Madrid

My spring allergies were starting to annoy me, so I thought perhaps I’d try and buy a nasal decongestant. Problem is, my level of Spanish doesn’t include the words for allergy medicine. Considering that for a bit I figured telling the pharmacist that I wanted something for a head cold would be the most efficient way to get what I want.

I use Google Translate for those thornier language requirements despite knowing full well that it often is absolutely incorrect. I entered “head cold” and it returned “cabeza fria” which is literally a “cold head.” That wasn’t going to work, so off to the web for a deeper level of search, that eventually returned “refrasiado” or “catorra” as options.  At least they were options in Mexico. Having added “aerosol nasal” to my burgeoning vocabulary, and figuring that those were close enough, off I went to the pharmacy.

I marched right in there and told the young woman what I wanted, and shockingly she understood exactly what I was saying. She first offered “aqua salina” which is a salt water spray so I said “no, con medicina” and she moved down the corner to the homeopathic options.

Long ago in Madrid, MLW had a cold and we went to the Corte Ingles pharmacy on the same mission. On that occasion we had a long discussion with their pharmacist about the efficacy of herbal solutions, eventually convincing her that we don’t believe in them. Talk about stressing our Spanish. This time I was prepared and told her that they don’t work. She laughed and moved on to the real stuff. I was on such a roll that I went ahead and apologized for my terrible Spanish, and smiling she responded that no, it was actually quite adequate. People are so kind when you’re self-deprecating about your terrible foreign language skills.

“Three days only!” was her admonition as I paid and departed.

This morning we left Sevilla and took the train to Madrid. Somehow, we managed to have a car with a woman doing her. Twice on one trip? Go figure. The ride was uneventful, lots of sheep, cows, horses to see plus the transition from citrus plantations in the south to olives in the north. More fun today talking with our taxi driver about Teslas and their charging stations and the lack of them here in Spain. I tipped him a Euro specifically for the conversation.

Madrid is very agreeable city, and we managed to land an apartment on our favorite pedestrian street – Calle Arenal. A short walk to a huge Corte Ingles and amazingly, another Nespresso boutique. The apartment is amazing, I’ll post photos soon. But 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and a great view of the plaza in front of the Opera.