the good retreat park

This afternoon I wandered through “El Parque del Buen Retiro”, Madrid's central park. The name translates roughly as 'the good retreat park', and within minutes of passing through the grand park entrance, I felt like yelling out "I concur, I concur!" Until that moment, I hadn't realized how much I miss nature. After a month in the city—with it’s concrete and crowds and car exhaust and noise—it was fantastic to breathe fresh(er) air, get a little elbow room, and take in the fresh scent of nature. Cities are exciting, but I NEED nature. This little 'retreat' was definitely just what I needed.

And I was not alone. The park was crowded with families rowing on the lake, old women strolling arm in arm, professionals on their lunch break roller-blading along the pathways, kids chasing ducks and chomping on candies. I can’t believe I almost didn’t visit this fantastic place! I wish I had time for a few more visits, but alas, today was my last full day in Madrid. Here are some photos of what I saw on my walk:


After wandering around for awhile, I sat on a park bench and ate my canapé lunch. Turns out I don’t care much for canapés. Well, now I know. When I was almost finished, an ancient woman came upto me, growled something incomprehensible to me in Spanish, let some half eaten food pool out of her mouth, then suddenly grabbed my last canapé and scurried off. I was so taken aback by her face—wrinkled so far beyond what I thought was physically possible—that I failed to protect that last little canapé. But then again, I hadn’t planned on eating it since just moments earlier I had accidentally dropped it on the ground. I suppose I could have yelled after her in my broken Spanish to warn her about the canapé, but truthfully I was just too preoccupied with locating the final resting place for all that slobber… (“pleeeeease not on my bag!”) Odd encounter!