arrival

So I´ve arrived in Madrid!  My luggage didn´t though.  Seems it like Amsterdam better.  This is, of course, disappointing to me and discomfiting to the people who will be forced to smell my 3 day old clothes.  Not too big a deal, though.  At least I don´t have to carry the darn thing.
 
I wasn´t in this jolly  mood a few hours ago.  I didn´t get much sleep on the plane last night and am in that strange stumbling state peculiar to jetlag.  I found a sale at the big department store here and went in to pick up some necessities - shampoo, soap, underwear, shirt.  It was bright and antiseptic in there and loud techno was blaring.  The colors of the moment in Madrid are electric pink, a lime green so bright it hurts the eyes, radioactive lemon... I almost called it quits as I woozily pawed through the stinging colors.  But I didn´t and now I´m the owner of a tomato red tank top.  And after a shower I´m feeling much more generous towards the world.
 
The street the hostal is on has a unique and wonderful quality -- it seems different every time I walk down it.  First it had the home of Lope de Vega on it.  Next sortie, it had Cervantes´home.  On one outing a tiny cafe with dark wood and dusty bottles.  The next, a fancy hair salon. 
 
I think I need to get some sleep.