Trains, metros and automobiles
Transportation in Madrid is social and patterned. Passing through turnstiles you commit to a way of being together: elderly priority seating, stroller and mom, squeeze but respect space, make room for oncomers, commuters in their own Kindle world and young teenagers in packs without supervision. Although public transportation can be confining, there is also freedom and adventure. We are on the metro to the Chamartin station to catch a train to Segovia. Twenty euro round trip ticket on the high speed Ave , and we arrive in thirty minutes. Thirty years ago I remember getting to the station with my backpack, looking up to the salidas board and deciding where to go. Today we bought tickets at a kiosk with a card and selected our return tonight at 9:30. Then I wrote in my journal and fotos with my camera, saving three months of film rolls in an X-ray bag; today I blog and sacar fotos on my phone. I love the time on the train for reflecting, talking, eating without worrying about renti