Sunday in Madrid

I was awakened by Spanish music coming from the plaza at 7 am. Post-party Madrilenos were out there with guitar, singing, until 8 am. It was loud but fun to hear.

We started off with breakfast then walked down to the Radtro flea market. Either the locals don't sleep, or mot all of them were in the plaza as I thought, as the market was packed. We were drawn to a booth of hats and accessories. The young woman working the booth told us they have a store, only open on weekends, and offered to take us there. It was adorable and we left with lighter wallets and smiles over our purchases.

We wandered some more and found a tapas shop. So we bought some and snacked. They priced it by the cup, so you could fill your cup with skewers, pickles, olives, etc. A tasty little treat!

Eventually it was lunch and we found a crowded place. Alice ordered calamari sandwich and I got a pork dish, Raxo. We were both a bit disappointed.

We then headed to the palace which was AMAZING. Sadly no photos are allowed, but the decor was spectacular.

After all the hard work of oohing and ahhhing, we needed a restorative drink, so popped in to a taberna for a vermouth. Then we made our way up the street to the hotel. A small band and opera singers were performing outside a church, so we stopped to listen for a bit. As we moved on, a woman from he previous night's tapas tour ran up to us - they had been walking by and spotted us! What a funny little world. We caught up on what we had each done and had a good time chatting.

After a quick tour of the church (St. Gines) it was back to the hotel to change. I researched a dinner spot and we went to Malaspina - awesome, wonderful tapas!!! It was a great choice.

Next up: music. We ended up in a bar with a blues/rock band, and had a pretty good time.

Alas the day must end, and it was time to sleep ad rest up for Monday.

First Day in Madrid

I got a wonderful 9 hours of sleep and felt like a new person. And I woke up to an email from Alice that she had gotten on to a direct flight and would get in a little earlier! All good.

So I went for a walk to the travel information and to find the plaza where our tapas tour was meeting. Completely forgot my Fitbit, to my annoyance.

After Alice arrived, we walked to Plaza Mayor for lunch: calamari sandwich, Serrano ham sandwich and potatoes brava. Delish!

Alice crashed for a couple of hours and I went for another walk to find the Prado (again forgetting the Fitbit). I also found my favorite Korres products at the department store and stocked up!

Eventually I wandered back and got ready to go out. Alice woke up and got ready in record time and we were off!

The tapas tour was FANTASTIC. We had a group of 9 and everyone was great. The places our guide, Andres, took us were wonderful.  And the wine and food he selected was amazingly good. Food porn photos are at the end; sadly I forgot to take pictures most of the time.

We stopped off at the Mercado San Miguel for coffee (Alice), wine (me) and dessert. Then we turned in, not yet on Madrid hours.

Steak, caramelized onions and potato pie

Lomo ham, chorizo and serrano ham

Off We Go! Or Do We???

Got to O'Hare as planned in the morning,  and called Alice to meet me in the lounge. After a brief glitch in her getting in, we settled in for snacks for a bit. I tried to get her better seats on our Madrid flight but no dice.

Right before boarding time I headed to my gate only to find we were delayed. After boarding we were delayed again for deicing. I was amused to think Alice's flight, 45 minutes after mine, would arrive the same time as mine.

Sure enough her flight landed just after mine so I was able to meet her at the gate. She wanted to exchange money so we did that (and dealt with her sticker shock!) then went to the lounge.

Our 6 pm flight was delayed to 6:30, then 8 pm, then 9 pm. Then it was cancelled and I was rebooked via London (ironic as I was so happy to avoid LHR!) on an 8:20 pm flight. But I had a sneaking suspicion Alice had not been so we jumped in line and I jumped on the phone.

The phone agent picked up as we were 3 people from being helped - and the 20 minutes before my flight. I had to hang up so Alice could stay in the lounge and get rebooked. The lounge agent shooed me off to my flight, saying I would miss it, while also saying Alice could not stay once I left. That pissed me off as we'd been in line for 40 minutes and I wanted her rebooked, so I insisted they help her

I made my flight no problem and in fact had plenty of time (also ticking me off) as they moved our luggage. The flight was decent other than the guy hacking up a lung 2 rows back from me.

So now hanging out in the BA lounge until my flight to Madrid.  Missing a whole day but really it could be worse. (Which realization does nothing to reduce my addiction to status....!)

Looking forward to a real bed at the hostal tonight. The older I get the more havoc transatlantic flights wreak on my body.... everything from the waist down is in discomfort.... too smushed for too long.

So - sleep in a bed and new start tomorrow!!!

Ole! Off to Spain

Yes, back to Spain, this time to Madrid (I previously visited Barcelona). I've been interested in visiting Madrid for quite some time and now, thanks to a lovely discount code I received from American Airlines, I am going. My friend Alice, who previously went to Poland with me over a birthday, is going with me and - excitingly - staying a couple days on her own afterwards!

So due to work having been crazy the past few weeks I am just now focusing on the trip.... and we leave in 3 days. Alice and I had lunch a couple of weeks ago to work out our must-sees and must-dos, but there are things like packing etc to think about. I'm glad to see the weather forecast has improved over the last week!

On the agenda: the Prado, Reina Sofia, a tapas tour, a flea market, and a day trip to Toledo. One thing I am really looking forward to is possibly connecting with a fellow beer geek I met in Essen, Belgium - I'd love to learn about Spanish beers. That said, I am truly looking forward to bringing home a haul of Spanish wines.

Alice and I move at different paces so I anticipate having time to blog more thoroughly than on recent trips... so watch this space!

Sunday Piccies

Charlotte at Musee D'Orsay with Paris in background

Me, in silhouette, with Paris in background

Church of St Genevieve and Christmas trees

View of Notre Dame from Ile de St Louis

Winding Down

Today was the last full day of the trip. We got a slow start, discovered our brasserie for breakfast was not open on Sunday, and ate at a cute boulangerie instead. Then we headed to Musee D'Orsay, which I had not yet seen on previous visits.

There was a line when we got there around 10 am, but it was only about 30 minutes and soon we were inside. Musee D'Orsay is in an old train station and it is a gorgeous building. Even without the amazing collection of art, it would be worth seeing. But the art is well worth a visit - many Van Goghs, Manets and Monets that are recognizable to even a casual student of art. And one Matisse, which made me super happy.  :-)

After the museum we headed to a market in the Marais. The Metro there was a little tricky and I got us of course a little, but eventually we found it and it was very cute. We perused the stalls of fresh produce, meats, and cheeses - we each bought a cheese - and I managed to not buy more wine. Barely. We looked at the restaurant that had been recommended to us but weren't hungry enough for the full brunch on offer.

Instead, we decided to get a crepe at the bread stand and it was a hilarious 20 minutes waiting in line and watching the guy make crepes. Each crepe was a piece of art for him - sprinkling on greens, slicing cheese onto it, laying ham artfully. He cut himself and simply stuck a paper towel under his rubber glove on to the cut. As he finished one crepe, he murmured "yum yum yum." Unable to resist the ham, he popped a piece in to his mouth as he made another crepe. He looked sad when we only wanted Nutella crepes, and took a drink from his glass of red wine. Too hilarious! The crepes were absolutely delicious.

We then headed to a brasserie to have food (and wine) now that we'd had dessert. I got onion soup, which was okay, and Charlotte got snails. I was fascinated to see there is special equipment for eating snails!

Afterwards we decided to wander. Although I'd been told shops would be open in the area, there weren't many open stores. Finally we came upon a purse outlet and - voila! - our shopping dry spell ended - we each walked out with a new purse.

At this point it was time for Charlotte to wrap up her weekend. We headed to the hotel for a beer and her packing, then she was off home.

On my own again, I wandered the Latin Quarter for a while, taking in the sights. After I got tired of walking I hopped on the Metro and headed to Ile St Louis, which I had never been to before. I wandered there a bit and checked out the restaurants, finally settling on a little place that had cassoulet on offer - that sounded like a great meal to end my trip on.And it was delicious, full of beans and all kinds of good meats.

The calories from the cassoulet and wine convinced me to walk across the river and around the neighborhood for a bit before hopping on the RER back to the hotel. So now it's my turn to wrap up the trip, eating my cheese for dessert (damn it is GOOD, I had to make myself stop... although I have to finish it before I get on the plane...) and packing. I'm hoping to get up early for a last little walk before heading to the airport tomorrow.

Pictures form the Saturday Walking Tour (plus)

Notre Dame

Pont Neuf detail

Me at the Louvre

Place de Concorde

For fans of the movie Midnight in Paris...

Me with Eiffel Tower

Christmas tree at Notre Dame

Hotel de Ville and skating rink