Planes, trains, and automobiles

We're here! It took about 24 hours from when I left DIA, but we are in beautiful Madrid. This is what it looked like from the airplane.

         When we landed, we discovered that the taxi drivers are all on strike today. And maybe tomorrow, maybe for just an hour another day, who knows?  So we set about figuring out the metro system which is very clean and not very crowded--are least not in the middle of the day.  After several trains, we got off to walk several long blocks dragging our suitcases behind us down uneven brick and stone sidewalks and streets. Now I know why all the reviews of suitcases mentioned the problem of little wheels on cobblestone streets. Luckily, mine are like all-terrain vehicle wheels.

This is the pretty train station outside the stop where we got off. 

After a little tricky navigating on old narrow stone streets that don't run perpendicular to each other, we found our charming hotel. It's on the third floor of an old building with cool doors and floors and a tiny little lift that is a little tricky. We discovered it really can't handle all four of us. 

Then we headed to lunch around the corner at a little family eatery recommended by our friendly host Javier.  It was delicious and empty when we went at 2:00, but by the time we were done it was packed with locals and business people having lunch. Fun to go to someplace that is not touristy.

After lunch we headed the few blocks to the Prado--what a fabulous museum!  They have a great collection and there were many artists in the museum painting copies of the masterpieces as practice. That was interesting to watch them try to mimic the brush strokes and techniques that the old masters used. We closed the place down and walked back to our hotel in a light rain--much to Hannah's delight. Apparently she loves to walk in the rain and rain inside to get her rain coat and back out to take pictures. She said all her dreams have come true.  I call that a successful day.

Here's the Prado and me and Han. I wanted to take pictures inside, but the docents/guards posted in practically every room don't have much of a sense of humor about that sort of thing. They gave someone else with a camera the fish eye and told them it was not allowed. Then they told Matt to back up because he was gesturing across the ropes that provide a buffer between the unwashed masses and the priceless paintings. He was just excited about what he was saying and forgot. 

  We are turning in--totally wiped out. I'll try to be more clever tomorrow.