Today's outing was to the Palacio Real de Madrid, which is to say, The Royal Palace. WOW!! What an amazing structure! I always thought Versailles was something (and it is), but this beats it hands down in my opinion. Every room is unique and spectacular--I wish we could've taken pictures, but they only allowed us photos at the very beginning. Probably just as well, I'd have filled up my phone. We got to visit about 30 different rooms--there are over 2,000 and it'...

We visited the Madrid Botanical Gardens and The El Retiro Park today. Gorgeous plants, a nice place to enjoy the day.

As the title says, today was our get acquainted with the city as a whole by using the Hop on Hop Off bus. Part of our pleasant experience was the weather...so beautiful and we are so grateful! The elevation here is about 2,000 feet, so the sky just seems to be bluer than we're used to. I snapped a ton of pictures of interesting buildings--almost gave myself whiplash, just so many unbelievably beautiful structures EVERYWHERE, with a monument or sculpture at every ...

We did a walking tour on our own today by listening to a Rick Steves audio guide. It was super crowded in the city due to the holiday called Day of Madrid. Lots of people dressed up in costume, stands erected for a parade--it was a bit too much for me, as I don't like being in large crowds. We preserved, however, and survived. :) The tour began in Puerta del Sol, which is one of the main plazas in Madrid. We ate a pastry at one of the shops on the plaza that has ...

We journeyed out from the apt today and managed to find our way to the plaza where we were to meet our food tour guide. It was 47 when we left, but beautiful sunny skies! It warmed up quickly and was just perfect, especially when drinking. We went to four places on our tour, and at each one we had at least one glass of wine and LOTS of food. We were a group of 8, with one couple from Chicago, another from Denver and lastly from Russia but living in Germany. We al...