Madrid

Tapas.  Rioja.  Óle.

We had a short weekend trip down to Madrid this past weekend (we left early Saturday and returned Sunday late afternoon).  We woke up at 3:45 a.m. so we could catch the 4:43 tram to make it to the airport in time for our 6:10 a.m. flight (eek).  It was all worth it though, as Madrid was fun.  We were surprised at how clean the city was and the architecture was great.  Surprisingly our fabulous hotel let us check-in at 9:00 a.m., so we dropped off our bags and went out to find breakfast.  We found a cute local cafe by the Opera building and the Palace, the largest in Europe (and apparently part of it is getting turned into a hotel in the near future!?).  Right next door is the Catedral de la Almudena, which looks old but was completed in 1993.

 

Afterwards we hit Plaza Mayor and joined a walking tour to see the Austrian part of the city and learn a little about the history (Spain was ruled by the Habsburg family in the 16-17th centuries, hence the Austrian section of town).

Right next door to Plaza Mayor is the old San Miguel market, a fancy foodie market with stalls selling snacks, full meals and wine.  It was really nice and a bit more upscale than we expected.

After the tour we hit the pedestrian shopping zone looking for lunch, but unfortunately we weren't the only ones as all the restaurants were full.  We finally found a burrito place near the swanky shopping area, which was good but not what we were looking for.  Afterwards we continued to the Salamanca neighborhood to see where the rich and famous hang out.  Here Matt continued his shopping spree and scored a cool pair of monk boots, on sale of course! 

 

At 6:00 p.m. the Prado opens its doors to the public for free, so we thought we would do a quick walk-through.  But upon getting there we found a line a mile long so we decided to forgo the museum and visit a neighboring church before heading back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.

On Sunday we thought we would go to the modern Reina Sofía Museum (Matt thought it was free in the morning), but we actually found out it was free in the evening so we skipped it.   Instead, we headed to Retiro park.  The weather was gorgeous today (sun and no wind, yay) and there were lots of runners and walkers in the park.

From the park we walked across town via Gran Via to the Temple of Debod, an actual Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain in the 1960's.  It is located on a hill with great views of the city.   Huh, don't remember this from our last trip!

From here we visited San Francisco el Grande (a basilica) and then walked through the tapas district La Latina.  Then it was back to the hotel and off to the airport.  Short but fun.

Manchester

Rain. Wind. Ale.

Another EasyJet weekend, this time to Northern England - Manchester to be specific.  We were looking forward to English Ales and the ability to communicate without asking if someone speaks English first.  We arrived late Friday night, just in time to wander to a local a pub for a drink before heading back to our hotel for the night.  Interesting note: after getting into bed there was a dripping from the ceiling, right by Kate's head.  Somehow there was a leak and we were moved to another room.  I guess it even rains indoors in Manchester!

We woke up to sun on Saturday and took the opportunity to explore the downtown.  We started by walking past the town hall, but we arrived before it opened so we made a mental note to return later in the day.  The building is built in the Gothic revival style and is considered to be one of the most important Victorian buildings in England.  In preparations for the Chinese New Year there were lanterns hung around the square and around the rest of the city.

We next walked up towards to main square and around the main shopping center on the way to the cathedral, originally built in the late 1400's.

Now it was time to explore the Northern Quarter, home to restaurants, bars and boutiques where we worked up an appetite.  For lunch we headed back towards the cathedral to eat at the Old Wellington, a half-timber public house built in 1552.  A lunch of traditional English fare and beer didn't disappoint.   However, the weather took a turn for the worse.  Rain and wind, eek.

We braved the soggy weather and went to the John Rylands library, a half library/half museum containing old books and Papyrus 52, a piece of parchment believed to date from 100 - 150 AD (that's an old sheet of paper).

We then went back to the town hall, where we were able to go inside and have mid-afternoon tea at the restaurant in the main hall.

For dinner we found a Spanish tapas restaurant.  We didn't have reservations and they said the wait could be over 30 minutes or longer but we could wait in the bar.  After sitting down and looking at the wine menu they came back and seated us (I guess someone cancelled).  Just our luck.  Afterwards we walked back to the Northern Quarter where we found a cute restaurant/bar where we both had milkshakes for desert (Kate had Nutella and toasted marshmallow and Matt had a boozy hardshake of fudge with bourbon & Baileys.  Yum!

On Sunday we work up to rain and decided to hit the Manchester Art Museum.  Like most museums in Manchester it was free.  It contained works from various British painters and was nice (but small).  Next we took the tram to the Quays (pronounced "keys" in case you were wondering) to see The Lowry, a mixed use building on the old shipbuilding grounds that contains the artwork of LS Lowry, famous for his drawings of the industrial English North.

Our last stop in Manchester was the Oast House, a rustic chalet-like gastropub in a stand alone building in the middle of town.  Good food to end our quick visit to Northwest England.