Madrid: Saturday

Saturday morning, Tim went on a run with Susan and Jeremy to take them through the parts of Madrid we'd seen previously. Then we all met up to see the sights of Royal Madrid. We started at the Palacio Real, where, after standing in line for a while, we saw the interior of the palace, which has been was home to the royal family in the 18th and 19th centuries but has also been used recently for state events. We also got to see the royal pharmacy and royal armory (which included a set of armor for a four year old). After the palace, we headed across the square to visit the Cathedral. It was vast inside, but more contemporary than many of the churches we've seen in Europe. After lunch, we headed to the Park Oeste to see the Temple de Debod, an Egyptian temple that was given as a thank you gift to one of the kings of Spain. From the park, we caught the Teleferico across to the Casa de Campo, which gave us nice views back to the sights of Madrid. When we returned, we wandered through the Plaza de Espana, where we saw a nice statue of Don Quixote and shopped a bit in a flea market. After a little bit of a rest, we headed back out to enjoy the holiday lights in the streets and to wander through the neighborhoods of Chueca and Malasana. We stopped at a couple of places for tapas as we wandered.

Madrid Day 4: Royal Madrid

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Madrid: Friday

Today we planned to go to Toledo, a small town half an hour outside of Madrid by train. When we got to the train station, we missed the first train standing in line to get tickets. Then the second train was sold out. So we ended up on the 12:20 train to Toledo. So we spent the morning wandering the main shopping streets in town. When we did finally get to Toledo, we climbed up the hill the city sits on to see a variety of really old buildings (surprise), including a Synagogue, the Cathedral, a hospital, and several others. The cathedral was gigantic and magnificent. (Luckily, we weren't allowed to take photos inside, or I think we might still be there.) We wandered back to the train station to catch our (sold out) train back to Madrid. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the holiday lights that workers have been putting up the past couple of days were all lit up. We wandered through the streets looking at the lights and the crowds and ended up back at our hotel. We're waiting on a couple of friends who are joining us for the weekend before we head back out to dinner.

Madrid Day 3: Shopping and Toledo

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