Catch-Up

A fierce thunderstorm over Madrid tonight, with black clouds puctuated by purple-pink lightning illuminating the sky as I came out of Atocha station just after sun-down. So I have a lot of catching up to do as usual. I've been on holiday this week but nevertheless been busy with trips and friends and tricycles, as you will hear in a moment. Today though, I've been to El Escorial out to the west. It's where the Royal family used to have their second residence and also where Franco is buried, although his grave has been closed due to hero-worshipping nazis causing trouble. It's only a €6.40 return ticket from Atocha but a fairly long ride through lovely scenery (once you're out of the city) up to the foot of the western mountains. Again, props to Madrid's awesome public transport. Nice to see some mountains up close, El Escorial is high enough to give a good view out over the plateau, which provides a nice back-drop to the big and impressive old Monastery (must've housed a fair few monks) and pretty old town with a nice square for drinks and tapas. With all these trips out Madrid's surrounding towns, I'm beginning to see why a lot of guide books on the city feature large 'excursions' sections. All the old historical bits are actually in the towns surrounding Madrid which is a relatively new city really. When living there, it's also great to get away from the sheer bustle of the place occasionally too. It's not that big for it's six million strong population and it can feel crowded.

Anyway, because this post is a bit overdue, I have a few things to talk about. First up...

Toledo
Me and Kate went to Toledo for 24 hours at the weekend. It's a quick trip from Madrid - half an hour on the high speed Avant from Atocha station and only about €10 each way. I'd booked a hostal (hotel meets hostel) right in the old town for €25 per head too.

I'd been hearing about Toledo for a long time from students and also because it used to be the capital of Spain before Felipe II moved the royal court to Madrid in 1561. It's a beautiful old city on the high bank of a crook in the river that flows around it, and the surrounding scenery is beautiful and very Spanish. To be honest, we decided very early on not to run round seeing things too much so I can't really give you a full guide but we wandered around the narrow streets and tiny alleyways and saw the alcazar (fortress) and cathedral and had a walk down by the river which had some nice scenery (and some large cicadas that Kate was not a fan of...). Later on, looking for a vegan meal we stumbled across possibly the only vegetarian restuarant in old Toledo (they are not common in Spain), Madre Tierre, near the cathedral, which was good, not too expensive and busy with a nice atmosphere.

It's a really beautiful place, both the city's ancient architecture and it's surrounding countryside, and not too expensive to take a short trip from Madrid. I'm really enjoying these trips out to places and I think Segovia is definately next on the list, with it's roman viaduct and proximity to the mountains, but I definately want to go back to Toledo before I leave. Which brings me to...

Where next?
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what my next move is going to be. I'd been leaning more and more towards moving to London (note to self: must think of better blog titles) in September, but now the Easter holidays have arrived I feel like my time in Spain is running out, and to be honest I'm really really enjoying it here. Not only that but now I've started to really earn decent money for reasonable hours and pay off some debt as a result. Also, a move to London could well be more permanent for me and god, am I ready for that? I certainly do miss a lot of people in the UK though but I will be seeing them over the summer too. Barcelona is an idea currently being talked about by my friends here and that could be great. I think I'm going to start looking for a non-English teaching job in Barcelona and see if that is a possibility, although I'm not too hopeful really. Anyway, I've changed my mind about this about three times this week already so I suppose we'll have to see but it's certainly something weighing heavily on my mind. But now for something completely different...

The Tricycle
Second hand shops do not exist in Madrid, and neither do dumps. People just put their unwanted stuff out on the street for the obliging bin men to take away. Now, I don't like to see a good thing go to waste, and I'm also willing to wrestle large objects through the street and up into my apartment in the dead of night. So currently adorning my apartment, collected over the last few months, all for free, are three armchairs, a full length mirror, a clothes drying rack and an adult tricycle.

This adult tricycle. Now, in my opinion, this is probably the best thing ever, although not everyone seems to agree. I found it round the corner from my house, awaiting the bin men and just couldn't leave it to that fate. It was in great nick, no punctures or anything and with a bit of tinkering I took it down to the river for a spin, with a friend perched on the back chariot-racer style. I'm thinking a detachable cool box to go on the back and it's the ultimate picnic mobile! I think I will need to find it a parking space before my flatmates come back though. Oh and I nearly forgot...

The Prado
I finally went to the famous Prado museum yesterday, housing big collections of Spanish artists among other things. It's free on Tuesdays from 6-8pm and although there's a long queue, it files in pretty quickly. I can't pretend to really know anything about art, especially old portraits which tend to leave me rather non-plussed, but I do enjoy galleries like that where you sometimes really feel a connection to the cultural history of a particular place or humanity in general. I liked some of the Velazquez stuff, but what really impressed me was the eerie room containing Goya's black period paintings, which really suck you in. It's then amazing to see the contrast between this and his earlier stuff afterwards, which makes you reflect on a person as a totality over time.

Phew! I feel like I've not given these things the individual attention they deserve, but things feel like they're going at breakneck speed at the moment. Lots happening, lots to do, not much time to write about it! Still, it can only be a good thing that that's still how I feel after going on six months of living here.

Ps. As I've been writing this, Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final, (the second of 4 episodes of 'El Classico' in 18 days), winning Real's first trophy for three years, and there is now a considerable amount of honking shouting, trumpeting and general celebrating going on outside on the street considering this neighbourhood is firm Atleti territory! Could get interesting...