If I had to pick a word to describe Madrid it would be grandiose. Per dictionary it means: "impressive and imposing in appearance or style". That's it all right.
When I walk down the street in the center I feel very small because everything is so big. The buildings are giant and imposing. Grand. They are often topped with ornate round domes that make them even bigger.
The plazas are big, often with roundabouts. in the middle is usually a large statue commemorating some ancient dude on a horse. Around the plaza are very tall fancy buildings. Nothing is small here.
Even the subway (metro) is grandiose. Today I took 3 trains back to the hotel. Going to the exit of the station, I took 5 escalators, one staircase and walked 1/2 mile to the exit. That is an epic exit.
Even our hotel is grandiose.Starting at about 8 pm there is a giant neon sign that flashes off and on for 2 hours and then quits.
It's a place where there are random people in giant transformer costumes. This is weird: A guy (or girl) was dressed in this giant (their head was in the middle of the costume) teddy bear type costume. They were standing against a wall doing nothing. They had a cup in front of them. They wanted money for dressing in the costume. I almost slapped them and shouted: Get outta here with that shit! Har
There are random men who come up to you and greet you like you are their long lost brother or sister. As they ask where you are from and say they have family there, they slip a couple beaded bracelets on your hand and say they are "just for you". When you say thanks and turn to go, they beg you for money. This happened a couple of times. It's like a roving band of hustlers.
So Madrid is grandiose and weird and just normal all at the same time.
via Blogger https://ift.tt/ehHMqp9
October 11, 2022 at 09:09PM
No comments:
Post a Comment