Who says ambiance doesn’t matter?

 Chocolatería San Gines in Madrid is a place out of a fairy story.

 In 2019, my friend Caroline and I followed the crowd, walked down the narrow (estrecha) passageway, marveled at the old building and walked in the open doors.  Founded in 1894, the café is best known for its churros and thick, chocolate…thick like the pudding my mother has made many years.  Only THIS thick, delicious chocolate is best known for dipping hot, tasty churros into the creamy depths. The inside of the café was devine, with lots of marble and old wood. We felt like high society vamps as we sat, dipped churros and enjoyed it all as one big lovely memory package. 

But, alas! When I walked down that same passageway, past the little bookstore and saw the café doors, I was dismayed to read it is only para llevar, to take away. What? That smooth lovely chocolate in a paper cup to go along with churros in a bag with their oils seeping through it? And all the little tables that were strewn inside the passageway were full. Should I scrap the idea? No. I wanted my chocolate and churros.  I gave her my 5 euros, gripped my paper cup and bag and started walking to find a place to sit down and enjoy it.  I walked all the way to my little abode and started laughing when I placed everything on my little table.  It looked distinctly unappetizing. Ambiance trashed, but recreated!  Now, I’ve been told that I went in the wrong door. They still offer “dine in” after all. Hmmm, well I created my own little spot. Maybe I’ll try again when I return with my brother Steven in three weeks…

As I walked the mile and a half to the Plaza Mayor, I noticed how much I liked those beautiful ceramic tiles on the corners of all the buildings. I’ve always called them azulejos, but maybe that is just a Portugal name.  I am constantly looking at them because, as I mentioned previously, some street names change at the end of each street.  Today, I was dumbfounded to see four different tile names at one intersection (thank goodness for GPS and my Madrid map.)  Each tile has a small painting to depict the street name or plaza to correspond with its history. I love the culture of it all.

Today was a day I spent studying my speech for the genealogy conference and practicing using the little remote button to move my PowerPoint pages.  I’m shaking my head with the enormity of it all as I overthink it.  But, Iberia Airlines came through with my replacement bag, my maleta. It just made my life much easier. I now have four wheels instead of none and a half.  Tomorrow, I hit the ground running because my Madrid bucket list increased during my quiet time while I waited for the DHL delivery.