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The big theme of the Madrid trip was occupied at its core by the 'Real Madrid' match. The truth is, it's no exaggeration to say I went to Madrid because of this 'match.' I'd decided to spend 'Christmas' in Barcelona, and after that Christmas I really wanted to go to Madrid, the capital of Spain. But also, holding out 6 days just watching this match seemed a bit much, so I went to museums too. The story about the Prado Museum is in the first Madrid travelogue. So when I looked for places to go here, there was the nearby city of Toledo, and there were the Madrid Royal Palace and 'Sol Plaza.' Plus a big park too..but this time I'll just write about the palace..
1.
This day was the second day after arriving in Madrid. The first day was actually quite exhausting. There are various reasons to be exhausted, but to start, the 'wallet theft incident' that happened while crossing over from Barcelona had a big mental impact on the three travelers. Even though I wasn't the one who lost it, because my closest companion lost his wallet, my heart ached, I got angry, and the mood couldn't help but sink. When we entered Madrid station I thought it was a really nice place..but this darned 'wallet' theft changed the mood of Madrid's first day a lot. So the food we ate on the first day was precisely this.
The 'Carrefour' in Madrid luckily had a butcher shop. That is, there was a proper butcher shop, so I could eat the 'cut of meat I wanted.' The truth is, it had been so very long since I'd eaten samgyeopsal that the Korean older brother and I had been missing samgyeopsal a lot, and partly to lift our mood, 'samgyeopsal' just happened to be chosen. It truly couldn't have been anything but a blessing from the gods. If you look closely, you'd realize it's not grilled samgyeopsal; it's a samgyeopsal cut stir-fried in a pan with a little oil along with garlic and onion. On the first day we stir-fried all the vegetables together too and ate it with rice and napa cabbage, but I don't have a photo from that time so I substituted a photo from another day.
2.
So the first day passed, and the older brother stayed home to recover mentally, while William and I headed for Madrid's palace. The name, <Palacio de real madrid>. The weather this day was also tremendously good, so it was quite nice for taking photos. As it happened, the photo right below was taken with the iPhone's front camera, so the sky part got all washed out, but it was a day of truly blue sky. Referring to the third photo will make it easy.
Since the weather was this good, people had all come out and were swarming beside the palace. There was no special changing-of-the-guard ceremony or anything, and I took selfies, wandered around with William talking about this and that, and roamed outside the palace. The reason we couldn't get into the palace on the first attempt was that the line was too long and I didn't have the confidence to push through that line, so we gave up on the first day—so the day we entered the palace ended up being the 3rd day.
The Madrid palace was quite large, but rather than talking separately about the palace, I'm reminded of a topic I discussed with William while talking about the kings who lived in this large palace. The topic was 'freedom and happiness.' (You might say what a nonsensical idea it is to discuss freedom and happiness in English..) I found myself unwittingly wondering whether this large palace was really a free place. Inside there were paintings by Goya, many paintings by others, and there were many gilded walls so dazzlingly ornate, and all sorts of things. But as for why we discussed 'freedom and happiness,' it was because of the sudden thought that, even in such a large space, the moment one is born royalty and grows accustomed to this 'palace,' this large palace too would ultimately be nothing more than a prison.
Why—these days we live without restrictions on movement. No one restricts us from going somewhere. No one forbids it. The new system called the 'passport' does block us, but most Koreans don't have to worry about visas. Korea is a country that can enter about 150 nations without a visa. So in fact, if you just have 'money,' you can go anywhere. For us, freedom exists. Of course, there are also female university students in their twenties for whom freedom doesn't exist. There are surely households where parents set a 'curfew' time, telling them to be home by 10, by 11—I've written about this before, but even the kids in Northern European countries, where the sexual-crime rate is overwhelmingly higher, don't have such things... Moreover, the reason those kids go home early is that there's no nightlife, so they go home early. I think our country's 'nightlife'—that is, the culture where neon signs stay lit even past midnight—ruins children, yet even so the sexual-crime rate is on the lower side. It's an era where one should think about whether to go home early as a matter of individual choice...yet I can only think of it as an outdated culture. Forbidding individual freedom is not the answer. Giving individuals freedom and learning how to regulate it oneself—that is, autonomously—would be the way of a 21st-century developed nation...
The story veered off for a moment, but whether king, prince, princess, or queen, the palace would not have been a space of freedom. It was more likely a palace where bloody power and the schemes of words came and went. If someone raised the odd question of why it's so hard to see portraits of them all with 'joyful expressions,' I would answer like this.
That they probably had no peace of mind, and that there were too many things binding them to feel happy..
If you walk about 5 minutes from the Madrid palace, you reach a place called Puerta del sol. That is, the 'Gate of the Sun,' usually called 'Sol Plaza,' and the churros here....I still remember it, sob sob. I should have eaten more churros that day. I mean, in Korea when you usually buy 2,000 won worth of churros they give you one or two big ones, but here for 2.5 euros they put in about 4 and a half...ah, Korea's cost of living really is expensive....the churros that day were perfect as a snack substitute, and I'm reminded of William. We talked about this and that in front of the Madrid national theater while eating churros, haha
It was right after Christmas in December, that is, it falls during 'Europe's year-end holidays,' so this many people had come out. This side here is the 'side face.' This side is close to the city center, so there were more people in this vicinity. Looking at people's clothing, it's mostly coats/jeans/cotton pants, hard to see field jackets, and padding jackets are hard to see too. It's because the weather is warm. I too wandered around wearing just a coat..
I tried to capture in a photo the one and only—truly the one and only—part where the royals could have some 'leisure.' Beside the palace there was a green zone like this. Looking at the layout of the palace grounds, there was a path where you could stand looking out at this green zone; of course, it was off-limits so I couldn't even enter, but I suspect this place was the one and only space of contemplation where the royals could 'set their hearts at ease and think for a while.' For them, who by my guess weren't happy, this space would have become true 'oxygen,' but on the other hand it would also have become a 'wall'...They could obtain freedom and happiness only by going beyond this nature, but in their situation, throwing everything away and returning to being commoners would also have been a frightening thing.
There really were a lot of people. The last week of December's Mass...this is a photo taken at the cathedral right across from the palace. From what I saw, the bishop was presiding over Mass...sadly there were too many people, so I just came out. Spain is, after all, a Catholic country..
3. Closing.
What are freedom and happiness? I think I'm enjoying freedom and happiness these days. If I want to wander, I wander; if I want to be happy, I listen to music or soak up some sunlight—well, by whatever means, I think 'happiness' can be obtained. But 'freedom' seems possible only when there's peace of mind. Even when studying, if you have peace of mind, you can find your own freedom within a limited time. Even if you feel you have no 'freedom' due to a busy schedule all day, that may in fact be a mistaken conclusion. If you look well within the small bits of time, you can find 'moments when I am free.' If you find happiness within those free moments, isn't such a life a pretty decent life? Looking back, the times I spent back then were free and happy. And those memories make today's me happy..
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