Day 3: slept in until... 6:00am
The splendour of staying in bed a little while longer.
Madrid is slowly waking up right outside my window. Street cleaners with their hoses watering down the walkways for todays stampede of passersby. The rattling of the gates opening at the cafe down below to get the coffee brewing for the sleepy clients who shuffle in for their morning caffein fix and then rush off to where they need to be.
There is a city sound where some noises seem familiar and many more are foreign to me.
My last morning in Madrid, hotter than yesterday. Yesterday hotter than the day before.
I get out of bed and get ready for my departure, but first a final stroll on the streets of this city that I love and has become my second home.
There is something about an empty metropolis in the morning. No one out on the streets rushing towards something. Very little noise in the air. No cars racing on the lanes. There is... STILL.
People are waking up. Some are tossing in bed, the body fighting the mind for wanting to stay a little longer. Some may be half through their morning routines and rituals and others are just about crossing their thresholds to sleep the day away.
A city like Madrid, where there is a sudden stretch of total morning silence and the city streets are uninhabited, this moment is the one I cherish the most.
It is the moment the city belongs to me and me alone.
I buy a large cup of coffee and go in search for the final strength of the sun rising over the city. It fights its way from behind building blocks, slowly emerging, The day star´s glow dulled by the city clouds before reaching its peak to brighten the day.
Sunrises in the city are slower than in the woods. A contradiction all in itself. The days quickly end in Madrid with so much left undone. In the woods the sunrises quickly but days are usually unhurried and a lot gets accomplished. When the sun finally frees itself from behind all man made structures I go for my last stroll.
As soon as shops start arranging their storefront stalls I know my time in Madrid for this trip is coming to an end.
I stand across a flower shop and watch the shop-keeper carefully and artistically set up her sidewalk storefront . Once All the blooms and greenery are in display it is my hour to start heading home.
Currently my existence lies between two worlds, the city and the woods.
A city girl true and true, a country girl in spirit.
Hasta luego, Madrid!
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