Passion is what drives you

You may have realized by now that I love to travel. I love it so much that I daresay it is more than just a hobby of mine, --but not to the point of a passion. I fear one can only have a limited number of passions in life for them to truly be worth calling a passion. And however far my love for travel goes, it will never rival my real passion, which is food. That said, the one can only accentuate the other, and combined the two leave in my heart a profound sense of contentment. But when my mind is set on combining my love of travel with my passion for food and something goes awry, I am left with a momentary feeling of utter disappointment - almost to the point of temporary depression, until I find something 5 minutes later to fill the void.

Let's take the day trip Tim and I had in Madrid for example. It was a lovely trip, absolutely lovely. (And I seldom use that word for my lack of a brilliant British accent - but have decided to use it now, since no other word comes close to expressing the loveliness of that day). And that loveliness wasn't even marred by the bitter disappointment I felt for one brief moment, due to Tim's quick thinking.

Before leaving for Spain I naturally did my research to decide where I'd like to go and what I'd like to see. Knowing that I'd be in Madrid for one of those days, I did my research on that city as well... but only got so far as to decide I'd have to stop by La Violeta to taste and buy some of the cities most well renowned violet candies. So, with that, and the main reason for the Madrid trip which was to go to the temple, I felt content.
Tim requested we take the high speed train, which is a passion of his, so I naturally obliged. It was quite nice to arrive in Madrid in a third of the time it'd take on the road, without having to deal with airport security and the likes. And Tim was like a child in a toy shop, all giddy at the prospects of being on a train that can go all the way up to 300 kph. He would express his enthusiasm by pointing out how quickly we had passed by one city or another, and on the return trip when the train reached 298kph he had to call his dad to share in his excitement. And I... well, I couldn't help but laugh.

We arrived in Madrid a little before noon. It is a vastly different city than Barcelona. The major buildings have more of a Romanesque feel to them than the carefree and whimsical architecture found in Barcelona. But is absolutely beautiful, all the same. Upon stepping out of the train station we found the city to be slightly deserted and many of the shops appeared to be closed. Our fears were confirmed as we sat down to a light lunch, that we had chosen a holiday to make our descent into Madrid.

Undeterred, we made our way over to La Violeta for my sake. Tim couldn't believe that with everything Madrid had to offer all I wanted to do was buy violet candies, but he humored me anyway. Then when we reached the shop and found it closed, I stood paralyzed in despair. I had traveled all the way to Madrid to try a violet candy, only to find that my attempts were in vain. All the joy had drained from my face as I gazed at the display candies taunting me from the windows. Tim pulled me into a hug, pat my head lightly and said "There, there Claire... don't cry." And with that we promptly found a bakery where we purchased a large donut for each of us to eat while sitting on a park bench.

With the void filled - in my stomach at least - and having come to terms with the trauma that had just occurred, we continued on with the rest of our day. Our trip to the temple was wonderful, and more than made up for the prior disappointment of the day. The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the city, taking metro rides, stopping for a few minutes to visually absorb Picasso's Guernica, watching street performers dance the Flamingo, and eating tapas for dinner outside at the Plaza Mayor (which looked more German than Spanish) followed by the thickest and most delicious hot chocolate imaginable for dessert.

So, I may not have eaten a violet candy, but my passion for food was satisfied with a myriad of other tasty delights... which made the whole trip worth it.