So Much To Say, So Little Time

I already feel behind...

It's silly to think that, I know; this is a vacation not a race! Must learn to relax! When did I forget how to do that? However Spain is a great country for relearning that very valuable thing; it truly moves at it's own pace. What I'm finding really interesting are the 'operating' hours of the shops - already I'm seeing shops that are open one day, but not the next. For instance, the place where I bought my SIM card was not open today - at all! I have no idea why, it just wasn't. As you walk down the street it's sort of a guessing game as to which stores will be open. Not even the cafeterias or the restaurantes are a sure bet. Also, the work day gears up here much later than ours - or so it seems to me. I'm also trying to remind myself not to walk so fast; my normal pace is a fairly quick walk and well, not many seem to walk that quickly here. It's not as though they plod along the sidewalks or anything but more of a stroll I would say. I'm sure my brisk pace makes me stand out so I'm really working on that.

Today I went for a couple of walks around my neighbourhood and now I feel quite comfortable in my surroundings. I did have one plan fall through though; I had intended to go to Retiro Park (huge park nearish to me) but could not find my Metro card which still has 9 rides left on it. As I didn't want to spend the euro on another one I returned home and finally! found it wedged into a book (darn those books) - although I have no idea how it got there. By that time I decided that the park wasn't going anywhere and I would go another day. I did however go out to eat (tortilla de patata y olivas) and then later went out for the least expensive glass of wine I have ever had - it was 1.30 euro! This tranlates to around $2 canadian and this was not your typical (north american) small glass of wine - the waitress filled it pretty much to the brim. I had a wonderful spot on the patio outside and read and wrote in my journal - I could not have been more content.