Mamma Mia … and Papa too!

My weekend in Madrid was nice. On Friday, I continued my streak of opening restaurants when I got to Lia … Me at 8:15 P.M. and I was the first person to sit down! No matter, I enjoyed the Dominican fare. And, since it was Friday night, I even enjoyed the 30 minutes it took the staff to prepare the bill after I requested it. I guess trying to eat and leave in less than two hours is too much to ask from España! But, as they say, “No pasa nada.”

After dinner on Friday I walked around Madrid’s Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, enjoying the energy of a Madrileño night along the way. After a few hours of strolling, I went home for a 'relatively' early night.

Saturday morning I went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid’s third most important art collection. After that I lunched at Plaza Mayor, then wandered the shopping district north of Puerta del Sol and finally headed back to the hotel for a siesta. I rested briefly, reading and relaxing and then went out to see my first ever musical in Castellano…

Mamma Mia!!!
It was incredibly amusing to hear ABBA songs in Spanish! … “A vivir, A bailar, eres una fiesta sinfín!” -- That’s right, you’re the Dancing Queen! Unfortunately, I couldn’t get tickets to a Spanish production called, Hoy no me Puedo Levantar, which similarly puts Mecano’s music into the musical form. Perhaps this show will travel to Chicago?

On Sunday, I went out to the Rastro, Madrid’s flea market. It was fun to see the activity and variety that every flea market seems to attract, but I only spent an hour there before heading back to the hotel. Sunday was meant to be a zero day, and I did naught for the rest of the day, besides reading and catching up on a miscellany of tasks.

Papa Too
Of course, I also called my dear old Dad to wish him a Happy Father’s Day! One of the unfortunate parts of this dream job is that while Mom, Dad, the brothers, sisters-in-law and little ones are all hanging out, I am stuck in a far off land. It’s strange, but even being in the capital city of my adopted country, did not sufficiently distract my desire to be back with the rest of my clan. Alas, but in this day of emails, blogs and telephone calls, we are truly only a few touches of some buttons away from each other; and so it was nice to wish my Dad a great Father’s Day from this far off land.

Monday and It’s Back to Work
Our work has been productive. As I rehashed our findings to my manager, he shared my premonition that we will have to return to Madrid within a year or so to ensure they improve their practices. It's unfortunate for the Madrileños, but I won't mind returning to the land of rioja, tapas and sevillanas ... ¡Olé!