I carefully made my calculations the night before: I needed to be at coordinates 40°24’49.7″ N 3°40’58.0″ W by 8:09 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025 and face east-southeast.
That would let me see the sunrise through the magnificent crystal facade of the Glass Palace in el Parque del Buen Retiro.
But that didn’t happen.
My math was correct. I was there on time. The weather cooperated. But I didn’t account for the fact that the Glass Palace was wrapped in opaque plastic while renovations were taking place inside.
Oh well. Plenty of other things to see in Retiro at sunrise. Let’s take a walk!
Estanque Grande, which sits in the heart of Retiro, translates to “Grand Lake.” It is not related to singer and actress Ariana Grande, one of the stars of the musical “Wicked,”The sun’ll come up / Behind me / Bet your bottom euro that / This morning, there’ll be sun.Mañana, mañana, I love ya, mañana! (Mañana means both “tomorrow” and “morning,” so this caption is correct.)
Ducks being ducks.A statue of Alfonzo XII, who did not go by the nickname “the Fonz,” is silhouetted against the sunlit clouds.Even though everything is connected in the Alfonso Cinematic Universe, you can enjoy Alfonso XII even if you haven’t seen I through XI.You may remember the Puerta de Alcalá from “The Muppets Take Madrid.”These cypress trees have been pruned into abstract shapes. They are not, as I originally thought, genetically engineered giant broccoli stalks that must be destroyed before they achieve sentience and turn against humanity. It was an honest understanding on my part—I mean, who wouldn’t have reached the same conclusion?—yet the police insisted on charging me with arson.Some of the entrances to Retiro have ornate gates. This is not one of the major ones, but it was the one closest to the broccoli trees and I needed to flee the scene. You do not need to get your hand stamped if you want to return later.The Prado museum sits west of Retiro.1 Its gift store has many T-shirts, posters, keychains, and other items depicting “Las Meninas,” a Baroque masterpiece and one of Spain’s most iconic paintings. The painting itself isn’t in the gift shop, but somewhere else in the museum.I ended my stroll at the VIPS at the Palace Hotel, facing the Neptune Fountain and across the street from the Prado. Imagine something like a Denny’s (with good food and no stench of failure) attached to a Waldorf-Astoria and across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Am I a tourist? A local? The waiter wasn’t sure and brought me both menus. At least he didn’t bring the English one first. Trying to pass is a madrileño is a competition and my score isn’t too hot these days.Let’s raise a latte to another good retreat through the Parque del Buen Retiro!
