Here’s a shocker for you – it was raining when I looked out the window this morning, and judging from the condition of the street and sidewalks below, it had been raining for some time. I was a bit concerned because we’d bought tickets for the Prado based on an improved weather forecast but our entry wasn’t until 1:45 so we put that concern aside for the moment and went out looking for coffee.

Corte Inglés was still closed at 9:45 so we took off down Calle Arenal to find another option, stopping to get the New York Times at our old standby kiosk. Santa Eulalia is closed on Mondays so that wasn’t an option but we finally found a place out of the mist and the wind with open tables.

The rain and the sun were battling for air supremacy when we were ready to leave, and being close to the Palacio Real, we thought we’d take a spin just for a photo. The lines to get in were long.

We doubled back towards home, passing the royal music school that had the most interesting facade – a long black panel with white dots representing notes. You can see it in the gallery. Also among the photos are the coolest car-blocking devices, present on the pedestrian streets to keep the traffic out. In the US, they’d do that task with some ugly jersey barriers, here they use customized concrete half-spheres, stamped with the city crest. Same function while much nicer on the eyes and the environment.

After lunch, the rain and clouds were gone and the sun was brightly shining. We left and went across Puerto del Sol down the hill past the Chamber of Deputies and on toward the Prado. We were early but we decided to check the side entrance and they let us in. For the next 2-1/2 hours we wandered through one of the finest art collections in the world but sadly, some time since we were last there, they have banned photography. The main attraction is Velasquez’s Las Meninas, the canonical Spanish masterpiece and I like to just stand there and stare at it. The Prado has a great collection of paintings by Dutch artists from their golden age as Spain used to control the region and various Spanish kings had a particular taste for that genre. There are also quite a few pieces by Breughel father and son along with many by Rubens. I am quite particular to Breughel’s depictions of rural life and I was not disappointed today. The most popular paintings in the Prado in terms of customer attention are, by far, the allegories by Bosch. The Creation, The Temptations of Saint Anthony, Visio Tondali, Adoration of the Magi, and the Garden of Earthly Delights are always mobbed with visitors, no doubt due to their bizarre details. King Philip II was an avid Bosch collector in the day which explains the banquet of works in the collection. The museum has one Caravaggio, recently restored, that is just gorgeous along with many by Raphael and Titian. The other Spanish greats – Goya and El Greco are well represented but their work doesn’t grab either of us.

You can only absorb so much art so we took leave of the gallery, crossed the street, and headed up Calle las Huertas, our favorite street in Madrid. Lots had changed along the way – empty storefronts, places we knew that had disappeared, many “for rent” signs. It’s still a great walk though with bronze plaques telling the stories of Spanish artists who had lived there accompanied by their quotes embedded in brass letters in the cobblestone walkway. There’s a good reason why it’s known as “Barrio de las Lettres” and it’s because for several centuries it was the focal point of Spain’s literary culture. Cervantes lived there while he was writing Don Quixote and died in the area. Two years ago his grave was discovered in the nearby Monastery de Las Descalzas Reales.

A little Amorino gelato-fix to bolster our flagging energy, and now we wait for dinner.