Day 1 in Madrid

The temperature in Madrid dropped just as we arrived, so the weather has been perfect. In the morning we just walked and explored our neighborhood some more, then strolled on the Paseo del Prado, and had a good lunch in an oddly decorated taberna called El Diario, where Yung Wha sat with Sr. Cervantes. We spent the entire afternoon in the Museo del Prado, after which it was, natch, time for sangría and tapas.

Dobrian family sidebar: In the evening we were walking on the Calle de Alcalá toward the Plaza de las Cibeles, so naturally I had to turn down the street where my family lived during my dad's sabbatical in 1971. What was the Hotel Suecia is now a branch of a chain of 5- star hotels called NH Collection (don't ask me), and what was the Restaurante Belman is now a completely redesigned restaurant/bar called Casa Suecia.

I chatted with the bellhop (in the picture), and he actually had some photos of the old hotel and the downstairs bar pre-renovation on his phone(!), so he showed them to us. He said Ernest Hemingway used to live on the 5th floor and, of course, hang out in the bar.

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