Shopping in Madrid

Shopping in Madrid

Oh my god, I promised to tell you about shopping in Madrid and then I almost forgot about it. The main reason why I didn’t wrote it shortly after my stay there was on the one hand that my mind was filled up with training topics and on the other hand I had to calm down as I was so angry on a person who crashed this shopping trip. I like to go shopping, some may even say I’m addicted to it. Mostly exciting for me are cities I visit for the first time as I can explore them step by step. My favorite parts are the small streets with small local shops. The main shopping areas always have the same shops we have almost everywhere around Europe and these are less interesting for me. If I buy something new I like it that not everyone has the same piece in his wardrobe. When I knew that I will be in Madrid for a few days I loved the idea of exploring the city but I was aware upfront that I will not go alone, we were three colleagues from Germany and its like an unwritten rule that you go together and not completely alone. That’s not the problem at all, as normally as an adult I would assume that even if I like one shop and the others don’t that they just move on and we meet up a few shops later again. Not in this case. One of the two others, and that was the one who told me upfront that shopping was the main aim, was crashing it completely. Zara and Mango, two shops we have here in Germany too, were the place to go for her. Accepted as I know they are cheaper in Spain because they are Spanish and they often have different collections, but that the first questions afterwards was where to sit down for a coffee was already making me slightly angry. We just went into the city and to sit down after two general shops for rest and coffee was ridiculous for me. Not only because I wanted to see other shops, no, also because I wanted to see Madrid, explore the city instead of staying in a cafe. She was persuaded quickly by me and the other colleague that we like to move on a bit. What happened then was even more ridiculous. She was standing near to the exit in each shop she didn’t liked and there were many she seemed to disapprove, it was like having a guard standing there, pointing to clock, yawning in between, a face like being exhausted and the urgent need to sit down and rest. You an imagine how much fun it was for us to stroll through a shop knowing that she’s waiting. It’s like putting pressure on someone without saying it, completely mean. But if you think we just stopped for a coffee and the world was ok afterwards, haha, not at all. After a coffee it was the same scenery as before, the one who wanted to buy her whole winter wardrobe in Madrid was standing in waiting position in front of each and every shop, one bag in her hand with a tiny, cheap, Mango pullover. I started to ignore it as my day was still kind of fine and I discovered a few more shops to enter as she was suddenly asking if we may go now and have dinner. Dinner at seven pm where the shops are open until nine? I would go for dinner at nine and enjoy the shopping upfront and besides that is seven time for having dinner? Maybe for a child but surely not for me while being in Madrid with shops open. But she was so hungry and her time for dinner is always seven and she made a face like fainting in five minutes if she’s not getting her dinner in time so that we finally said ok and swallowed the bitter pill. We never ate dinner as speedy as this to get out of the restaurant before the shops were closing. Forty five minutes later she was happy again as we were on our way back to the hotel and we, the other two, were sure of one thing: never ever go shopping this person!
As bottom line, Madrid is a wonderful city with lots of shops, there’s the main street, the gran via, and many of small streets with tiny and cute shops. Almost everything in fashion is a bit cheaper than in Germany and I’m really sad that it didn’t turned out as it was planned. I hopefully may go there once again, but this time not on business, just private to really enjoy the city.
My fiancé is already aware that next time he’s needed to carry my shopping bags 😉

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Madrid 2012

Madrid 2012

I told you I will for sure write something when being back. At the moment I’m sitting in the plane from Madrid back to Munich and yes, I like the idea of being back in my cosy home and in my own bed at night, but if it comes to the weather I’m scared to step out of the plane after arrival in Munich. When I left on Sunday it were thirteen °C and Madrid welcomed us with twenty-six °C. The mean thing is that this was for sure my last trip into the sun for this year. From today onwards the temperature will decrease into the darkest winter season and no plans before february/march next year to escape this winter. We didn’t had too much time left for just sitting it the sun and purely enjoying it but even if it was work we got a glimpse of a small vacation feeling. And Madrid is a relaxed city, people there have the typical Southern European style. Life everywhere you go, the streets in the city centre are crowded during the evening as if life I just about to start in the evening hours. Something I like so much as people seem to be much more relaxed than for example busy Germans. Having dinner at seven and not later because early sleep is needed to be back in the office the next morning at eight. Spanish people also work, at least the people I met from our company, and the workload isn’t less than mine, so how do they do it? I believe that the “key” is to set priorities, to not being perfect for eight hours a day and be relaxed. I’m not saying we all have to be relaxed our whole life now, we all face challenges, hurdles, timelines from time to time but nobody can make me believe that he or she has each day the most important job on this earth and it would fall into pieces as soon as the behavior is changed. We are not ruling the world, we may have important jobs whereas the word important is interpreted in many different meanings, but we are exchangeable, most of us. This trip was in first place for an on-the-job training but it taught me also life lessons. Even our trainers who see many different countries and offices within a short period of time are hunting through the day to finish classes earlier than planned and we didn’t miss important parts. I think even the opposite, we covered all topics within a shorter time frame as we focused on what’s important and stopped discussions with no effect. Another lesson, we need to focus, prioritize instead of running in circles of stupid things. Put aside rubbish and more precious time is left for what really matters! I tried it already over the last months which I just realize now while writing. Step aside and have look onto your own life. We are starting sometimes in the correct way without planning to do so but then stopped all of a sudden because we didn’t realize where we already have been. Starting again the search for new ways to feel mor comfortable. What’s right in front of us is often invisible. Gosh, did I learn all this in these few days Madrid? And where’s the interesting part about he shopping? Sorry, guys, but my head is full of all these training methods which never apply only to your job. If it’s a good trainer you will transfer it to general situations in your life because just then you realize that all these methods aren’t just theory, no, they really work! We had a part about managing “others” and managing risks. If you just put it into relation with your current job role you are limiting you view on it and it’s likely to get stucked at a point. But just take these words – manage, risk – and now put them into relation with you privat life, your family. Don’t we all manage something on a daily basis and aren’t there risks included in almost everything? Just the shopping in the supermarket is something to manage and there are unforeseen risks or risks which cause some effects afterwards. Be prepared (write a detailed list of what to buy), think about risks (I can’t bake a cherry cake when cherries are out), maybe you have a back up plan (take apples instead of cherries and bake an apple pie), or there’s the risk that you forgot to add something important to your list and realize back home that milk is missing. What does it mean? Unaccounted additional efforts needed (second drive back to the supermarket, additional time needed). This is really working on my mind and even if I started to write about the city, the beauty of it and the shopping areas I’m not able to do it right now. Just finish one thing at a time, also something not to underestimate. I promise I write another day about Madrid and what I discovered during my short stay there :-).
Take care and don’t take life more serious than it it is!

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Planning a Business Trip to Madrid

Planning a Business Trip to Madrid

When traveling for business purposes what should be on your mind?
For sure to finish your work while being there.
This time I’m traveling soon to Madrid but even if its business, it’s “just” a training.
So what’s the difference?
The difference is that it’s far more casual than having to provide results to a client afterwards. It’s an internal training on the job which is of course also important but in another way. I will be the trainee and not the trainer and just have to sit and listen instead of presenting. That way it’s more relaxed. I will travel with two colleagues and also meet colleagues when being there. Almost all are women, so?
Madrid – we are coming!
Eating tapas in the best tapas bar guided by locals, shopping, we already found out that there are two big shopping malls near to our hotel, and the city itself has so much to discover also. It’s like a short trip to a city which contains work but instead of sitting in the hotel after training to prepare the next day we have free time to discover the amenities Madrid has. These times remind me always on school trips, you had to went into different museums and churches and listen to the guide or teacher but the fun started afterwards when you had a few hours left for yourself.
And what to say, I’m living in Munich and of course we have more than enough places for shopping, but what I like is to discover stores and little shops which sell stuff not available in Munich or Germany. Small shops from the locals and even big stores which aren’t based anywhere in Germany. The best is to have something where you exactly know, no one else has the same, it’s kind of unique when being back home. It doesn’t mean it has to be expensive, not at all, if its on sale it’s even more fun.
But it’s not completely about shopping, more about the whole package.
You just stroll through a city which is completely new for you, stopping here and there, stepping into small shops which attract you, sitting in cafés for a break and enjoy the time.
I like it so much to discover cities on my own without guidance and just have the opportunity to stop whenever and wherever I like to. It’s a bit like a short holiday even when is work but the location change is setting free energy as you don’t want to leave a city without having seen it. And I know what I’m asking about, I did it for so many years. When I started working for the company I was always traveling, mostly within Germany, but during this time I had to deliver results at the end of the day and the days where based on flying somewhere, hurrying to the taxi and driving to the workplace for the day. After work was finished it was either the same way back home or driving into a hotel, writing reports in the evening and ordering dinner to the room. Honestly, I was in almost all big cities we have in Germany and for the most of them I hadn’t the time to see more than hotels and airports.
Glad that these times are gone, they were an experience but nowadays I like working in my home office and from time to time I get the possibility to plan trips like this time Madrid with less pressure behind. I’m not the career type at all but I have to admit that sometimes stepping up the ladder into higher positions provides you with opportunities you hadn’t before and I worked hard enough to get there. That’s why I can say today that I like it.
Let’s see what Madrid is like, looking forward to it as I haven’t been there before and I will let you know afterwards if I like it or not.
And I have to fulfill a special task and make pictures of the Real Madrid stadion 😉
Keep the faith!

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