Day: April 30, 2023

Madrid, day 1(/3)

Three days in Madrid with my son and twin-brother.

Saturday April 29, 2023: Arrival, bus guided tour around the city, Temple of Debod, train station of Atocha and its tropical garden, Parque El Retiro.

Night scene at the airport. Teenager and man side by side in front of a tall and large “I love Nice” structure in blue, white and red.
Adrien, Paupiette
Night scene at the airport. Teenager and me, white woman, side by side in front of a tall and large “I love Nice” structure in blue, white and red. Adrien is making bunny ears for me and I’m laughing.
Adrien, me
Night scene at the airport. Teenager and me, white woman, side by side in front of a tall and large “I love Nice” structure in blue, white and red. Adrien is making bunny ears for me and I’m laughing.
Adrien, me 2
Kakémono with tiny images of fruit, vegetables, fish. The center reads “Le sud c’est mieux. Les Niçois” (“The south is better. The people from Nice”)
Impartiality
From the bus to the airplane: airport runway, lights, cloudy sky.
Tarmac, pre dawn
From the bus to the airplane: airport runway, lights, cloudy sky.
Tarmac, pre dawn 2
From the bus to the airplane: airport runway, lights, cloudy sky.
Tarmac, pre dawn 3
View from the airplane window as it’s making its last turn taxiing to the take off strip. The sky is lighter but still heavy with clouds.
Taking off
Ridges, valleys, green patches, sky and clouds.
Spain from above
Ridges, valleys, green patches, sky and clouds.
Spain from above
Seen from the bus: road and landscape made if the approaching four skyscrapers of the Madrid financial district.
Cuatro Torres business area
Two tilted buildings facing each other, separated in the middle by a tall column of brass and gold arising from a roundabout. The sky is blue and there are a few clouds that look like contrails.
Gate of Europe & Calatrava column
One of the Gate of Europe towers on the left. At the center, the tall column of brass and gold arising from a roundabout hides the rising sun. The sky is blue and there are a few clouds that look like contrails.
The Calatrava obelisk
City construction: a four-story building is being redone from the inside, its outside preserved.
Preserving the facade
Renovation of the Alcala gate, wrapped in fabric that represents the gate.
Puerta de Alcala (wrapped)
Fountain for Cibeles
Plaza de Cibeles
Two stone gateways leading to a temple
Templo de Debod
Treetops and royal palace on the horizon
View on the royal palace
Emerging above treetops are the royal palace and the cathedral
Royal palace and Almudena cathedral
Four-columned stone temple
Templo de Debod
Two stone gateways and skyline on the horizon
Gateways of Templo de Debod
Bird flying in front of the temple of Debod
Birb photo bomb
My tall teenager and me posing in front of the two stone gateways of the temple of Debod
Mijo and me, templo de Debod
Red brick building with a tower. There are a few trees in front.
Centro Arabe
Alley bordered with tall trees, statues. The sky is grey.
Parque El Retiro
Tree pruned in a manner that sections of the foliage look like balloons. The boughs give the tree the shape of a seated elephant.
The seated elephant tree
Woman sitting on a bench in the shade of two trees pruned in a manner that sections of the foliage look like balloons.
Balloons-trees
Close up image of white flowers and droplets.
Philadelphus
Meadow full of clover in bloom beyond which is the red building of the old train station of Atocha.
Estación Atocha
Low angle picture of palm trees under the skylight of the train station
Tropical garden
Low angle picture of several Chinese fan palms under the skylight of the train station
Chinese fan palm
White and pink flowers growing upwards
Horse chestnut blossoms
Photo at dusk taken in the middle of a large street. On the horizon at the vanishing point rises a tower of antennas.
Antennas tower
My brother and my son at a round dining table in a high-ceilinged Indian restaurant full of lights
Dining at Haveli