David J Rodger ¦ Secret Window
| 2006 - Madrid Friday morning, grab a bus into town with Oj and fulfill tradition by stopping off in Cafe Amore in town for strong coffee and fabulous panini (tuna & red onion). Then a coach to Bristol airport. 5pm arrive Madrid airport. Huge space. Clean. Chaotic. And a dull dry heat building up as we move further from the air con. Sharky (aka) Kelvin arrives to meet and greet us. I've not seen Kelvin since Christmas (when he came to Newcastle as per tradition). He's been living in Spain for 18 months now and Oj & I are his first visitors. He was delighted to be able to show people the world he's now occupying. It took an hour or so to reach his plac e by tube / bus. A short walk through bone dry streets with tall apartment blocks either side reflecting the heat into an oven. Nice apartment, though living with several strangers creates a very 'student digs' vibe. None of his flatmates were there for our trip, only Ivan... Ivan the Peruvian medic who didn't speak any English and seemed to want to stay in his 2 metre by 2 metre room until we weren't around. A shy boy with a penchant for cooking things in boiling milk. Our first night there Kelving cooked Fajitas. Ohhh my god. Surely the best Fajitas I have ever tasted. Amazing. Well done Sharky for creating a culinary milestone in my temporal roadmap. We went to bed fat and addled on a delicious Rijoca - strong flavour of oak to strip away the richness of the food. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Djr, Oj, Sharky This is the foyer of Kelvin's apartment. Us heading out to breakfast. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky & Oj Breakfast at this quirky little place Kelvin wanted to show us. We had these slices of thin crispy bread smeared with cold tomato paste... you sprinkle on salt and a liberal helping of olive oil. So delicious I ordered a 2nd serving. |
| 2006 - Madrid After breakfast we hit the centre of the city. I didn't take many photographs because, and this is not a criticism, I've seen this all before. Another big city in Europe. And besides, I didn't come to here to see Madrid, I came to see Kelvin. What was nice was being shown the various parts of the city that a tourist would have no interest in, these were the buildings, bus stops and bars that make up Kelvin's world. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Oj & Sharky We ate tapas in the centre washed down with beer laced with lemon - woweee thirst quenching and divine.
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| 2006 - Madrid No idea who he was or why he was sitting there with a blue face mask on his head but hey... why not. |
| 2006 - Madrid Headed to Museo del Prado to see various paintings, including a number by Picaso. A few moments of fascination that made the trip very worthwhile, and then... I realise there is a painting here I've written about. By El Greco, picture of an unknown noble. I used in in Jean Luc Korda's study in Taormina, in the novel Dragoon (Iron Man Project). Simply
known as "El caballero de la mano al pecho"--the
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| 2006 - Madrid - Oj & Djr Outside the Museo del Prado.
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| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky The integrated transport system in Madrid is fantastic. Despite half the lines being closed during the summer for major renovations, we had no problems getting around the city. In fact, we could travel the entire breadth of the city for 40p. The tunnels are also incredibly deep. Kelvin & I calculated that one of the lines is at least 12 stories underground. Wide tunnel entrances gave you glimpses of another world down there - my mind started ticking over on Yellow Dawn and possible post-apocalypse scenarios involving these deep tunnels. By early afternoon we were all "walked-out" and looking forward to a siesta. Getting back to Kelvin's pad we shook off dusty clothes, clambered into swim wear and spent an hour by Kelvin's swimming pool. Then we made dinner - another feast - and then headed back out into the city for drinks with one of Kelvin's friends. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Laura Kelvin met Laura on the masters course. In fact, Kelvin is the only male on the masters course. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Laura & Sharky Laura took us away from the main tourist drag and introduced us to a wonderful medieval terrace cluttered with tables and a very happy waiter who served us tasty mochitos (sp?). |
| 2006 - Madrid - Oj - |
| 2006 - Madrid - Djr Sadly for me my bio system gave up the ghost around midnight. No thanks to the ridiculous early mornings with the new job (4.30am) a couple days before. So what could have been a lovely drawn out evening ended more abruptly as I found it impossible to keep my eyes open. Awesome taxi ride home though. Hurtlling along huge 6 lane roads, all one-way with barely any traffic. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky Stepping out of Kelvin's lounge you can stand on a 5th floor veranda with a view of a huge square / park area, surrounded on all sides by huge apartment blocks. To the left in a secluded grassy area is the swimming pool. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky & Oj We had slices of sticky apple things and strong coffee for breakfast. |
| 2006 - Madrid It was lunchtime by time we left the apartment. We took a bus into town, to an location where two large towers lean towards each other across a major road (pictured above). It was a Sunday. Much to my frustration many places remaind closed. Kelvin & Jo thought this was quaint and a lovely sticking to traditional christian values. I just found it bloody annoying when you're in a major European capital that you have to walk through a toy store / garden centre to find a cruddy cup of coffee. Another grim shopping area contained some lovely sketches by Klimt. Nearly got gassed on the stench of some kind of cleaning agent. Took several Yellow Dawn inspired photos in empty shopping space littered with skips filled with rubble. Kelvin then took us to a fantastic place to eat. Despite the half hour wait, the tapas were to die for. In fact, I would gladly fly back to Madrid just to eat there. |
| 2006 - Madrid We went to a park on the edge of the city where you can catch a cable car across a vast shallow valley. The park below is a dry dust bowl filled with these scrubby trees. Reminded me of someplace out of a James Ellroy novel. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky - |
| 2006 - Madrid - Djr Early evening and we trundled back to the apartment for our final night. We sat by the pool, swam and spent about an hour jumping in and climbing out like children whilst Jo took photos on a fast shutter speed. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Sharky Kelvin does a great Jack Nicholson impression. I'm not surprised he's a happy bunny living here, it's costing him next to nothing. |
| 2006 - Madrid - Oj & Sharky The sun set on us, we headed into the apartment and cooked up a meal. Drank wine on the veranda with warm night air. |
| 2006 - Madrid Kelvin left work and met us in the airport to say farewell. This is one of his cufflinks. Should see him in a few months in England for Christmas. He completes his masters in January. Then... does he stay in Madrid? Or does he come back to blighty. That's for Kelvin to work out and for us to hope for. A short weekend but a big memory formed. |