Sunday 1 November 2015

Last days in Spain

This post is from the cafeteria of the MuseoThyssen-Bornemisza, where I am spending much of the day. And having something to eat and drink. The hotel which I foolishly chose for reasons of economy does not serve breakfast, nor permit any food or drink in the rooms What a poor choice that was. If ever I travel again, I will not try so hard to economise! Apparently Madrid hotels are totally booked out. I must post a review of the hotel on Booking.com. Rooms must be vacated by midday, and bags may be left until 3 pm. My flight does not leave until after 9pm, so there will be quite some time to kill.

Yesterday was Halloween. I had gone past a sushi restaurant and decided to eat there. One of the waitresses had her face painted accordingly, with stitches and wicked witch like grin. The sushi was lovely, so  I had two serves and two glasses of wine.  Around 3 am I was woken by screams, shouting,  sounds of violence, things smashing, and it was quite scary. I asked the concierge, who seems to me to be suitably witch-like, what was the violence, and she shrugged and said it was Halloween! When I left the hotel at 9.39 am,  all was calm, all was quiet, hardly anyone about, except the melancholy looking guard outside the Camera de los Diputados.

All the companions from the trip have gone their separate ways hither and thither , and I feel as though I am filling in the time. Having used the tourist bus I now have a better sense if where things are in relation to each other, although come darkness I can stll get lost all too easily. Yesterday evening I joined the throng to visit the Prado, which is free from 6 to 8 pm. The queue was really long when I joined it at 5.30, but it all worked well, eventually. But I had only just found the Goya paintings at 10 to 8, when we were all shooed and hustled out, so I will go again this afternoon. Perhaps I will visit the gardens of the Retiro. So far I have not managed to find a church to get into,
the only promising one being occupied with a wedding.







1 comment:

Elephant's Child said...

On balance, how was your trip? Did it live up to expectations?