Since we weren't setting alarms I missed breakfast. I took my time getting ready & packed as much as I could so I didn't have to do it tonight. I took the train to El Retiro to meet the girls & saw this awesome mural in the train station. Once I exited the train station I saw the beauiful Plaza Independencia (a plaza after my own heart) & this amazing Catholic Church.
I met up with the girls and we wandered around for a little bit and tried to find a place to have lunch. We realized we were in an area a bit out of our price range but it was still nice & fun to walk around it anyway. We set down for lunch & I went American with a hamburger for lunch. After lunch we headed across the street to the Parque del Buen Retiro which was ginormous. We came upon this huge man-made lake with row boats & of course more beautiful statues set as the backdrop. Randomly there were these fabric covered square tent type things placed on the sidewalk - we never figured out what they were. And there was this cute little old man just hanging out playing his trumpet.
Robyn made sure I found the Egyptian Fountain in the park per the attached photo. I was infatuated with these trees because the leaves just appeared to have a soft feel. Danielle, they remind me of that stuff you have at the flower shop that I always like to play with. During our walk we came across this creepy statue of what looks like a man pulling his hand out of a lions head. We wandered around to the other side of the man-made lake. On one of the statues were these locks. What people do is write their names/initals with the date on a lock & then lock it onto a landmark & it's supposed to signify their love. It's actually pretty cool.
After walking around the park we sat down in the grass for a little ciesta sans sleep. We then continued on our way to find this bar call Sidreria in honor of Stacy's Grandma. So they have this Apple Cider Wine that they have to pour from up high into the glass to get oxygen into it. Here's a picture of the bartender doing this & she doesn't even have to look to make sure it's going into the glass - she's that good! The Apple Cider Wine was kind of gross. It tasted like a combo of Apple Juice & Olive Juice. Needless to say they don't pour a lot into your glass & we were very happy about that. We decided the next round needed to be with bubbles - basically Cider Beer. Yet again you order a drink & they bring you food. Madrid was amazing for this kind of treatment! As we were walking out I saw my peppers so this is what they look like before they're cooked.
As we were walking around we passed back by the church we had seen earlier in the day and a wedding was just ending so we hung out for a few trying to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom. We saw a sign for a Flamenco show in the park so we decided to find the stage & check out the details. We found the stage but decided against it so we started to head back towards our hotels. On our way we found this beautiful building called Centro. We really weren't sure what it was but it was free so we went in. The ceilings in the place were amazing. The building had a lookout that you could take an elevator too but unfortunately it was closed for the day. That was a shame because I'm sure we could've gotten some amazing photos from up there.
Here's a tangent...pickpockets. The pickpockets in Madrid need to learn something from the pickpockets in Barcelona. I would assume part of being a good pickpocket is fitting in to your surroundings & not being spotted easily. The pickpockets in Madrid were really obvious - which for tourists is a good thing but also shows how good the ones in Barcelona are. We walked back to my hotel to try and see if we could get tickets for a Flamenco show but unfortunately they were all sold out. We decided to freshen up & go to the San Miguel Market for dinner. Table space is a hard thing to come by here but we eventually found a table & always made sure we had two people at the table standing guard of our space. We took turns getting different food to snack on & try. We had wine, olives, croquettes, seafood paella, pork rinds, sangria, cheese platter & my peppers of course. The pork rind place had this ridiculously large roll of paper towels so Stacy was kind enough to help me visualize for you the size of the roll in comparison to her head. We left the market to try & find a place to have one last drink together but we weren't having much luck. It was midnight so it was time for me to head back to my hotel as I needed to go to bed because my alarm was going to go off at 530am.
It had definitely been a fun & more relaxing last day in Madrid. I can't believe tomorrow I head home.
