ATW in 45. #42

Going to the Prado today. We were going to get going early. Right. I have been lying around for 20 minutes waiting on Michael and Emily. I guess we will just join the long line when we get there.

Finally ready. Eat first upstairs on terrace here at the hostel. €4 each for usual continental breakfast. That’s cheap. Finally we go downstairs. Uber is called. 23 mins out. 15 mins later he is 5 out. 15 mins later he is 5 out. Driver cancels. We call for taxi. They are on strike. Another Uber. We are still 15 mins out. I am ready to walk. Only 3.4 miles. Almost same as last night.

This is painful. Puts everyone, son and wife being everyone, on edge. No fun. We have been sitting at the front desk close to an hour now. I am really getting perturbed.

4th Uber called shows up. Turns out, we hear from Uber driver, today the taxi cabs are on strike. In other cities Uber drivers have been attacked. Not here in Madrid. Good thing. But our driver gets us to the Prado reasonably quickly. He drove the wrong way on two streets in the process but did get us there.

The Prado is a very old building. King Chuck had it designed in 1785. The build is over 200 years old. It now houses all things art in Spain. There are a few retrospectives going as of now. A lot of renaissance art. We spent about four hours going thru the halls. Then out. Emily is wanted to do some shopping after and Marika wanted to go to McDonald’s so we walked back toward the hostel. Emily managed a pair of shoes and some clothes. We all got eat Mcs. We managed to get about 1.5 miles toward the hostel before we called Uber. While waiting for Uber, 3 Cabify cars went by. I downloaded their app. They are cheaper than Uber but only operate in some Spanish cities and all over South America. I hear cheaper. I am doing it.

As usual this new method of travel, Cabify, will accept neither of my credit cards. Losers. I have contacted help, email only, and they continue to respond in espanol no matter how many times I request en Ingles. I hate them. Did I mention all Madrid taxis are on strike? Ya, it’s fun.

We hit the hostel at about 530. Everyone hit the head. It’s what you do. We all relaxed for an hour or so. Till the next event. We are going on a food and wine tour of old Madrid. We have to meet our guide at 730 in Plaza Santa Ana. At the statue of Lorca. And our guide is very proud of him. She is proud of Cervantes too but I think Lorca is her number one. Turns out she is a kindle junkie like me.

We met up with Paola at 730. Nice gal from Madrid. Knows way too much about Spanish wine and knows where to go for food. Our tour takes us to four different bars and restaurants for food and wine. Well, this tour was a winner. Just great food and wine and fabulous company. Paola was a adventurous and intelligent guide who forced us to display our knowledge (lack) of Madrid and it’s sites and people. She gave no quarter. It was just fun. She knows where to go for everything – Tapas, Sangria, food of all types. You want her for a friend. It was a long evening but we really enjoyed it. Last stop we had dessert even. Which was very good as dessert goes. And it did.

We are sitting in the Plaza de Santa Ana, post tour. We are waiting on another Uber to get home. It’s a bad day for Uber’s. I hate waiting. The Plaza is hopping right now. The cafes are packed and people are wandering around. Just another Saturday night. I would like to get home. I am wasted and tired. Michael ordered our first Uber. He was worthless. If u know Uber, he started out at 18 mins away and a half hour later he was 22 mins away. We had already ordered another. Michael and the first driver got into it via text. The driver finally cut off contact after refusing to drop the trip. Michael flames him with Uber and driver got back charged and he got a refund. Love Uber. Love Taxis. Love? Cabify.

So a good Uber did show up and we got back late, as usual. I noted all of us dropped off to sleep rather quickly. Surprise.