It´s been 3 days since my last entry. Today is Tuesday. Last Sunday night my ladyfriend and I took her nephew (6.5 years old) to the
Parque de Atracciones in the Casa de Campo in Madrid. We arrived at about 7pm and stayed ´til about 10:30pm. My ladyfriend was shocked at the entrance prices but she hadn´t been there since she was a child so, of course, the prices have gone up. She said the only thing that remains of when she was a child was the carousel/merry-go-round and the big ferris wheel. Everything else is MUCH newer. Anyway, we were really there to entertain her nephew so we got tickets which allowed entry and 2 rides each and for the newphew, of course, unlimited rides. My ladyfriend and I had dinner later at home but gave "dinner" to the nephew there where, I laughed, the LARGE hamburger was only 0.50 Euros more expensive than the mediaum Coca Cola. He had a great time, of course, and rode as many rides as possible. His favorite, to no suprise of anyone, was the "log ride" (a water ride which he rode about 3 times) which SIMPLY goes around a corner, then slowly up a hill, and then WHOOOOOSH! down a steep hill, creating a huge, drenching water wave all over YOU and whatever spectators there may be on the bride passing over the bottom of the water hill. I didn´t ride this one with him but my ladyfriend did. I must say I was happy to see the freedom of children (and their parents) to strip down to their shorts, young girls and boys alike, to ride this ride so that their shirts weren´t soaked with water. Never would you see girls of 6 years and younger do this in the USA at an amusement park - MAYBE at the beach though.
Yesterday (Monday) we were in the Moncloa/Clínico San Carlos area as we have been each day in the last week, tending to a sick family member, my ladyfriend and I had our lunch in a nearby bar/restaurant called Santillana: Café Restaurante (Calle Isaac Peral, 52). There as is often the case with these kinds of places, they offer a Menú del Día which - which we had. You enter from the street and immediate you see the large bar, nothing special, just people have a drink or snack. Then you walk to the back and see this quite nice and large dining room. We waited only a moment to be seated by our waiter. The waiter, wearing a tuxedo vest, which short sleeved shirt and tie, rapidly put down the place settings and WHIPPED and folded our cloth napkins into and elegant arrangement before putting them down before us. As I said, we ordered from the Menú del Día and ate quite well. First course I had a HUGE soup bowl of white beans and pieces of chorizo. My ladyfriend had the gazpacho. Second course we both had the roast beef with gravy and fried potatoes. With it all we had a large bread roll, two large glasses of beer with lemon juice, and then ice cream for dessert. All that for 8 Euros EACH!!! WOW! Quite a good and LARGE meal in a decent place for MUCH less than we´d paid in the previous days.
The previous TWO days we had lunch in the same area in a place called "La Creperie Easycrep" where they sell dozens of different kinds of meal crepes. It´s a chain restaurant and a sit down restaurant too. We had a LARGE salad to share, The "Tropical", which was pineapple pieces, strips of chicken, walnuts, lettuce, and a kind of creamy mayonaisse sauce. Very good. To eat I had the Chicken and Italiano crepes and my ladyfriend had the vegetarian "verde" crepe. A good and filling lunch for two for 27.50 Euros.
This morning we woke up later than normal (8am) nd took the nephew for breakfast at a nearby bar where HE had the Cola Cao and a large donut. My ladyfriend had the café con leche & toast with olive oil (darn. I should´ve had that) and I had the same porras (5!!) and café con leche. All that for about 3.75 Euros. Cheap!
Now I´m packing up, already hung the last load of laundry on the terraza above and it should be dry by now. (wow, that laundy dries FAST here!) Once I take it down, right about now, I´ll start packing my bag for tomorrow´s flight home. :sad: After that, I´ll walk to my laydfriend´s aunt´s house and say goodbye to her. Then, next, I´ll go to my ladyfriend´s sister´s house and have lunch with her at a nearby restaurant. Then, later, I´ll go join my ladyfriend and say goodbye to her mother. Later this evening, my ladyfriend and I will have dinner at a Pulpería and eat boiled octopus in place just on the other side of the Río Manzanares. Mmmmm.. Can´t wait.
Tonight will be a sad night, my last night here and all. We´ll get up tomorrow morning at about 7am and get last last things together to get to the airport by about 8:30 or 9am for my 11am flight. Once there and after saying my said, sometimes tearful goodbyes to my ladyfriend, I´ll likely have my last bocadillo de patatas while awaiting my flight for JFK on Delta.
This, now, will likely be my last entry until I arrive home tomorrow night (Wednesday) and will then post a follow-up before returning to work Thursday morning. Ugh.
Now, time to take down the sun-dried clothes from the terraza above. Beautiful, dry, cool, windy and clear day here in Madrid - about 81ºF - and Ana Belén singing on the radio, Top Radio - 97.2 FM. Aaaaa... Mi Madrid. Te amo. No quiero irme. Nos vemos otra vez en octubre.
Saludos a todos, MadridMan
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