World Wanderings

For the second time in my life I watched as the trAin I was to board left the station in front of my eyes. Not exactly the best start to a day. I got lost in conversation with a few people at breakfast and before I knew it I had only a little time left to make it to my train. Unfortunately it appears the metro system here in Madrid was against me. Both lines had a 4 minute wait. This is the only time I've run into multiple waits so far. That extra 8 minutes made me just miss my train to Toledo. I have to wait for the next one.

I was so frazzled, tense, annoyed, frustrated, and anxious. Not a good thing for me to be.

I needed to stop, rest, and gather myself up again. Be still.

So here I am, writing this from a small coffee shop in the train station. I have a ticket for a train in an hour. Everything is ok. I'll just be arriving a little later than expected. I just need to remember that I don't need to worry about these things, I'm not really constricted by a set timeline and I can take things as they come. Such as this instance.

Madrid has been nice. Despite being a rather large city, I find it isn't nearly as packed with things to do as other cities I have been in so far. In the two days I've been here I've visited two museums. The Prado (they say the second best collection of masterpieces to the louvre) which did have quite the collection, and the Sophia, a modern art museum. I still don't get a lot of modern art, at least not viewing it on my own. Sometimes I feel the concepts behind these pieces are so abstract, that there is no way a normal person could get at the artists point. If there was a point to begin with anyway. Sometimes I think modern artists don't really know what they are doing and are just really good at selling crap to museums. Just create a little story to go along with the dark empty room with a small pile of sand in the middle (it represents the world as a collective of skills and knowledge, which, while it may add up to a large pile in the eyes of an individual grain of sand, it is but a small part of a larger unseen sphere) , and walk away with a check in your pocket.

Anyways, my first day was spent milling about those two museums. I finished off the day journaling with a glass of wine and chocolate at the hostel. It made for a fine day of activity.

Sunday was more laid back. The only item I had on my agenda was to go to the bullfight later on in the day. It was a good day filled with wondering about the city, on a little self tour. There were a few nice plazas, a cathedral, palace, and several parks along the way. It was a relaxing day, set at a very nice relaxing pace. At the end of it, I was off to the bullfight.

The stadium was packed, and boy did they pack you in. Luckily my section had a few empty seats around me. Otherwsie you have space just for yourself, and nothing else. But what a spectical it was. The excitement of the crowd at the death defying antics below.

What a showoff event it is. The matadors exhude masculinity, it is a gladiator sport of sorts, except instead of another human it's a fight to death with the bull. They are out there, posing in front of the bull mere inches in front of it with the flag behind thier back, completely exposed. Showing complete control and calmness in the face of danger. Most important it's about the agility and accuracy of the final blow to the toro. If a matador has put on a good show, and strikes deftly and acurrately to kill the bull, he is well rewarded by the crowd.

It was definately completely different than anything I've experinced before.

Madrid has been nice, but I've exhiasted it already. So I'm now off to Toledo for a day, before heading to Lisbon.