Yesterday after my four-hour nap, I reconnected with my old friend Drew who now lives in Madrid. We used to study German together back at the University of Washington as well as in Germany. We had not seen each other in 10 years!
By coincidence Drew happened to have two tickets to a “jazz” concert last night at La Luna de Madrid which is a small funky bar on la Calle Monteleón – smoky, crowded and artsy. Drew’s partner César wasn’t interested in seeing the show, so I was invited along. Note: I usually have some hesitancy to participate in late-night activities – which stems from an irrational fear I have of staying up too late and being exhausted; however, in this particular case I was well rested. Also, there are times in life (like that one) when it is best to surrender to wu wei and allow the interesting life opportunities to sweep you along in their current.
I put “jazz” in quotations because that is what the “concert” was advertised as, but in fact it was more like a dramatic improvised musical performance by one very eccentric lady named Sandra, with mini stand-up performances by some of her friends in the audience. Sandra wore sequined pants and a butterfly mask with blinking lights. She carried a plastic halberd. At one point she threw a wooden snake on the ground and screamed about symbols of evil. At another point, a young handsome man resembling a 20-year old Johnny Depp stood at the microphone and read from discourse he had written on solitude and society. An older gentleman in a suit with wild white hair like Einstein delighted the crowd with an erotic poem. Both of these acts were accompanied by Sandra’s passionate embellishments on the electric keyboard.
After the concert, I enjoyed seeing Drew and César’s beautiful apartment and discussing a variety of topics, including gay saunas and religion.
Today was a magical Friday in Madrid. I had breakfast with Clinton and kissed him goodbye at the Metro, then made my way to the Plaza Mayor to join a bicycle tour of Madrid’s gardens and parks! The tour, led by Spanish guide José and his sidekick Mario, was fantastic. I was left feeling even more impressed with Madrid than ever before, and I learned a great deal of important history and fun facts about the city. Did you know that Madrid is one of the greenest cities in the world, having the most trees per capita, second only to Tokyo? I also loved learning about Galileo Galilei who, thanks to his mathematical calculations and drawings, helped sculptors give structural integrity to the statue of Felipe IV (four tons of bronze balanced on the back legs of Felipe’s horse!) which is located in the center of the beautiful Plaza de Oriente. It felt great to get exercise (Madrid is quite hilly) and meet some new people (my tour companions were three American college girls who are studying in Madrid). Halfway through the tour, we stopped at the lake at Casa de Campo (a huge 1700-hectare forest in center of Madrid) to have coffee, tapas and dessert.
After the bike tour, I hopped on the metro to the Biblioteca Nacional and saw two amazing exhibitions about literary culture and conservation. Some of my favorite things included the odd punched round sheet music for street organs and the entire room devoted to Don Quixote.
I had another very late lunch around 3 PM and might now read and take a nap until Clinton gets back from his conference. Until later…Ciao!
