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  March 21 Madrid Overlooking the river Life in a European Hotel room is different. The Palace is a luxury Hotel, not quite as posh as the Mandarin Oriental or the Ritz, but in many ways nicer. The common areas are more convivial, the staff are helpful and polite, and they all understand English, although some better than others. We especially liked the restaurant vibe with the stained-glass dome. Our room looks east over the Thyssen Museum and is on the top floor. The bed, the service items, the available outlets are all well thought out and easy to navigate around. The coffee machine is a Nespresso brand and only delivers 4 ounces per pod.  The Coffee downstairs is excellent. The bathroom is big with double sinks and a roomy shower.  The towels are 5 feet by 3 feet and plush. The necessary room is separated by a door and has a commode, a phone and a bidet. And a bidet … Paul discovered that there are YouTube videos on how to use a bidet. Paul also discovered t...
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  March 20 Toledo We were up and about a bit early today, but that did not interfere with our usual breakfast of tasty bits and bites topped off with Churros and chocolate. Churros for breakfast Sara was right on time and had a surprise for us, or rather for Anders!  Her son, Marko (11) wanted Anders to have the sword and shield from Toledo that he had when he was little. That is just another reason we like Sara. It is a little wooden shield with a blue cross and a black handled wooden sword to match. We met our driver for the day, Juan Carlos and his nice new Mercedes hybrid van. He expertly guided us out of the Madrid Centro and onto the A-42 south to Toledo. In a little over an hour we were circling Toledo in the “off and on” rain up to the Parador. This is the best view of old Toledo. In fact, some Japanese magazine picked this view of Toledo at night to be the most beautiful view of a city at night in the world. We wondered about that for a minute. The Parador is a c...
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  March 19 Madrid The queue to enter the Thyssen Museum Museums are very popular here. Groups of students from the very young to the teen age years are regular visitors.  The group pictured was from France and they each had a sheet of paper with opportunities to write answers and impressions about the collection inside. Shirley and Paul had Sara and did not require a study guide or a test. The King, the Queen and Shirley The Thyssen-Bornemisza museum is one of the “Big Three” in the art district of Madrid.  The other two are the Reina-Sofia and the Prado. Each has their specialty. The Thyssen boasts very old to very modern and that is where we went today.  Sara took us on a trip of Art History from early Italian to the very modern. The way she explained the journey was through representative artists and works. The explanation The tour took almost 3 hours, and we relaxed with a coffee after we saw what we needed to see. We then set out toward the massiv...
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  March 18 Madrid Shirley and Sara outside the Prado The weather forecast makes us glad we are indoors today.  Although it is a bit warmer, the rain clouds bode ill for most of the day from 10 – 4 PM anyway. We both slept well last night.  Our jet lag drill seemed to have worked again. Upon landing in Europe, we endeavor to stay active until the local time of our normal time to retire occurs.  Then force awake the next day when local time matches our normal wake up time. There are naps – or siestas when in Spain throughout the next day.  Then, by the second day we are pretty much accustomed to local time. After a filling breakfast we got ourselves ready for a museum trip. Today we are at the Prado. The rain is steady today, but it was a short walk to the Prado from our Hotel.  Sara had the reserved tickets in her phone, and we were quickly inside the museum. Last November Shirley and Paul visited the Prado twice, once on our own and...
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  March 17 Madrid                                                   The symbol of Madrid is a Bear eating strawberries (or something like strawberries) from a tree The first night of jet lag means a fitful sleep. We were prepared for that mentally, if not physically.  We awoke at regular time, close to 7 AM. The breakfast is included, and so we availed ourselves of the omelet station, smoked salmon, good yogurt, Jamon, and Churros!  Paul wondered why the statue of Jesus de Medinaceli was famous and so a quick search on the internet revealed the story.  Apparently on the first Friday of March, a substantial queue forms to kiss the feet of the statue.  Once done, three wishes will come true.  Alas, we arrived nine days after the first Friday of March. Had we known … After Breakfast we met Sar...
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