The Spain Chronicles – Day 2

Traveling by oneself (sp?) is a weird thing. On the plus side, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. I know that one of the tough things about traveling in a group is that you spend a lot of time (a) debating what to do and (b) waiting for people, so you can avoid these things when you travel by yourself. The downside is that it can go a bit fast. You end up eating much faster than anticipated because there’s no one to talk to and you don’t have to wait for everyone’s dishes to arrive. Also, you spend a lot of time asking people to help you take pictures of yourself in front of monuments, drawing attention to the fact that you are traveling alone.

In any case, I had a good day yesterday. I got a late start, mostly because I slept terribly, and for breakfast I had some chocolate donuts I had bought the night before. I decided to go to the Retiro, since it is one of the closest things to where I am staying. On the way I stopped in some antique shops, including an antique bookshop that had a display of Don Quijote editions in the window. I asked how much the smallest one cost, and it was €1800. A bit out of my price range, I think…

The Retiro is a huge and beautiful park, so I spent about 2 ½ hours walking around there. I liked it because it was one of the places I went to when I was here 10 years ago, so it was fun seeing the things I saw then. My friend Chung suggested that I try to find places where I took photos back then, and take photos in the same spots. I did just that, which was cool. One of my favorite spots is the Palacio de Cristal, which happened to be lacking glass when I was there last time. Right before it is a lake and a little cave, which is cool.

The park has a number of places to eat, but all I had was a (€2!!!) Coke while I was there. I waited to eat lunch until about 2:30-3:00, when I left the park and found a nice café nearby. I had pasta with a salmon sauce and a tapa of jamón con pa amb tomaca, both very nice. I’ve been trying to make lunch the major meal of the day and just having a sandwich or whatever for dinner – it seems to work because I’m not usually extremely hungry later on. After lunch I made my way back to the hotel to chill for a bit, then decided to finally make my way to the Biblioteca Nacional.

I know the library is maybe a 20-minute walk from where I am, but dear God it was hot, so I just hopped on the Metro. It was still a short walk once I got off the Metro, so I didn’t feel horribly guilty. Along the way I saw the Plaza de Colón, which featured a gigantic Spanish flag. I found it interesting, because for some reason I don’t usually think of such giant displays of patriotism as something they do in Europe. The US is all about the flag, but I think they’re more subtle about it elsewhere.

The library was a little tough. Nobody told me that I needed (a) my passport and (b) proof of mailing address (a bill, etc.), so it was a bit of a process to register for a carnet de investigador (a library card for researchers that lets me look at old books and stuff). The embarrassing part of it was that when they were explaining the proof of mail, they kept saying the word factura (bill), which was a word I didn’t know, so I had to ask them to explain. I wasn’t making much of an impression as a researcher, I don’t think! Fortunately they accepted my driver’s license instead of my passport, and somehow granted me the carnet de investigador. I’m still not sure how it happened. Anyway, I spent a short while having a look around the place to see what was there, so I would know what to bring back the next day. After that I visited the library’s museum (which was a teeny bit boring but filled up some time) and the shop.

I was happy to discover that the Café Gijón was not too far from the library, so I decided to make it my next stop. The Café is famous for having been the hangout of many artist and writer types. It was another place I had been to when I came here 10 years ago, but at the time I didn’t know what a big deal it was. It seemed a bit stuffy to eat inside, so I ate out on their beautiful terrace – a (€3.90!!!) Coke, a water and a pincho de tortilla, which was amazing. After that I made my way back to the Metro rather slowly, stopping for ice cream and then for a peek in the shops along the way.

I was a bit tired when I got back to the hotel around 8, so I just cleaned up a bit and then went back out for a visit to the Corte Inglés. (I didn’t get a proper look around when I went the day before.) I spent about an hour and a half looking at toys and books. I know that sounds weird, but I liked it because it was cool to see which books were popular and how they translated into Spanish, plus I wanted to see if I could find a Spanish-speaking doll for my sister. (They had some, but they were either huge or for little babies.) I wasn’t hungry for dinner when I left, but I stopped and picked up a sandwich for later and some fruit for the next day.

I usually end the day at about 10 pm, mostly because I don’t feel like it’s the best idea to wander around alone in the dark. I don’t go to bed straight away – I call home, check email, shower, etc. and hit the sack at around midnight. I also use the time to look up the places I want to see the next day. Today I think I will visit the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor, and perhaps Chueca if I have time, before making another journey to the library.