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Travelogue
Mar. 19th, 2024 08:55 amSpent the weekend at Military Through the Ages, which did a big PR push in advance of its 40th annual show and got something like 5500 visitors in two days (not counting the re-enactors themselves). It was busy and dehydrating and exhausting, but the weather was lovely and a lot of the visitors were seriously interested in what we had to say and demonstrate.
Drove home Sunday night and Monday morning, unpacked the car, then watered plants, paid bills, threw out perishables, and packed suitcases before going to the airport Monday evening for a red-eye flight to Madrid. Landed a little before 10 AM (5 AM NYC time), retrieved our suitcases, tried to figure out how to get to the hotel in downtown Madrid, and discovered that my reservation was for a different hotel with the same name in Toledo. Text-chatted with customer service at Orbitz: they can cancel the wrong reservation, but they need permission from the hotel to refund our money, and the hotel isn't answering its phone. Anyway, I made another reservation at a third hotel that's actually in Madrid, and will try to contact the Toledo hotel myself.
Took a taxi to the hotel in Madrid, arriving around noon. Check-in time is 3 PM, but I guess the guy behind the desk heard my tale of woe and took pity on us, letting us check into our room early. It's on the top floor of an 8-story building; there are only a few rooms on the top floor, as part of the top floor is an outdoor patio and jacuzzi. Which perhaps we'll investigate later on. It took a while to get any of the electrical plugs or lights in the room to work: I called the front desk and was told you have to insert your room key-card into a slot in the wall. (I guess this prevents people from leaving things turned on when they leave the room.) It took a while longer to get the air conditioner to work (it's about 29°C outside): a guy from maintenance came, poked at the thermostat, and demonstrated that "high fan" doesn't work, but "medium fan" works just fine. Anyway, we're siesta-ing now in air conditioned comfort.
Three doors down from our hotel is the building where Don Quijote was first printed. A few blocks away is the museumized home of Lope de Vega. The building where Don Quijote was written has been demolished, but there's a plaque to mark the spot. Also nearby are the Prado art museum and the adjacent Royal Botanical Garden.
Drove home Sunday night and Monday morning, unpacked the car, then watered plants, paid bills, threw out perishables, and packed suitcases before going to the airport Monday evening for a red-eye flight to Madrid. Landed a little before 10 AM (5 AM NYC time), retrieved our suitcases, tried to figure out how to get to the hotel in downtown Madrid, and discovered that my reservation was for a different hotel with the same name in Toledo. Text-chatted with customer service at Orbitz: they can cancel the wrong reservation, but they need permission from the hotel to refund our money, and the hotel isn't answering its phone. Anyway, I made another reservation at a third hotel that's actually in Madrid, and will try to contact the Toledo hotel myself.
Took a taxi to the hotel in Madrid, arriving around noon. Check-in time is 3 PM, but I guess the guy behind the desk heard my tale of woe and took pity on us, letting us check into our room early. It's on the top floor of an 8-story building; there are only a few rooms on the top floor, as part of the top floor is an outdoor patio and jacuzzi. Which perhaps we'll investigate later on. It took a while to get any of the electrical plugs or lights in the room to work: I called the front desk and was told you have to insert your room key-card into a slot in the wall. (I guess this prevents people from leaving things turned on when they leave the room.) It took a while longer to get the air conditioner to work (it's about 29°C outside): a guy from maintenance came, poked at the thermostat, and demonstrated that "high fan" doesn't work, but "medium fan" works just fine. Anyway, we're siesta-ing now in air conditioned comfort.
Three doors down from our hotel is the building where Don Quijote was first printed. A few blocks away is the museumized home of Lope de Vega. The building where Don Quijote was written has been demolished, but there's a plaque to mark the spot. Also nearby are the Prado art museum and the adjacent Royal Botanical Garden.
