What we've done in Madrid

Sunday, March 4th.

We had breakfast in our room today with stuff that we had picked up from a little grocery yesterday, so that made the morning nice and leisurely.  Then we got ready to go to another art museum today - the Sorolla Museum.  We found our way quite easily through the maze of the metro system to another section of Madrid.  The Sorolla Museum was a painter's home so going to this museum was basically touring the home where his paintings were hanging on the walls and there were still pieces of furniture on display. 

Two pictures outside the museum.

Some of the paintings in one of the rooms.

A fun place to sleep.

The dining room

After the Sorolla Museum we walked to a different metro stop to catch another metro to Madrid's Retiro Park.  We walked through the park, and by the lake where most of the people were hanging out.  We watched the boats on the lake for a while and then found a bench where we could sit and eat a few potato chips.  There were vendors across the way from us who had their wares all spread out on sheets on the ground.  They were selling stuff like CDs or sunglasses or iphone cases - stuff like that.  As we were sitting there, we all of a sudden saw one of the vendors grab a string in the center of his wares which effectively pulled that sheet up from all four corners and made a quick bundle of his wares.  In seconds, he had his stuff packed up and was walking away.  Then we saw the other vendors doing the same thing and it was about then that we noticed a police car slowly coming up the lane behind us.  When the police car had passed, we noticed that the vendors had already started setting up shop again just a few feet down from where they had been and from where the police car had passed.  It was amazing how fast they could pack up their stuff!

Boating on the lake there in Retiro Park.

Guillermo on the Paseo de la Argentina.  As we walked this pathway to our next museum, we remembered how we had walked this same path with Rebeca and Fernando back in 1984.

So, our next museum was the Thyssen Museum which is another art museum.  This museum was very nice and very big, so again, we enjoyed the art but it was very tiring.  We had a little lunch before starting the museum and after we were done at the museum, we stopped at a Starbucks for a little while to rest.

We were going to take another metro back to our hotel, but decided it was just as close to walk back.  After a short rest in our room, we went out again looking for a place to have dinner.  The place we had in mind to eat at tonight was closed and we were very disappointed about that.  Now we had no idea where we were going to go.  We ended up at an outdoor table at a restaurant by the Plaza Mayor, which was nice but nothing memorable.  

Saturday, March 3rd.

On this day we took a metro to Plaza de Cibeles from where we planned to walk to the Prado Museum.  There was a big police presence in the area around Cibeles because a bunch of protestors were gathering there, evidently to protest the economy in Spain.

Standing near the Plaza Cibeles.  We had just gotten off the metro.

 Looking in the other direction

The Cibeles Fountain

Part of the Police presence

Some of the protestors

Then we walked to the Prado museum and were shocked to see the lines all around the building.  Guillermo tried to get information from employees there and we decided it wouldn't be worth it to wait in those lines, since we have been in the museum before.  This picture doesn't show the extent of the lines, I just couldn't get it all in.

So, we decided instead to visit the Queen Sofia Art Museum, which was a little further up the street.  Along the way, we passed this statue of Velazquez.

The Art Museum was very nice but VERY big and it was quite tiring.  By the time we got out, it was time for lunch and we stopped at this little place to have a Fried Clam Sandwich, Potatoes with hot sauce and a Tortilla Espanola, which is sort of like a quiche.

From there we walked back to our hotel and rested for a while.  We went out again in the evening to find a place to have dinner.  We walked around for a while, not sure which place we should pick to eat at - and there were TONS of places from which to choose.  We ended up at an excellent restaurant called Cuevas El Secreto.  We were seated at a table down below in a very nice cozy room.  We had a really good glass of wine, Gambas a la Plancha (which is grilled shrimp) and a salad, followed by a Tangerine sorbet, which was delicious!