I made my way back into the city on the Metro and headed to an area with a lot of retail shops and retaurants. I actually had some Italian food, though it had its own Spanish flare to it. I had a "pepperoni" pizza, where the "pepperonis" i believe were actually applied to the pizza after it exited the oven and were similar to the "chorizo" (sausage) that you get at most Tapas bars. Still quite a good pizza.
Just after leaving the restaurant, I noticed the local Apple Store! Being the apple dork I am, I popped in and checked out the recently released new
iMacs and
Macbooks - unfortunately,
the new "Magic Mouse" was not on display, so I will have to wait until I return to the States to play with that new gizmo.
I kept wandering through this area until I found myself at one of the larger park areas that included El Parque del Oeste and El Parque de Campo (maybe one more too, they were all right next to each other). It was such a nice, breezy and what felt like summer day (temps in the 60's to 70's degrees F) that spending some weekend time in the parks was very relaxing and nice. They were Spanish people napping, picknicking, and strolling all around, as this is a typical weekend activity for most Spaniards - (Americans most of the time spend it on the sofa in front of the TV).
During my stroll I saw a monument from 2nd century B.C. Egypt (
Temple of Debod -given as a gift by the Egyptians to Spain for their help in the 1960's in saving some of their temples), which was pretty interesting, considering how large and heavy it looked to move so far a distance.
After another 5 - 10 minute walk in the park, I got to see Spain's best rose garden, with dozens and dozens of different rose varieties, all of which were in bloom since the temperatures were still very nice and mild. They have a competition here annually to decide on the most beautiful rose variety - chosen by the people.
The flowers, a stone female nude statue, and the small fountain in the garden all made excellent photo subjects to appease my snap-happy nature, so I spent quite a bit of time in the garden.
Just another five minutes walk and I got to the Teleferico, a cable car that took you on a round trip, 30-minute ride over Madrid's largest park, El Parque de Campo. The views from the cars were fantastic!
You could see the entire city in a all directions, the Sierra mountains in the distance, and you could even reach your hand out of the car and take some candid shots of yourself! There was also an audio recording that detailed the sites you were passing as the ride took place...but it was in Spanish, leaving me to decipher myself as to what I was viewing.
Once I got back to the station where I originally departed, I heard a guy say real loud "DON"T CALL ME WHITE!". I had no idea if this was directed at me or someone else, but the guy just continued walking along as if nothing happened. I wasn't sure if he was Spanish and had just been called white, or what, but then I turned around and saw this graffiti, which is likely what he was referring to: Kind of pointless graffiti if you ask me...but I did take a photograph of it, and another guy read it aloud, so maybe the original "artist" got his wish.
-z!
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