Love All, Serve All - The Hard Rock Cafe, Madrid

Elayne and I had spent a few hours touring the Prado Museum, when we decided to walk to the Hard Rock Cafe (and it was, as with most spur of the moment decisions, a very bad idea). That said, we located a map, perched on a street corner and attempted to discern which direction we needed to proceed.  Once we had agreed on a general direction, we set out in the heat of the day on a mission.  

The temperature hovered around 105 degrees Fahrenheit, the sun relentlessly bore down upon us and I felt like we were stuck on a concrete treadmill.  After several iterations of "It HAS to be just up there!", we actually spotted the sign, sprinted (um, drug ourselves) and arrived breathlessly at our destination.  

We searched out this very Hard Rock, on this fiery-hot afternoon, so that I could have the privilege and honor of being inducted into the Secret Society of the Hard Rock Cafe.  You see, the president and CEO of this exclusive club is our very own Elayne; a responsibility she takes very seriously.  I will do my Secret Society best to share it with you all.

As some of you may know, the Hard Rock Cafe motto is "Love All, Serve All" and Elayne is the greatest brand ambassador a company could ever hope for.  Therefore, she administered the oath to me, I raised a beverage and repeated after her.

The oath went something like this:  "I pledge that wherever I may find myself in the world, I will seek out the nearest Hard Rock Cafe, imbibe in the beverage of my choice, sit, reflect on and absorb my surroundings, and revel in all that HRC represents.  I further pledge, to wit, to purchase a souvenir of my choice, (T-shirts are the best!) and I will always and forever more faithfully execute the corporate mission:  "Love All, Serve All".  

With the oath complete, I was finally a bonafide member of the Secret Society.  To celebrate this momentous occasion, Elayne had her traditional Bloody Mary and my beverage of choice this evening was Espana's own Estrella Damm draught beer.

The colorful umbrellas on the patio provided much needed shade and some welcome relief from the heat.  Lovely fans blew equally lovely baby-fine mist into the scorching air.  I truly did enjoy the atmosphere and the service was top-notch.  I'm not sure what happened to the time, but we somehow managed to "stay" our way through three shift changes and three different servers, all of whom were truly fabulous people that we came to know intimately. 

Our new friends were so warm, welcoming and accommodating, not to mention the fact that they were happy to put up with the two of us throughout three entire shifts.  In true Southern fashion, we completely immersed ourselves in the culture of the HRC and made a few friends for life by simply living the motto!

We laughed, we cried, we laughed until we cried.  Our outing to the Hard Rock Cafe Madrid and my induction into the Secret Society, will forever be one of my favorite memories!  And one other little, small, tiny thing to mention...I never thought I would be Drunk in Madrid on a Sunday night, but I can check that one off of my bucket list!

Until next time...Godspeed!