Viva Madrid!

Arrived in Madrid Friday morning....took the Rick Steves tour from Puerta del Sol to the Royal Palace, and actually met a couple of groups with the same guidebook, doing the same tour. Awesome. Puerta del Sol was a bit disappointing, as there is no actual door there anymore, and it´s basically a huge concrete plaza surrounded by shops, and a McDonalds, of course. Is nothing authentic anymore??? I did get a pic of the cute bear & madroño tree statue, which is the symbol of Madrid, and also makes an excellent sugary sweet alcohol, served in a shot glass sized ice cream cone-cup-thing, dipped in chocolate. Plaza Mayor was cool, almost totally enclosed by buildings painted in the democratically chosen color of burgundy. Yep, the city, excited about the right to vote for anything after Franco, actually voted on the color a few decades ago. Rick suggested I try a typical calamare sandwich, which was a bad choice because I don't particularly like calamare, even when fried and in sandwich form. The lovely upscale Mercado de San Miguel with its gourmet wine and tapas bars was a vast improvement.
I explored the Royal Palace Friday afternoon and was amazed by the regality of it all. I, like a typical American, am fascinated by royalty. Also, even though it is pretty young, by European standards, Palacio Real is the biggest royal palace in western Europe. The best parts were the armor of King Ferdinand and the gentlemen's 'smoking' room, with Asian designs covering the walls. I wonder what they smoked. Later I saw the Templo de Debod that the Egyptians sent as a thank-you gift to Franco in the 1960's. A 2000 year old temple in the middle of modern-day Madrid is a jarring sight to see, but not as jarring as all of the enamored couples lounging about the surrounding park. Get a room, people.

Went out on my own for tapas, and met a Dutch couple at one place, where we all got free drinks, and 2 older couples at El Madroño, who bought my drinks for the rest of the night. They said they were my parents for the evening, and took me to the nice Casa Lucio, where Hollywood actors tend to frequent. No Taylor Swift sighting though.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to visit the Prado. Interesting art, mostly religious or royal-portrait in nature. It gets a bit redundant, lots of paintings of Mary, naked ladies, and kings. Las Meninas has a 3D effect, extremely advanced for its time. It's like the people in the painting are posing, and at any moment they will break character and step out of the frame. Rick Steves' unique interpretations of the artwork made it a more juicy experience, for sure, revealing the historical and sometimes scandalous secrets behind the masterpieces, such as the crucified Christ one that some king had commissioned after he cheated on his wife. After wandering about the Prado for about 3 hours, I grabbed some delicious vegetarian takeout and went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which were pretty but probably more interesting if one studies Horticulture. I had no idea what half those plants were. The Retiro park was much more lively, as it was Saturday afternoon and ripe for people-watching.
I limped across the park, which was definitely much bigger than I thought, to find Reina Sofía and Picasso's Guernica. It was a bit more difficult to find, not obvious like the Prado, which was on Paseo del Prado and surrounded by beautiful grounds. However, seeing the Guernica and Dali's works was well worth a bit of foot and leg pain - truly moving, and I'm not even an art person. I definitely think I understand Dali and Goya's crazy mind benders - it's like they paint thoughts instead of merely attempting to paint photographs of things in real life, which I think is a lot harder to do. Still, they had to be on some major stuff to come up with some of those thoughts.

After a quick shower, I made it to the Taylor Swift concert early, and my girl didn't let me down. The show was amazing, and I managed to squeeze my way up to the second row! I may have cried a tear or two of pure joy when she finally took the stage at 9:45, singing my favorite, "Sparks Fly." I love going to concerts where I know all the words to every song. Also, Taylor strikes the perfect balance between being that sassy girl you love to hate, and the vulnerable girl you who makes you want to personally face-punch any guy who ever did her wrong. And she doesn't even have to dress like a skank. All in all, I'm extremely impressed and can't wait for her next album/tour!

I was starving after the show, so I found my way back to the Mercado de San Miguel to check out the nightlife there. An excellent spinach empanada, sangria, and chocolate truffle later, I was talking to a middle-aged couple from Orange County. And yes, they were 100% representing the stereotype. This woman could have been a "Real Housewife," no joke. But they were really nice and told me stories about California in the 70's over glasses of "good" sangria. Maybe I'm just getting older, but I honestly enjoyed having a chill time with these older couples both nights in Madrid slightly more than a typical night of clubbing with people my own age.

Sunday was a lazy day of browsing booths at El Rastro (biggest flea market in Europe - it took up like 10 streets), and later opting out of more museums in favor of a siesta at Retiro. Win of the day: goodies for all my girlfriends back home:)

Travel tip: It is worth it to spend a little more and take the train between cities. The bus is susceptible to traffic.