2012 San Isidro Festival in Madrid's Pradera de San Isidro
Today, 15th of May, is Madrid's Patron Saint's Day, San Isidro Labrador. It's Madrid's most "Castizo" day of the year with festival events throughout the city including concerts in "Las Vistillas", a month long bullfight festival in the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas, and period costumes, dances, and food in the Pradera de San Isidro.
Yesterday morning and this morning I went to Madrid's Pradera de San Isidro - which is just in the adjacent neighborhood to where I live, not a 20-minute walk away. Today was hot, however, but not as hot as yesterday, I don't think, probably 'only' reaching 85ºF/29ºC. But it's a dry heat, right?
Palm Sunday Procession in Madrid 2012
Palm Sunday, or "Domingo de Ramos" in Spanish, is the first day of Holy Week ("Semana Santa") processions throughout Spain. This afternoon I caught the "Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón" procession of the San Miguel Church in Madrid, located very near the Plaza de la Villa and the plaza at which I watched it pass at a snail's pace along with maybe a thousand others.
It started at 7pm, slowly leaving through the front doors of the Iglesia de San Miguel and turning right, and entering the Plaza de la Villa at about 7:30pm, heading north and hugging the left side of the plaza and passing in front of Madrid's former city hall.
Spain's General Labor Strike Today
Today is a General Labor Strike in Spain against labor reform. That's not to say no one is going to work, but enough so you'd notice. Some small shops and restaurants are closed because they don't have the personnel to stay open. Even the TV station, Telemadrid, stopped broadcasting.
Most of Spain's public transportation is partially paralyzed, too, starting from midnight last night. Buses, metros, and regional trains (say they) are offering "Servicios Minimos" or "Minimum Services". Many lines are only offering one or two bus and metro vehicles per line, causing longer-than-usual delays to go from Point A to Point B. I've just heard from a friend that her metro strain was almost empty at Madrid's "rush hour" this morning, but had to wait 20+ minutes for it to arrive.
Langostinos - FAT Shrimp for Friday Night Dinner in Madrid
Growing up in the rural Ohio, USA, "America's Heartland", eating shrimp was a near-luxury, something you only got if you went to the Red Lobster family restaurant in the next town. If you went to "the big city", however, you might order shrimp cocktail with spicy cocktail sauce. These "luxuries" usually cost quite a bit there, but here in Spain they're relatively cheap - at least when you buy them at the local market.
One of the many things I love about Madrid and Spain is (muted drum-roll please) the food. Imagine how this small-town boy moves from the Midwest, USA to Madrid, Spain, Europe!?!? That's a whole other continent, hemisphere, language! And you may not be surprised to hear that they eat foods here which I'd only seen in old Hollywood horror movies and Jacques Cousteau documentaries.
C(H)OEURS Ballet-Opera in Teatro Real Madrid
"CHOEURS", in French, means "choirs" in English. "COEURS", in French, means "hearts". Overlap the two French words and you get "C(H)OEURS", which means something like "Choirs of Hearts" or "Heart Choirs". "C(H)OEURS" is the name of the new Alain Platel performance and is being performed at Madrid's Teatro Real - or Royal Theater or Opera House - and I witnessed it last night with my own eyes.
The tickets for our second-level up, front row seats were 80 Euros each and part of a multi-performance "bono", a specific collection of performances at Madrid's Teatro Real for this season. The cheap seats went for as little as 70 Euros while the best seats sold for 172 Euros. C(H)OEURS was listed as a ballet as the genre of the performance, but some websites call it an Opera. Hmmm.... This wasn't like any ballet or opera I've ever seen. It certainly wasn't classical ballet. And I would go so far as to say it was contemporary ballet, either, not like the Contemporary Cuban Dance ballet I saw in the Teatro Real last month, anyway. As for being an opera, well, I've seen half a dozen in my life and, while there were a couple moments of Opera-style singing, it wasn't the focus of THIS performance.
Spring Sprung Early in Madrid
The almond trees are blooming and buds are sprouting, too. It must have reached 70ºF here today and, surprising to no one, and it was a perfect day. A great day to have all the windows open. I know, I know, I've been saying that for weeks already!
As I understand it, much of the USA has been experiencing a mild winter, too, with record high temperatures in some place. But at least you get rain there! I read some statistic somewhere which said this Madrid winter has been the driest since records were taken in the late 1800s!! And I believe it! All winter long I've seen only a few sprinkles on the windows during one day - maybe two, and heard rain just one night. That's terrible.
Spanish Holiday TV Tour of Huertas Madrid
Last September 2011 I had the true pleasure and privilege to escort television personality, Najip Ali through the Plaza Santa Ana and the Barrio de Huertas in Madrid - ON CAMERA!!! Najip is the host of "Makan Angin Sepanyol" ("Spanish Holiday") on the Singapore Malay language channel, "Suria". See how things transpired in the Episode TWO video below. My part starts at 20:30 and lasts 'til 25:15. You'll find part 1 just above it.
The show's producer contacted me a couple weeks before their visit in hopes that I could show them my favorite part of Madrid - and they left that up to me. Her first email stated, "We hope that you will be able to show us Madrid's best kept secrets i.e.. attractions, food, cafes, restaurants, etc. I read your blog and am very interested to feature you in the programme."
