Catching up

Before PB leaves tomorrow, here's a partial list of what we did this week:

Monday:

Lunch at Cubic, the little restaurant around the corner from school, and from PB's hotel. Menu del día, lingered until 5pm, in true Madrid style. El Corte Inglés. Drinks and tapas in the Plaza Mayor, people-watching and taking in a particularly beautiful changing of the light as the sun went down. Normally, I would avoid the Plaza Mayor as being too touristy, but this particular evening it was magical. A wonderful end to PB's first day.

Tuesday:

Morning classes. Skipped conversation class to join PB at the Thyssen (my second visit, every bit as satisfying as the first), where we also had a late lunch, lingering until five again. Drinks, tapas, and people-watching in a cafe at the Plaza Santa Ana, less of a tourist trap than the Plaza Mayor.

Wednesday:

Morning classes. Lunch at the cafe in PB's hotel. Headed towards the Prado with excellent intentions, but never quite made it, strolling instead through the Barrio de las Letras, the Atocha station, along by the Retiro, back towards school. PB took in the Museo de Bellas Artes, while I went to my culture class, joining her afterwards for a wonderful dinner at La Finca de Susana. Despite mixed reviews of la Finca de Susana by NY Times readers, our dinner was awesome (and incredibly cheap)

Thursday:

Skipped all my classes today (gasp!). But with good reason. First we had to go to the Grand Optical store on the Calle Alcala where, with the help of PB and a charming and competent optometrist called Amelia, I was fitted out with a totally bitchen new pair of glasses (gafas) and sunglasses. The sunglasses were free (except for a 40€ charge for choosing the polarized kind), as part of a "buy one, get one free" deal. But the savings did not stop there, nosireebob! The (truly stylish) pair of glasses came with a discount equal to my age, expressed in percentage terms. In other words, at half-price. So, all in all, a productive visit, and I had my stylish new gafas by 3pm. Photographic evidence will be provided, in due course.

Then we walked to the Museo Sorolla, which is simply a wonder and a jewel, and not to be missed by anyone spending more than a day or two in Madrid.

A late tapas lunch (surprise!), a little rest, culture class, and an early dinner, to get back in time for the third exciting episode of "El Internado (un lugar donde todo puede suceder)". An episode so exciting that it deserves, and shall receive its own post. In due course.

Friday:

to be continued