Madrid

From the minute we stepped into our hotel in Madrid, we knew we were in a proudly cosmopolitan city — and a very friendly one at that. The lobby and front desk staff looked like they had stepped out of a GQ or Vogue photo shoot. Attractive and eager to show off their city, they helped orient us for our walks to the Prado and Reina Sofia Museum (Guernica!), and later to the National Palace and colorful neighborhoods. Natale from Italy took a personal interest in us, offering us champagne and asking us about ourselves. When he learned we were from Austin, that struck a chord, as he was an Indie music fan. Later that evening, when we returned from our museum visits, we found a tray of various desserts with sparkling water in our room. The personal message was printed on a photo copy of Las Meninas. It was the perfect close to a day of viewing Velasquez, Goya, Durer, Bosch and El Greco. One painting really disturbed me — the rendering of an auto de fe (during the Spanish Inquisition) in Madrid’s Plaza Mayor by Francisco Rizi. We would walk past that plaza the next day. We started out in the morning with our tour of the National Palace, which I understand rivals Versailles, and the armory museum which houses the gorgeous armor of Charles I and Philip II. It was a cold, wet day, but we walked the neighborhoods as we planned, stepping into charming shops and cafes and ending up in the Malasana neighborhood and a fun tapas bar for our last evening.