Spain, Part 3 - Madrid Continues

Tuesday was a rainy day, so we made it an inside day. The boys had to work, of course, so Miranda and I headed off to check out museums. We had a good time and the museums were interesting, but pictures weren't allowed in any of them. And, let's be honest, if I try to describe museums to you, you will be bored out of your mind. So, just know that we went to the bullfighting museum, an archeological museum which was only partly open anyway due to renovations, and a great art museum (no, not the Prado. That would come later. We went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which was a great little art museum across the street). A couple pictures from the day:


Madrid's bullfight ring where they had the bullfight museum. In the museum we saw lots of pictures of famous toreros (bullfighters), some of the costumes, and heads of some very feisty bulls. One torero was gored to death in the ring and they even had his blood-stained costume on display.


This is the fanciest post office I've ever seen. And, yes, it really is a post office. We even went inside to mail some postcards.

With Tuesday being a low-key, inside day, we were ready for some adventures on Wednesday. We planned to tour the Palacio Real and a couple of convents that were nearby. We planned this for Wednesday because I had seen online that all of these sites were free on Wednesday. So, we headed off to the Palace. When we got there, there were police and military guys all over and the Palace was closed to the public. A crowd of people had gathered in front, so we stopped to see what was going on. A few minutes later, some sleek black cars come speeding up a ramp and into the Palace, James Bond style. Apparently, they were some Spanish royalty. And when Spanish royalty is at the Palace, it's closed to the public. Blurg. We headed off to the convents, saving the Palace for another day. When we got to the convents, we learned that Wednesdays are indeed free - if you're a member of the EU. We lowly Americans would have to pay anyway. Since it was free for EU members, it was also packed. We decided that, since we had to pay anyway, we may as well come back when it wasn't as busy. So, we ended up just walking around to see more stuff.


Spanish law enforcement guarding the entrance to the Palacio Real


Since the not-so-cool cathedral was right next to the Palacio, we decided to check it out. It was open and "free" (they did request a 1 Euro donation) so we went inside.


The bear and tree statue in the Plaza del Sol


Me in the Plaza del Sol (and yes, that is yet another H&M bag full of more goodies for Mr. Frisby - his birthday was coming up)


Cool plant art on a wall outside one of Madrid's many art museums


A cool church right behind the Prado


The Prado. We planned to go in and check it out on one of our evenings since it's free every evening from 6-8pm (are you noticing a pattern?)


Cool trees in the Parque del Retiro


Me in front of a cool arch

That night the boys had a work dinner that involved a Flamenco show. Good thing I saw a Flamenco show last time I was in Spain or I might have been mad at Mr. Frisby for seeing one without me. Anyway, that left Miranda and me to fend for ourselves. We headed to a restaurant near the Prado for dinner and then got caught in a rainstorm on our walk back to the hotel. Good times. Stay tuned for a day trip to Segovia.