Instead, we went for lunch at a tavern Maria Jose and David had recommended to us. It was called "Los Huevos de Lucío" (Lucío's Eggs) and apparently even the King dines there (as does Bruce Springsteen whose photo was on the wall). We each had fried eggs and French fries (the standard plate), but I got ratatouille on mine. We made it to the restaurant just in time to beat the lunchtime rush. We actually got there before they opened (five minutes earlier) and they were all freaked out, "we're closed! We're not open yet!" We waited in the bar area for them to finish getting ready. By the time we left (3o minutes later), every table was taken and you couldn't even get to the door to get out. There are only about 15 tables in the place, but it was completely packed. Lunch was tasty and the eggs and fries made a great combo for Sunday brunch.
We hopped on the metro and headed to the Paseo del Prado where all of the museums are located. The Reina Sofia, which houses Picasso's Guernica, had just closed, so we got some Starbucks instead. Mom ate a chocolate ice cream pop as we walked back up the Paseo to the Prado museum. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Spanish art at the Prado. I'm not that into Goya (he's got 1/3 of the museum), but I did enjoy seeing the "Third of May 1808." I actually think I liked Picasso's take on Velazquez's "Las Meninas" better than the original. (In Barcelona we saw an exhibit where Picasso had done 60 paintings inspired by the Velazquez original.) I was way more interested in seeing Fra Angelico's "The Annunciation" and Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights." Bosch was a complete nutcase. His paintings were fantastic to see in person. They're so complex and intricate, which mini-scenes throughout the larger picture. We also really enjoyed a special exhibit from France. It was called "Sleeping Beauty" and featured a painting by Lord Leighton Frederic called "Flaming June" that was just exquisite. A girl sleeps curled up in a chair; she's wearing an orange/peach dress and the gold frame works really well with the extremely vibrant colors of the painting.
We were pretty exhausted by the time we left the museum, but we headed to the Puerto del Sol (central shopping area of Madrid) where we found pretty much all of the stores were open even though it was (Easter) Sunday! I'm used to Spain being a ghost town on Sundays, so this was a refreshing surprise. MANGO didn't have the sweatshirt, but we did go to Corte Ingles to get me wheat-free cookies and wander around a bit. We checked out some of the clothing floors. The store is absolutely ridiculous. It's huge and you can buy everything there: food, clothes, plants, washing machines. You can even plan a trip around the world (they have a travel agency) and have your dry cleaning done while you shop!
We went to a cafe for dinner. I had a turkey sandwich (I took it off the bread) and Mom had a grilled cheese. It was an uneventful, uninteresting last meal together, but then we got Ben and Jerry's for dessert! The B&J's line for fresh, hot Belgian waffles was much longer than the line for ice cream, which made us laugh because, to us, Ben and Jerry's primary food offering is their ice cream. Waffles are an afterthought.
We took the metro back to the hotel, got ready for bed and watched some CNN.
The next morning we ate breakfast and went to the airport. I waited until Mom was through security. They took her knitting needles away from her, but luckily I was there to get them and she was able to fix her sweater when she got home. I'm going to send them to her.
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