Notes from The Garden of Earthly Desires

Before any writing (and well before any pictures, since Ben hasn't sent them to me yet - fortunately I'm better writing than looking) here are some key Madrillan stats:

3:15 am - Average bed time over 3 nights in Madrid...and that's considered early 'round these parts
3 - Number of art museums visited (and appreciated) in Madrid
0 - Number of museums visited before Madrid
1 - Loads of laundry completed
2 - Number of times a bouncer rejected me from a club for wearing shorts
1 - Number of times we talked them into letting me in anyway.
2 of 3 - Number of times we have dined in Madrid with girls from Cat's Hostel
0 of 1 - Number of times I actually successfully asked a girl to dinner. Similarly...
0 of 1 - Number of times I received a positive response to "¿Quieres Bailar?" However...
2 - Number of pretty Argentinian girls met and...
1 - Pairs of Spanish styled double kisses received from said girls.
Key Spanish foods sampled - Blood sausage (not so bad), croquetas (wow, they're aMAZing!), tortilla (haven't really had a good one yet), churros con chocolato (again, as good as it sounds), and paella (solid, spicy, interesting). Gazpacho tomorrow.

So now that we're clear: Madrid has been rather interesting. Socially, it's vacation time for the city and everybody still is out really late, far later than I can take, really, especially with no Code Red over here. The scene we visited was based around bars till 2 and then clubs. Fine enough, though my voice is sore from yelling a conversation with a Venezualan Spaniard.
Culturally, there isn't as much obvious architectural dazzlement as in the other 3 cities, but Madrid has three big things going for it: You can walk everywhere, it's the cheapest city yet, and we actually spent time here. Who knew that a 3-night, 4-day stay meant you could spend time seeing things? The Prado was impressive with some great paintings (including a Hieronymous Bosch piece whence this entry heading comes from...possibly the best painting ever to my novice eye), the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza held its own despite having a completely unpronouncable name, and the Reina Sofia had the most consistently great gallery, with highlights being the Dali room, the Picasso exhibit, and the Goya painting "May 3rd", on loan from the Prado. Honestly, this may be the first time I've ever gone to art museums and enjoyed a good amount of my time spent there. So hooray for art.
Our time in Madrid has been the highlight of the trip for me so far, but that could be partially attributed to the time spent here. Barcelona is faster-paced and we raised our intensity, blitzing through it for 22 hours straight. It's possible I'll get to see a museum or two there when I return Monday night or Tuesday morning, and then it has a chance to rise again.
It should be noted that Cat's Hostel helps the experience in Madrid greatly. A laidback and friendly, internationally based English speaking crowd, decent staff, decent free breakfast, and a bar to start the night off in: it's a good mix of most of the right ingredients. There may be a post or two more on hostel life once I have time to reevaulate, but it's hard to imagine anybody beating Cat's.
Meanwhile, my time here is getting cut short a tad, as tomorrow I take an overnight to Paris to retrieve my backpack. Hopefully by Monday night I'll be in full-fighting form and lounging in Barcelona, getting kicked off the streets for playing guitar again or some such deal. This portion of the trip with Ben has certainly been a success, if with a few bumps, but now the adventure takes it up a notch, sort of like track 2 on a John Cusacl-planned mixtape. And when I get my bag, I'll get my camera, and you can all see how ridiculous I look in Europe. It'll be fun, promise.