I went for my first run today in Retiro Park, which is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) park in Madrid and is only a couple blocks away from my apartment. I don't know why I put off running for so long, it was a relieving and exciting adventure. I have spent a good amount of time in Retiro but never by myself and never just to simply admire my surroundings.
It's amazing how much goes on in this park, and how many different types of people you see. From children sitting and watching a puppet show with huge grins on their faces to the old man sitting on a bench playing his trumpet for pleasure, not for money; it is all such a perfect image of European life. I feel like I'm beggining to appreciate Madrid on a whole new level.
Little things that I would never think of mentioning when someone says "how was Madrid?!". There was a pair of teenagers probably, no older than 16 that were just sitting in the most odd place, away from everything in grass that didn't look too compfortable. I stopped a few yards away from them to stretch on a bench and realized he was playing ACDC's "Highway to Hell", so I kept an ear out for what he was going to play next. He then played "Wonderwall" by Oasis, one of me and Emma's songs from middle school that I still love to this day. He had an obvious accent while he was singing these over-played American songs, but I loved it and wanted to lay down next to this couple all day and just listen. I feel like everyone around me is in love. Whether it be with the person sitting next to them or with the nutella crepe in their hands, everyone in Europe is full of passion and romance. I never see elderly couples in America like the ones I see here. Here they make an effort to dress up a little bit for a stroll in the park together, always hand in hand or arm in arm. They take their sweet and precious time. They are probably the only people with whom I don't get frustrated with when they are walking incredibly slow and I am stuck behind them. I always take notice of their relaxed pace, as they stroll through Retiro for probably their thousandth time. I want to grow old in Europe.
The musicians around Madrid make my heart melt, whenever I pass by them they make my day that much better. When I think Madrid or Europe in general, I think baguette, small streets, with a man playing an accoridon on the corner. The saxaphonists in Retiro are amazing as well. I found myself choosing my running path in accordance to whatever music I heard next as well as the greenest and prettiest lit pathways. Sometimes I like making myself feel like I'm in a movie, and today I totally felt like I was in one.
There's this song by Jack Johnson called "Belle", it's short and sweet but fits in with my Europe-loving mood, I need to find more music like that. I think I'll do that right now actually!
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