First full day

Pouring rain. I didn't really have any firm plans, so I'm not really bothered. I spent 10 minutes standing under the awning of a kiosk before I realized that right across from me was a place where I could get coffee and a crepe, so now I'm having a second breakfast.

There are a few things I want to pick up from a store, but I don't know where the store is, so this gives me a chance to search for one.

Just as I was served my food, two men in their twenties came in wet from the rain and took seats right behind me. One of them was speaking loudly to the other in the kind of voice that carries even in a half-crowded cafe. He was talking when he came in and just kept talking. Some kind of blather about Jungian archetypes, the "artist" and tne "warrior" and how all your past lives create your habitual behavior. He just would not stop talking. After five minutes of that I decided I'd rather be out in the rain.

I took the metro over to Gran Via and shopped for a few things. Gran Via is where most of those gorgeous buildings from the first 30 years of the 20th century are located, and now it's a main shopping street for tourists. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I went off the main drag and chanced upon a crappy discount store, where I found two of the three things I wanted. This counts as a win, since one of the things I was anxious about before my trip was the ability to find things I needed. I know, it's a major world capital, of course there's everything. But the question is not only what's the name for it here, but what kind of store has it.

Then I made my way back back toward the hotel to Plaza de Santa Ana, where I was originally headed when the rain began.