Day two in Madrid has gone really well!! I've only almost died 5 times today! White vans are just as evil in Spain as they are in the UK!
M set an alarm for 8am and met The Sleep Monster at half 8, she apparently hurled abuse at him and grumbled when he turned the light on (I have zero recollection of this and think M may be making it up!!).
When we eventually got out of the hotel (and after we dropped into Maccy Ds for breakfast...) we jumped onto the Metro and headed for the Reina Sofia which is billed as one of the best museums and modern art galleries, housing works by numerous artists including Picasso and Dali
We finally found the Reina Sofia after almost wandering into a government building and being politely told to move on (note: just because the building is "big and pretty" doesn't mean its the one we're after!!). The gallery its self is housed in a really nice building and I loved the archways! Got some cracking shots!
Here's the bit where we have to admit we're both either uncultured swines or a bit too dim to get it: surrealism! Honestly, we've seen loads today from wandering around the galleries but after about 45 minutes wandering around the Reina Sofia we just didn't get get it. Picasso... ? Dali...? There were some other ones too who are apparently really famous (uncultured...) but we kind of gave up. I enjoyed seeing the photography pieces, but even some of them were a bit way out for our tastes!
Moving on we went towards the Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace) which is the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family. We went via a shopping centre and paid 15E for a data sim card with 2GB data that also allows tethering! We've both spent about £10 with EE/T-Mobile in a day being given a piddly 100 or 200Mb of data. This is not worth it, tip for anyone travelling abroad: get a local Sim card for your phone! When you can use Google Maps and Google Translate you will thank me!!
The Palace building is from the 17th Centruy and absolutely gorgeous architecture! We were lucky enough to get inside the Palace and do the tour, you get to wander around some of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen in my life. I lost count of the number of chandeliers I fell in love with and the table! OH! The table!! Someone has clearly been at it with a ruler, it was stunning!!! Sadly we weren't allowed to take photos inside the Palace, but here is a photo from Google showing what the dining room looked like! Gorgeous! I also realised that, at some point in my life, I really should invest in a throne! I could have brought a mini desk throne.... but decided not to!
After the Palace we decided to find a little tapas cafe down the road, and have some lunch. By lunch I mean salad. By salad I mean fruit. By fruit I mean grapes. We had wine for lunch! I love the Spanish culture! The conversation with the cafe owner went something like this:Owner: "Would you like drinks?"
Us: "just one glass of wine, its lunchtime"
Owner: "no problem, sit down"
Then he brings us a small plate of nibbles.... and the bottle of wine. Well it would have been rude not to drink the entire bottle. We also finished off the tapas (choroizo... mmm mmm) and dug into a Russian Salad too! Stunning!! A bottle of lovely red wine and three plates of Tapas for 25E! Brilliant!
After the Palace we took a leisurely walk back up the road outside and through the park, Jardine de Sabatine, where M posed for a wonderful photo series we are calling "Kings (and One Queen)". Perhaps it was the wine that helped?!
One last place on our whistlestop tour was the Temple of Debod. This is a real ancient Egyptian monument in the heart of Madrid. I really enjoyed it here as we were losing the light which made it perfect for taking photos. I spent ages playing with a slow shutter speed to get that water silky smooth, and admittedly we made little ripples in the water to get a good shot. I'm really proud of them!
The temperature really dropped while we were at The Temple of Debod and it was around 7pm so we decided to head back to our hotel, have a little chill out time and then find a local restaurant for dinner. We arrived back at around 8ish and M got comfy. Very comfy... he finally woke up about half ten and, although the local restaurants were open until midnight and 1am repectively, none of us could be bothered to move after a long day's exploring!
Instead we did some reading about what we are going to do tomorrow, attempted (and failed) to get a VPN working to watch Jericho on ITV player (I will watch it tomorrow on a streaming site instead... Hans Matheson... mmm mmm!) and, at M's request, another couple of episodes of Dr Quinn!! Brilliant.You may be wondering what on earth the title for today's blog is all about. Well M and I both have our netbooks with us, both running Linux. Both have Android (Linux) phones and I have my Nexus 7 tablet and watch, both Android (Linux). Safe to say we're not really Windows fans. Sadly this took a physical turn and we are now in a room across the hall because we attempted to open the window in our room to let some air in just before bed... it let loads of air in and wouldn't close!! Bit of a disaster but we were moved swiftly and now settled down to sleep. Windows and Linux fans do not mix! ;)
Lots of things planned for tomorrow and a very late night thanks to Window Gate(s) (see what I did there?!).
Hasta Manana!
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| Photosphere of the Palace grounds |
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| Photoshpehre inside the Palace, amazing ceiling!! |
