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Published: April 25th 2013
I think this Day 3? Well, who cares any way....
After coffee (both of us), a half hour of running the stairs (me)(not at all similiar to running the bulls, by the way) and a shower, we headed off to visit the palace. Everything we're wanted to see so far is no more than a 20 minute walk from our hotel.
The palace is still used for state ceremeonies and events (we heard a guide say that Obama would be , but the royals live in a smaller palace outside the city now. The older guidebook for Madrid that we borrowed from the hotel described the throne room as "nauseatingly lavish" (an apt description) but other rooms were amazing: walls covered in 3-D porcelain, for example. No photos were allowed so here's a link:
http://loveisspeed.blogspot.com.es/2012/03/porcelain-room-palacio-real.html Jet lag hit us hard after we ate lunch in stylish small restuarant we happened across (11 euros for the menu of the day...delicious!).
http://www.domestika.org/proyectos/67440-las_uvas_dulces We went back to our hotel and slept til 4:00....and forced ourselves to get up and head back out to the Thyssen-Bournemisza Museum, which houses the perhaps the best private art collection in the world.
It contains 7 centuries of paintings!
As a bonus, a large demonstration was forming right next to the museum, with almost more riot police than demonstrators. We could see the some of the action from the Museum, and also walked to edge after our visit. All was peaceful when we left, but many streets were blocked off and we had to detour several blocks to get back to the hotel. It is now several hours later, and the helicopters and police sirens are still audible, so we don't know if things got violent. The plan was to occupy the plaza by the Parliment indefinitely. The unemployment rate for young people is 55%. Total unemployment has just reached 6 million people.
On the way home, we stopped for wine and snacks in small plaza, where there were more locals than tourists. Great people watching!
Tomorrow we will go to Segovia by train for a day trip, if the weather is good...
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Carolyn
non-member comment
Great Look
Yes - very European. Love it!!!