Nothing with group until afternoon, so after breakfast we hoofed up to the Metro station in cool, clear weather for easy, one change trip to old city center.  Scoped out Madrid Opera House, then went looking for the Convent de las Descalzas Reales, which we had picked out of our guide-book as a must-see.  We got there a few minutes before it opened at 10, and were a few back in line, but on entering we learned there would not be an English tour for a couple of hours.  We opted to go in search of other treasures.  More on this remarkable place later.  We ultimately did get in.  We really wanted to get into the Reina Sofia Museum, which was right next door to the hotel we’d be staying in the following night, after the tour ended.  We would be staying an extra day in order to make flight connections.  We had learned that the famous Picasso, Guernica, how hung in the Sofia, after a long and contentious journey around the world.  So we hopped back on the Metro, getting off at Atoche Station, site of the terrible terrorist bombing in 2004.  The Hotel Mediodia is just across the square from the station, chosen by my intrepid companion, because that is where the bus to the airport would depart Sunday morning.  We’d just have to haul bags a short distance.  Little did we know it was also with walking distance of the two greatest museums in Madrid, the Reina Sofia, and the Prado.  Our plan for the next day was to take the Bullet Train from Atoche to Toledo, so we stopped at the hotel desk to inquire if we could drop off our bags the following morning for safekeeping until the room was ready.  Assured we could we went around the corner and into the Reina Sofia, a very modern, airy building.  Spent a long time in the Cubist section, then went in search of the 1930s collection, of which Guernica is a part.  Many, many Picassos– so prolific, he was; we’ve seen great collections in Paris, Antibes, Barcelona, Chicago, and now Madrid– as well as Dali, and Miro, plus numerous excellent Spanish painters we didn’t know.  Several classes of local school kids were there with their teachers.  Beautiful.  We found a group seated on the floor before the huge and astonishing Guernica, quietly and intently following a teacher’s explanation.  We stood and examined this masterpiece from several vantage points.  A depiction, in typical Picasso style, but all in varying shades of gray, of the bombing by German and Italian planes (at the behest of Spanish Nationalist forces) of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  11 feet tall, and 26.5 feet long, it is a stunning and lasting anti-war symbol.  From there we located an exhilarating 60s collection and, rounding a corner, were stopped in our tracks by a Mark Rothko, in its own alcove.  We are suckers for Rothko.  You stand in front of one, captured by the color and simplicity, and you say, Hey, I could do that; it’s just a couple blocks of color.  But no, you can’t.

We lunched in a beautiful open garden of the Sofia– jamom y queso, of course– before a Calder mobile, and reflected on our good fortune in having seen so many great collections and masterpieces across the world.  The art and architecture are the reason we do this kind of travel.  The other kind of travel we do– the camping and hiking trips– are about another kind of art and architecture.  Both have enriched our lives in immeasurable ways.   And the Prado was still to come.

We took the Metro back to the Hotel Prago for a little rest, then hooked up with the gang and a bus ride through town with a local guide.  The weather was beautiful, but maybe because the guide wasn’t very good, or we’d already seen most of where she took us, or we had spent everything emotionally in the Sofia, or we were just plain beat, it wasn’t very interesting.  Dropped off at the hotel, and not feeling up to tracking down another Spanish meal, we devoured a couple of Whoppers at a nearby Burger King, took a walk along the newly developed river front, and turned in early.