A quick escape to Madrid

Parisians weary of their strict national lockdown are flocking over the border to Madrid, where bars and restaurants are open and people can stay outdoors until 10pm, even as COVID-19 batters Europe in a virulent third wave.

With France’s cultural venues shut, restaurants unable to serve meals on-site and a strictly-enforced 6pm curfew, leisure-seekers have eyed their southern neighbour’s capital and the Spaniards are everything but thrilled. 

Airports have been eerily empty and most duty free shops have been closed. Until recently you could breeze through customs (yes, IDs are required within the Schengen area again) and they whizzed you through the security check. Travelling hasn't been this easy since before 2001. 

As a regular commuter between Paris and Madrid, I have noted the increased activity as of late, the aircrafts are fuller and passengers look younger than usual?! 

It has been almost half a year, since Parisians could enjoy a drink on a terrace. The overriding feeling, traveling to Madrid, has been one of freedom. It must be said that mask-wearing and social distancing is much more respected here than in France. I consider myself lucky having a valid excuse and being able to escape to Spain regularly to get a taste of what life will hopefully look like again in the near future. 

Blue skies awaiting me in Spain

A welcome apertivo of Cava and truffle-flavoured chips

Waiting to serve clients on the terrace

A taste of Argentina

This is pure luxury

Enjoying the sun during a Sunday lunch

Buon appetito!

Suggerencias del dia

A funky bathroom

No day would be complete without an ice cream

 

Globetrotting and loving it!

Happy New Year 2021

Heading North

It has been 11 weeks... 11 weeks since Spain opened its border with France and we jumped into our car and hit the road. For the first time we drove the 1250km in one go without a pit stop along the seaside at San Sebastian. 

It was a smooth ride, not a single tourist car in sight, no French trailer, no Dutch caravan, no Moroccan overloaded car only kilometers of trucks heading South but they all stuck to their lane so we cruised along and made it in 12 hours.

The way back was equally easy. The school holidays were over and many travellers had decided not to leave their country this summer. So, no overnight stop in Arcachon but due to an administrative glitch we needed to stop along the French border for a "contrôle téchnique" during which we had lunch in a rather dull industrial area but ... the Lemon Meringue pie was delicious! Lunch menu for two at 12.- Euros... you cannot beat that?!?

Food is memories

 

A simple trip

Until six months ago we used to take a plane like we hopped on a bus. You bought your ticket and off you went. With Covid travelling came to a screeching halt. We had been sitting still for over 16 weeks, most of which we weren't even aloud out of our flat, except for grocery shopping and a some dire-needed exercise.

Beginning of this year I was heading towards a new personal record, spending a total of seven days in Paris over a period of five weeks!! Last Monday, I took a plane after being grounded for 21 weeks. It felt liberating, exhilarating and oh so satisfying. I confess social distancing was difficult at times but the Spaniards were very compliant to the rules and respectful towards each other on my plane from Madrid to Ibiza.

It made me stop and appreciate all the simple things we take for granted when traveling by plane... even a cup of coffee!

Lavazza coffee at 8am in the morning: a welcome sight!

Keeping our distance while boarding the plane

Some chick-lit and a bottle of water... who needs more?

Disembarking one row at a time... never experienced such discipline EVER!

Even the rental car has succumbed to new safety measures.

I've been busy

Remember, back in March when we thought the whole Covid-thing would be over by summer? If we could just get through to July and hopefully go on holidays somewhere beyond the borders? As the days went by these possibilities seem to slim down until the Parisians started frantically searching for affordable places to rent in France over the summer. 

I followed the French and Spanish news every day to see when we could skip the border towards the sunshine. June 21st - after a few false alarms - we were finally allowed into the Iberian peninsula.

Since then I have been busy... busy reuniting with my friends, busy catching up with neighbours, busy enjoying the sunshine, busy sipping pink cava, busy with my online fitness classes, busy with paperwork (I never get around the boring stuff), I even managed a quick trip to the Corte Ingles, Spain's one and only iconic department store which survives despite its humongous stocks of every item under the sun!?!

I've celebrated my birthday with friends and family, had reunions and girly get-togethers, all while trying to keep my distance because as my lovely friend paraphrases the Covid situation: "It is not the places we go to it is our behaviour!"

Celebrating in Madrid

The day we have been longing for...

The road trip from Paris to Madrid is 1250km long. This year given the circumstances we decided not enjoy our habitual pitstop in San Sebastian. We would skip the long walk along La Concha, the crescent shaped urban seaboard of the city and the delicious Basque "pintxos" the local word for small bar bites otherwise known as tapas in the bustling old town.

We would rise at the crack of dawn to avoid the Parisian rush hour starting at 7am and hopefully make it to our destination in time for dinner... Spanish dinner time that is to say is anything after 10pm.

We had cool runnings, we cruised out of Paris watching the long queues form coming into the city. We sailed around Bordeaux, usually a hotspot for traffic riddled with speed cameras. We hardly noticed the border crossing... no check points, no police, no nothing... and were in! Loud cheers and yelling followed by a feeling of accomplishment that we had finally managed to get out of Paris, past the 1km radius, further than the 100km radius and the realization that confinement was definitely over.

We were lucky, the journey took us 12 hours door to door with a few coffee stops along the way. No tourist cars in sight, petrol stations were deserted but trucks were lining the right hand lane of the road from Paris to San Sebastian. We assumed this magnitude of the single queue sometimes denser than others was due to the Iberian border just having opened up and the air transport still extremely limited. Thankfully, however, the lorry drivers stuck to their side of the highway and let us sail by to make it home in time for dinner.

Let the summer begin! 

Free at last

It is the moment we have been waiting for since confinement started on March 16th. We have been following the news daily hoping the borders would open in time for summer. We had visions of us spending July and August in Paris OR setting off to the South of France with the half of its residents squeezed together in a TGV or stuck in a humongous traffic jam.

But... we got lucky! After a few false alarms Spain's border with France finally opened up on June 21st and we were in that car heading south. Olé!

Never have I been happier to arrive in Madrid with the prospect of spending the next months enjoying my pink cava (prosecco) and basking in the sunshine... but let's start with breakfast and catch up on the local gossip first!

 

The good and the bad

Over the summer holidays, I found myself more than once comparing our life in Paris to the summers we spend in Spain. I cannot help but notice that I have spent two months with:

- NO rain
- NO make up
- NO sweaters
- NO complaining Parisians
- NO navigating cobblestones in high heels
- NO monotone wardrobe in shades of grey
- NO slaloming around dog poop on pathments
- NO strikes
- NO Gilets Jaunes

instead I have:

- a fabulous tan
- enjoyed blue skies all day every day
- lived with open windows night and day
- eat breakfast on the terrace EVERY morning
- lived in sandals and flip flops
- wore summer dresses and shorts all the time
- bathed in hot weather
- drank lots of good and affordable cava (sparkling wine) and Sangria
- every airport run took 15 min for drop off and pick up (instead of one hour!)
- held dinner parties with friendly neighbours until 4 am (that has NEVER happened in Paris)
- hung out with my gang of unconditional girlfriends (who all wore colourful prints)
- gained 3 kilos

... and I can't wait to go back. Hasta luego España!

Heading North 1270km

Summer in Madrid

Madrid... my love!

Wearing sandals and flip flops all summer...

Cava is flowing...

Tapas to keep me going...

Centre city at 40°C

A stroll though the city with my girlfriends 

Just look at the bottom of those balconies... they are beautifully tiled!

A morning jog surrounded by a marvellous lavender smell

My neighbour makes the best margaritas in town

When you have your neighbours over for dinner and 

end up going to bed later than your teenage kids!

The motivational quote at the entrance of the Bikram Yoga studio!

A dress fit for a princess

Add Madrid to girlfriends and fashion and it is guaranteed to equal fun! Following a group whatsapp proposal four chirpy ladies headed to the Thyssen museum to discover what connected the work of Cristobal Balenciaga, the most admired and influential fashion designer of all times, with the tradition of 16th to 20th-century Spanish painting.

I have visited a few Balenciaga exhibits in Paris over the years but this one was unique. Who knew that references to Spanish art and culture are a recurring presence in Balenciaga’s work? Over a span of five decades he managed to revive historic garments and reinterpret them in a strikingly modern manner.

We admired over 90 items of clothing and accessories and 50 paintings of great names of Spanish art, such as El Greco, Velázquez, Zurbarán and Goya, all inspiring the work of the influential Basque fashion designer. This explosive cocktail combining talent and colours caught all our admiration of the beauty of creativity and the detail in exquisite handcraft.

All four of us wondered where the clothes had come from? It seems some of the Balenciaga pieces on display were lost and then resurfaced. The name of Hamish Bowles intrigued us. A quick google to discover he is a fashion collector extraordinaire who loaned some of his discoveries, including a flower-embroidered top he first saw at the age of 12, when it was auctioned off for £60 at a jumble sale.

Apparently the thirteen masterpieces from the Prado are so exceptional that they cannot leave Spain, or in one case cannot even leave the palace. So it’s impossible for the exhibition to travel. The insurance is so high! Therefore my suggestion would be: gather some girlfriends and have yourself a jolly outing to Madrid... it is worth it!

Ignacio Zuloaga's "Portrait of María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, Duchess of Alba" behind a taffeta evening gown from 1952 and echoed in the flounces of a pink cocktail dress - my personal favourite!

Stunning Francisco de Goya, "Cardinal Luis Maria de Borbón y Vallabriga" against a satin dress and jacket with metallic thread, sequins and ceramic beads (1960)

Juan Carreño de Miranda’s portrait of Doña María de Vera y Gasca and Balenciaga's modern reinterpretation of the Velázquezian shape

"Christ Blessing" by El Greco magnificently reflected in pink and blue evening dresses

El Greco's "The Annunciation" against evening gowns in silk organza (1968)

Jet-black dresses presented with a dense, dark painting by El Greco

The Portrait of the VI Countess of Miranda mirrored in a satin evening gown from 1943

Rodrigo de Villandrando's "Isabel de Borbón, Wife of Philip IV"  was the inspiration to a 1957 wedding dress of silk shantung embroidered with silver thread

An exquisite detail of craftsmanship 

Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972), the designer who Christian Dior defined as “the master of us all”

Far left, a satin and mink wedding dress that Balenciaga made for Queen Fabiola of Belgium in 1960, set against portraits by Francisco Zurbarán (1628-34)

Goya's "Queen María Luisa in a dress with hooped skirt" reinventing into an evening gown of satin, pearls and beads from 1963

Antonio María Esquivel's "The Dancer Josefa Vargas" frivolously retaylored into a taffeta and embroidered cotton trim cocktail dress from 1955

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum displays over 1,600 paintings. It was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection and was initially housed in the family estate in Lugano until 1988 when the request for building a further extension by Baron Thyssen was rejected by the City Council.