madrid - where's your ID?

martha, the tour guide made more of an impression to him than madrid did just like visiting a toilet vs touring the iconic sites.

they reached madrid city center at 11.30am. everyone was urgently looking for some place to ease their bladders. some went to the fast food outlets, but were denied entry unless they bought the food there to have the password to the toilet. he and a few of them crossed the street and met a man from an office building, who pointed them to go up the building. they went up 1 floor, and there they found a very clean toilet for the office workers.

madrid, a comparatively young city(compared with other spanish cities), was the 3rd largest city in europe after london and berlin. as in other european cities, history and historical buildings are what the tour guides will go thru with the tourists. martha did a good job, but he did not have the time to listen to her, as he was, as usual, more engaged with snapping up whatever that struck him.

they went to the outside of real madrid stadium and its souvenir shop.

when they were about to leave the paying counter, suimen, the lady from the group was stuck with a few merchandise at the counter. the cashier asked for her identity before allowing her to sign her credit card, suspecting that she was under-age. her parents and sis already left her for the bus. she was desperately dialing for them, but all had their phones shut off. ended up they paid for her first.

- spain's economy may be doomed, but you still see that in the big cities, people still spend and eat like nothing had happened. the cashiers are sanguine enough to ask for one's identity if in doubt, but they cannot ask how much you have in the bank before you pay up.