Field Trip: Training Home from Burlingame

After an afternoon out enjoying the sights of Burlingame Avenue, my daughter dropped me off at the Burlingame Train Station. Cal Train comes every half an hour and I was able to take it on to my destination in Menlo Park.

Waiting at the station I chatted, in casual California strangers style, with Alex and his mother. Alex, aged two and a half explained to me the concept of what benches were for. He and his family were headed to the library on the train, a regular exciting event in his family. We enjoyed looking down the tracks for the train together, while exercising great caution in the matter of the train's inability to stop suddenly.

Alex and his mother also shared a train song with me and I, in return, performed Train is a'Comin' for him. About the time I got to the end, the train did indeed arrive in the station. At which point my new comrade lost all interest in anything as plebian as a song.

What better way could their possibly be to head to the library than aboard a passenger train? Will any other experiences in the rest of Alex's life really equal the excitement of it?

Related Links - Youtube of my performance of Train is a' Comin'

Enjoying the Frutas (y Verduras) of Madrid

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Towards the end of my week in Madrid, I found this nice grocery store about a three minute walk from my hotel right on the way back from the neighborhood entrance to El Parque de Buen Retiro, which I visited every day.

I waited my turn while I listened to this woman discussing the gazpacho she was going to make with the produce man. There, of course, the produce seller picks out everything for his customer. We don't sully the frutas or the verduras by touching or squeezing them with our fingers. They picked out everything she needed – tomates, pimentón, a little bunch of sweet, yellow cebollas and some nice heads of ajo. I can’t eat peppers, onions OR garlic, and it still sounded good, a nice cold vegetable soup in the ‘midst of Madrid en Julio. Most days it ranged somewhere over a hundred degrees in the afternoon.

La Senora made a friendly joke to me, about how long she'd taken and I told both of them how much I'd enjoyed listening to her cooking plans, since I was just visiting. That seemed to help me out of the tourist and into the visitor category.

This man handed me both a fresh cherry and an apricot to eat while I waited and, after he marked the price on each package of produce, he added in extras to each bag for this, clearly well-known, customer. Grocery shopping in another country is as enjoyable a cultural experience for me as restaurant eating is for the next woman.

Getting neighborly at El Palacio Cristal, El Parque de Buen Retiro, Madrid

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My favorite activity in Madrid was walking in the wonderful big city park, El Parque de Buen Retiro. I walked there every day. I chose the hotel I went to, Hotel Agumar on Calle de Reina Cristina, because I saw that park on the map nearby. I have really enjoyed locating near parks in other big cities, with which I was unfamiliar. I’m used to walking a lot at home. Not only is it nice to have a great big swath of shady green, I like getting to see people out strolling, biking, skating and enjoying the company of their pets and children. At home I have a lot of casual interactions with pets and people in my own neighborhood park and this was a similarly comfortable way to interact with people in Espagna.

The spot I returned to most often in the park was the turtle pond by El Palacio Cristal - a beautiful building if ever there was. It was fun going and sitting on the steps there in the evening, to watch the turtles and have low-key chats with children and adults. That's when I really felt a part of the community. And, unlike in the restaurants, when people started to smoke, I could move!