Trip journal UK and Spain (September 21 – October 12, 2011)

Part 3: Madrid October 2

October 2 (Sun): Vivian very kindly volunteered to pick us up around 07:00 and delivered us to the London Bridge station in order for us to catch the 07:42 train. We arrived well ahead of time but our train was delayed for nearly half an hour due to some freak accidents after it left Gatwick. Nevertheless we still managed to catch our 09:00 EasyJet flight to Madrid. After arrival in Madrid we took the Metro (switched twice Line 8>10>1) to our hotel near the Sol station. Our daughter had already arrived from Barcelona (she had a seminar and meeting there two days earlier) and bought tomorrow's train tickets to Toledo. We went to Taberna Los Lucio, a very popular tapas bar for lunch. We’d to wait for more than 45 minutes for our table. We then toured the Plaza Mayor and booked (for October 4) a table at the Restaurant Botin (founded in 1725 and according to the Guinness Book of Records, the earliest restaurant in the world). Afterwards my wife and daughter continued their sojourn around Plaza Mayor and I went to Museo del Prado. Since it was after 18:00 when I arrived at the museum admission was free. After the museum I attended the evening mass (partly since by the time I arrived its communion time; anyway I'd already attended the first Sunday mass yesterday in London) at the baroque Real Monasterio de la Encarnación (well known for its reliquary, which contains Madrid's most famous relic) just across the street from the museum. In the evening we went to the Mercado de San Miquel where 33 vendors loosely linked side-by-side under a soaring wood-and-iron roof. By day the Mercado woos residents and visitors alike, with purveyors hawking everything from produce to fish, fresh pastas to pastries, cookbooks to cooking utensils. After hours, the crowd shifts focus to beers and tapas; the frutería closes; a wine bar draws a genial mob. I got two glasses of COPA imperial Rioja (Euro 5 each) to go with the Jamón ibérico, Iberian ham and oysters from Daniel Sorlut. The wine was quite good and went well with the ham. Though to me the oysters were over briny. I forgot to bring my camera though I made it up in the following two evenings.

Equipment used: Olympus Pen E-P3 – Olympus M. Zuiko Digital 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 II (35mm equiv. 28-82mm), Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-200mm F4.0-5.5 (35mm equiv. 90-400mm) and Nikon 52mm Circular Polarising filter.