Madrid - Day 8

Nice leisure morning!!!  Our room has the best shower of the trip so far!!  After breakfast I spent the morning planning our trip to Toledo and confirming what we would do today in Madrid.  Then we packed up our gear and headed down for the hotel shuttle to city center.

Today we walked Parque Del Buen Retiro (large park) with a huge monument with man made pond that people were paddling boats around.  The park was filled with families and street performers of all kinds.  Clown, Magicians and Musicians.  A city of 3.2 million (6.5 entire metro) has quite a bit of artistic talent!

Keeping the trend of a selfie with Janie at the start of the day in front of a fountain at the entrance of the Park.

We visited a couple of other key location in the park as well.  One is the Puerta of Americas building where an Art Exhibit was setup for viewing.  Sorry hard to explain and frankly don't get it.  Then off to the Palacio de Crystal, which was very interesting and reminded me of a structure I've seen in a movie somewhere?

Yes besides boaters there are a lot of carp in them there waters

Palacio Crystal

Pond with Cypress Trees - reminded us of the Cypress in our OP back yard that Frank and Billie planted

Then we strolled through the park watching the leaves turn and drop and came across the La Chopera sports facility with Tennis Courts and soccer fields.  You can see where many of the city dwellers spend part of their day.

Overall Madrid central is park after park.  It is very hard to describe, but you can walk for miles through parks as you roam the city.

From the park we cut cross down through the alleys until we stopped at a corner restaurant and sat outside el fresco.  Turns out this was a very small mom & pop local joint with grandma serving and who didn't speak English.  No menu so I winged it.  We ended up with a plate of Manchego Cheese (goat milk based from La Mancha region of Spain) smothered in Olive oil, Iberia Meat platter and a side dish of braised beef chunks in a gravy with bread.  Two glasses of Rioja white wine which came with green olive plate.  OK, the Tapas turned into lunch/dinner.  Two more glasses of wine and we enjoyed every crumb.  We were treated to a nice pastry at the end of the meal for free, which was a nice touch.

Wine and Olives before the Tapas arrive - nervous how the wine would taste after ordering red and what would we get for Tapas after seeing no menu!

The Iberia meat and Manchego Cheese plates arrive - then bread basket and Beef Cubes

After our afternoon light feast we walked the rest of the way to the Palacio Real the home of the King of Spain.  We came back for the audio tour and like so many historical buildings we were not shorted on awe.  The amount of craftsmanship and over the top decorations is too hard to explain.  The few pictures we were allowed to capture before the main rooms just scratches the surface.  Someday remind me to talk about how the French and Roman influence on the Spanish shows up in so much of the history.

This is the entry area that they do the changing of the guard once a month on a wednesday.  The view out the arches is over another city park that is just hard to capture in a picture.

Steps up from the main entrance

Ceiling above steps and last place we can take a picture.  Think all the rooms having this type of ceiling!

As you walk out the main entrance this is the view of the Basilica and main gates.  The sun was setting and the gold on the gates were lit up like lights.  Camera phone pictures by an amateur just does not do the site justice.

After the palace tour our feet said no Mas and we headed to find a cab.  We did find Janie some Gelato (chocolate) to eat before heading back to the hotel to hang out.  Even had a Skype session with Sara/John and Wyatt.

Tomorrow is our day in Toledo, so going to rest the balance of the evening for a big day tomorrow!