home sweet home - "de madrid al cielo"

there is a saying in madrid, "de madrid al cielo" (from madrid to heaven). what is meant is that it doesn't get any better than madrid. now i definitely am a bit fan, but am not quite sure i'd go that far.

having said that... i spent most of my day outside of madrid in a suburb and a small town outside of madrid (mostoles y cobeña respectfully) and spent more than a little on buses, trains, a car, and the metro. more than ever i was wishing i already had both my driver's license and a car. so... i took the train back into madrid, got off at recoletos (by colón) and walked home. i walked out of the train station onto the castillana (a huge 5 lane street that goes through the center of madrid, past cibeles and the major museums, etc) and thought, "ah, por fin, vuelvo a casa!" ("ah, home sweet home").

and it seemed a bit ironic after having been out in cobeña, a very quiet and tiny town, and mostoles, a suburb where people live who don't want to live in the city. yet despite the hustle and bustle, everything felt familiar, i'm used to traffic noise, i actually like all the people around (in part because it's fun to people watch and i enjoy walking quickly down the street). so, madrid is my little home. at least for now.