After a delicious full night of sleep in an actual bed, David and I started our day with the breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was great, they had tortilla, and chorizo, and jamon serrano, and little breakfast bollos, and of course coffee. Quite the spread. Once fed, we decided to track down the tourism office, since we thought we found something that looked like an unlimited 5 day museum pass (turns out it wasn’t, but worth a look); we first headed to the tourism office very near us, but were sent to the one in Plaza Mayor.

 

In finding the tourism office, David encountered his very first Overly Insistent Beggar woman. He made the initial cardinal mistake of actually making eye contact with her, so she followed him for a while, petting his arm and begging for change. Eventually she gave up, and we headed West toward the Palacio Real, our next destination. While waiting to cross the street, another beggar decided that david looked simpatico, and started petting his arm saying “hola… hola… hola…” until the light turned green and we started walking. Apparently David is extremely pettable. Hilariously he’s not carrying any money at all with him!

We went up to the Palacio Real and paid our tickets, had our stuff xrayed, and started the route. First thing was the royal pharmacy, with rows and shelves of jars labeled with things like coral, black tea, various roots, herbs, and tinctures. We filed past the still, remarking on the cool lion head fountain for the water. Next stop: royal chambers. David has never experienced the opulence of a monarchy, much less one validated with a vast empire, so seeing the frescoes and gilded furniture and ornate dressing and smoking rooms was quite the experience. Additionally, we got to see the Stradiveri violoncello, violas, and violins all belonging to the royal quartet.

The especially impressive part was the armory, with all the the armor the kings wore, and the displays of swords, bows, crossbows, muskets… The wall muskets were particularly neat, since a few of them had 6 to 9 foot barrels. Large guns or tiny cannons, take your pick!

After the palace, we went across the plaza to the national cathedral. It was beautiful. It had a very interesting mix of extremely traditional icons, recuadros and frescoes, couple with highly modern stained glass and ceiling adornments, all encapsulated in a monumental gothic architecture. On the way back out, the beggar that petted david approached me for coins. I apparently do not look pettable at all, as he left me be.

 

 

We walked a ways up Calle Mayor, and found a little hole in the wall cafe/bar with a lunch menu posted for 7,80 that was advertising two courses. We thought that sounded good, so we went in and go Ensaladilla Rusa (much like a potato salad) and lomo (Marinaded pork loin); we also had cokes, and then had dessert and coffee. The lunch menu had actually included our cokes and dessert, which made our total just over 16 Euros! We will definitely be going back, cause that was cheap, and good food too.

At 6 we made our way to the Prado for their free hours (I got Alpargatas on the way! Very excited!), and stood in line behind some cute French girls playing 20 questions. As we got close to the doors, there was a large older woman yelling at the guards in French about how she didn’t have to stand in line because she went to a thing every first sunday and she had a card (which she kept waving in their faces as she continues yelling and gesticulating). The gaurds didn’t much know what to do with her, kept asking her to calm down. Eventually they just started following her around as she continued yelling at anyone resembling an employee. The French girls in front of us thought she was hilarious.

Once inside the Prado, I decided it would be nice to go see the Tesoro del Delfin, but on my way there I got distracted by a painting by Eduardo Rosales, so we spent over an hour looking at his works and at the works of Federico de Madrazo. Both were 19th century Spanish painters. We discussed the paintings for a long time, as they completely captivated us. We then headed down to my original destination. I had remembered the Dauphin treasures being gorgeous,  but I had forgotten exactly how impressively and exquisitely intricate they were. Specifically the stone inlay works. They are so detailed, they look like a photo made of stone.

To cap off the night, we got a cup of coffee at a fancy bar right down the road from the hotel. The terrazas are so delicious right now, since the weather in the evenings in Madrid is just perfect for sitting our and enjoying the lowering sun.