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Hi, I won't bother with the formatting. Hope there'll be something useful for people to take away.

Madrid, July 22

Getting there

I flew Iberia non-stop. I wasn't terribly impressed with this airline (more about this later). When I got on, I unwrapped my blanket to discover a pretty foul smell. Initially I thought that it was the detergent they used. Fortunately the seat next to mine was empty. So I stole the other blanket. The food was not that great either (I know airline food is horrible).

The flight got in late, and I started making my way for the city around 11:15 am. I decided to take the Metro (10 rides for 6.15 euros, a great deal). However I didn't know about the construction for line 8, so the rides were longer than necessary. Furthermore, the Metro station is in Terminal 2 whereas I came into (the new Rogers) Terminal 4. And it took me a while to find the airport bus. Oddly I was the only one left on the bus by the time it reached Terminal 2. I thought that I had made a mistake, but maybe people figured it was faster to walk from one of the other stops.

Hotel

It was generally fine. But when I first checked in, I was given a key that didn't work (it had a magnetic stripe). It had to be reprogrammed. The room was huge. Fortunately it was equipped with air-conditioning.

Stop 1: Espadrilles at Casa Hernanz

I read about this shop in, you guessed it, the New York Times. Apparently it's been run by the same family for five generations. Off Plaza Mayor, this was a short walk from the hotel, and it gave me an excuse to revisit the square where I visited with my mom four years ago. (We didn't go when we were in Madrid two years ago as we had a quick overnight stay.) There was a line that snaked out of the shop. I gave up.

Stop 2: Olafur Eliasson

The hotel is about equidistant between the Sol and Gran Via Metro stops. Its location cannot be beaten. I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the hotel, so I went back to get them. My next stop was the Eliasson exhibition at Fundacion Telefonica, which is right near the Gran Via stop. As the name implies, the foundation has something to do with the phone or telecommunications; I was told that there was a museum on the second floor, which I obviously skipped. This year's theme of Photo Espana was on Nature, and Eliasson's photos were all (?) taken in Iceland.

Stop 3: Davies, Burtynsky & Kawauchi

Near the Colon Metro stop, this exhibition space wasn't easy to find. As it turned out, it was subterranean. This was a huge space. I found out about Rinko Kawauchi just a few weeks ago, so I was pretty excited about being able to see her work. I've never heard of John Davies. There is a huge monument to Christopher Columbus (I assume) above ground.

Stop 4: Salamanca

I was already in the posh Salamanca district. My mom was interested in shoes by Camper, which I didn't realize was a Spanish store. She told me about a make, which I tried to find in a store near Colon. However I didn't find it.

Next I walked around the district in a decidedly haphazard fashion. Some areas were not that posh and didn't seem like prime shopping areas. I was surprised by how quiet many streets seemed. Perhaps Madrid does shut down in the afternoons. At one point I came across a Lavinia store. I wonder if it's connected to the wine store in Paris with the same name (I've never been to that store). Not having a clue, I picked out a 2000 Muga Rioja for my brother (20.50 euros, according to the website -- I threw the receipt away).

I then decided to try to visit a store called "The Deli Room." Time Out has this to say: "Choice cuts by Spanish designers served up in supermarket-chic surroundings." It then acknowledges that this sounds weird, but supposedly it works. I arrived around 4:30 and it was closed. Now that I'm reading the guidebook again, I see that the shop is closed for a few hours in the afternoons for siestas. However the guidebook was published in 2004, so I don't know if the shop is still open.

Stop 5: Reina Sofia

I figured that I was now ready to tackle one of the big three of the Golden Triangle. I've not been to this museum since 2002. The Picasso show drew me here. Also the museum is free after 2:30 on Saturdays (and free Sundays). I headed for Guernica right away. The exhibition at Reina Sofia was centered around this famous painting. I decided not to see the rest of the permanent collection but to see some of the temporary shows, including one on Gordon Matta-Clark.

The building itself was also a draw for me, as I read that Jean Nouvel designed its new extension. I did like the extension, which houses a library, a bookshop and a new restaurant by Arola, the famed chef of La Broche, called Arola-Madrid. When I read about it, I thought about having dinner there instead, but I read some nasty reviews and decided to stick with Santceloni. Nouvel designed a roof structure with slits that covered the courtyard space, where a Lichtenstein sculpture sat. The building was mostly black, but parts were painted in red. And the slits and holes made good use of Madrid's sunlight.

I looked in the bookshop. It offered two seriagraphs of Joseph Albers's "Homage to the Square" for about 75 euros each. I thought about getting one but passed since the print run was supposedly unlimited. Albers's artwork has appreciated in price greatly.

Stop 6: Prado

I spent less than two hours at Reina Sofia. Since Prado closes at 8 pm on Saturadys (last entry at 7 pm), I made my way over there around 6:45 pm. I used the Murillo entrance as it was closer to Reina Sofia. While I could have left Prado for Sunday, when it'd have been free, I decided to make a first visit since I wanted to leave myself with the possibility of getting out of Madrid on Sunday.

While Prado could seem imposing, I was surprised by how easy it was to go from one end to another. Within a short period of time, I had managed to cross off quite a few masterpieces from my list. It was nice to see Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" again. I learned about this painting two years ago and made a point to see it then. However, on that trip, I mistakenly thought that our flight would leave in the afternoon whereas it really left in the morning. So we didn't get a chance to see much of Prado as we couldn't return the next day.

This time, I saw considerably more of Prado's holdings in two visits, but there was still a lot I missed for lack of time.

Then of course there was the Picasso show. It was an interesting experience to see this show in Prado. Some of the paintings were displayed quite nicely with a few selected masterpieces. A still life was paired with a famed Zubaran still life, for example, and Picasso's take on "Las Meninas" was hung on a wall at the very far end opposite from Velazquez's. Of course, more than a rope separated these two paintings. The exhibition was set up in the central corridor, but one had to traverse the entire corridor to get to the permanent collection even though the paintings that had not been moved for the exhibition could be seen from a distance.

Stop 7: "Interior Spaces" at Alcala 31

I found it odd that this was part of Photo Espana. There were very few photos to be seen. Sam Taylor-Wood contributed two photographs with people suspended in midair. While you can't see the actual photos, you get an idea from this page.

Stop 8: Bien-U Bae

Pretty much everything had closed by around 8:30 -- except for Thyssen. So I retraced my steps for the Bien-U Bae exhibition. This was free. Interestingly, Thyssen decided to show Richard Estes's "Nedick's" nearby. Thyssen's website isn't working at the moment, so I found another image online (which I think is the right image). I've a soft spot for Estes's photorealist paintings.

Stop 9: Dinner at Santceloni

I then headed back to the hotel, showered and changed for my dinner at Santceloni. I was a few minutes late because I walked in the wrong direction after leaving the Metro station. After dinner (it was past midnight at this point), I was asked if I had a car at the hotel. When I said I didn't, I was asked if I wanted car service. I confessed and said that I'd be taking the Metro.

I opted for the tasting menu (called the gastronomic menu). I think there were five courses, but I'll have to think about the dinner and write more about it later. While the food was good, very rarely did I find the dishes excellent. I found the service interesting, and it actually amused me. I had to restrain from laughing a couple of times.

Stop 10: Nightlife

After dinner I went out for a few hours. It was a bit slow going, but the ending was relatively happy. It was scary, though, that a streetwalker would grab my wrist so forcefully past 4:30 in the morning while I was walking back to the hotel.

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Madrid, July 23

Predictably I had trouble getting up in the morning. By the time I packed and left the hotel, it was around 9:45 am.

Stop 11: Almost Toledo

I had trouble deciding what to do for the day. If I stayed in Madrid, I would have too much time. So I decided to go to Toledo even though I'd be rushed. I looked at the train schedule I had printed and brought with me, and I decided for a return train at 12:20 (that would arrive at 12:55). I had my eyes set for the 10:20 departure. That would give me a little less than 90 minutes in Toledo.

Unfortunately, it was nearly 10:20 when it was my turn to buy tickets in Atocha station, and the ticket agent refused to put me on the 10:20. She thought that the next train was in the afternoon, and I told her there was another train half an hour later (always good to do your research -- the 10:50 train only ran on weekends). Then she put me on the 13:20 return instead of the 12:20 return I wanted -- good that I checked my tickets.

I was a little out of it, so as the train was pulling into Toledo, I finally realized that I'd not really even have an hour there. On the train I sat next to an American who lives in Mexico. He told me that all his Spanish friends avoided Iberia.

Anyway, so I found myself in Toledo. A walk into town would be oppressive in the heat -- and uphill, no less -- the town reminded me a bit of Siena and Granada. And there were no taxis to be found. There was a bus waiting. It was #22. Though my notes said to take the #6 bus, people got on this bus. I got off at Plaza Zocodover, one of the main squares in Toledo.

Since I didn't really research Toledo, I had no clue where to go. I knew about the "Burial of Count of Orgaz" by El Greco at Santo Tome, but since Toledo is a town with a street layout that would challenge my sense of directions, I knew that I shouldn't push my luck. I decided to look for the Cathedral. While I asked for directions, they weren't completely clear either. And signs for "Cathedral" would appear and then disappear. But I found it.

There was a tourist information office next to the Cathedral. I asked for the best way for the train station, and I was told that taxis were scare and buses would be better. However this was a Sunday and buses had more limited runs. Since it was around noon at this point, I decided that I had to walk very quickly rather than count on the bus.

The initial descent was downhill and so considerably easier. But I was already starting to sweat. Then I reached Bisagra Gate, and I thought that I would try for a cab there. I didn't see any and I saw another tourist information office. I was told that it would be another fifteen minutes for the train station.

Fortunately when I stepped outside of the office, I spotted an idle cab at a taxi rank. I sweated profusely in the short, nicely air-conditioned cab ride and arrived way too early for my return train to Madrid.

So this ended up being a pretty ridiculous day trip, but I did like what I saw.

Stop 12: Blossfeldt

Upon my return to Madrid, I went to see the exhibition in Photo Espana on Blossfeldt. Blossfeldt pioneered the use of photography for plants and flowers, but I don't think that his photographs were regarded as art until much later.

Stop 13: Prado Encore

I had another photo exhibition I was interested in seeing. It was near Prado. But by the time I made it to that area, it was nearly 2 pm when the space was closing. So I had to skip it. I went to Prado to catch a few things I had missed the day before.

The Goya entrance is the one closer to Thyssen, and I saw that a line had formed for the Picasso exhibition. However I was able to get in from the ground floor for the permanent collection without a wait. So I decided to do so. I went in and saw many of the same paintings I had seen the day prior. But one painting I had missed the first time around that is listed in the 2001 edition of Guide by Ramon is this Bermejo painting. It was, in fact, one of the very first paintings on the ground floor.

I then decided to try for the Picasso show again. There was no shortcut but to go outside again and wait. Fortunately the line had shortened considerably, so I was able to get in again in less than five minutes.

It was now nearly 3 pm, and I still had to go back to the hotel and get my bag for my 5 pm flight. So in my last minutes at Prado, I tried to look for a few paintings. One was Velazquez's "Surrender of Breda." I liked this painting quite a lot, as difficult as I find to appreciate Velazquez's paintings. My final stop was to try to find Titian's "Bacchanalia" listed by a few places. However it looked like its usual home was closed for renovation. I wasn't sure, but I had to rush out before one quick glance at the immense Tintoretto painting with Christ's washing his disciples' feet.

Stop 14: Hotel

When I reached the Metro station at Banco de Espana, one train had just left, which meant a painful eight-minute wait since this was a Sunday. I had to run back to the hotel from Sol and then run to Gran Via to catch a taxi. I was again sweating profusely in the cab ride. When I got on, the cab's clock read 3:21 pm.

Iberia Wrinkle

Barajas is not too far away from Madrid's city center. The cab ride took about 20 minutes. I checked for the location of the checkin counters for my flight and went and stood in line. Being a little unsure, I asked the women ahead of me if they were flying to New York. While I was a little suspicious that they couldn't speak English, I wasn't suspicious enough to ask someone else. But one of them understood "Nueva York" and insisted that I talk to an Iberia employee. It turned out I was in the wrong line. So I quickly switched to a different one.

This time I was sure that there were others in that line bound for New York, but the line moved quite slowly. By the time it was my turn, I had an hour before the flight.

I asked if I had an aisle seat.

As the agent handed me my boarding pass, she added, "You're on standby." I looked at my pass, and the seat number was listed as "SBY."

I was nervous, and I was a little upset that she waited to tell me and wasted my time by asking me my address in New York so that she could type it in -- no wonder the lines moved so slowly.

I was then sent to a different counter. In the meantime, people at the information counters were idle and insisted that I go to that standby counter.

I stood behind two women whose boarding passes said they were leaving the next day. So I asked if they could let me go first. I then stood behind two guys also bound for New York.

Finally by the time we all had our boarding passes, it was 4:20 pm. Terminal 4 was immense, and we still had to wait for a train to take us to the gates (and as it turned out, immigration before departure).

I was half-running, half-walking, and by the time I sat down, it was 4:41 pm.

The blanket, though, didn't have a bad smell, but the plane shook for more than what I was used to. I was surprised that it shook so much during its approach for such a nice day.

I'm also curious as to how Iberia decides which passengers go on standby. I knew that some people ahead of me managed to get on the flight, but the two guys in the standby line appeared to have been waiting for a while. Obviously they also reached the airport before I did.

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Oh, hotel was Hotel Ateneo (22 Montrera?).

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Details: Dinner at Santceloni

The restaurant is located in Hotel Hesperia. I first went into the hotel and then took the stairs down for the restaurant. I thought that it was rather odd that there were nearly no lights in the lower level (a five-star hotel saving money on electricity?). I could see the kitchen from the outside. I discovered that the restaurant, though, had its own entrance when I left.

Anyway, I was whisked to my table. I was never asked for my name. The velvet (?) seating (was it green or brown?) was quite posh. I had a lot of space.

There were a couple of noteworthy things about the restaurant. First, the bread basket. Shortly into dinner, a waiter came by with a huge bread basket with complete loaves. This was followed with an explanation for what each kind was -- some made with potato, corn, etc. I opted for the tasting (ok, gastronomic!) menu, which came with a cheese course. The cheeses were laid out on a rustic table. There were many different kinds. Two waiters carried the heavy table and set it in front of me. Since I know nothing about cheeses, I had them recommend a selection. I was given a cow cheese served with quince (I readily told them I didn't know what quince was, but it was apparently the preferred accompaniment for the cow cheese), two goat cheeses and a sheep cheese (or maybe I had two sheep cheeses followed by a goat cheese). Anyway, all the cheeses came from Spain. The goat (or sheep?) cheeses came from Canary Islands and Catalonia.

The theatricality of this experience was entertaining even though I'm clueless about cheeses. And they gave huge slices of cheeses.

Throughout the meal, I kept thinking that Spanish families must never go hungry.

But the most noteworthy, in my opinion, was the "water service." I had more or less unlimited water for 2 euros (was it really mineral water?). I was very thirsty as I had been walking the entire day, and the only thing I had had before dinner was a bottle of water I bought in a fast food restaurant near Reina Sofia. As soon I drank any water, my waiter quickly appeared to refill it. My water was in a pretty purple glass. At times, he sensed that I was very thirsty and would hover to refill my glass two or three times.

I was pretty embarrassed. Maybe he thought I was a sponge in disguise. I really wanted to laugh. And I enjoyed watching him pour water. He poured it in a very nice way -- just what you'd expect for a Michelin-starred restaurant. Laugh.

The Actual Meal

The amuses-bouches kept coming. First there was a black tray with five small pastry-type things with various fillings. I had no idea what I was eating. They came with small bread sticks. They must have felt sorry for me as they laid out two sets on the tray. I noticed that tables of two got the same things.

Next came a very small cup of gazpacho (delicious!) followed by some unknown substance (chewy -- clams? squid?) accompanied by peppers.

I started with a mackerel puree, followed by a king prawn salad (the prawns were pretty small, I thought) and a fish course (served with almond gravy, perhaps?). Actually I just remembered that there was a squid course. I had a small, whole squid, which when cut, emitted gooey, black stuff. What was that?

I found the pigeon a bit rare for my taste. I ate little of it.

When I had my pigeon, I was given a shallow, silver dish with water and a slice of lemon. I wondered if I should wash my hands in that dish, but I refrained to avoid making silly mistakes.

Then the cheeses.

Then I had three flavors of sorbet (apricot was one, and strawberry, I think, and a fruit native to Spain -- some sort of mandarin orange?). The scoops were put nicely in a special plate with three oval "depressions." Then there was another dessert, which was some sort of ravioli filled with an unknown substance served with vanilla sauce.

Then finally there were petits-fours, mostly chocolate-based, and the restaurant's own chocolates.

Cost

Dinner was 110 euros + bread service (6 or 7 euros) + "water service" (2 euros). I left a ten-euro bill for a tip. As I said, the food was good, and I thought that portions were pretty generous for this sort of dining establishment. However the food wasn't particularly memorable -- certainly not in the way Terraza del Casino was for me.

As far as I know, both have one Michelin star. I don't think that there're any three stars in Madrid. La Broche has two stars.

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Details: Photo Espana 2006

As I mentioned, the theme was Nature.

Olafur Eliasson

Eliasson's photographs were taken in Iceland, in series. Framed with stark black frames, these took sometime to warm up to. One series was the Horizon series, where the photos were quite elongated.

It looked like the Berlin art gallery Neugerriemschneider was instrumental in arranging this show. Nearly every work was in a private collection -- perhaps first sold by this gallery?

I must admit that I find Eliasson's installations more interesting, but some of the photos were quite wonderful.

John Davies, Edward Burtynsky, Rinko Kawauchi

Some of the John Davies photographs were of traditional landscapes. Some were of British industrial cities -- like Birmingham -- and I think Sheffield?

Burtynsky's photographs showed how man destroyed natural landscapes and created new, strange and paradoxically beautiful ones. One was a stunning photo of residual nickel deposits in Ontario, Canada, where the land was now colored red and brown of various hues.

Rinko Kawauchi explored how simple things in life could be beautiful. The photos were sometimes over-exposed (or so I think) or taken from strange angles. Theme: Fragments could be aesthetically pleasing. Some of her work reminds me of work by Wolfgang Tillmans.

Group Show at 31 Alcala

This was really more a contemporary art show than a show on photographs. As I mentioned, two photos by Sam Taylor-Wood were shown. Rachel Whiteread was represented by her casts of boxes. Dan Graham was represented with a mini glass partition, presumably representative of his more recent work (which I've not really seen but have only read about).

Bien-U Bae

Pine trees series and photos of plants and flowers taken in Tahiti.

Karl Blossfeldt

He was obviously ahead of his time. His photographs of plants and flowers, seemingly scientific and abstract, foreshadowed developments in art like minimalism and serialism. I wonder when the prints were made. Most of them looked remarkably pristine (Blossfeldt died in the 1930s, as I recall).

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Details: Picasso in Madrid

I should have read this New Yorker review by Peter Schjeldahl before I went, but better late than never. It gives a nice overview.

The Reina Sofia part was centered around Guernica. In a well curated show, Picasso's huge masterpiece is exhibited alongside seminal paintings by Goya and Manet. Two other paintings by Picasso confront the horrors of war. One is "The Charnel House" from MoMA, which I've never seen before. Another one is "Massacre in Korea" lent by Musee Picasso in Paris.

Picasso's paintings in the Prado part of the exhibition span a range of styles, from the Blue Period, to flirtations with Classicism, to Cubism, to a series of paintings inspired by seminal paintings in the past (such as "Las Meninas," "Dejeuner sur l'herbe," etc.). Velazquez's dog in "Las Meninas" is reduced to a caricature in one version.

I don't know. Try as I can, and I'm still trying to appreciate Picasso's work. I think that I'm stuck somewhere in Cubism -- I still don't understand the idea of multiple viewpoints and perspectives, but I obviously need to spend more time with Cubist paintings.

But it's obviously false to think that Picasso can't draw or can only draw caricatures. His art simply evolved.

In the end, as the New Yorker reviewer writes: "Simply, no other work of a bloody century so successfully—that is, to a lesser degree of failure—apostrophizes the character of total war."

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Details: Prado Art Commentary

[I actually had fairly long lists, but I'll leave all of those out. I saw well over 50 paintings over two visits.]

I'll quote mostly from Gallery Guide: Masterpieces of the Prado Museum by Francisco Calvo Serraller (third ed., 2006) and add my own commentary.

Fra Angelico

"For many years this work was held in doubt as to its attribution, but today it is reconsidered to be one of the best and most 'revolutionary' works created by the singular friar-painter...."

Quite different in style from Fra Angelico's frescoes in San Marco in Florence. The gold background recalls paintings in the International Gothic style by painters like Lorenzo Monaco and Gentile da Fabriano.

Mantegna

"The Spanish writer and art critic Eugenio d'Oro attracted our attention to this work in his book Three Hours in the Prado Museum (1922) when he affirmed that this was his favourite painting."

I'm always on the lookout for Mantegna, but I'm not sure if I understand why this painting is so great.

Raphael, Portrait of Cardinal

"After years of debate, this portrait of an unidentified cardinal is now unquestionably considered to be the best of the Prado Museum's far from insignificant collection of works by Raffaello Sanzio...."

This is one of the few Raphaels I actually liked. I agree with this assessment.

Rogier

"Probably painted around 1432-1435, this is one of Van der Weyden's most famous and highly regarded works.... The realism of the faces has become a milestone in the art of portraiture."

This painting surpassed my expectations. I remain astonished by what artists were able to accomplish nearly six centuries ago.

Paintings by Bosch, Patinir, Bruegel

"The Prado Museum owns several of Bosch's best and most famous paintings...."
"Patenier's best landscape"

All the Bosch paintings reside in one room, along with the Bruegel and the Patinir. The side panels of "Haywain" were under restoration. I enjoyed seeing "Garden" again. After seeing a movie with the same title recently where the painting was featured pretty prominently, I was able to see quite a few details I didn't see before. A unicorn in the side panel, disproportionately large animals and fruits, etc. We'd never know why Bosch painted this triptych.

Unfortuntely I couldn't find Bosch's "Seven Deadly Sins."

The Patinir landscape is a comparatively small painting, but the subtle hues for this painting are quite remarkable. I can see why this is so famous after seeing it. Reproductions can't replace seeing a painting.

I was pleasantly surprised to see two Bosch paintings on St. Antony not usually listed. The miniguide for Bosch explains this mystery partially. On one of them, the guidebook says, "This painting is generally not included in the catalogues of the artist's work. In fact it is not even mentioned. Some scholars believe it to be an almost contemporary copy of a lost original."

The painting is not on the Bosch Universe website, for example.

Velazquez, Surrender of Breda

"One of Velazquez's most famous compositions...."

This was my favorite Velazquez in Prado. In a different guidebook (the Short Guide), one reads that Velazquez "arranges four of the lances at a sloping angle, adding to the realism and also emphasizing the sloping line created by the flag and the general emphasis on oblique lines in the cross-shaped structure of the composition." I don't think that this is just nonsense, by the way. It demonstrates the care Velazquez put into this painting. Was he aware of Uccello's battle scenes, I wonder?

Velazquez, Las Meninas

"This wonderful painting is, without doubt, Velazquez's absolute masterpiece."

I'm still trying to understand why. But I'm sure there're many art historical references. Take the mirror in this painting, for example, to show the King and Queen. The use of mirrors to depict scenes outside of a painting's settings date back to the Flemish Primitives. This has a long, illustrious tradition.

Goya, Family of Charles IV

"The extraordinary sense of realism... and the stark candour... have given rise to interpretations which maintain that the painter wanted to caricature his illustrious sitters, or even stigmatize the image of the dying monarchy. Such ideas are as suggestive as they are improbable."

Time Out Madrid has a nice take on this painting. So the King's wife was a "nyphomaniac" who "took a fancy to the young Godoy, a royal guard about half her age." The King, the Queen and the Minister (Godoy) formed the "earthly trinity." Godoy had "his wife, the mistress, and the Queen." In the meantime, the King's son Ferdinand hated Godoy and supposedly plotted against the King during Napoleon's invasion.

So why should it be surprising that this must be one of the most unflattering royal family portraits?

The Naked Maja, by the way, was supposedly in Godoy's private collection, along with Velazquez's Rokeby Venus. Given the sensitive nature of these paintings, it's clear that Godoy was a powerful man.

Other Random Commentary

Take away the dog from Goya's "The Dog," and I'm reminded of paintings by Turner.

I also admired "The Third of May." Look carefully at this painting, and one sees a few frightened faces depicted so chillingly. And in the shadows on the painting's right (viewer's right), cne can make out at least one more ghastly face.

The Georges de la Tour in Prado is supposedly one of the few day scenes painted by this artist. His night scenes are rather Caravaggesque.

I enjoyed seeing the Guido Reni paintings. After all, I did research paintings on St. Sebastian a while ago, and the one in Prado is a pretty interesting take on this subject.

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Madrid Trip Cost

Plane ticket: $991.32

One night's hotel: 55 euros + booking fee, and I think that my MBNA credit card may have started to charge 3% for foreign exchange transactions. I need to switch credit cards.

Dinner at Santceloni: about 120 euros (+10 euro cash tip below)

When I got on the plane, I immediately tried to figure out where all my cash went. I withdrew 150 euros in Madrid and I'm guessing I spent about 130 euros, 120 of which I accounted for below.

10-ride Metro: 6.15 euros
Cab to Toledo train station: 4 euros
Cab to Barajas airport: 27 euros (the meter read 20.15 euros, but he wanted five extra euros and I didn't argue)
Photo Espana catalogue: 10 euros
Two sets of Bosch postcards from Prado: 6 euros (3 each)
Nightlife: 13 euros
Prado admission (Saturday): 6 euros
Toledo AVE train roundtrip: 16.60 euros
Prado miniguides: 8 euros (including one for Picasso show)
Wine: 20 euros
Two Guernica postcards (Guernica): 3 euros (1.50 each)
Santceloni tip: 10 euros

Moral: Easy to spend money. And I didn't buy any clothing or eat any lunches!

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P.S. "Though my notes said to take the #6 bus...." (re Toledo)

This came straight from Maribel's files. Thanks Maribel!

And by the way, everyone I asked in Toledo said to take #6. But #22 did work.