Bloody Brilliant!

Mother's Day

Still not used to the fact that Mother's Day in the UK (today) is a different date than in the US. I keep thinking I should call my mom to wish her a happy day buy I've still got time!

Missive from Madrid

One of the best things about living in London is being thisclose to Europe. Growing up in America, I never hopped over to the Continent for a day trip and still find it weird to think I can do it now.

And so it was that I jumped at the opportunity to join Peter (who was there for business) for a night in Madrid. Despite having lived in France for a few months in college a bazillion years ago, I never visited Spain. This was a good opportunity to broaden my horizons and break in my new passport. 

I spent the afternoon on my own, walking from the hotel down to the Prado in what I thought would be a nice walk but turned out to be over 3 miles.  I clearly can't read a map. 

 

The Museo del Prado was incredible. Incredibly confusing to navigate, as I kept getting lost among the million dead ends, but the art is breathtaking.  Goya, Velazquez, Bosch, Ribera and Rubens, just to name a few.  After doing my cultural duty there, I wandered off towards the Plaza Mayor where I heard these street musicians:

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...and saw this funny bit of performance art:

By then I was too exhausted to move a muscle so Peter and I grabbed an awesome steak dinner, where they bring out slabs of raw meat which we cooked on a super-hot stone that was plopped in the middle of the table.  The one thing I can't get over is the fact that people still smoke in restaurants.  It's been a long time since I've been around the gagging stench of cigarette smoke while I'm mid-bite and I was surprised that Spain doesn't have the smoking ban in force. 

The next day we popped into the Museo Reina Sofia to gape at Guernica and drool over some Dalis (dribbling over invaluable surrealist art won't win you any points with the museum guards, I've discovered).  Then, because you can never be at the airport too early (according to my obsessively 'punctual' husband), we left to fly home. 

I really liked Madrid, although I don't like the feeling of not understanding the native language.  And Spanish isn't that hard to figure out, but I still felt at a distinct disadvantage - especially because it didn't seem like that many people spoke English. What I love are the wrought iron balconies on every building - they are so charming and to me, so quintessentially European. 

Next stop: Barcelona. 

Click here for more Madrid pix.