Spain Day Two: Madrid

On the second day in Madrid, we started the day by returning to the Royal Palace so that we could tour the inside. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside, but I can assure you it was glamorous, decadent, and well... fit for a king! :) We took some pictures in the courtyard though.







This is the view from the courtyard, and you see those two tall buildings in the background? The one on the left is Adriana's apartment building!

We headed to the Plaza Santa Ana for lunch. On the way, I saw this ham shop ("Museum of Ham") that I had to take a picture of. I don't know why, it's just very... Spanish. :)



For lunch we had some delicious tapas and amazingly sweet and fruity sangria!





After lunch, we went to... believe it or not... the pool! Not a tourist attraction per se, but it was soo hot, and sounded so amazing, so we did it anyway. And it was glorious.





We returned home to shower and change and then headed out to a little cafe/bar to watch a flamenco show! It was really fun, all the passionate singing and stomping and spinning... I enjoyed it. And I found out gypsies still exist. That blows my mind. I thought they were basically fairy tale characters. :)







After the show, we wandered through Plaza de Espana (I can't make a tilde with my computer) and took some pics by the fountain. It was necessary that my beautiful red shoes get captured, since it was the only time I was able to wear them, before my feet went to hell in a handbasket.

We continued on to have drinks at a cute little bar that played American hard rock music. We chatted with Luca, the Italian bartender, who made us yummy drinks (the Spanish are not big on mixed drinks, so this was exciting.) Adriana had assured me that Spanish men would stare but not approach, but as soon as she left me alone to go to the bathroom, they flocked. Ha. The good that came out of it (besides some much needed Spanish practice) was that the men suggested that Adriana take me to Toledo instead of Segovia, as we'd planned. We took their advice, and as it turned out, Toledo was one of the highlights of the trip! So thanks, random Spanish men. Look forward to pics from day three (Toledo!) coming soon.