Last day in Madrid

Thursday, 1-Sept., is our last full day in Madrid.  Or as the locals say it, “Mah-DREED”.

Anyway, you know what’s cool about being American? Our culture is pervasive. Some would call it ethnic and economic hegemony. I call it convenient that there are stores I recognize open at normal hours. 

Sandra, my mother-in-law (la suegra, “soo-eh-GRA), needs her coffee in the morning. Fortunately, I remembered this American place just on the other side of what I call the cut-through. 

It probably has some classical architectural descriptive name. All ears if anyone knows. What I know is that this passage goes through the building with huge steel doors on both ends. In between are shops and eateries. Our hotel is next to it. Once I discovered it, it felt like I folded space-time or entered a wormhole. Saved 10 minutes getting to Dunkin Donuts.

The phrase in the movie “Pulp Fiction” that is so true:

…It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same sh*t over there that we got here, but it's just...it's just, there it's a little different...

You know in the US McDonalds you can get something sweet like a cookie or fried pie? These are McDonalds’ sweets in Spain. 

One little difference I really like is they have gazpacho at Mickey Ds. Even though most Spaniards would think bottled gazpacho is a sad rendition, it is what V8 dreams it could be. Maybe I start a brand? Call it Kazpacho. 

We decided to go back to the Queen Sofia Museum (Reina Sofa), since all we saw the day before was Picasso’s “Guernica”.

Modern art. Some folks like it. Others hate it. There’s some stuff I like. 

A lot of “fight the power”, “down with capitalist pigs”, “end the patriarchy”. I like this message. 

It is the revolutionary avant-garde of “Paella to the People”!

How does Sandra feel? Well, her southern Virginia roots enables her to put a genteel spin on things. The kind of thing she’d say, “a little goes a long way”.