Prado and a Walking Tour

We spent the first full day in Madrid at the Prado, the art museum. One can only see so many "Mary and child" paintings, but I lasted the full day. I even found a few lesser known Spanish romantic artists that I liked and had never heard of before. They tended to paint every day life instead of grand biblical scenes. I went in fully expecting to leave after a few hours and let Doug look to his heart's content, but I stayed.

In the late afternoon and evening we did a walking tour of the center of Madrid and had a bite to eat in a little hole in the wall where they were watching Nadal play tennis. I tried a local special -- bocadillo de calamares (fried squid sandwich.) Once was enough but I'm glad I tried it once. We got dessert at La Mallorquina, a confiteria with very tasty pastries. It was a good day and I walked almost 20,000 steps -- over eight miles. I feel great!

Spain and the Spanish people are on a very different schedule than I am used to. They eat dinner about 9 pm and seem to stay out all night (or much of it.) Even children are out late. Rachel can vouch for this difference -- she must have had quite an adjustment this semester. We hear people on the street outside our apartment until almost 4 a.m.

Here are a few shots of street artists we saw on our walking tour.

We couldn't figure out the trick of the first person who is resting on one arm with feet in the air. The chess player is a real guy, but he certainly looked like a statue.

We also saw a political demonstration in the Plaza Del Sol. They were calling for reparations to families who lost members during the Franco regime. Franco's reign ended with his death in 1975.