Another wonderful street sign, passed on our way.
This bear and strawberry tree (madroño) is the symbol of the city. It's at the edge of the Plaza.
This Plaza is the geographic center of Spain, and is a major crossroads of the city. On New Year's Eve, it's the Times Square of Spain. The Tio Pepe sign is another famous landmark.
La Mallorquina is an establishment. Just take a look at the scrumptious delights in the windows!
Our wonderful breakfast: an empanada atún for Wendy, and a desayuno típico for me: a Napolitana con crema with café con leche.
We then split up for a while. Wendy headed over to el Museo Sorolla, the mansion and museum of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla, and several other museums, while I headed to el Palacio Real. We would meet up again later for our last snack.
First, I stopped in los Jardines de Sabatini, next to the Palace. These are formal, French-style gardens. I wanted to see the Campo del Moro and the fountains too, but I was unable to find the right path there.
Across from the Palace is the Plaza de Oriente. This is the statue of Felipe IV, and statues of other monarchs line the sides. Galileo actually devised the mechanism to allow this horse to rear, by suggesting that the front legs be hollow while the rear legs be solid bronze. There is a legend that says that the royals stretch their legs around the park at night. I liked that the maintenance folks were in the fountain.
I sat in the garden for a while and this lovely anciano, elder gentleman, and his dog, joined me on my bench. Of course, he wanted to chat, and he was wonderfully patient with my tentative Spanish. He wore a jaunty hat, sported a cane, and wore red, high-top sneakers. His dog, Linda, was 13. They were so sweet.
As I headed to the entrance of the Royal Palace, I passed several artists like the ones I'd seen years earlier in Barcelona along Las Ramblas. These folks are street performers, frozen in action until someone drops them some coins, and then they perform. Several were absolutely amazing. Two were engaged in a kiss, frozen in place like the Rodin statue, and one was falling over backwards onto a table. Honestly, I studied that for some time and have absolutely no idea how he was balanced in that position. Interestingly, they were all gold.... Also on this street were a number of older gentlemen, all playing the accordion! I never thought I'd hear Für Élise on the accordion.
El Palacio Real, the Royal Palace. It's mostly for ceremony now, but is an amazing place. Felipe V set out to make it the grandest palace in Europe, but he died while it was only 1/4 complete, and so it remains, with just 2800 rooms. On the tour, you get to see about 50 rooms, many Goyas, incredibly ornate architecture and clocks, several Stradivarius violins (which they do use for concerts and balls), Tiepolo ceilings, etc. This courtyard is actually the only place where photos are allowed.
In the main plaza, you can also tour the Farmacia Real, the Royal Pharmacy, which was amazing. and the Armería Real, the Royal Armory. This was great fun, because a number of suits of armor for man and horse were missing, being on loan to the National Gallery of Art here in Washington, for an exhibition on Royal Arms and Armor from Imperial Spain, and I'd already seen them! Otherwise, I loved the opulence of this light post.
It was now about 1:30, and I was hungry. So I decided to make my way back to the market I'd discovered the evening before, el Mercado San Miguel. Farmer's markets are among my favorite things, and I really wanted to explore this lovely space.
Woohoo! La Casa de Bacalao. If only I had the ability to take this with me! Tons of salt cod and seafood products here. Also, the house of ham, of course!
My absolutely amazing and fantastic lunch. I got this plate of four tostada tapas, each with a different seafood topping, and a glass of Rioja from another vendor, then found a spot at one of the central tables. I hate looking like a tourist, but I just couldn't resist taking these images in the market to share my excitement.
I set out for a walk next, trying to see more of the city and its parks and gardens. So I wandered my way over to the Plaza de España, which had a statue I was interested in.
Yes, it's Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. And no, I've never actually read the story.
By this point, it was around 3:30, and I had to meet Wendy at 4, so I started to head back over to the other part of the downtown. As I did, I passed this sign, which just set me laughing.
Yes, Spamalot was playing in Madrid! Can I tell you how amusing it was to walk by and hear the theme song, "The Bright Side of Life" playing with Spanish lyrics?
On the way, I cut through the Plaza Mayor, one of the most beautiful plazas in Madrid. Bullfights were held here, as well as parts of the Inquisition. Today, it's a market, a hub for tourists and students, and a beautiful sight where the 17th-century frescoes still stun all who come.
Our last snack was churros. We'd been holding out for two weeks to have these in Madrid before we left. Our destination was the very famous San Gines Chocolatería, which is open virtually 24/7.
The chocolate was all mine, but we shared the churros. Tasty!
And we got someone to take our photo too. It looks like we had a great vacation, doesn't it?
Wendy had another couple of places to go, and I needed to pack before going out. That was going to be an effort. My bigger problem was that I didn't know what the plan was! I knew Juan Carlos's flight was due in at six, and that he was delayed in leaving Ecuador. But I didn't know if they'd make up the time or what flight or anything. Turns out, Wendy went to dinner and came back again before I even got his call. But I did meet him a little after 11, and we had about 2 hours to hang out. Not a lot of time, but it was great to see him. It was also the best chance I had to use my Spanish during the trip, and he's so wonderfully patient, so it was fun too. Too bad the schedules didn't allow for more time.
I got back to the hotel at 2, and the alarm went off at 5:15. Our airport shuttle was at 6, and our flight at 8:30. They checked my bags through with no extra fees (I'd been dreading it, but it would have been cheaper than trying to ship anything back), I got my sherry, and we had breakfast. While waiting for the flight, the Basquet Coruña Atlántico disembarked. If I'm right, this was the professional basketball team from A Coruña, in Galicia.
Otherwise, a very uneventful morning and trip home. I was beat, but sleep didn't come on the planes. Wendy and I had each bought each other a little gift to say thanks for the great trip: I got her a small tile plate with the Star of David on it, and she got me a little clay owl (bujo) for my desk at work. Perfect! And, nothing broke in transit. I had to be at work the next day -- I had scheduled the kickoff meeting for my project for the morning -- and Mom was coming to town that evening for cousin Jake's bar mitzvah over the weekend, so it was a rough return. However, it was such an amazing two weeks that none of that mattered. ¡Hasta la próxima vez!
One of Wendy's photos, from Grazalema, in the Pueblos Blancos. This pretty well sums up my trip!
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