Farewell to the Continent

Seems to be a lot of nice shopping in Madrid, and it's surely cheaper than it will be in London. We had a look in a number of nice shops, but our only purchases were a couple of pairs of shoes each from Campers. They have a very interesting and trendy range of pseudo-rubberised and leather shoes %P

Also knocked off the last of the 'Big 3' art galleries, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. This is housed in a very large and impressive modern building - lots of glass elevators - and is perfectly suited to its collection, a veritable who's who of the last hundred years. We were in time for a special exhibition showing Picasso's famous Guernica with numerous preparatory drawings and a couple of contrasting works by Goya and Manet.

We've enjoyed our food this week too, having made a stop at the LP-recommended chain Mallorca, also popular with locals (a good sign). They have several display areas - sweet, savoury, salads, wine, bonbons - and we couldn't resist a few fancy pastries. These were lovingly wrapped in red paper and string, and even survived the journey home unscathed! (Though they didn't last long after that.)

Plus we had an awesome lunch at the art gallery restaurant, Arola. Very fancy, the kind of place Hannibal Lecter might choose to dine, though the cutting-edge modern decor (ie. crap lighting and werid couches) left a little to be desired. Here we had a series of exquisite tapas: mini fish pies, mushrooms gratin, brown rice and vegetables (done like a risotto), fried gorgonzola cubes, prawns... mmm...

Ah well. Tomorrow we will be back in the land of mushy peas and grim meat pies. Old Blighty - here we come!