More Madrid

My second day of Madrid I did the whole tourist thing, visited the Royal Palace, the Museum of Reina Sofia (a modern art museum), and some famous plazas. Madrid has all these plazas. Some are pretty small, neighborhoody plazas, which are cool, because you´re walking around these tiny streets that open up into a big plaza, usually with outdoor cafes, benches and sometimes a fountain or grassy area. Other plazas are bigger and more touristy, usually commemorating some historical event. The Plaza de Mayor is the biggest and most touristy of them all, reminded me of Fisherman´s Wharf - tons of stores all selling the same cheesy tshirts, knick knacks and postcards.

The Reina Sofia was pretty amazing. Four floors of art, including Picasso´s Guernica, which covered an entire wall. And I´m not even a big fan of museums : )

The Royal Palace was interesting, both for its size (2,800 rooms, 20 of which are still used today) and its extravagance. For example, of the 2,800 rooms I´m going to say at least 1,000 were waiting rooms. Almost every room we went through on our tour was built originally as a bedroom, but as the palace expanded, was turned into a waiting room. Exactly who waited in the rooms and for what, was unclear. Also, the King, Charles (the 3rd, I think), had a thing for clocks, so the Palace has over 400 clocks in it, some of them very intricate and most of them made out of gold. Finding the clocks is kind of like a game of Where´s Waldo, since most of them are made to blend in with the furniture and decorations. For example, there is a mantlepiece of a horse drawn chariot, and the wheel of the chariot is the clock. Anyways, I could go on about the different rooms in the Palace, but I can´t really do it justice without the photos, which I will hopefully be posting soon.