I slept in a little bit later today. The museum that I wanted to go to what’s up open until 10 a.m. so I actually got up at about 8 a.m. to get ready and have breakfast. Had breakfast I was able to anticipate what the breakfast attendant would ask me. He asked me my room number and I was able to answer in Spanish. It’s the small accomplishments in life than make me feel good.

I wanted to go to the Museum of the Americas. It’s a museum showcasing Native American artifacts. Spaniards are very proud of Columbus discovering America on behalf of Spain even though he was Italian. The museum is in a neighborhood that is away from the city center. As I got out of the metro station I started walking what I thought was the right direction but figured out that I would not be able to cross a busy street in order to actually get to the museum so I had to backtrack just a little bit.

What I have found out about Europe is that there is graffiti everywhere and it was very conspicuous in the area where backtracked out of. I don’t know if the City officials care to clean it up or is it just a part of life. Had this been in Mount Juliet it would have been cleaned up very quickly. But I get the feeling that graffiti stays on buildings for quite a while before anyone takes an interest in actually repainting or cleaning the Graffiti Off.

The Museum of the Americas was free on Sundays. I did need to check my bag and coat. I wasn’t so sure if the museum allowed for cameras so I didn’t take any pictures. In fact museums rarely provide for good pictures as most of the interesting articles or behind glass. Simply in a museum setting it’s just not natural and doesn’t provide for any natural light. This might be why I don’t necessarily care for museums.

The Museum of the Americas did not have any subtitling in English. It was all in Spanish. So I could not read the stories behind the artifacts. However I did see feathered Cape from the natives of Hawaii. And so I thought to myself my vacations are intersecting. I had been to Hawaii earlier in the year and did not expect to see any artifacts from Hawaii and Madrid, Spain.

Next was the  archaeological Museum of Madrid. It too was free on Sundays. It did have English subtitles to the artifacts which was a big help to me. Although I found myself being overwhelmed with information and artifacts. I simply did not have time to go through each and every artifact and really only breathe through the museum. The museum covered prehistoric,  Roman, medieval and pre-industrial time.

It had a replica of the prehistoric skeleton nicknamed Lucy. Lucy was much smaller than what I had imagined. The skeleton wasn’t even a full grown person. Instead the skeleton was probably about 3 feet high. Only a portion of the skull was available yet somehow the scientists were able to come up with a skeleton just from the small portion. It makes me disbelieve Evolution even more.

I also saw Egyptian sarcophaguses. One thing I did not know about sarcophaguses is that it had Egyptian hieroglyphics on them. I wonder how much scientists have been able to translate on the coffin itself of these hieroglyphics. Or is it more of a decoration?

The Rick Steves travel book had recommended that I go to a particular Art Museum. Butt it was getting to be about lunch time and I knew I needed to get lunch so that I wouldn’t be starving throughout the rest of the day. I know of a Subway and the particular Metro stop that it was on. I decided to go there for lunch even though it was probably way out of my way. I found the subway fairly easily and had my usual Club. The difference in Europe is that subways serve roast beef instead of bacon on clubs. I guess the sensation of bacon hasn’t quite hit European subways.

At Subway I discovered that 2 attractions for near me. When was The Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida. The other was the temple of debod. On a map it appears that these two locations are very near each other however I later found that they’re both in two different directions separated by a busy street that cannot be crossed.

After wandering around for a bit I found the temple of debod first period according to the Rick Steves book agent cave Spain it’s an ancient Temple as a gift. The gift was because Egypt was grateful that Franco help Egypt rescue monuments that had been threatened by the rising Nile River. There appeared to be a line to get in and quite frankly I couldn’t imagine what was so great about the inside of the building. It was a small building and the interesting part of the building could be seen from the outside. It showed some arches along the reflecting pool.

I wandered around a bit more. my phone was beginning to lose a bit of its battery and I was apprehensive about losing the battery altogether before I was able to find the Hermitage Ave San Antonio de la Florida.

After walking around for quite some time I did find the Hermitage. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside. Inside was Francisco de Goya’s tomb.   on the ceiling was painted a fresco. I’m not so sure this particular church was worth walking 5 minutes for but it was an interesting way to pass the time.

It was getting close to 5 p.m. in The Prado Museum was free on Sundays at 5. I decided to try to find my way there in order to Cy Rick Steves had to put this on his must-see list in his travel guide. Unfortunately by the time I got there there was a large long line and quite frankly I had seen enough art this trip to last me quite a while. Hard has a tendency to drain on me. Once I’ve seen one or Museum I’m pretty much done for the rest of the trip. Maybe next time I can see The Prado Museum but I don’t know if I will be back in Madrid any time soon.

My vacation is almost over. Tomorrow I’ll be heading off to the airport for my 10:30 a.m. flight to Dublin with a connecting flight to Chicago and then on to Nashville. I would say the best part of the trip was my three Country tour. It was on that tour that I really learned much more about the history of Spain which I will plan to lookup in the weeks following my return. I had no idea that Franco the fascist was in power for 30 something years and the United States did not do too much too lessen his grip on the country. How did he get away to last so long? The United States and its allies squelched Germany and Italy but allowed a fascist dictator in Spain to continue.

I’ve discovered that Spaniards may or may not speak English. Many times I came across people who did not speak English. maybe I need to brush up on my Spanish in order to be able to communicate a little bit. But language has not ever been a strong suit of mine.

I look forward to traveling again but in some ways it’s good to come back home. I look forward to sleeping in my own bed without having to worry about where I’ll go for the day.