Day 1-2: Out of Sight
and Out of Time
This figures to be an amazing, a second annual
intercontinental trek utilizing the forced leave between Christmas and New Year’s
and the handful of days around it, to get a proper two week vacation. Last
year, it was the remote isolation of Patagonia. This year, it is a trip
straight into the most ethnically and religiously diverse part of the world, a
two week trip through Israel and Jordan, two countries high on my list of
places, higher on my parent’s list, both because they’ve been to more places
(ex: China, Russia), and the religious pilgrimage aspect of the trip is even
stronger.
One added bonus of the trip was 10 hours in Madrid on a
stopover. Somehow, someway, through a combination of my own stupidity, and that
of Air Europa’s inadequacy, the stop in what had been my #1 favorite
international city nearly short-circuited the entire trip.
Let’s start out with a few truths, I have worn contacts for
roughly twelve or thirteen years. In the last year, I’ve started having issues
where my contacts would slip up or down, leading to blurry, unusable vision.
This happened to my right eye basically the second I sat down in my seat on Air
Europa. Not to any fault of Air Europa, though not not to any fault either, it
didn’t get better over the course of six scattershot hours of sleep. Worse,
when I left the plane, the left eye started giving trouble. That’s when I
remembered the next two truths, or facts rather, (1) I packed my toilet case
with my contact case, glasses and extra contacts mistakenly in my suitcase that
was checked to Tel Aviv; and (2) I didn’t have any spare left eye contacts
having not replaced my empty pack at home.
As you can imagine, this torpedoed the day to some degree. I
took the early good fortune of finding a mom and pop pharmacy, adorned with the
neon green plus sign outside, that had a contact case and salene solution. I
played the long game, surrendering to walk around like a blind mice for a day
to make things better down the road. My next stroke of luck is when my mom
found a glasses store and confirmed, unbeknownst to me, that you can get
contacts without a prescription in most non-US countries. So suddenly, despite
still vision-lacking, my prospects for the Israel and Jordan swaths of the trip
were far brighter.
Amazingly, through a combination of squinting too much and
taking too many photos that clarified the blurried sights, and an overall air
of festiveness, Madrid holds onto its #1 place to me. I do need to go back to
vet it more fully. Madrid was the first place I traveled to as an adult outside
the US by myself, going there in March, 2010. That certainly lends a bit of
draw that other cities can’t match.
Before we get to Madrid, though, I must talk about Air
Europa. I knew going in that Air Europa was an Low-cost carrier. However, like
Air Berlin before it, I expected some level of not-low-cost-ness on a Transatlantic
flight from JFK to Madrid. Wrong, totally wrong. We did get food. Not great
food, but decent no worse than United on Newark-to-London routes food. What we
didn’t get at all though, is entertainment. The ‘movie’ selection was an
overhead screen one every ten rows showing movies on loop – something that I
last experienced, from what I can remember, in 2001, maybe 2003. This is
archaic technology. I can’t remember the last time I was on a widebody that
didn’t have seatback entertainment.
Now, given I wanted to sleep, and had the vision issues
anyway, I didn’t care; but color me incredibly thankful my flight back from
Amman, Jordan, is on Lufthansa, and a brand new (relatively) B747-8i, instead
of what may be the first Airbus A330-200 ever built. Quick spoiler, Air Europa
was no better on their other flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv. The less said
about Air Europa the better.
Back to better news, with Madrid. We had not too many things
to see, with my parents and I having all gone recently enough to remember most
of the key sites. The most natural tourist site we visited was the Reina Sofia
museum, which surprised us all being so modern and surrealist leaning. Given
that its showcases are Guernica and various Dali paintings, it shouldn’t be a
surprise, but given I definitely went there in 2010, I feel like either I
missed a lot, or the museum has changed a lot. Both equally likely. The layout
is still good. The main events are still stunning, though I am a bit bitter
that there was laser-eye focus on making sure no one, even the most weasily
photographers, was able to snap a picture of it.
Prior to the museum, we went to a cute tapas bar, Gato Gato,
sitting in the behind shadows of the Reina Sofia. Well rated, found quickly
using ‘Google’ as a service, Gato Gato was great. We split a few tapas and few
larger small plates, all well cooked, from a pumpkin soup, to both a beef stew
and pork cheek stew that we couldn’t tell apart, but could tell quickly how
well the meat was cooked, both just emlting from a light touch of a fork.
The one slight disappointment was Madrid’s local Mahou beer
being far more Kingfisher than I remember it being – something I can absolutely
point to Madrid being my first solo international trip clouding judgement and
memories.
After the museum, we stuck with various levels of Christmas
fare from then on out, checking out multiple of the Spanish capitals Christmas
Markets, lit up Christmas Trees, nativity scenes, packed streets with lights on
each side and above, and all the rest. Excepting Italy, the continent’s most
proudly Catholic country was in full Christmas season to a level that put
Rockefeller Center to shame.
The first stop was Plaza Mayor, Madrid’s largest square,
which had a giant Christmas market, selling many nativity scenes and associated
buildings, animals, flora, etc, that can enliven up those scenes. For us, people
who have built our own sprawling crib scene every Christmas, it was a paradise,
and we walked away with a few novel things. It was fascinating also to see
these stands so crowded; more crowded, in fact, than the ones selling hawkerish
Christmas hats and shirts and the like.
We left Plaza Mayor around 5pm, not having the patience to
wait until 6pm and the tree being lit. Instead, walking about half a mile, with
various Christmas window shopping related stops on the way, to Puerto Sol, to
see their tree being lit. Puerto Sol is in the heart of Madrid, a bit more open
than the closed off Plaza Mayor, with each artery extending outwards jam packed
with window lights and store decorations. When the tree promptly lit a divine
blue color at 6pm sharp, the crowd was aghast one second, and with camera phone
in hand the next – me included. It was a magical sight, one potentially
enhanced by the blurred vision?
Due to Madrid’s strange anywhere within city limits is EUR
5.50 policy (seriously), we were able to scratch off a few more sites before
having to head back to the madness that was Air Europa. First was seeing the
Palacio Real all lit up, with some Christmas lights and music, and nativity
scene outside the adjourning Cathedral, and then walk over the the jam-packed,
understandable for a Saturday, Mercado San Miguel, where we scrumped down
various meat and fish tapas to fill our bellies enough so that we could sleep
right through the 4hr30min flight to Tel Aviv.
In the end, getting a quick layover is always a nice bonus
to any trip, and getting a chance to visit my #1 city, even somewhat visually
impaired, was more than worth it. We picked Air Europa because it was
relatively cheap both by cash (me) and points (my parents). We also picked it
because we could get a day more-or-less in Madrid. That all worked out. My forgetfulness
didn’t. In the end, I wouldn’t not pick Air Europa, I would just make damn well
sure I pack my contacts.
