Madrid

The Hotel Miau is very nice. Probably the best accommodation I will have this trip. Paris will cost more and probably be less comfy. I deserve some luxury at the end of this trip. Besides, how could I resist a name like Miau? They even have a pixellated cat for a logo.

In the morning I discover from the Elipsos website that there are no sleepers left for the Madrid/Paris night train. Not even reclining seats. Uh oh, panic time. I should have purchased a ticket over the Internet weeks ago, but I didn't want to tangle with the mess that is the Elipsos website and printing a ticket or giving an address to receive it, which I obviously can't.

Flights between Madrid and Paris cost too much, and I would still need a bed for the night. Wait, there are sleepers on the Barcelona/Paris run. I can get a cheap Ryanair flight from Madrid to Girona, where there is a transfer bus to Barcelona. But I'm sick of going in and out of airports. So I decided to go to Barcelona in the afternoon by AVE, the Spanish high-speed train. Costs more but I've never tried it. A trip down to Atocha station and it's all purchased. Whew. Incidentally Atocha is the nearest station to where the Madrid bombings took place.

Then a Spanish breakfast and I can do the two walking tours in my guide, Old Madrid and Artistic Madrid. Those take the rest of the daylight hours. I get back to Hotel Miau at sundown all exhausted. The Madrid metro is very efficient. I never had to wait more than 4 minutes for a service to come along. I had a day ticket so I tried many lines.

Puerta del Sol is where all distances in Spain are measured from and there is a Km 0 marker on the ground. There seem to be a lot of anti-GFC public works going on.

The Mercado de San Miguel seems to have a collection of boutique food stands, even a book shop. Obviously meant as a tourist attraction. I had a nice smoked mussel tapas.

There is an expo of pictures of the CERN LHC by Peter Ginter near Plaza de España, where there is a statue of Cervantes and his most famous creation, Don Quixote.

Madrid is one lively city. I like how the residents fully use their city every hour of the day. I'd come back in a trice if it were simple.