Trains, Trains, and Trains

Today was a travel day. Laurie and I took a train from Granada to Madrid (5 hours), where we had a 4.5 hour layover. With Manuel’s help, we were able to check our bags at the train station, get some lunch, take a commuter train to the station we needed to leave from, and still have enough time to spend an hour and a half touring the Prado! I’m writing this from our sleeper cabin on the overnight train from Madrid to Paris. There’s no wifi on the train, so I won’t be able to post until tomorrow.
Person:

Without a doubt this is a repeat. Manuel is the person of the day. He took a half a day off of work, met us at the train station, helped us put our bags in lockers, took us to a great greasy-spoon tapas bar near the train station, explained the complicated train system that would get us to the next station, showed us around a little of Madrid, and took us to the entrance to the Prado. Not only did he make it possible for us to go to the Prado (something I really wanted to try to do), I am quite certain that without his help we wouldn’t have even made it to our next train. Thanks, Manuel!
Place:

Well, by now I’m sure you know today’s place was the Museo del Prado in Madrid. We didn’t do the museum justice, but we did get to see a large portion of the Velázquez and Goya paintings (the two superstars of Spanish art), as well as a fantastic exhibit of Victorian British painters called La Bella Durmiente (Sleeping Beauty), which included the stunning Flaming June. Other highlights of the tour were Goya’s The Third of May, 1808 and Velázquez’s The Drinkers and of course Las Meninas (considered by many to be the best painting ever painted, period). While it would have been great to spend a week in Madrid like we did in Barcelona, getting to see these works even for a short time was totally worth it. No pictures were allowed in the Museo, but here is an internet picture of Las Meninas.

Food:

The food in the dining car on our hotel train was predictably expensive, but was also unpredictably delicious. My favorite was the cream-of-seasonal-wild-mushroom soup.