Last Day in Madrid

We had an experience with tourist crime..it''s very common for teams of pickpockets to work together.  One gets in front of you and drops a jacket or something on the ground to distract you while the other goes after your wallet.  We were crossing the street and looked back and Gillian was yelling at someone, "Get your fucking hand out of my purse".  A pregnant woman had her hand in  Gillian's purse.  The man ran away and we chased after the woman.  She denied it all, but Gillian had seen her hand in the purse.  I followed her while Luis called the police and Gillian did a quick inventory of her purse.  She was shocked that I could speak Spanish.  Nothing was missing and we stopped following her-she disappeared into the crowds.  But we did give a description to the police and we hope they found her.  So, it's important to be aware of these schemes and keep your hand on your purse. It needs to be crossbody and not just on your shoulder. 

More beautiful buildings and Spanish doors.

Watermelon juice on our way to Reina Sofia

We headed off through town to Museo National Centro de Arte de Reina Sofia to see Guérnica and more Spanish Civil War art and photography.  Both Mariana and I are very interested in this period. There was a Dali exhibit,but we didn't have time.

There is a great rooftop terrace with nice views of Madrid and cool reflections.  No photos are allowed, but we did see Guérnica, which is spectacular.  They also have photos of Picasso's process and you can see how the painting evolved.  The painting was not exhibited in Spain while Franco was alive because Picasso would not allow it.  We were told that Picasso wanted it at El Prado, and it was briefly displayed  there.

After the museum visit we headed back to the Plaza Mayor and to the Mercado de San Miguel, a sort of combo of Hawker Centers in Singapore and Tekka Market in Little India.  There is food and a central dining area.

There are big fans to keep the market cool and they produce a strong wind.  We were invited to practice our Titanic-I'm-the-king-of-the-world poses.  Since it used to be Gillian"s favorite movie (now, embarrassingly so), she and Nana did it.

Mojitos to go and all manner of shell fish can be found there.

We explored around and had drinks. Then we headed back to the hotel to rest and returned for dinner and wine that evening.  

On our way back to the mercado, we ran into a procession of sorts-Catholic and maybe about a saint.

It' a beautiful glass building and the wines are amazing.  We had clams, a meat/ham tray, with cheeses and breads.  It was a great meal and very relaxing.  The evenings are warm but without the Asian humidity, you can enjoy walking and being outside.  I loved that everyone was out and strolling until well past midnight and I could get used to resting and heading out again in the evening.  Madrid was lively and so fun.  Luis was less impressed but I enjoyed being in the heart of old Madrid and seeing all of the wonderful old buildings.

We had a lovely walk home past the palace.

On to Granada the next day

More Madrid-Vale, Vale (OK, OK)

For our second day in Madrid, we walked all the way down to the Prado to see some art. We loved walking through lovely neighborhoods to the museum-starting with our walk through Jardine Sabattini and along the Palacio Real...more street performers and lovely statues.

The neighborhoods had great old buildings.

Purple is cheery. I always take photos of purple stuff for Linda Roman and Nikki.

Me and Nana taken by Gillian and some stranger in orange.

I love oranges and yellows on buildings.  El  Prado is a great building and we enjoyed our visit there.  There were not too many photo ops because you cannot take pictures there.  But it was fun.

Across the street was a lovely church and while walking back up town we saw a very important building.

The church and the important building:

It is hard to see the name but this is the Real Academia Española-the absolute authority on all questions about grammar and usage in the Spanish language.  Whenever we had questions in our Spanish classes at Berkeley, our professors would preface their responses with "according to the Academia...", end of discussion.  Mariana was taking a Spanish class at NYU, not the real one but an informal drop-in lunch time thing she did the first year.  Her Argentinian teacher said that of the 4 extra letters in the Spanish alphabet, all but ñ had been demoted to non-letters:  ll, rr, ch, which we had been told were actual letters...Mariana argued with her, called Luis to get the real scoop; he agreed with me, but we decided to check with "The Academia" (which you can now do online, unlike 35 years ago) and, actually, yes, the other 3 letters have lost their status. I don't know if Mariana ever apologized but we all felt a little let-down, sort of like when Pluto lost its planet status.

We walked back up through the literary district where many famous authors lived and worked and I took photos of their tiles;  they are on my cell phone and I'll add them later.

We had a great lunch, headed back to towards shopping areas, bought books, and the girls looked around...we got back at 7, very tired, rested and ate near our hotel....

Madrid

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We woke up kind of late...arriving at the hotel/apartment at 3 am and going to bed around 4:30 made it hard to get moving.  We stayed at the Jardine de Sabattini which was right across the street from the  gardens of the same name.  It was easy to walk up and through the garden to the main parts of downtown Madrid.  

There was a stage set up for summer concerts.  We could hear the music from our hotel-it was Cinderella on Ice,sort of ironic in the 98 degree heat...

We walked up to the Palacio Real

and from there we could see the Cathedral and begin to head towards the Plaza Mayor.

Loved the matador dressed to take pictures with tourists.  This whole plaza area is up on a hill with views all around.   It was hot, very hot, but not humid and it was much more manageable than Singapore because you are not dripping wet all the time. I had to buy  a hat though-wish I had brought my Singapore umbrella...only Asian tourist use them here. 

Madrid is wonderful-maybe it's hearing Spanish spoken all over which is such a comfortable feeling. 

We walked to the Plaza Mayor and looked around.  The walk there was beautiful

And  the first on my series of Spanish doors.

Don't be surprised if you come over someday and find one of these overwhelming our little green house!

This furry thing was there every time we walked thru the plaza-lots of people dressed  up and tried to get their photos taken for money...seems a hard job on such hot days..

All the streets look like this -lovely old buildings and streets and cobblestones. 

I took a photo of this-candy or licorice-like stuff.  Loved the colors and they were so thick.

Sitting at the plaza before trying to find some lunch.

A ham poster -there are a million things to do with ham in  Spain.  It shows up everywhere. They have big hams hanging from stores everywhere and there are lots of flavors.  It is actually quite good although I am  little tired of Spanish food now. 

Kind of a weird shot but the shopping streets all have these awning-type coverings-probably as a way to manage the heat.  

I loved that someone was selling books on the street with built-in bookcases.

This is the National theater.   

Lots of red flowers in parks and squares-it's a real walking city.  We headed back to the hotel through the palace grounds.

This is the back side of the palace.  We opted not to wait in line to go in.

I dont have photos available right now but Luis does. I can add them later.  Our hotel has a roof terrace and serves drinks and tapas.  We made a  reservation and watched the  sunset over the Palacio Real while visiting with Luis' cousin-Gustavo, Juvenal is his father,one of Elsa's brothers.   He's lived in Madrid for ten years.  It was a really  great day-day two of Madrid in the next post.