Madrid

If ever the Philadelphia Orchestra had the impetus to transcend its own excellence, it's the current tour of the Canary Islands and Europe. But if ever circumstances worked against that. . . . Even in the acoustically superb Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid last week, the orchestra had experienced so many successive days of traveling and playing - sometimes in halls with a built-in defeat factor - that lost ground wasn't made up immediately. Would audiences for these last Iberian dates of the tour know the difference?

For the second time in a month, USAir has applied to fly nonstop between Philadelphia and a European capital, this time to Madrid. USAir's application, filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation, comes on top of a request to the government filed Aug. 21 to serve the Philadelphia-Rome route. The airline also has asked for government approval to fly nonstop between Boston and both Madrid and Rome. If USAir gets both U.S. and Spanish government approval for the Madrid service, and wins the Rome route, Philadelphia will have nonstop flights to six European cities.

My 22-year-old chum, Elenita, telephoned this morning to invite me to luncheon on Friday. She said, "My mother would like you to meet a lady who is going to Philadelphia for three months. " "Why?" I asked. Elenita, not much given to taking any interest in others, didn't know. After I hung up, it occurred to me that if I had been told the lady was going to New York for three months I wouldn't have asked why. People go to New York just for the hell of it, just to have a good time, but a visit to Philadelphia requires a more serious purpose.

The trip to Spain began with a "Sunrise, Sunset" moment. As I gathered up the family passports, I glanced down at the baby photo on my daughter Sylvia's passport. Wasn't it only yesterday? Then I noticed the passport's expiration date, which had once seemed so absurdly out in the future. It had come and gone 10 days earlier. It was now 9 p.m. on Friday. Our flight to Madrid and our discount, nonrefundable seats were leaving Philadelphia in 23 hours. Operating on high alert, I phoned the State Department.

Juan Carlos Ferrero won the Madrid (Spain) Masters yesterday with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Massu and overtook Andy Roddick for first place in the ATP Champions Race with 3 weeks left. Ferrero, the French Open champion and U.S. Open runner-up, has four titles this season. He will lead Spain in the Davis Cup final next month in Australia. Ferrero has 826 points in the season-long ATP Champions Race, four more than Roddick, who lost to Massu in the third round. The Champions Race standings are based on the four majors, the nine Tennis Masters Series events and a player's other top results.

The drawing in the newspaper showed a locomotive pulling five cars as it raced across a bridge. Smoke billowed from the stack. The picture illustrated an advertisement for a day's excursion to Aranjuez on El Tren de la Fresa. It is called the Strawberry Train because Aranjuez is celebrated for its strawberries. It is also celebrated for its asparagus but El Tren de la Fresa obviously has more glamour and appeal than El Tren de los Esparragos. The sight of the gallant little locomotive chuff-chuffing along reminded me of the 1920s, when I went to Spain as a child with my mother.

He took the mound as the ninth starting pitcher for the Phillies' injury- riddled staff this year, and the team did not know what to expect. But Alex Madrid came up big. He pitched 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball yesterday in his first start of the season, and the Phillies used a reserve-filled lineup to coast to a 5-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. The second shutout in three games by their much-maligned staff gave the Phillies their first winning series since they swept Montreal at home April 10-12.

There's a point in this city that is the exact geographic center of Spain, and the hall in which the Philadelphia Orchestra played its concerts Sunday and Monday is the center of an exploding musical scene in Madrid. No longer a country of historic, decaying theaters, Spain is building and renewing. With the opening of the Auditoria Nacional in the late 1980s, Madrid has four major halls, filling with orchestras in a way that invites comparison with London. The Philadelphians completed their Spanish tour with concerts in the Auditoria Nancional, whose interior recalls the Berlin Philharmonic's surround-seating and dramatically angled balconies.

When I mentioned I wanted to go to Extremadura, my Spanish boyfriend looked at me as if I was loca. Extremadura isn't exactly high on the lists of most tourists in Spain. Or natives, for that matter. It's the region to the west of Madrid that borders Portugal, home to a rugged landscape and walled towns that appear nearly untouched by the 21st century. It's not that Extremadura isn't appealing. Most Spaniards simply don't think about it. Visitors to Spain flock to the beaches, to the sunny south or the verdant north, or to the cosmopolitan big cities.

Yesterday was a day of mourning and protest in Madrid. The day after Spain's worst terrorist attack, an angry and intensely emotional parade of more than 2.5 million people poured into the streets of the Spanish capital to protest the bombings that killed almost 200 and injured nearly 1,500. A sea of millions chanting "Assassins, ETA No!" and waving the Spanish flag braved cold, rainy weather and walked a 1-mile route from the Plaza de Colon to the Atocha rail station. ETA is the Basque separatist group suspected in the bombings.

MADRID - At least 100,000 Spaniards angered by grim economic prospects and the political handling of the international financial crisis turned out for street demonstrations in the country's cities Saturday, marking the one-year anniversary of a movement that inspired similar pressure groups in other countries. Tens of thousands of protesters in Madrid flooded the central Puerta del Sol plaza in the evening and aimed to stay for three days. But authorities warned they wouldn't allow anyone to camp out overnight, and up to 2,000 riot police were expected to be on duty.

Novak Djokovic needed three sets to win his first match on the blue clay at the Madrid Open on Tuesday, and then stepped up his criticism of the new surface. Djokovic labored to a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in his debut on the Magic Box's unorthodox surface. The Serb, who had already voiced his opposition to the blue clay, was fuming over the condition of center court, which he said was completely different to the practice courts he trained on before the event.

Serena Williams beat Elena Vesnina , 6-3, 6-1, on Monday to reach the Madrid Open's second round, while sister Venus lost, 6-4, 6-1, to Angelique Kerber . Fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur rallied to beat Christina McHale , 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, to reach the third round, as did French Open champion Li Na after winning, 6-3, 6-1, against Silvia Soler-Espinosa. SOCCER: Blackburn was relegated from the Premier League in a 1-0 loss to Wigan on Antolin Alcaraz's goal in the 87th minute.

Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid, 3-1, on penalties Wednesday in Madrid to secure its place against Chelsea in the Champions League final. Bayern became the first team to play the final at its home ground after Bastian Schweinsteiger beat goalkeeper Iker Casillas with the final spot kick to reach its second final in three seasons. In the shootout, Manuel Neuer saved from Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka to put Bayern on course before counterpart Casillas denied Toni Kroos and Philipp Lahm to drag Madrid back into it. But after Xabi Alonso scored Madrid's first, Sergio Ramos sent his shot high over the bar, and Schweinsteiger sent his shot straight down the middle for the win. Madrid's players left the field with their heads hanging low and some in tears.

MEXICO CITY - Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado, 77, who led Mexico from 1982 to 1988 during economic crisis and a devastating earthquake, died Sunday, the government said. President Felipe Calderon called Mr. De la Madrid "a Mexican with a profound commitment to the country" in a statement confirming his death. The cause of death was not revealed, but the former president had been hospitalized in Mexico City with respiratory problems since Dec. 17. His term was a grim time for most Mexicans, a six-year hangover after a spending binge by a previous government that was convinced soaring oil prices would never fall.

LONDON - In the heart of Don Quixote country sits an airport whose outsized ambitions match those of Cervantes' immortal creation. Opened three years ago, Ciudad Real Central Airport boasts a runway long enough for the world's biggest jumbo jets. Its backers confidently predicted that several million passengers would pass through each year, relieving traffic at Madrid's busy international hub nearly 150 miles to the north. But only 33,000 people bothered to use the state-of-the-art facility in 2010.

35 bodies dumped in Mexican city MEXICO CITY - Suspected drug traffickers dumped 35 bodies at rush hour beneath a busy overpass in the heart of a major gulf city as gunmen pointed weapons at frightened drivers. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they were examining surveillance video for clues to who committed the crime. Horrified motorists grabbed cellphones and sent Twitter messages warning others to avoid the area near the biggest shopping mall in Boca del Rio, part of the metropolitan area of Veracruz city.

FOR RAIL COMMUTERS in Madrid, the morning of March 11, 2004, began just like any other - much like the sunny Tuesday morning 10 years ago that became forever etched in our minds as 9/11. None of the passengers on Madrid's trains imagined the carnage that would unfold as terrorists detonated 10 backpack bombs on four trains in three stations, killing almost 200 people. Thankfully, the U.S. hasn't seen an attack akin to the one in Madrid or similar attacks in recent years on mass transit in London and Mumbai.

MADRID - He has a contract with one of football's biggest clubs and the same long, floppy hair and nickname Leo of his idol, Lionel Messi. It may take a while, however, before Leonel Angel Coira can match the wondrous Messi: He is 7 years old. Real Madrid said yesterday it signed the Argentine prodigy to its youth academy after seeing him in tryouts. He will start training with Madrid's youth team Sept 6. Coira hopes to follow the path set by Messi, a countryman who joined Barcelona from the Argentine club Newell's Old Boys as a teenager and has gone on to win the World Player of the Year award two times.