If my alarm hadn’t woken me up 5:15 a.m. I would have slept longer. I did manage to sleep a bit longer until about 7:48 a.m. I had trouble finding breakfast but stumbled upon it on the first floor. it was the usual fare: various breads,  fruits, and cold cuts. I still haven’t ever really understood Europe’s way of having sandwiches for breakfast. But to each his own.

I decided to start the day off by going to the Royal Palace which was on the other side of town. The Rick Steves book stated that it could be potentially crowded and recommended I go early in the morning. I rode the subway all the way there and sure enough the line had already formed and getting in. As I stood in line I noticed the people behind me were speaking in German. Almost mention to them that I had lived in Nürnberg for a summer but decided not to. Sometimes it’s best to remain anonymous rather than try to start a conversation with someone. While in line we were treated to accordion music by street musician. He played some tunes that I recognized although I don’t know the title of them. I did recognize Jingle Bells though.

At around 10 a.m. they opened the doors and started letting people in. It took a little while for the line to go through but eventually we made it in. I paid 11 Euro to get in without an audio guide. Rick Steves book gives all the details that you would want to know about the palace rooms without having to rent an audio guide.

As with many of the tourist sites we were required to check our bags at the lockers. It took one Euro to lock the door and once you retrieve the key you get the Euro back. Initially I left my camera in the locker thinking that no photography was allowed within the Palace. However I went back and retrieved it. It is a good thing I did retrieve it as there was plenty of opportunity outside to take pictures.

The outer Courtyard is quite large it is gated off and on the other side of the gate is the Cathedral of sorts. Later I found out that this Cathedral is where the king and queen of Spain usually worshipped. Within the Royal Palace the rooms are quite elaborate. There are rooms for receiving guests, dining rooms and even a room specifically for dressing the king. Within the grand dining room there is a fresco on the ceiling of Columbus presenting his goods to the king and queen of Spain. I noticed that Columbus has a sphere that he is presenting to the royal couple. I don’t know if it is meant to symbolize Columbus presenting the world to  the king and queen by discovering America thereby bringing the world together.

The Palace also has a full set of Stradivarius stringed instruments including two violins a viola and a cello. Musicians say that the Stradivarius violins are like no other. I wonder how they have not been able to replicate the sound of the Stradivarius violins.

There is a silver room which Rick Steves reported a silver baby’s rattle but I don’t think I found it while I was looking.

While going through the palace it began to dawn on me that the king and queen lived in this elaborate Palace and I wasn’t sure if they were even allowed to be messy ever so often. Did they leave their cloaks laying on a bed or did they just let the maid and other servants take care of their clothing so that the palace would never become messy?

Next I decided to go to the National Art Museum. It was a few subway stops away. I expected there to be a long line of people but to my surprise there was no line at all. I paid my eight Euro to get in.

Throughout the modern art exhibits I begin to ask myself is this really art? Or is it something that someone says was Art and then someone else put it in a museum? Honestly many of these Modern Art ideas and sculptures are ridiculous. I saw one exhibit that was 2 femur bones. One was painted in Belgium’s flag colors and the other was painted in France’s flag colors. The title of the exhibit was belgians man’s femur and French’s man’s femur. Another had a suitcase painted in Belgium’s flag colors which was titled Belgian suitcase. In another exhibit featured art with eggshells and clams. Clams were embossed on a table. It was all very strange.

I had really come here to see the Guernica by Pablo Picasso. I asked the lady at the information desk where to find it and I thought she said floor 3. So I went up to floor three trying to find this painting. I came across some interesting photography about the globalization of the world. It showed a time-lapse of shots in New York City and eventually he’ll they closed possibly due to globalization.

I became increasingly frustrated that I could not find the Picasso painting. I asked a worker where to find the painting. As it turns out the painting was actually on the second floor. After searching the second floor for a while and browsing through some Salvador Dali paintings I eventually did find the Picasso painting. Of course there were a ton of people around it. The painting is fairly tall and could take up an entire wall if needed. They were worker sitting and stools on either side of the painting to watch for people trying to take a photograph of the painting. I’m not sure why photography is banned outright if only that flash photography tends to harm paintings. However most cameras that do not use flash would not harm the painting. I’ve noticed that my camera when I’m not using the flash still sends out a beam of light to try to gauge how far the subject is from the camera in order to focus correctly. I can understand why painting over time. So after seeing the Picasso painting it seems that my they had been fulfilled and I was ready to move on from viewing paintings.

I decided now would be a good time to try and eat lunch as it was 2 p.m. I was going to try and stick with fast food as it was the easiest and most convenient. If I had gone to a sit-down restaurant where the waiter or waitress dining could have taken all day.

I had a few choices including KFC,  McDonald’s and Burger King. Both McDonald’s and KFC seem to be crowded even at 2 p.m. on a Saturday. Therefore I decided to go over to Burger King. After waiting quite a bit for my food at Burger King I deduced that McDonald’s probably would have been quicker. I had to listen carefully  to discern the number on my receipt with the number which was called out in Spanish. Again I was using the Spanish numbers which I learned on Sesame Street years ago. After several minutes my food was available. I picked a seat near the drink machines so that I can easily get a refill without having to pack up all my stuff in order to just refill my drink if I was on another floor. I noticed beside me there was a man who must have purchased parts and tools to repair a cell phone. So there he was repairing a cell phone in the middle of a busy Burger King.

After spending a good portion of the day at the art museum I was ready just to experience Madrid. I decided to do one of Rick Steves recommended walk so I called a Subway train to a particular stop. As I got out of the Subway exit I saw that it was very crowded which made me fearful of pick pocketers. I was also leery about carrying around an expensive camera which would give them an opportunity to snatch and grab. It is Saturday night in Madrid and seems like everybody is out. It was mostly families though. I walked along and bought a few souvenirs along the way. I made the mistake of Spain 49 Euro for a soccer shirt. I was sure the worker said 14 however it was actually 49. I probably should have protested it but I didn’t feel like putting up a big fuss after the worker had been so kind help me with my purchase. I did buy some other items including a Barcelona shirt which I had meant to buy in Barcelona. I was surprised that they sold Barcelona shirts in Madrid as I thought the cities were in some type of rivalry. Also found a bull shirt with a silhouetted Bull on red background.

I wandered into Plaza Mayor, an enclosed area surrounded by buildings. It had a carnival type atmosphere with people dressed up in Mickey Mouse and Pooh Bear. Magicians were doing magic tricks and there was a Christmas market going on.

After walking around a bit I decided it might be time to get some dinner. So I was able to find a free Wi-Fi signal and use Google Maps to find my way to the Pizza Hut in the north side of town. I believe this Pizza Hut served the northern suburbs as there didn’t appear to be any tourist areas around the store. It also had very limited seating but I was able to grab a table and a chair and eat my personal pan pizza. Then it was time to journey back home to my hotel.

Tomorrow is my last day and Madrid before going back on Monday to the United States. I’ll finish up with a few things that I mean to say and plan on getting a good night’s sleep tomorrow night.