weekend in madrid

we went abroad (bad catalan joke) for the weekend to madrid and loved it despite the foul weather on saturday when we all got soaked. we stayed at the hotel miau (really) which is as central as you can get and right on the beautiful plaza santa ana. here in no particular order are some of the things we liked:

• the museums - the big three are fantastic and very near each other. ben liked the prado with its very sinister goyas and el grecos and was very swayed by the labours of hercules pictures and saturn eating his son (he has been warned). Becca much preferred the bright modern art of the Thyssen collection and neither cared much for the Picassos of the Reine Sofia
• Retiro Park. Barcelona lacks a really big park and this one is great
• Plaza Mayor. same thing
• El caldero restaurant - great for Murcian paellas cooked like soup rather than stir fried
• The bars of placa santa ana. Great tiled and mahogany wood places with great beer and tapas
• Real Madrid's stadium tour with nine (grr) European Cups on display and a great restaurant.
• The late night life. even later than barcelona and very laid back. hordes of people thronging the streets at 2am and later even in the pouring rain.
• The new terminal at Barajas airport designed by Richard Rogers. The most stunning airport building I have ever seen.