Hola Madrid!

 We left Amsterdam early this morning — easy & quick airport action, in spite of warnings that Schiphol airport was still a mess and we should leave 3 hours to get through security.  It was more like 15 minutes!  We were so sad to leave Amsterdam and the fun we had traveling together, but thankfully flights were easy and Claudia is now in London and I’m in Madrid.


Before Thanksgiving, when I was first thinking about this trip, I asked for advice about where to stay and settled on Madrid’s Literary Quarter or Barrio de las Letras, where Cervantes and Lope de Vega and others hung out.  I selected an Airbnb and then barely had a minute to give Madrid a further thought.  With all that has been going on in the last 2 months — bought a house, sold a house, traveled to Israel, went to Seattle twice, bought a car, sold a car, just to name the highlights — I realized I’d have to figure it out when I got here.

And I’m here!  I have the emailed recommendations of friends to dig into and online research to do, but my Airbnb host pointed me to the Plaza Santa Ana and his favorite of the cafes on the square for food tonight so I’ve already tasted the great life of Spain.  It’s sunny and warm and there are people at every cafe table.


Now happily fed and and back in my apartment, it’s time to read up on what I’m going to be doing over the next few days.  Tomorrow’s plan is to find the flea markets, including one that’s not the usual, but a special occasion?  And then Monday going to the Prado and Tuesday the Sorolla house/museum.  We’ll see how that all works out!  

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