The Backpack Press

I must say, “I’m back in Madrid” is one very happy sentence for me. But this getting back tonight was late, empty, curious. 

Allow me to elaborate.

Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid are two big soccer teams – and they played each other tonight. My flight got in late and the airport was empty. Everyone watching the game, I think.

The T4 terminal at Madrid Barajas is a work of art. My favorite airport terminal.

And everything was neat and put away.

It felt like I was walking with Howard Carter into a freshly discovered pharaoh’s tomb.

The cabbie the dispatcher at the airport gave me said “No” when I got in and told him I was going into the center of town. Football game. Streets are all closed to traffic, he said.

So I hopped the Metro, which was cheaper certainly, and empty, for the most part.

With a string of empty stations. On the three lines I used to get into town.

But light at the end of the subway tunnel! McDonald’s was still open – so I got my ceremonial Big Mac meal.

And settled in to watch the game. 

Real Madrid won.