Madrid Day 2 - Thursday 5.26.11

On our first full day in Madrid, we did as the Spanish do and slept in.  We had breakfast at Spanish cafe, then walked to Plaza de Sol. While we were in Madrid there was a bunch of protesting going on, mostly young people protesting the high unemployment. There was a bunch of tents set out and it was kind of like a little "protest city." We saw stands where people were selling food and drinks in the middle of all the tents.

Protesters in Plaza de Sol

We walked to Plaza Mayor to take a walking tour, but they were sold out, so we decided to walk to Retiro Park. The park was beautiful with lots of trees and plants. We walked along to the lake in the middle of the park and ate some ice cream on a bench while taking in the scenery. 

fountain in Retiro Park

Entrance to Retiro Park

Lake in the middle of Retiro Park

When I got back to U.S. I caught up on People Magazine's past posts and I was tickled to see a picture of Pippa Middleton rowing on lake around the same time we were there.


 

 
 
We made our way to the Prado and saw all the artwork in the Prado. (Ha! Not really.) When I first saw the map I thought the rooms were pieces of art. When Nick pointed out the squares on the map were rooms I said, "Oh my god, this place is huge!"  Needless to say, we did not see everything in the museum, but we saw highlights, including works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Goya.  While we were there I had a horrible allergy attack.  It started with sneezing that I tried to conceal, which made it worse, then I started making these yacking sounds, like I was going to vomit, put that together with the acoustics in that place, and it was quite embarrassing.  Luckily we'd decided we'd seen enough shortly before my sneezing started so we made our way outside.  I guess walking around in the park earlier really set off my sinuses!

The Prado

Pretty flowers hanging from a balcony

We went to nearby restaurant for canapes, then we walked towards the metro, and stopped in grocery store for snacks.

walking through the streets of Madrid

We took the metro to our hotel and relaxed for afternoon. Siesta time!


We went to dinner at El Caldron and arrived at a little before nine. We were literally the first people there! The second group arrived around 9 and was also American. Finally the Spaniards started arriving closer to 10pm. We had a delicious dinner of paella and sangria.

House sangria

We ordered a salad and were surprised by a different, but tasty, type of salad

Paella