Madrid Stopover

Well it wasn’t on the itinerary and initially pissed...me...off. But I got over it. When life serves you lemons....blah, blah, blah. The weather was sunny and cool, Piccasso was in town and the hotel was actually quite nice. Our stay, including meals with wine was covered by the airline as was internet connection and phone calls to Egypt. Deb told ‘em we were delayed and they said no problem, we won’t charge you for the room and we’ll see you tomorrow. Cool. Let’s go see Piccasso.

So it’s Easter Sunday and most stores were closed but the Museo Nacional was not only open, it was free. Cool again. The cab dropped us in front of the museum and as it had just opened there was no lineup. We strolled in and said a silent thank you to the French who were remodelling their museum in Paris where Piccasso’s stuff is usually kept. And there’s lots to see. Early stuff, sketch books, famous pieces; it’s all here. I love museums and could spend days strolling through, stopping in front of some pieces and just soaking them in but that’s tough with a seven year old. Even with the headphones on explaining what he’s seeing, after two hours he desperately needed to be outside.

While He and She explored the gift shop I found a Dali exhibiton. Could this get any cooler? The real thing, not pix in magazines, and right there in front of me. It occurred to me that if I could afford to hang one of these on my dining room wall it would be worth more than the house.

But the clock’s ticking and we didn’t want to miss our 2nd chance to fly to Cairo so it was back outside where we saw the line had grown blocks long. Shouldn’t have made me feel good but hey, cool again.

Another delicious meal and bottle of wine greeted our return to the hotel and I’m kinda wishing Madrid was our destination. But with a buzz in my head and food in my belly the bus for the airport was summoned and off we went, again.

Madrid airport is the second largest airport in Europe (after Heathrow) but nice. Half as many people, well marked directions and no lineups. For some reason we had to go to the main terminal to check our bags then get on a train for a ride to another terminal to find our departure gate but all went well. Assuming this plane touches down in Cairo.