Mi última noche en Madrid, y adiós!

For our last night, I was in the mood to celebrate (you will likely find out more later).  David, the Director of Research and Development and the organizer of this conference, was also feeling good that it was over and was a huge success.  Antonio wanted to take us all out (those of us who were left anyway).  I had made plans to have dinner with my cousin Anna, but when Antonio asked me to join them I really felt like I should since, afterall, they brought me here and we had some celebrating to do (again, more later).  Antonio said “have your cousin come to the restaurant at 10, and you can go with her for a drink.  So, I let her know where I’d be and told her to come pick me up for an after-dinner drink.

We started our evening at the museum across the street, which was putting on a Cartier exhibit.  How magnificent! It was really amazingly well done, with a timeline of history, and 4 completely pitch-black rooms, with huge cases of jewels in the middle.  On some of the black walls, they had slideshows of the drawings that were used to design the pieces.  Grace Kelly, a huge idol of mine, was the Princess of Monaco in case you didn’t know.  The Monaco family loaned several of her Cartier pieces for the exhibit, including her famous engagement ring.  My favorite of all was a set from 1850.  It was a very grand necklace with a matching broach and jeweled hair comb.  The stones were purple and the metal was gold, which had a very darkish tone because of how old it was. 
After the museum, we walked into a very old restaurant called Lhardy, and were led up two flights of spiral stairs to a beautiful dining room.  The walls were leather (click on the link if you want to see!), and the woodwork and molding were very dark.  We sampled more amazing food, had wonderful discussion and delicious wine, and I was again feeling so grateful to be there.  All of a sudden, Antonio said “Emma, it’s 10.  I will go see if your cousin is here.” We hadn’t even finished our main course yet, so I was a little worried.  I didn't want to be rude and leave right in the middle of dinner!  Two minutes later, he reappeared with Anna, who was very red in the face.  He made her sit, ordered her some food, and told her to be with us! We ended the night with a fabulous dinner, and finished with “baked Alaska” for dessert, which was so yummy. After dinner, Anna and I went and had a drink at a local bar.  It was great to catch up with her.  Would you believe that in Madrid, the bartenders yell "Hola!!" to every single person that opens the door?! And it's a sincere hello! I loved it.  Anna walked me home, and I went to bed. 

This morning, after a quick 3 days and nights, I said goodbye to Madrid.  It was the perfect morning, wet and rainy. I had my last breakfast at the hotel, then took a taxi to the airport.  This time, the driver spoke English, and he was so animated! He was telling me that most young people are learning English, because it's important, but that the old people still insist that visitors should speak Spanish (he said 90% of the tourists in Spain are English-speaking).  He dropped me off, I had a perfect flight home, and am now waiting for my flight to Burlington, and really enjoying documenting my wonderful memories from the week.  It was certainly an experience I will never forget and, for sure, the start of something big, exciting, and lots of fun.  xo