The Trip of a Lifetime: June 8 to 19, 2022 - Madrid and Toledo

June 8, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 51; Tuesday, Madrid
We stayed in the most amazing city last night. Badajoz, kind of right on the border with Portugal. Never heard of it before. It’s halfway between Cádiz and Madrid. When I went out jogging this morning, I discovered a whole series of running paths going through beautiful landscapes. Some were gravel paths and some were paved. You just never know what you will find. This morning I found beauty. As professor Clasby at UM says, “You should seek out beauty every day and cherish it.” You are correct my friend.
The drive to Madrid was fun. Madrid seems to be a really large city, with a lot of open spaces surrounding a totally congested downtown, so I had three hours of highway driving Zen peacefulness followed by a half hour of nightmare terror downtown honking please let this horror end.
Don’t know what we will do for our next leg. There are four options. I’ll list them from my first to least favorite: 1, Fly - two hours, 2. Train - I’m not finding this option, although there must be trains to Paris., 3. Private car - 13 hours, and 4. Drive - two nights driving six hours a day. If we send all the gifts home we should get down to flying weight. I’m voting for that.
Madrid is an interesting city The Hard Rock is near Lavapies, a great area for tapas, so count us in…Roz isn’t feeling the Hard Rock, but I sure am.
mañana

June 8, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 52; Wednesday, Madrid and Toledo
To take an excursion or not take an excursion: that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fellow travelers, or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and create an excursion of your own. We aren’t talking about a cooking class, we’re talking about a bus tour
We booked one to Toledo, a place I always wanted to visit. We should have known better. We were told to meet at one locations at 8:15 or another at 8:45. We opted for the earlier one. There were about 20 - 25 people there. At 8:30 tour people showed up and walked us 15 minutes to the second location. There were hundreds of people there, going on multiple excursions. Its was a CCF!
They walked all of us to a third location and buses started showing up. People became maniacal, jockeying for the front of the line to get the best seats. Then fate dealt itself a hand. The aggressive people at the head of the line were at the wrong bus. The people at the end of the line got on first. Jesus was right. The first will be last and the last will be first.
At this point Roz bailed and headed back to the hotel. She shouldn’t have. It got much better as soon as the bus took off. The tour guide was informative, the trip was interesting and what we saw was spectacular. They took us places I couldn’t have figured out on my own, that made the trip really cool. You always have to weigh things in the balance.
mañana

June 9, 2022: Captain’s log: star-date 53; Thursday, Madrid
Madrid doesn’t have runner friendly streets, so this morning I took an exploratory hike over to this large park called Retiro. It’s a runner’s paradise. Tons of paths. It’s my jogging path for the next few days.
We shipped a third of our souvenirs, gifts and t-shirts home today via DHL. It cost almost 400 euros! Ouch! We are going to try the Spanish Postal Service next.
And then, after deciding we want to limit what we ship home, we discovered a line of old book stores next to the botanical Park. I bought several children’s books for Arlo in Spanish. Huckleberry Finn, The Three Musketeers, The Legend af King Arthur, Moby Dick and some Shakespeare. Hopefully Lucy or Abuela will read them to him. Well worth the shipping…
I walked to Brew Wild Pizza for lunch. As I told Tom, beer guys find beer places. Doesn’t matter where. Great beers. The pizza was wicked delicious. Pesto, provolone and sesame seeds on a very thin crust. I eavesdropped on the brewmaster having an in depth discussion with an American on the beer scene in Israel.
I would like to get up close and personal with that scene someday. The American did go off the rails a bit and put down the Madrid tapas and cerveza scene, as well as Estrella Dam and Mahou. I love them both; Microbrewery and traditional. It’s a big world. There is room for many beers. Don’t be a snob. Be a beer guy!
I also went to Chinaski Lavapies fBrewpub or a quick double porter while Roz went shopping. Great beer. I was the only one in the place.
mañana

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