All of That Without a Siesta

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Yesterday felt like a really slow day. The jet lag and lack of sleep hit me when I was going through the Museo del Traje. I went to bed early and had a relatively good night sleep. I wanted to cram as much into today to compensate for the fact that I had not gotten as much done yesterday. Mission accomplished!

I left the hotel at around 8:30 am and right now it is about 8:00 pm and I just got back to the hotel. The first stop of the day was ... Dunkin' Donut for breakfast. It's right across the street and I figured that ordering would not be a huge hassle. They had the best coffee; definitely rivaled Starbucks in terms of lattes. So fueled up full of caffeine, I hopped on the subway and made my way towards the Palacio Real. As you get off the subway, you are actually in a little plaza opposite the Teatro Real. The facade is peculiar in that it has a trompe l'oeil effect so it actually looks like the doors are wide opened and you can see the rows and rows of red seats all the way to the stage.

























Just behind the Teatro Real is the Palacio Real; still used today by the Spanish Royalty. I decided on the audio guide because I thought that it might be nice to have some of the details pointed out. You essentially follow a marked path and you enter the number of the area you are in and the audio guide does its thing. It's funny because everybody looks like they're on cell phones. Unfortunately you cannot take photos in the actual palace so I bought a book afterwards because of these rooms were just out of this world.



As you enter, you are essentially in an inner courtyard used as a parade square so obviously it is a very vast empty space. You then make your way to the palace area where the route takes you from room to room. Some of these rooms are incredibly ornate and lavish. The throne room has red velvet walls for instance. There are frescos on the ceilings that compete with some of the frescos of the Sistine Chapel. Some of the ornamentation on the walls are reliefs made of ceramics or woods; so intricate. There was one room that had bronze meant to be used in the fountains at Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy. The dining room is actually three rooms that were opened up to join and contains the longest and largest table I have ever seen in my life. I can't even imagine the number of people that it can seat. The Chinese Room is lined with silk tapestries and panels of ornate Chinese designs made of porcelain in these vivid colours. The Stradavarius room is dedicated to the Stradavarius violins, some almost 400 years old and apparently still used during special occasions.



























The tour also takes you to the Real Farmacia, which is room upon room of jars of different herbs, medicines, poisons and the like. The distillery is also there with some of the original bottles and equipment such as leather bags for transport. This was my favorite section actually as it reminded me a lot of the Farmacia Taquechel in Havana, Cuba although much bigger.

The tour ends at the Real Armoria, which is the collection of armours. I didn't think that I would find this fascinating but it was hard to not be impressed. It was a huge collection of armours that were used for jousting, battle and parades. The ones used in parades were quite ornate and a sign of the persons wealth. There were also statues of horses all bedecked out in their armour including ornate saddles and the like. They even had the full armours for young children.

I then made my way just across the street to the Catedral de la Almudena. This was an enormous church albeit quite sedate in its decor. Nothing overly ornate, just tasteful. Some of the stained glass windows were so bright and colourful that you could see their reflection on the stone walls. It was actually very pretty. The doors were intricately carved with figurines in all different situations; like a family sitting at their pew in church. The frescos on the ceiling were actually quite different for a chuch in that they were more abstract and almost art deco in feel. Not a single cherub or angel in sight on this ceiling!


























































As I walked out, the bells started ringing. It wasn't your typical chiming though; it had more of song-like feel to it. Just across from this cathedral is the Muralla Arabe which dates back from the ninth century and is one of few relics pointing to the fact that Madrid was founded by Muslims. What to say ... it's a chunk of a wall ... not much to say about that except that you've seen a wall you've pretty much seen them all.

So at this point, it is noon and my chocolate donut and coffee are long gone. I therefore decided to grab a bite to eat which is at that point that I used the word "Quisiera una ensalata de pollo". This is only relevant to my friend Cheryl and unfortunately they did not have an ensalata mixta because I so would have had one. The point though is that those Spanish lessons are working my friend!!! This moment of Spanish greatness occured at the Juan Valdez Cafe ... yes THE Juan Valdez. I of course could not leave without actually drinking a coffee so I had something called an Espresso Cortado which involves condensed milk ... man that was good.
























I then walked around somewhat aimlessly and made my way to Cava Baja, home to many tapas bars. I love different storefronts and my camera did not get a break on Cava Baja.










































This lead me to Plaza Mayor, which was a huge market place back in the 15th century. I had read about this and this was not a place that I was dying to see by any stretch of the imagination. Well it would have been a shame to have missed it because it was quite spectacular. It is this enormous square that is surrounded by one continuous building including the Casa de la Panaderia (Home of the Breakmaker). There are shops and little cafes all around it and people just milling about.



















































Of course, there are street performers including the accordeon player who was belting out My Way and La Vie en Rose and some guy dressed as Yoda (yep you read right!)
























After a bit of souvenir shopping (sidenotes ... mom you may cry, dad it's not a tshirt or a ball cap and JF your miniatures collections just got way classier!!), I stopped at one of the little cafes and had a sangria. Can I just say first of all that I have been able to navigate around using only Spanish ... I know way more than I thought. And this is when it hit me ... oh my God I'm in Spain!!! What the hell am I doing here and when did this become my life? Three trips in one year ... it's nuts and I cannot believe how fortunate and incredibly blessed I am ... oh and this is not the booze talking at this point. Although that was one gooooood sangria. So I asked for "la cuenta" and headed down Calle de la Sal (y no pimienta) ... that last sentence is only for Anik's benefit and if you listen closely you can hear her giggling ... she has the best laugh!

After more meandering, I decided to just head back to the hotel. My initial plan was to get rid of some of the stuff in my backpack which was getting pretty heavy at this point and head back out to the botanical gardens. I made a stop at the Atocha Train Station and (again all in Spanish) was able to ask where to buy tickets, ask for the schedule and then purchase said tickets for tomorrow. So manana, I am going to Toledo for the whole day. By this time it was getting pretty late in the day and I decided to skip the gardens and just made one last stop to Plaza de Toros de las Ventas, which is the bullfighting ring.

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