Trip 45

January 20, 2024

What a stark contrast in weather between today and yesterday. From overcast, blustery and drizzling to virtually cloudless, not windy. Perfect shopping weather (my spouse believes)!

It’s Saturday and the crowds are out in Plaza de La Puerta del Sol. Better weather and the weekend really brought out people to the square and the surrounding streets (Calle).

Down to the Metro to recharge our Metro cards from La Tienda ticket machine. 1.5€ each; cheap transport to a different area of the city for some shopping. Loewe is a Spanish brand that has expanded to more cities internationally, but this Madrid location on Calle de Serrano is the Mothership. There’s no “Loewe line” outside, but you wait inside until an assistant can come help. We chatted with our shop assistant about places we’d been in Madrid, including the Mercado San Miguel and he recommended another less touristy tapas bar, though the menu looks like more full-plate dishes than small plates.

Literally all of the high end luxury fashion and jewelry stores are within a few blocks, including Hermès (the Hermès Mothership is in Paris), which we also visited. While I was waiting for my wife to pay out, a fellow came up next to me at the scarf counter and he came away with a stack of 10 scarves (likely >4,000€)!

A little break

Now 6:45pm, it’s already fairly dark; streets still bustling. One more churros & chocolate run to San Grimés, not far away. On a cool evening like this, their multiple shops all within a block are very busy. There are a (very) few street musicians out tonight; one hopeful was playing an electric guitar. I have noticed very few musicians on the metro as compared to Paris.