When the mayor had not even pressed the power button, two ladies in the front row with a rain cap, a handkerchief tied around his neck, polka dots umbrellas and a leather jacket already commented on the designs. "I don't like those hearts of Cibeles , where the lights of Alcalá are, " he snapped at each other, holding her arm. When the mayor's countdown reached zero, the applause - rather shy - crossed the lower part of the Gran Vía and the children screamed like crazy from the hands of their parents, the two protagonists returned to their conversation as if they were in the Coffee table in the Salamanca district. "Well, in the end, hearts are pretty."

"It shows that Madrid wants Christmas . We will spend a few weeks of joy both those who live in Madrid and those who visit us from abroad," said José Luis Martínez-Almeida while the two women were still on their subject. As if the lights were not with them while Begoña Villacís whispered something in the ear of the mayor in full speech. "I will not say what Villacís has told me now." And, there, both hands pressed the button, lit by coalition, and the light was made in the Cibeles Palace , at the fountain and in the rest of the center of the capital.

With the lights on and the Gran Vía cut off to traffic, the children ran from the hands of their parents to make their way to the giant ball installed in front of the Metropolis building. "Come on, we don't arrive, mommy," shouted a blond boy with a pompom hat and a mother with the face of having had the bad idea of ​​going to see the lighting. A couple made the classic selfie with kiss included so that their followers on Instagram were clear that they had been seeing the Christmas lights and that their love is real, or at least, it seems.

Almeida, Villacís, Levy and Redondo, before the building MetropolisOLMO CALVO

After a walk of just 300 meters between hands and kisses of the entire congregated crowd around the fences that cut the Gran Vía, Almeida and Villacís accompanied by councilors Borja Carabante , Andrea Levy, Miguel Ángel Redondo , Paloma García Romero managed to reach the door of the Metropolis with soundtrack of Mecano and Mariah Carey and dance included of the vice mayor.

Light and sound show and boarding the convertible bus where the Security delegate, Immaculate Sanz , was a mother with two children who occupied the last seats while journalists tried their live connections with the rain threatening to make an appearance. "Mommy, look what bigger lights," commented the scion of the municipal corporation spokeswoman. "Sometimes we don't act as politicians," he joked with the press, sitting two rows in front.

And so began a tour with politicians, families, photographers and journalists, all mixed, while people from the sidewalks shouted to the mayor, who smiled and greeted the passage through the Puerta del Sol with the lights of the cardinals brushing the heads by the San Jerónimo race on the way to the Plaza de Neptuno . "It has been beautiful like that with that color," Almeida slipped, showing off her mattress spirit while a couple with red and white caps repeated the selfie ceremony with loving features in another space in the capital.

Then, I pass through the streets Serrano , Velázquez and Alcalá with one of the 10 nativity scenes presiding over the door to the final point in the Post Office as a backdrop and a gospel choir to which two university students recorded with their mobiles. From Meccano to gospel. From the two older ladies to generation Z. And Christmas making an appearance in Madrid.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Madrid
  • Begoña Villacís Sánchez
  • Andrea Levy
  • José Luis Martínez-Almeida

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