Adventures in Life

We headed out for the Puerta del Sol this morning. We stopped along a few plazas along the way. Puerta del Sol is the geographical marker for the center of Spain. There is also a statue of the Carlos III and a bear (the symbol of Madrid) reaching for a strawberry tree...yes, I know that strawberries grow on bushes. I think that something might be lost in the translation (it is a madroño tree). We went to the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records). We went to the Playa Mayor. We stopped off at the Museo de Jamon. The next stop was the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). Compared to some of the other palaces/castles that I have been in, this one is in spectacular condition. My favorite thing here was the Stradivarius Room. If you are lucky enough to play for the queen, then you are lucky enough to play a Stradivarius. If you are looking for a complete quartet of Stradivarius' instruments, this is the only place that you will find one. After leaving the palace we walked trough the Plaza de Oriente. There are statues of Felipe IV and early kings. The statues of the early kings were originally meant to sit on the roof the palace, but they were too heavy.
Next, we went to Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park). We walked the length of the park. Some of my favorite things were the monument of Alfonos XII, the artichoke fountain, and the wonderful weather (everything was green and the flowers were in bloom). We also saw the statue of the fallen angel. I think that this is the only statue of Lucifer.
The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía was next on our list. We looked at a TON of art by Picasso and Dalí. I was really excited about seeing Picasso's Guernica. It was much larger than I had anticipated. The museum is huge!
In order to get a head start on our trip for tomorrow we went to the train station to purchase our tickets to Toledo. Gabe saw a KFC and wanted to eat there for dinner. He had a chicken sandwich that they called a "Kentucky Supreme Hamburger". In fact, everything that they called a hamburger was a chicken sandwich. I can just imagine a lot Spaniards ordering a hamburger in the United States and being very surprised when it is not chicken. (It is probably their term for a type of sandwich regardless of meat.) Now we are back at the hotel and we just finished watching a Spanish game show. It was very entertaining. I am watching a German channel now and I don't like it as well. I think that I am going to go back to a Spanish Channel.