Madrid remains our favorite city in Spain. The buildings are so grandiose and seem to go on forever. The city is alive with thousands of people moving through every street and alley. It is holy week so it is even busier than usual. We had a really nice hotel right in the heart of the central historic district.
There is so much to see and Yun loves to shop (I am of the opposite persuasion), so she had a lot of fun doing that. I had a lot of fun drinking beer and enjoying the clamor.
The central square is enormous and quite the sight to behold.
We had lunch at a restaurant hundreds of years old. I had albondagas and it was glorious.
We spent hours at the Thyssen Museum (near the Prada museum). We saw paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, and Dali (clearly was insane).
And then another bar of course – this one opened in 1908.
We had such a fun time on this trip. The journey and timezone difference was exhausting but certainly worth it. One thing we were able to take advantage of was our global entry passes. This allowed us to mostly skip through the TSA checkpoints and skip all of the lines at customs coming back. We got through in under 30 seconds versus the 1-2 hour lines for the others.
On our return we got stuck in Dallas for more hours than anticipated due to thunderstorms. Fortunately there was a Capital One lounge that we have access to that was really nice – free food and drinks (with great meals and an endless variety of snacks), along with showers, relaxation rooms, and a gym. This was a relaxing and enjoyable way to endure a long layover.