All Work And No Play? No Way! Olé!

Fun fact: Michael lived in Madrid from age 12 – 19, so when we both got hired for a job in Madrid this month, it provided the perfect opportunity to stay after the project ended and see his old stomping grounds.

First, the work…thank you, BlueprintNYC!  Our amazing team and clients made the work fun and memorable.

The dream team - Goldie, Daniel, Annie, Julie, Shev, Michael.  Next year: Barcelona!

Then, it was time to play…we took a tour of Michael’s old neighborhood (Salamanca).

Yes, we broke into his old building to see his former apartment. Yikes.

The tour also included lots of museums!  Museo del Prado (of course), Thyssen-Bornemisza, Reina Sofia x2, and Museo Sorolla.  Just a few of Annie’s fav pics:

Michael admiring Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, 1937.

Egon Schile, Houses on the River, 1914.

This wacky fish was part of a much larger (and even more wacky) Salvador Dali painting.  

In between the museums, we shopped and ate.  And ate.  And ate some more.  Casa Dani was a great local find for lunch in the Mercado de la Paz.  We also had a celebratory lunch with our BPNYC fam at El Paraguas.

Michael’s brother, John and sister-in-law Pat met us in Madrid, so we spent family time with the two of them and John and Michael’s cousin Waldo Salazar.  John scored a table for all of us at DiverXO (www.diverxo.com) which was an experience (for sure) and fun to all be there together.

Thankfully, we decided to take this picture after course four of fourteen. 

Other tips for Madrid…the 36 Hours in Madrid article from the New York Times was a huge help!  Thank you, NYT!

 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/16/travel/things-to-do-madrid.html

We took the Times’ advice and stayed at The URSO Hotel.  Our crew also stayed at The Thompson (another great tip).  We ate at La Vaqueria Montañesa twice (it was that good).  And we shopped at WOW Concept. 

Work/life balance?  Mission accomplished.  Thank you, Madrid.  Until next time! (Hasta la próxima!)