Europe Trip, part 1: Madrid (July 4-8)

We left Madison on Friday, July 4 in the evening, and we arrived in Madrid Saturday in the afternoon. The main street in front of our hotel was closed for a parade. People (mostly men) were dressed up in amazing costumes.

Even though we had four meals on the airplane and several sandwiches in our pack, we dined at a charming little restaurant in a square. Someone famous (maybe Hemingway?) used to shop and write at the meat shop in the back-round.



There were many street performers all over Spain. In the dark, we thought this guy was an amazing performer. Nothing seemed to distract him. Turns out, it was a statue...


On Sunday we viewed the art collection at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Hightlights included impressionist and modern art by many famous artists, including Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Mondrian, and Chagal.



We also enjoyed the botanical garden. They had dahlias, roses, and a vegetable garden. Madrid is a dry place, and they didn't seem to water their gardens too heavily.



The highlight was definitely the in-door tropical greenhouse.


On Monday we walked around Madrid. We relaxed at a coffee shop.


We also toured the Royal Palace.

This is the royal pharmacy. The front jars contain quinine, which is used to treat malaria in Spanish colonies.


This is the armor collection. Initially the armor was used for protection, but eventually it became decorative. Note that these little knights are kid-sized.


After leaving the palace, we viewed a 9th century wall built by the Moors. We found a small (well-watered) dahlia garden a few blocks from the palace.


Here's our hotel room:

Tapas wasn't exactly what I expected. Often it was a plate full of meat, cheese, or olives. We did get out of the Tourist area to find a really good restaurant. Since the menus lacked English, we tried to find familiar words. We shared two plates: chorizo, fried eggs, and hashbrowns and also hamburger patties resting in a meat-based gravey topped with pate.

On Tuesday we went to the Prado museum. Highlights included 15th-18th century masters such as Goya, Velazquez, Bosch, Rembrandt, Ruben, and Titian. They had a wonderful self-guided audio tour.

It seemed like a full vacation, but it was only the beginning of our trip! We thought it was funny that we took a bus from our terminal through the guts of the airport to our airplane to fly to Barcelona.