I found some more of those hotel differences:

Bidet	No.	Yes. Who uses these things, anyway?
Thermostat	Digital temperature setting with AC and heat.	Dial thermostat, heat only, room seems much warmer than the setting on the dial. I suspect the heat is just on a little all the time.
Crib	Pack'n Play.	Gold colored metal crib, complete with bumpers and tailored embroidered sheets. It's very pretty but much less functional than a Pack'n Play.
Internet	Free wifi.	17 euros/day wifi with a 500 MB download cap. I've noticed that the more expensive the hotel, the less likely it is to include internet access.

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I compared the VIPS restaurant from which we got take out to TGI Friday's. Actually, that was a better comparison than I could have guessed: check out the homepage of Grupo VIPS, the parent company of VIPS, and evidently a joint venture with Starbucks. See the restaurants across the top? Yep, TGI Friday's is up there with VIPS.

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Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Hope everyone felt loved and stuff. Katy excellently arranged for dinner reservations at the Ritz dining room for when it opened at 8:30. Unfortunately Jackson has been going to bed shortly after 7, but we kept him up to go. He was not a happy camper, unfortunately. We ended up alternately holding him and eating for each course to keep him calm.

The courses were:

• An unidentified appetizer which was a brown heart with the texture and consistency of unusually slimy pate. It tasted mild and slightly nutty, but I didn't enjoy it more than to taste, and Katy didn't even try it.
  
• Oysters, cooked in some sauce. Oysters taste to me like seawater, which I don't really enjoy.
  
• Some sort of pumpkin ravioli, but the pasta was more like a won ton wrapper than a normal ravioli. I was too involved with soothing Jackson to try this one. Katy said it was only ok.
  
• Fish. Hake, I think. It was wrapped in bacon, drizzled with honey and mint oil. I liked it.
  
• Kobe beef loin with a "crispy potato millefeuille", which turned out to be giant, super thin potato chips, two of them. There was also a nicely presented square of potato au gratin. The beef loin was again only decent.
  
• White chocolate mousse, tea and coffee, and mignardises. We ended up bailing before the dessert because white chocolate is a crime against god, and Jackson was at the end of his rope.

We were given as a parting gift his and her perfumes from Armani, and a bottle of wine.

Presents aside, I would have found this dinner to be extremely disappointing if I had paid the 98 euros apiece they were charging. Part of our stay included a dinner for two at the restaurant, which we used for this meal. It still cost €40 worth of tip, though. At least the couples around us were very understanding, which was nice of them. I think it helped that Katy and I were significantly the youngest patrons in at least our half of the restaurant.

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Speaking of food, I have a habit when in foreign countries of ordering things in restaurants because the names sound amusing, not because I have any idea of what I'm getting. The first time I tried this here, I ordered something that started with "lomo" and had a big pile of adjectives and modifiers after it. What showed up seemed to be pork or maybe veal cutlets. It turns out "lomo" means "loin". It was fine.

Today I ordered "lubina al horno." Doesn't that sound awesome? We later figured out that "horno" meant "oven". Lubina is sea bass, so baked sea bass. It was good.

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Today I was out with Jackson at the park while Katy attempted to nap. On my way back, a woman came up to me and asked me a question in Spanish. Aside: I get asked for directions all the time. I can be walking along in a crowd of people, and the lost will pull me out to help them. No idea why. Anyway, I replied, "No hablo Espanol." She then asked, "Parlez vous Francais?" "Un peut..." It turns out she wanted directions to the Prado, which I could provide since it was in sight across the street. Another happy customer.

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I'm too lazy to put up Madrid pics tonight, and there aren't all that many good ones anyway. None of the museums allow photos. Tomorrow we go to Toledo, which should provide some more fodder.

It's amusing to see the differences between the hotel we are in now, the Ritz Madrid, and the hotel we stayed at in Barcelona, the Hotel ME Barcelona. They are polar opposites in almost every way imaginable.

How about a comparison!

	Hotel ME	Ritz Madrid
Location	Not walking distance to anything relevant.	Right downtown, next door to the Prado Museum, walking distance to many sights and attractions.
Style	Super modern. Tall, glass skyscraper on the outside, all hard surfaces and stark black and white on the inside. Two clubs and a very modern bar.	Classic british luxury. Thick carpets, tea room, formal dining, tasteful decor.
Cost	Very reasonable for a high end hotel (though we did get the conference rate).	More than twice what the ME cost. Expensive by any standard.
Entryway	Sensor activated revolving glass doors with regular glass swinging doors to the side for luggage (or strollers).	Mechanical revolving door, bellman has to fold it back to allow a stroller through.
Uniforms	Smart, black suits.	Traditional hotel uniforms complete with silly hats for the bellmen.
Concierge	Part time guy with a laptop who isn't that interested in helping, and knows surprisingly little for someone whose entire job it is to help guests with the city.	Full time staff of at least 3, all of whom are incredibly helpful and friendly, and come out from behind their desk to play with Jackson.
Room keys	Plastic proximity card. Not even a swipe required.	Complicated brass key that is very hard to get out of the lock once inserted, and which must be left with the front desk any time you go out.
Bathroom	Stall shower only, tiny toilet cubicle, lots of glass and mirrors.	Shower over bath, marble tile, bidet.
Age	Less than a year since opening.	Turns 99 this year.
Room service and minibar	Unbelievably expensive	Unbelievably expensive

Ok, I guess not *everything* is different.

Jackson is going to bed at 7:30 or 8 this trip. This makes it a little challenging to have dinner before he goes down, so we've been eating in the room a fair amount. Today I got take out from a place called VIPs, which is the Madrid equivalent of, say, TGI Friday's. This was a nice change, since the ME had no nearby restaurants, really, so we had a lot of room service. Jackson was sleeping lightly, so Katy and I sat on the floor of the hallway to the room and ate VIP's. I wonder how many other people have done that at the Ritz. Could we be the first?

Also, we have discovered that pasta at restaurants in Spain is pretty lacking, sample size of 3 now. Presumably there are good italian restaurants, but you'd also think that a typical spanish restaurant could learn how to make a decent plate of pasta. I mean, couldn't they just ask their neighbors on the Med?