November 5 - Madrid

A's 21st birthday! Feliz Cumpleanos little birdie! She arrived here before 3 pm yesterday and after a tearful, noisy American reunion in the lobby we came upstairs for showers and I had a brief (too brief) siesta. Then we took off walking to wherever and ended up in Plaza Puerta del Sol. We window shopped and walked, then stopped for a bite -- not technically dinner since it was only 6pm. I had a Spanish omelet with some kind of really good sausage and A had a bocadillo (sandwich) & cerveza. Then we walked back up Gran Via and basically ran out of steam by 8 pm. We finished up the night with Hershey's cookies & mint bars and all those magazines I carted here (glad to get rid of those!)

So this morning we are off to the Prado after breakfast.

later that day ....
We tried to get breakfast at a cafeteria but the service was so slow (even by Spanish standards) we ended up leaving and walking down to Paseo del Prado and through a pretty little park. Across from the Prado we found a Starbuck's and had a non-traditional breakfast of tea & sandwiches. I spent a ton of time in the Prado. I was so amazed to see paintings I had only seen in books. Walking around every corner I had to keep from gasping out loud. (Yes, I am an art dork.) The portrait of Mary Tudor is here (see above, poor thing, she was not pretty) and I hear the Hans Holbein Henry the VIII is at Thyssen-Bornemizsa across the street. How did father and daughter, 2 English monarchs, end up in Spain I wonder (although Mary was 1/2 Spanish and married to a Spaniard as well). Saw an amazing wood sculpture of the penitent Mary Magdalene which completely blew me away. I wish I could find an image of her, she was amazing. Ummm, so much more: Rubens, Titian, Valasquez and Goya of course, El Greco. Oh! and the Lobster's favorite, Bosch. When you see Dali's work it's clear where he got his inspiration. Loved the Goyas -- even the black period. Very tragic stuff.

A abandoned me to my artistic love affair and so later we met up at the hotel again and I met Juan Antonio, her Spanish boyfriend... he led the way to Plaza Mayor. I got some great pictures and then my camera croaked. Canon is going to get a very nasty letter from me about the infamous E18 error.

After walking around Plaza Mayor we walked to Palacio Real and then back to Plaza Mayor hoping to catch an early dinner at Botin (the world's oldest restuarant and where Ernest Hemingway used to hang out) but 15 minutes after they opened they were on an hour wait so we went to another restaurant nearby, Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas. Juan ordered tapas and we had a pitcher of Sangria -- we had morcilla (black pudding-- I can't believe I ate that but it was actually good), potatoes with ailioli, bread, calimari, Spanish omelet. All very yummy! A got flan with a candle in it for her birthday. Ended up hanging in the hotel while A and Juan went to a disco -- I was watching MTV with German subtitles -- it was all I could find in English except for Sky News.

A wonderful day except for the broken camera. grrrrrr.