Cinco Fotografías-Madrid Day 4

We slowed the day down quite a bit today, and it felt quite a bit more like living locally rather than simply existing here as tourists.

Our first task of the day was to locate a post office. Despite using Google maps and asking for directions from local officials who gave contradicting advice. The search felt a bit like a location clues game resembling "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego?".

This meandering search was fortuitous as we noticed a crowd gathering along the street of two fenced buildings. We wondered why military police were guarding these two structures as well as a cordoned off area on the public sidewalk adjacent to the area. Festive nationalistic songs were broadcast loudly through speakers.

I listened to the chatter of the crowd, and I was able to learn that it was a relief of the guard ceremony that happens only on the last Friday of each month at Buena Vista Palace and the Spanish army headquarters. There was considerable pomp and circumstance, and the exercises were fun to watch.

We returned to our search for the post office, and after another clue from a startled security guard who wondered why we were entering the premises, we were led to the right location. The post office was quite massive with several workers at counters. I approached a post office worker and learned that we needed to secure a ticket, much like one would experience at the DMV. Shortly after, our number appeared on a huge screen and we went to that station.

During the next few minutes we were able to answer several questions about sending the package, level of coverage, speed of delivery as well as purchasing postage for a postcard for a friend's birthday.

I know the lengthy description of the mundane task of going to the post office might in itself be a bit overly descriptive. For us, it was fun to feel part of the daily living of the average citizen as we noticed the similarities and differences of the processes and only speaking and listening to Spanish to figure out what to do.

After the post office, we decided to plan for a picnic in the park. A new acquaintance, José, who I met on social media gave us recommendations for a park and nearby attractions. He was quite kind and helpful with detailed recommendations, and we decided to follow his sage advice.

After picking up lunch items at one of the local Supermercados, we took the bus route to our first destination. This was our first bus trip in Madrid and the video displays were quite helpful about stops while contemporaneously displaying bits of random trivia information.

Our first stop was at Templo de Debod. According to the website this temple was built in the 2nd century BC ,and it was donated to Spain by the Egyptian government to save it from floods caused by the construction of the Aswan Dam. The temple was restored stone by stone and place in the midst of a beautiful park.

After this stop, we headed to the Madrid Teleférico, a magnificent aerial tram that our friend recommended that we take to get to our park destination for lunch: La Casa de Campo.

La Casa de Campo (Country House) is the largest park in Madrid, and this space was first acquired by King Phillip II when he moved his court to Madrid in the mid 15th century. The park belongs to royal families until it was acquired by the government and made open to the public in 1932.

We really savored walking the trails in the park, and sitting on a park bench to enjoy our lunch. We could hear the exhilarated screams of children at an adjacent amusement park, as we took in the first warm sunny day of our trip.

We concluded our day with wine on the Plaza and we invited José to join us for dinner as gratitude for his guidance. José is from Paraguay originally and he told us about the culture of his country and his life in Madrid. He traveled extensively as a cruise guide until the pandemic hit.

We finished the day with beers at a nearby bar. It was packed and festive as we are approaching a holiday weekend, Madrid's Festival of Comunidad on May 2nd.Read more