More Madrid

The next day in Madrid we did quite a bit of walking. Madrid is considerably larger than Valencia, so even though it felt like we had walked forever we only covered a small portion of the city. We went to the historic places and parks, and saw things like the Royal Palace of Spain. 

I think this monument is a memorial for the Spanish War of Succession.

 The Royal Palace and it's gardens

 It turns out Madrid is home to some of the freakiest street performers I have ever seen. Outside the palace there was this man playing a guitar, but his torso was inside a box and it looked like he just had a tiny human skull for a head. I would have a picture, but one of my friends tried to take one of him and he started cursing at him. So I laid low. 

I think this is a famous square. There were many more street performers here, all crazy in their own way. There was a man/woman in a bird costume that ran around and there were also men who were painted to look like metal and in incredible poses while snowboarding and riding motorcycles.

We then went to the Mercado de San Miguel, which was this large building with glass walls that packed in a lot of different vendors. There were all kinds of foods and drinks and desserts. I got a donut and it was delish. 

I thought this place was just going to be a museum about beer, but it also turned out to have a very nice bar. Twas here that the Paulaner and I discovered each other. 

In the middle of Madrid's train station there happens to be a jungle of sorts. Birds fly in through openings in the ceiling and it's full of water and turtles. Very neat.

I also got to go to El Museo del Prado and El Museo de la Reina Sofia. However, I was not allowed to take pictures inside. I got to see some really cool painting from de Goya that I studied in school and of course I saw Guernica. It's a lot bigger than you would think.