Finde con mi padre

This was an especially dynamic weekend!  I had the pleasure of hosting my father in Madrid, and I finally got the chance to explore the city like a tourist.

La isla del tesoro: We had lunch at this vegetarian restaurant when we finally made it back to Chamberí from the airport.  As a former vegetarian myself, I always leap at a chance to get all of my nutrients from a meal that does not involve killing animals.  This restaurant, however, is quite a few steps above merely eating food without meat.  The food is delicious, and every weekday the menú is only 11€ for bread, garbanzo spread, a drink, and two dishes and dessert from a different region worldwide.

Hostal Sil / Hostal Serranos: We then returned to my father's hotel nearby, in which he had a small but comfortable room with its own bathroom and shower.

I knew I didn't have much free time that day, so I had decided to take him on a whirlwind tour of the main plazas, streets, and views of Madrid.  We started in the Puerta del Sol, then made our way down the Calle Mayor towards the Plaza Mayor.  From there we made a quick stop in the Plaza de la Villa, on our way to the Palacio del Oriente.  We ended our sightseeing in the Plaza del Oriente, and we soon afterwards headed back to Quevedo, where I bid my Dad a goodnight, and pointed him towards Café Comercial and his hotel.

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That night, due to a number of poor decisions on my part, I just barely made it to Russian Red's concert at the Leganés campus of my university, Carlos III, but thank goodness I did make it!  I knew little about this artist, save what D had sent me this summer on Youtube, however, when I saw that she would be playing at our university (I study at the Getafe campus, and D at Colmenarejo) D and I decided to get tickets.  Russian Red's music is beautiful.  She is a Spanish singer-songwriter, but she sings in English (why is it that so many talented Spanish artists are creating in English these days?), and she is backed by her talented band including guitar players, drummers, piano players, and percussionists.

The next day my father and I reunited outside of Café Comercial to take the metro to the Prado.  Our goal was to stick primarily to the Spanish painters, as we knew that we would not be able to see everything this extensive museum has to offer.  The three most moving paintings to see, for me, were El tres de mayo de 1808 en Madrid, Las Meninas, and The Garden of Earthly Delights.

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Also, ever since studying Cervantes' El Coloquio de los Perros, I have taken great notice of the inclusion of dogs in many important Spanish works, and there was no lack of dogs at the Prado.  Dogs, being perhaps the most personified animal on earth, have clearly been considered important members of the family for years.  Seeing how deeply these Spanish artists and patrons cared for the dogs in their lives served to make me miss my dogs in the US all the more!


We took a quick break from our tour of the museum to stop by the cafe, and though the food here is not cheap, it is delicious and elegantly displayed.  Definitely worth visiting, due to its convenience and its quality.


That night I took my dad to my favorite tapas restaurant in Madrid (from what I've visited so far at least!).  Casa do Compañeiro is a little tapas restaurant/bar in Malasaña, conveniently located a short walk from my dad's hotel.  It is certainly nothing fancy, between the squawking parrot out front and the paper table cloths over the tables in the back, but the portions are generous, and the food is wonderful.  I insisted that my dad let me order, and, not realizing how big the tapas were (perhaps they would be better referred to as raciones) he insisted I order four dishes.  We began with patatas bravas ("brave" because Spaniards tend to not like spicy foods), then pimientos de padrón (a couple of the peppers in each batch are quite spicy, and unfortunately the first one my dad bit eagerly into was one of these very ones), chorizo, and finally, pulpo.  We weren't able to quite finish it all, but we made a valiant effort.


The next day was dedicated to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, widely considered the best privately assembled collection of art in the world.  The collection truly is stunning, and this is by far my favorite museum I have visited yet this trip.  Unfortunately, we were quite tired by the end, and perhaps did not give the second half of the museum the attention it deserved, nonetheless, we managed to make it all the way through.


The permanent collection is incredible, particularly due to its immense range of artistic periods, however Carmen's collection, despite its more limited range, is also quite impressive.  We weaved back and forth from the permanent collection, into Carmen's, and, after contemplating the dark works of the Middle Ages in his collection, her brighter, and happier collection felt like a spring day after a long winter.


After we finished in the museum, Dad and I headed over to the Plaza de España to meet up with D and L for lunch.  (A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that this is actually where The Third of May shootings took place that Goya depicted in the painting we had seen the day before.)  D wanted to take us to Cáscaras, a restaurant which serves primarily tortilla española, and though I have long maintained that there are two Spanish foods not worth eating in restaurants, tortilla española and paella, I decided to indulge D and we had a nice, and yummy lunch, speaking English, Spanish, and German.

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Afterwards, D really wanted to show my dad the Templo de Debod, but we were weary, and we knew we would need to rest if we were going to be able to enjoy the night ahead of us, so we all parted ways, and Dad and I headed back to our respective temporary homes for a break.


That night my host mom prepared dinner for the three of us, and this ended up being by far my favorite meal of the whole weekend.  She served us aperativos, tortilla española, paella, salad, and coconut flan with pomegranate seeds and orange slices (see? the two foods I consider two of the most important foods in Spain are much more delicious, and free, when prepared by Spaniards in their own kitchens rather than bought in restaurants).  Due to her not speaking English, and my dad's not speaking Spanish, however, I tasted little of the food as I was too busy facilitating a conversation by translating for the two of them.  I had no idea how easy and fun that was going to end up being!  I did continuously reach for my glass of wine, however, as my mouth got drier and drier from talking too much, and by dessert I had to confess that I was quite tipsy and probably no long as good a translator as I had been at the beginning of the evening.


Little exciting happened after this point, Dad went home the next day, and I ran around trying to get all of the errands done that I had neglected in my excitement to spend time with my dad.  Despite my crazy Sunday, however, this has certainly been my favorite weekend so far.  I had a wonderful time hosting my dad, and finally getting to experience this city I call home (for now) as a tourist (I still couldn't bear to take out my camera, however!).  This goes to all, if anyone wants to come and experience a weekend or more like this one, please please do!  I promise to make it at least as exciting and interesting as this.


Un beso.

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