This is my final Madrid Chapter. I have so much more to share, but these are really the highlights. The image above is the staircase in our hotel. The wood was so worn down it dipped, from all the feet that had walked over it for almost 100 years. We went to the Prado They were not the friendliest bunch working at the group ticket office that day and those ladies were extremely difficult about letting us in, even with my confirmation letters. As one of my colleagues said, “The Devil wears Prado!”

However, I got see Las MeninasBosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights (talk about the details you miss in a slide or viewing an image in a book, the colors were almost unimaginable, amazing!) and Fra Angelico’s The Annunciation. For that alone, it was worth all the hassle to get in. Gabriel’s robes were so much pinker than I had ever imagined. The gold glittered around the hem, catching the light in the room. It took my breath away.

We also went on a cable car ride and Goose Girl and Foxy got to see the Temple De Bod. Foxy studied a bit of Egyptian Art, so he is always glad when we gets to see something Egyptian in person, and test his Hieroglyphic skills.

We had lunch at a kitsch little cafe. Our waitress reminded me of an edgier Amelie. She had a great personality and was extremely witty! I ate pastela de pollo. It was heavenly, it was light, it was moorish, it was sweet. The chicken and almonds and apricots and cinnamon all bundled together in phyllo dough, with a sprinkling of powdered sugar on the top, it was devine.

We also went to the Caixia Forum. It was a really interesting building. There was an Architecture exhibition on, they had the prettiest statue of Saint Barbara from a Belgian church and the William Blake exhibition on the second floor had a gem of a Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

We finished our day with a walk back through the park we first started in and off to our hotel. I found this bicycle carved into a stone pavement and just as I was about to snap a picture, a little golden leaf blew onto one of the wheels.

I also spied this snail:

One last shot, taken behind one of the student’s glasses and we were off, bound for home.