spain was influenced by positive phenomena of the Spanish futbol team winning the World Cup in a symphony of Spanish brotherhood, the likes of which I've never seen before, but even without that, it would have been a wonderful trip.  A culture that seemed somewhat politically divided at times, came together in a flag waving, singing and cheering frenzy that united the whole country in celebration their achievement and Spanish brotherhood.

Espana has visible craftsmanship in architecture and art that you can't help but notice.  They take the time, money and effort to add beauty to mundane things.  It is noticeable everywhere in art and on buildings in the smaller, older cities and the larger modern ones.

Plaza at Toledo, Spain

Cathedral at Toledo, Spain

What I walk away with is the feeling that Spanish people are passionate, kind, caring and very giving people that love to be social with their family and friends in a way that is not present in American culture. Unconditional positive regard is alive and living in Spain.  It is noticeable at breezy sidewalk cafes where children laugh and play, way past their American bedtimes, safely in the warm, starlit night.

Toledo, Spain

I was struck with the freedom of the night in Spain, as I saw several older Spanish ladies wandering home alone, past midnight, on tiny dark streets of Toledo, without worrying about their safety.  The Metro in Madrid is also a safe place for even women and children, late at night, in a city of well over 3 million people.  I'm not naive enough to say there is no crime in Spain, but I'm saying there is a level of freedom that we enjoyed in America until about the 1950s, that does not exist in the USA today.  There are many things to appreciate about America, but Spain has many things to appreciate as well.  I'm a lucky guy to be able to visit a wonderful country like Espana.

On a lighter note, when I was in Brussels on the way home, their Manneken Pis, a small statue of a little boy peeing was depicted on this Coke machine to entice passers by with the idea that they needed to drink a Coke.  Not sure how well this ad campaign stimulated sales, but I did take a photo.  Funny, it didn't seem to make me particularly thirsty though :)

 

          

Tapas, Yoda and walking Madrid

Master Yoda enjoying a salmon bocodilla sandwich.  Muy bien!











Many former car traffic streets have been converted to walking and bicycling areas to improve public health and cut down on air pollution.  Not a bad idea.  The cloth shades help with the summer heat.

Twilight ads on the Madrid Metro.

Calamari tapas in an outdoor cafe in Madrid.  Delicioso!

Master Yoda sees the force of Mahou cerveza.  These beers are .25 liter, or about 7 ounces, and taste great.  A tiny cold cerveza on a hot summer day in Madrid is a really good thing.

This is the pond inside the Atocha train station.  Lots of people's former pet turtles here in the old part of the train station that has been converted into a beautiful terrarium, so the new high speed AVE trains arrive in a different area.  It's hard to be here and not remember that nearly 200 people died in the bombs set here in 2004, right before the national elections.

Tapas, Dali and Guernica in Madrid

The art in Madrid is high quality and nearly endless in quantity.  I spent the afternoon in the Renia Sofia gallery with Rian and Nicholas, and saw many hundreds of paintings and sculptures.  The art can really mentally tire you out, as the quality is so good that you want to keenly focus on each piece, yet the quantity is so great that it can be taxing. It was truly a powerful afternoon of extraordinary art.  The Spanish Civil War was depicted in many works, bringing the horror of war to the viewer.  The currentness of the war is evident as it was only 70 years ago, and Franco's rule finally ended in the 1970s.  Powerful art.

Inside the Attocha Train Station in Madrid.  This is where the Spanish 911 bombings happened.

Tapas inside the Reina Sofia.

Miro in the garden.


































Picasso's Lady

Guernica

and Dali...

More Madrid photos

Madrid is an amazing city that has beauty around every corner.  Here are a few.

This is Cibeles fountain where the Madrid futbol fans swim in celebration when their team wins a game.  Officials drained it during the World Cup finals for fear of damage from too many swimming fans.

This statue is on top of the Metropolis building.

I enjoyed the busts and fancy work on the buildings.  Craftsmanship and art are everywhere.

The two poets, Rian and Garcia Lorca.  Muy bien!  Ernest Hemingway spent time in this square in Madrid, frequently staying in the white hotel in the background.

What better way to end a morning of viewing Picasso, El Greco, Monet, Van Gogh and Rembrandt, than a nice meal at the Thyssen Museum Cafe; Jamon Iberian, mellon, fresh fish, salad, red wine and cheese cake dessert.  I love this place!

Universidad Salamanca is one of the oldest in the world.

The Roman bridge and statue of the bear guarding it, date back nearly 2000 years, and the Universidad Salamanca was started in the 1200s. Part of the inner city is still walled.  The Plaza Mayor here is considered one of the most beautiful in all of Spain. It was the European Cultural Capital a few years ago.

  This library in the Universidad Salamanca was established in 1218.

My friend Ana even has a book published at Universidad Salamanca on the famous Spanish writer Unamuno that is for sale in the university bookstore.  Go Ana!  I want one :)

The Roman bridge in Salamanca dates back to the year 100 AD.




The fresh seafood comes by high speed train, and was awesome!

People gather in the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca to socialize and enjoy music and food in the warm night air.]

Tunas are Salamanca University students that sing and play music in the Plaza Mayor in the evenings. It was great fun to listen to their music while eating tapas and having a cold Mahou cerveza. 

Spain continues to celebrate champeones, I visit Monasterio de El Escorial

Madrid continues to rumble and pop with excitement as the Spanish World Cup Champeones returned from South Africa today, where millions of celebrating Spanish fans met them in Madrid for a parade around town in a double-decker, convertible-topped bus and ceremony.  I've never seen anything like it.  It was bigger than a New York parade or an election celebration, or even the bringing down of the Berlin Wall.  And of course with way more Spanish enthusiasm too.  The continue to celebrate into the night as I write this.  It has somehow unified this nation like nothing else has in the past.  Viva Espana!

The Monasterio de El Escorial, is another amazing palace that was built by King Phillip II in the 1500s, and is massive in size, but less ornate in exterior design.  The surrounding area is about 3,500 ft. elevation, and has beautiful surrounding mountains.

I had a wonderful lunch with peppers stuffed with shrimp and fish, a second course of tender lamb, fresh baked bread and Spanish wine.  A wonderfully delicate and moist cheese cake desert topped with fresh berries and cafe late.  Not bad for 15 Euros.  I'm loving this place!

I had an extraordinary lunch with my buddy Rian and his wife Ana.  Then later, Ana's mom cooked the whole family up a wonderful dinner of tapas: calamari, sardines, prawns and fresh fruit and tomatoes too.  I'm feeling like a very lucky guy!  Gracias Gloria! Tomorrow we are off to Salamanca by train.  It looks wonderful on the Internet.  I can't wait.

Madrid is alive with World Cup excitement for the Final tonight!

There were many excited football fans wearing their colors today in Madrid, singing, honking car horns, waving flags and dressed in Spain's colors to show their support for the World Cup Final. It's 2:00 AM Madrid time and everyone is still in the streets singing and waving flags and honking horns "Mundo Champeones!"   I guess 2 billion people watched the game.  They started to World Cup 80 years ago, and this is the first time Spain has won.

I even put on the colors for Spain.  I had a wonderful time sharing the final game at a Madrid party with 63 of the Urrutia family (Rian and Ana's family in Spain).  Great Spanish hospitality, home-made food and drinks and lots of excitement and energy, with a happy ending as Spain won!  Wonderful people and an extraordinary moment.