Bonjour de la Suisse: Olay!

We took a weekend trip to Europe's highest capital city, Madrid. It is a vibrant and upbeat modern city that is much more than paella, siestas, flamenco dancers, and bullfights. We flew in early Saturday morning and started right in seeing the city. Everything was very quiet in the morning, since most of the city was out partying until the wee hours, but we used that to our advantage and got to sights before the crowds.

About a month ago we happened to flipping through the six English speaking stations we have at home, when on EuroNews we saw a segment on the M.C. Escher exhibit that was touring through Europe and would be in Madrid during our trip. It was a good thing we knew about it, because no one we talked to had any clue about the exhibition. Not our hotel, or the TI office... they had nada. But thanks to G's blackberry, we figured it out on our own.

The M.C. Escher exhibit at the Art Channel Exposition Center (Centro de Exposiciones Arte Canal, Plaza de Castilla, in northern Madrid) was fantastic! All of his most famous works were there. It was a bit crowded, but when we left, there were almost 200 people waiting in the cold to get it! I was so glad we got there when we did.

Museums were the theme of the day. Madrid has so many great museums, but it was also pretty cold, so I was happy just to be inside. We next headed over to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, home of Picasso's Guernica, the most famous single work of the 20th century. I had tried to see it when I was here in May, but the museum was closed because it was a public holiday. So for me, it was extra special to actually see this great painting with my own eyes.

We then headed over to Museo del Prado, but G was "museumed-out" and decided to check out the city's neighborhoods on foot while I explored one of Europe's best museums. We met up and thought about eating dinner, but at 7pm it was WAY too early for dinner in Spain. Most restaurants here don't even open until 9pm, so we settled for beer and tapas near Plaza Mayor to tide us over.

The next day we headed over to the Royal Palace. On the way we strolled through the historic center and the heart of the city, Puerta del Sol. The Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) is billed as Europe's third greatest palace (after Versailles and Vienna's Schönbrunn) and it lives up to its reputation! We spent half the day wandering through the lavish halls and ease dropping on English speaking tour groups. I even took care of my photography class homework assignment in the gardens across the way in Plaza de Oriente.

We had to leave relatively early to catch our flight back home. Once safely in the air I reflected on our trip and was happy we decided to brave Madrid. We had bought our tickets soon after the airport parking garage was bombed and I had been a tad bit nervous about traveling here. But it is such a beautiful city and a must see destination. We had a wonderful time and felt very safe and secure during our entire trip. I would recommend for anyone to visit Spain's marvelous capital.