{"id":748,"date":"2015-04-21T08:38:09","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T08:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=748"},"modified":"2016-08-20T23:30:29","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T23:30:29","slug":"madrid-unfiltered-april-18-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/?p=748","title":{"rendered":"Madrid Unfiltered, April 18 & 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday, Sunday April 18 & 19<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part of the day before I travel is spent preparing to leave so the day of departure isn\u2019t fraught. I did laundry\u00a0and packed my suitcase except for two changes of clothes I\u2019d need. The trickiest bit turned out to be trying to print a boarding pass. Apparently, Iberia likes Windows but they don\u2019t like Macs. There were worried messages exchanged on WhatsApp with my landlady, and emails and calls to Iberia, until finally I stood in a photocopy shop emailing my boarding pass to them to print on an ancient copier and even that was a tightrope walk. Go figure.<\/p>\n

Having survived that, I figured it would a good day to see the churches. I walked to San Francisco El Grande Basilica,<\/strong> Plaza de San Francisco, thinking I\u2019d skip the tour and just look reverently at frescoed dome and chapel by Goya. I listened to the incomparable Joanna Bourne\u2019s The Spymasters Lady<\/em>\u00a0 http:\/\/www.joannabourne.com\/<\/a> while I walked. Ideal for the adventure of confidently slipping through the streets of a foreign city.<\/p>\n

Alas, the Basilica is only open for tours 10:30-12:30, 4-6. No entry for freelance viewing or praying allowed. It was 2pm, so I changed my plans.<\/p>\n

I walked over to Santa Mar\u00eda la Real de La Almudena Cathedral<\/strong>. They started construction in1883, and it was completed and consecrated in 1993, so there\u2019s are hope for Buckhead yet!<\/p>\n

I had hesitated to go, since it is billed as modern and I imagined an unholy cross between a high school cafeteria and an airport lounge. I was wrong. It had far more grace than I predicted and the \u2018modern\u2019 decoration, especially the brilliant colors, were pleasing.<\/p>\n

\"ceiling<\/a>There was plenty of what I love about Catholic churches.<\/p>\n

\"mary\"<\/a>They played chanting monks over the sound system, and occasionally a voice admonished everyone to be quiet. It was surprisingly effective.<\/p>\n

I’ve been looking at paintings of Venus and Cupid, aka Eros, for weeks.\u00a0 Does innocent cherub at the feet of the Virgin have a mischievous glint in his eye?\"eros\"<\/a>Before I set out that morning, I learned someone I knew had died. We had exchanged posts online for years. I lit a candle for her in the cathedral and had more than one melancholy thought.<\/p>\n

I miss the oddest things. Making lists. My gym routine. Talking to my friends over coffee in the morning.<\/p>\n

That night I set my alarm for the first time. Didn\u2019t need because I barely slept. The street noise hit new levels. It was like trying to sleep in the middle of a frat house during pledge week, or in during carnival in Rio, with a few three alarms fires and a riot thrown in. Exhausted and cranky, I left the apartment at 8am, trundled down the street to the taxi rank on the corner, bags in tow, and left for the airport.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday, Sunday April 18 & 19 Part of the day before I travel is spent preparing to leave so the day of departure isn\u2019t fraught. I did laundry\u00a0and packed my suitcase except for two changes of clothes I\u2019d need. The trickiest bit turned out to be trying to print a boarding pass. Apparently, Iberia likes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[19],"tags":[152,179,180],"class_list":{"0":"post-748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-madrid","8":"tag-church","9":"tag-san-francisco-el-grande-basilica","10":"tag-santa-maria-la-real-de-la-almudena-cathedral","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/eros.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7OBxc-c4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=748"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2232,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748\/revisions\/2232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.virginiaparker.net\/travel\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}