Easter in Madrid

Easter in Madrid. The day began at 1pm when we woke up, showered, and headed down the street to Café y Te. Alex and I ordered cafés con leche and split a tomato and parmesan salad, and of course one of our beloved ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches. After eating, we made our way down Gran Via into the theater district to splurge on tickets to the famous Broadway show, “Carmen.” Cold and overcast once again, we decided to return to Santo Domingo and spend a good portion of the afternoon napping in our over-heated room. Waking only to buy a Gaudi bull and ham leg magnet at a souvenir shop, we enjoyed an early dinner from one of the local fruit stands.

 

Full of Spain’s best ham and cheese, crackers, and fruit, we headed out to make the 7 o’clock show, which unsurprising started ten minutes late. Even though our seats were a good four flights up in the nosebleed section, we didn’t care. We were too busy singing, “On Brooooaaaadwaaaayyyyy!!!” to notice. One couldn’t have created a MORE Spanish-ified performance if they tried. Only using the colors red, black, and white, they presented love-struck matadors, flamenco dancers and sensual women smoking cigarettes. Throughout the entire show, we were serenaded by a live band of Spanish guitars (who played in the pitch dark for the majority of the performance, by the way). The singers fluctuated their voices creating a melancholy, Arabian sound, as is typical of flamenco music. This comes as little surprise since flamenco is very prominent in the southern region of Spain, where the Arabs had the greatest influence.

 

Leaving the theater, I was overwhelmed with the desire to BE Carmen. Who wouldn’t want to be a tiny, beautiful, Spanish flamenco dancer wooing matadors underneath the heat of stage lights! We crossed over Gran Via and didn’t have to look very far before finding a charming café where we stopped for a big, beautiful cappuccino and café con leche in glass cups. Yes, I felt SO wild and free after seeing “Carmen” that I even ordered a cappuccino.

Back at Santo Domingo, Alex and I enjoyed a leisurely evening watching “Look Who’s Talking” dubbed in Spanish and taking advantage of the free Internet. Granted, this wasn’t your typical Easter Sunday, but then again, when in the last 3 months have I done anything conventional?