Madrid #4

Monday we got back into our normal Madrid routine. Elisa left in the morning to teach and the rest of us woke up slowly mid-morning. We waited until Elisa returned at around 12:30 before going out to get Mickey Mouse rolls for the girls, and then we went for lunch at 1:00 at a nearby little place that Elisa had been wanting to try. Nothing fancy, but a nice little place with a friendly waitress. Afterwards we went back to the apartment to do some laundry and to give Elisa a little time to prepare for class the next day. Around 4:00 we headed out to Retiro Park - the park that Elisa took Sara Sue and me the day we arrived - and we rented some rowboats on the man made pond in front of the monument to Alphonso XII. Thankfully it was a very pleasant day and not too hot. Then we headed over to the Museo Reina Sofia to see Picasso's Guernica. The girls were starving so we couldn't make it to the tapas areas we were planning to visit, so instead we grabbed a quick sandwich for the girls and headed back to a restaurant near the apartment for dinner.

Tuesday was another lazy morning at the apartment, and Elisa met the rest of us for lunch downtown at a restaurant she wanted to try. However when we got to the address we discovered this restaurant was no longer there. Instead there was a kind of lame chain restaurant there, but since the girls were hungry and this particular section of town didn't have many restaurants, we decided to eat there. The food was fine, but it was only a slight step up from a Denny's. At around 3:30 we made our way over to the Prado and tried to hit as many highlights as we could. Some highlights:
- Diego Velazquez "Las Meninas" (early-to-mid 1600s) and "Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Paul the Hermit" (which reminded me of Cliff because it appears a crow is delivering a donut)
- Caravaggio "David with the Head of Goliath" (turn of 17th century)
- El Greco "The Holy Trinity" (late 1500s) & "The Adoration of the Shepherds" (just before his death in 1614)
- Several works by Sorolla (whose home/museum we visited last week)
- Goya "The Third of May in Madrid" with depictions of the citizen uprising in 1808 vs. Napoleon's Turkish soldiers, and "Saturn" one of his "black paintings" depicting the mythological god devouring one of his sons
After the Prado we went back to Mercado de San Miguel for some tapas, and then a quick visit to nearby Plaza Mayor. From there Elisa & I split off for a quick drink and more tapas at Casa Lucas to celebrate our 18th anniversary, and the rest of the gang went home.

Wednesday I headed home. I decided I'd just take the Metro out to the airport rather than get a taxi which would have been much more expensive. The problem I didn't anticipate, however, was the long walk to the Metro station from the apartment (I had to use a different Metro stop than our normal stop nearby to catch the train to the airport), and the fact that even though I was rolling the suitcase, it was still heavy. About halfway through the walk I was starting to regret the decision. Finally I got to the Metro stop, but regretted it again when I discovered the VERY long escalator down to the train was out of order, meaning I had to carry the suitcase, my work briefcase, and the bag of ceramics I agreed to take home (also a regrettable decision in retrospect) all the way down the steps. Then after that exhausting trek, I discovered that there was a long walkway to the train that I needed to catch, so it was more walking, increasingly sore arms, and starting to sweat. Finally I caught the train so it was good to rest (more or less). Once I got to the airport I figured out there was another long walk to the Delta ticket counter which was (Murphy's Law) on the complete opposite end of the very long terminal where I arrived. Finally got checked in, but the flight was delayed due to a late arriving plane that was coming in from Atlanta, which was delayed in departing the previous evening due to weather. Finally got on the plane and the flight itself was smooth, but upon arrival at JFK, I found out that I wasn't going to be able to make my connecting flight. So I got rescheduled to a flight four hours later and had to go to a different terminal, go through security again, and have the wonderful pleasure and honor of hanging out for a long time at the lamest major airport in the country. Finally, finally, FINALLY got home about 27 hours after I woke up - and it was still Wednesday!

Such a great trip. We'll see if Paris is in our future for 2013.