July 3 - Day 2 in Madrid

Today was a full day as Madrid tourists.

We got a list of great suggestions from the front desk woman and headed out to catch the public bus/metro.  Today, we knew where we were going and things went much more quickly.

Once downtown, we bought tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus and set out to see Madrid.  We still needed to use the English translation headphones... maybe one day we will be able to string together more words in Spanish than your average toddler - but not yet.

It seems like the whole city is under construction - I am glad we were riding and not driving.  I do like that the "construction tarps" are painted to look like the buildings that they are covering.  It makes the construction a little less invasive - at least from the street view.    The top half of this building is covered with a light grey tarp with the windows painted on.  

We ate lunch at the upstairs counter of a restaurant facing the main street through downtown (Gran Via) which made for great people watching - and not surprising with all of the traffic and construction, we were able to witness a cab on cab fender bender.   

We walked around a large Market (and went back there later for dinner), through a large park (and stopped in for a beer and diet coke), around the royal palace, and through lots of plazas.  The bus tour also went by the stadium where Real Madrid plays,  the US Embassy (which was heavily guarded and preparing for a 4th of July event), and LOTS of great buildings.  It is also PRIDE week in Madrid, so there are rainbow flags hanging on many buildings large and small.  There are also signs (about half in half in English/Spanish) with this year's slogan...

Photo of Sign on Side of Building

We didn't stop for dessert, but that is not for lack of options.  I love this one...

Really.... CHOCOLATERIA...mmmmm.   Many shops close for siesta in the afternoon - especially on the smaller streets.  Most of the shops in the touristy squares and at the big market seemed to be open all day.

Sign in window of CHOCOLATERIA- "We will come back at 3:30! Thanks"

Albert took lots of great photos - I did take a few of the sights and of course a few of Albert taking photos. 

After a full day of touristing, we rode back to our hotel on public transportation and are tucked in to our hotel room for the night.  We have a 5:30 am shuttle to the airport.  Tomorrow, we go to Sevilla.