MFNYC

First of all, thank all of you knowledgable people out there that made this trip feel almost effortless. Without all the good advice, we would have definitely wasted some valuable time, just figuring things out as we went. First stop Madrid for 4 nights (3.5 days), stayed at Carlos V. Overall we liked this hotel. We had a quad room which was a pretty good size, also had large bathroom. It was a little noisy at night, but tolerable, it would have been very noisy if the windows were open. The location is very convenient, near lots of shopping. The breakfast buffet was decent, nice rolls, some Danish, toast, meats, cheeses, cereals, and canned fruit, also very good coffee. We arrived early the 1st day (8:30am), our room was ready so dumped our stuff and headed to the breakfast room. We were charged that morning for breakfast (other days it was included). In retrospect, it would have made more sense to eat out, as the buffet is not worth the price (if not included). The city overall is small, and we are walkers so we found many locations walkable. We did take the bus and metro also, both very good value (we'd buy the 10 ride cards). The afternoon we arrived we headed to the Reina Sofia because it was opened late. This was one of the favorite museums of the entire trip. Not too big (I have trouble with the very big museums and my kids do get antsy). We were all a bit tired so didn?t spend as much time there as we would have liked. Before the museum we stopped at Atocha station and were very moved by the memorials that were set up. We ate nearby the museum, in a touristy restaurant, not all that good. Sunday (first full day) we headed to Prado and Thyssen. We entered the Prado on the side by the botanical gardens. There were no crowds here. This museum is very big, it?s impossible to see everything but I think we had a good overview. After that we walked through the gardens, very tranquil there. We then headed to the Thyssen and enjoyed this quite a bit. We spent a good amount of time in between the sites everything walking through the various neighborhoods and plazas (Plaza Mayor, Plaza De Sol, Cava Baja, Gran Via, Plaza Ana, Plaza Espanol). Monday we headed to the Palace Real. Tuesday we took a day trip to Toledo by bus. We caught an express in the morning and on the return it only made 1 stop before Madrid. Both cases the ride was < 1hour. Very touristy but worth the visit. We stopped in some of the churches and synagogues, also El Greco?s home. Wednesday we left early for London. We took cabs to and from the airport. Probably the most difficult part of the trip was finding a place to eat that was agreeable to all 4 of us. None of us are big ham eaters and some of us are not crazy about fish. Many restaurants do have roasted chicken and there is decent Italian food. Overall we really liked Madrid and felt we had covered a lot of territory. Next time(s) in Spain I?d definitely like to explore the north, south and Barcelona. Madrid really just wet our whistle.

London to follow...

MFNYC

We arrived in London in the afternoon. Our flight actually arrived a few minites early. Our JustAirports transportation was at the designated meeting place, exactly when they said they?d be. We had an ?estate? vehicle which is a minivan. This service is great value and proved to be extremely reliable. Our hotel, Cranley Gardens was in So. Kensington, a very pretty, mostly residential area, very peaceful, walking distance to 2 tube stops, shopping, and restaurants. The hotel itself was very cute on the outside, but a bit dated in the inside (particularly the rooms). The bathrooms are tiny and in need of a face lift, but clean. We had 2 connected rooms. The double was small, but the closet, with shelves (no drawers) was more than adequate (although we were only there for 4 nights). The twin room was larger. In response to some of the negative comments on tripadvisor, we did not find it noisy in the least, either from the inside or out. We also did not have sagging mattresses although they were hard (but I like them that way). The breakfast was nothing special but adequate (toast, cereal, canned fruit, sliced cheddar cheese, juice, coffee, tea and milk). The afternoon we arrived we went to the Victoria & Albert museum which is only a few blocks from the hotel. It was much larger than I imagined and has some amazing collections of all kinds of things. Well worth the visit (and the price of admission, free!). We ate locally, Zetland Arms pub and had the ?best? fish and chips (according to the restaurant, but they were actually quite good, fish very fresh). Thursday we did the Big Bus, hop on/off tour. It was a good day for that because it was rainy and chilly. We took advantage of the fast entry ticket to the tower of London. The tower was mobbed, which did take away from the pleasure of it all. We could barely hear the beefeater, and there were lines to get in and out of just about everything there. We also did the included river ?cruise? and continued on the bus for the duration of the day. This is a good way to get a feel for this city, as London is quite large and spread out. Friday we bought a family tube pass for the day. This was probably the best buy in London (5.60GBP for 4 of us), everything else in London was VERY expensive, worse than NYC (where we live). This was the best weather day of the trip, no rain, little clouds, still cool, but not too bad. We started the day at St. James park and Buckingham palace. Then worked our way to Tate Modern, and toured Globe theater. Our guide at the globe was an older gentleman and he gave a wonderful tour. After that we did a lot of just walking around and decided to go for ? price theater tickets. There seems to be several discount booths at Lancaster Sq. and they all seemed to offer the same deals. My kids opted for the Complete Shakespeare (15.50GBPs for center ?stall? seats). Both my kids loved this show, laughed through the entire performance. It was more of a comedy routine than a real theatrical production, but enjoyable none the less. Saturday we once again purchase a tube family pass. We headed for there British museum first thing of the day. Both my husband and I stayed in the Russell Sq area on our first visits to London (before we knew each other), so we had memories of the general area near the museum. We entered the museum in a back entrance which was not crowded at all. The popular exhibits (especially the Egypt) were mobbed. Other less popular exhibits were much less crowded. We spent a good morning there then did lots of walking, up Oxford St, to Carnaby St. We did lots of window shopping but didn?t buy much of anything (cheaper in NYC). After lunch we headed to the Museum of Design. This is a nice area, but a bit out of the way, Butler?s wharf. There are several restaurants with outdoor seating along the river, which on a nice day would probably be delightful for dinner. There are also some small galleries and nice shops in the area. The museum itself was not worth the price of admission (for 4 of us). It was ok, but definitely not high on my London museum list. We left early the next morning and overall the air travel was as smooth as can be. We had a great trip but did come home exhausted!

MFNYC

I just see I forgot 1 item in Madrid. We also spent some time in Retiro Park. Overall we had phenominal weather in Madrid (high 60s-70s during the day). The park was very lively. In the area near the boat pond (you can rent row boats), there were various street performers, balloon makers and vendors. It's a lovely park, if we had seen a bicycle rental place, we would have like to have gone for a ride around, but didn't see any (are there any?). This would be a great place for an afternoon picnic.

missypie

What prompted the combination of Madrid and London?

MFNYC

Missypie, We orginally were thinking a week in Madrid/Andalucia, but during Easter week southern spain is very crowded and overpriced. We figured a few days in Madrid is enough, and everyone I know tells me their kids love London. I priced airfare in the fall and got a great deal for this 3 leg journey (total $400pp from JFK) so I booked the flight. As it turned out, when I priced the airfare, there was a big sale (I hadbn't even realized), a week later the price tripled!

MFNYC

Missypei, one more thing, none of us have ever been to any part of Spain and really wanted to get a taste of it so that's how we focused on Madrid. I'd still like to do Andalucia, Barcelona and Northern Spain, but it may be a few years (my kids have conflicting school vacations, my daughter missed 3 school days for this trip which I don't really want to do again for a while).

marcy_

MFNYC, Thanks for the trip report. We're leaving for Spain a week from tomorrow-- Hooray! What was El Greco's house like in Madrid?

MFNYC

Marcy, El Greco's house is in Toledo, not Madird. I was expected a furnished home, but it was unfurnished with many of his paintings on all the walls.

Enjoy your trip.

marcy_

Oh, that explains it! I'd never heard of El Greco's house in Madrid!
(I guess I didn't read your post carefully - sorry!)

kaudrey

MF - glad to hear you had a good time.

It's funny. You say Toledo is very touristy. I didn't feel that way at all. I wandered around for hours and fell in love with the narrow streets and small synagogues.

Of course, I went in February, and there were very few people around, and most of the "tourists" seemed to be Spaniards coming from other nearby towns - not much English spoken when I went!

Glad you had a nice trip!

Karen

MFNYC

We were there Easter week so lots of tourists everywhere, but Toledo was swarming with them. Madrid was crowded too, but it struck me more as just being a city with lots of people. I found many places used little English, which was good, it forced us to try to use our Spanish more. Even an Italian restuarant be went to in the Salamanca (sp?) area, the menu was in Spanish & Italian, no English. I loved walking through the plazas at night, a real festive feel. I wish there were such plazas in NYC!

BetsyG

MFNYC,
Did you find a good Italian restaurant in the S. Kensington area? We are going in June with 3 kids, 15,9 & 9, staying in same area (somewhat). Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

MFNYC

Betsy, yes there was good Italian in the So. Kensington area. We ate at a place on Old Brompton Rd call Bella Italia (it's a chain, has good Italian food and makes a very nice individual sized pizza). The food was very good and reasonable (for London, in general London is quite pricey). it was very pleasant, and they make this huge Sundae for dessert which my kids insisted on getting (1 was enough for all of us). There was another Italian place nearby but a bit pricier. There also was one we noticed on Gloucester Rd. called DIno's (I think also a chain). There also was several pizza palces, on our arrival, my son was starving so we got him a slice. Another pubc type restaurant that we really liked was Hereford Arms on GLoucester Rd. It has a non-smoking section and their food was very good (but the fish & chips were better at Zetland). They have a very good 1/2 bbq'd chicken which made my son (the pickey eater) happy.