Sunday: took a field trip. Hopped the Metro, made the trip out of the city center almost all the way to Barajas Airport to a hugeass exposition center, the site of, among other humongous affairs, the annual Leisure Fair (la Feria del Ocio). Don't ask me what drove me to go to this event -- I have no explanation. Saw it in local what's-happening listings, felt myself seized by an irrational impulse. Next thing I knew, there I was, one among hundreds, then thousands that streamed into the expo center. The entry passage to the pavilions that housed the fair were off to one side, I noticed people heading in that direction clutched big green passes that lackeys tore bits off before letting anyone in. I noticed that, but try as I might I couldn't see anywhere to pick up a pass. Finally went to the big info. desk, put the question to one of the women there who stared at me like I was mentally deficient and directed me to a row of ticket windows outside the building, was off to one side.
Bought admission pass, went back inside, presented it to ticket-tearing lackey. Ticket torn, I slipped inside to find....
Four enormous exhibition halls filled with stuff I didn't want. All sorts of stuff, all of it products that might somehow -- vaguely, barely in some cases -- be considered to have a connection with leisure.
Furniture, especially leather living room furniture. Wii. Sharp flat-screen TV's. Playstation. One or two stalls of decent art, many other stalls of hideous art (i.e., bad copies of classics like The Starry Night -- but happily, nothing on black velvet and not a single image of Elvis in sight.) Cookware, with demonstrators making yummy-looking dishes that no spectators got to eat. Greenpeace. (Huh??) Jacuzzi's. Prefab swimming pools. More prefab houses than I have ever seen in one place in my entire blessed life (most looking far, far too artificially rustic). Flats for purchase or rental in other countries. Motorcycles. ATV's. Camper vans, camping trailers. Tents, from the modest to the wildly, bizarrely ostentatious. Stalls for campgrounds (called 'campings' here).
Entertainment! (space shuttle simulator to the rear)
A pause to retreate to a nearly-empty cafetería for a decent cup of café con leche and a half-decent croissant. A trip to a men's room filled with the sound of kids carrying on -- high-pitched voices talking excitedly, laughter, a few well-executed farts, more laughter.
Then back out to continue wading through the world of leisure:
Stalls for products made from aloe vera. A stall selling los libros más pequeños del mundo (the smallest books in the world). Stalls peddling trashy tchotchkes from Russia, from India. Huge lines of people waiting at stalls for Nestle's, Buitoni, etc. for teeny samples of drink and pizza pockets. A stall with mountains of bonbons wrapped in brightly-colored paper. And finally, large, wonderful stalls of Spanish food from all over the country. No samples being handed out, but visuals that made me happy.
And finally out into sunshine/chilly air and down into the Metro, squeezing into a train filled with travelers making the trip from the airport into the city center, baggage on wheels everywhere.
Sunday. In Madrid. Taking in some weird entertainment.
España, te echo de menos.
rws 12:48 PM [+]
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