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| The royal palace in Madrid where king Felipe and family live in 2800 rooms |
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| all she wanted for her birthday lunch was a calamari sandwich |
From the jumping devils town we traveled four hours south to Madrid, the capital of Spain. a very large, sprawling city with wide streets and large majestic buildings. we visited two of the most famous museums in Europe, The Prado museum, and the Sophia Reina (queen's). The feel of Madrid is very laid back compared to Barcelona. It reminded me a lot of Los Angeles, if LA had 500 year old buildings and a Palace where the King and Queen of Spain lived. Last thursday the Ex-King of Spain abdicated and turned over the Kingdom to his son, the new King, Felipe. We missed the coronation celebration by one week. The ex king is well respected in Spain. in 1976, upon the death of the dictator Franco, the king was expected to step in and continue the dictatorship. Instead he insisted that Spain become a modern democracy, then he made it happen. The Royals in Spain, much like England, are figure-heads of tradition, supported by the people. We spent a fun three days in Madrid, visiting museums, walking and riding bikes in the large Retiro park in the middle of the city, and seeing other sites.
Cindy's birthday was on the 25th, we celebrated by going to a Spanish opera "Zarzuela" and a nice dinner afterwords.
When we decided to spend this year abroad, Madrid was seriously considered as a place to live, so we were happy to have the opportunity to visit the city that could have been. In the end, we made the correct call locating ourselves in Barcelona.
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| the famous Prado museum (not Prada, there are no hand bags in there) |
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| Madridians claim Madrid is the largest, bestest, and greatest in spain. this is their post office. |
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| they claim this is the oldest bookstore in Europe. |
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| and this is the oldest door |
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