Hello from my home in Helsinki! This is NordLetter #117, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Each week I share some of the interesting things I found on the web.
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In a day including the time it took for us to travel from and to Barcelona (3.5 hours via train), we managed to do the following things:
- The Bernabéu tour
- Have lunch at Adrak Restaurant
- Rest at Retiro Park
- Walk from the park to the Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace of Madrid
All this in the sweltering heat of the summer. It was 37 degrees while we walked through the Madrid streets.
The thing I want to do differently from the usual - I went here, saw this thing, did this thing and then the next, I want to talk about one thing and one thing only from each of these different things that I did.
The Golden Balls Cabinet
There are many cabinets full of silverware at the Bernabéu. From Real’s many Spanish League Cup trophies, to other memorabilia like Zidane’s old boots. And while their Champions League trophies are clearly the thing they are the most proud of, it was the Ballon d’Or Cabinet that somehow spoke to me, amidst all the talk of team-spirit.
The top row of the shelf was all of Cristiano’s Ballon d’Ors.
I think this shelf describes the Real Madrid approach more than anything else. That they buy galacticos, who may or may not create the best team, but they will be the best players in the world.
Buses that arrive three minutes too early
We started the Bernabéu tour at 11:00 and finished at 14:00. By 14:00, we were super hungry and needed to get to a restaurant some 30 minutes away from where we were by bus. My phone had also discharged completely, so I had to charge my phone for a little bit.
The bus we were to take was supposed to arrive in 10 minutes from now, so I planned to leave some five minutes out. We did. But just as we were crossing the road, the bus passed us and left the station. There was no way for us to reach it in time. I wondered what went wrong and checked the map. It said, the bus arrived 3 minutes early.
In Finland, if a bus arrives early, it waits at the stop till the correct time and then and only then does it leave. Not so here.
We chill here in Spain
We booked an Uber after we missed the bus. The next bus was in seventeen hours from now.
We got to talking with the driver after getting in the cab. The driver was Indian, originally from Chandigarh.
“I work for eight hours a day”, he said.
“That’s okay,” said Prerna, “We work around that time too.”
“I don’t work for all of the eight hours. I take breaks,” he said.
“I was born in the UK, did my MBA from India, then worked for a firm in Zurich for fourteen years. You know how it is working for corporates?”
We nodded.
“My sister lives here, she said, ‘Come to Madrid!‘. I did. I love it here. The weather is nice, a little bit too hot now, but otherwise nice, it goes to -5 maybe. Not more than that. Spanish love their holidays, most of the city is empty now. Spanish people are wonderful. There is no racism here,” he said.
We looked at each other and wondered if this is how an empty Madrid feels, how would it feel when all its citizens were back.
Barcelona and Madrid have felt crowded to us.
We were at Adrak then. We got down, thanked him and went to eat our lunch.
Lie down in the grass with me
We reached Retiro Park after leaving Adrak with our stomachs full. Claude recommended the restaurant. It was rated 4.8 on Google Maps. The ratings felt accurate enough.
Savya had fallen asleep as soon as we got into the bus. In the park there were people sitting, lying down under the shade. We found a spot under a tree, next to a stream of water. We did not have any picnic mat or anything similar with us. We just lay down on the ground, talking about things, planning the next part of the day.
Why am I doing this?
We were walking toward the Plaza Mayor, perhaps half way through, when I had this thought. It was too damn hot. We were walking in the shade when we could, drinking water when we could. Savya’s cheeks were red and he was getting cranky.
It was around this time, when I wondered, why are we doing this? Who said that we had to take photographs at the plaza, or the palace, for this trip to be successful. And why does a trip have to be successful.
This was the first planned day of the trip. A day when we had things to do. Most of the rest of this trip has been about sleeping through the day and going somewhere in the evening. Not this day. This day had things to do, items to check off a list.
“No one”, said Prerna. “We want to see these things. We can take a cab back to the station once we are done. There are things we can spend money on, and things we won’t spend on. There is no list. No need to do anything but our want.”
And so we walked on, took pictures, made memories.
If you enjoyed reading this, and know someone else who might, please consider forwarding this to them. It would help this grow and make me happy. 😄
Until next week.
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