Day 95, 7 October 2012, El Rastro and The Prado, Madrid - We were both moving quite slowly this morning. Can´t begin to imagine how many miles we covered with our hiking about yesterday, but can sure feel every one of them. Not ones to let sheer physical exhaustion get in our way however, we headed off to the biggest flea market in the world, El Rastro. With sign language demonstrations and warnings in Spanish echoing in our ears about the near certainty of having our bags slashed and our pockets picked we bravely marched on and spent an hour or so working our way through a fabulous array of lethal weapons, kitchenalia, souvenirs and clothes. We felt very much like great white hunters when we emerged unscathed, bags intact, and hunted baguettes, jamon, cheese and fruit for an impromptu picnic in front of the palace. Completely tuckered out after lunch the urge for a siesta was overwhelming, so we repaired to the hotel for nap time. We had both noticed, in passing, a heightened police presence in Madrid all morning, but when we passed through the Puerta del Sol square, there was no raging riot in progress, so we thought we were imagining it. Then as we got closer to the railway end of town we noticed a couple of police helicopters buzzing the area. Hmmm. Typical. Massive rally right where we needed to go. No batons or tear gas and it was the middle of the day so we put on our cloaks of invisibility and snuck down the edges, staying near the families with children type protesters - "Sin Pan, No Paz" - without bread there will be no peace as far as I could figure it, so an anti-austerity rally. Safe and sound eventually, we slept. We emerged again at 4.30 pm to make our way to the Prado Art Museum - numero uno thing to do in Madrid. And at €12 each, I should think so too. (http://www.museodelprado.es/en) However the plan was the 5 pm to 7 pm slot when it´s FREE and since we know about 2 hours of walking around is all we´re good for anyway. Just us and about 1000 others were queued up for 20 odd minutes until the proverbial starter's pistol went off and we all obediently collected a free ticket and made our way to the entrance. Gosh. More art in one place than if every piece of fine art in every gallery in Australia was somehow gathered together. And it's so huge, even in front of masterpieces by Goya, Velasquez, Rubens, Gainsborough and Bosch, there's still hardly anyone around. The Prado has a little brochure highlighting masterpieces and their room numbers - very convenient as we ploughed through and hoovered up masterpiece after masterpiece with our eyes. Even ran into a couple of people from yesterday's tour (and having seen 2 others during our walk around El Rastro, firmly convinced Madrid is a small town). Our minds and eyes buzzed from the art we had absorbed and we made it back to our neighbourhood with no sign of rubber bullets or tear gas so all was well. Having been on the road for over 3 months and faithfully gorged ourselves on cous cous, tagines, falafel, pita bread, hummous and even tapas most recently, we gave in and went to our local Chinese restaurant for some comfort food.... noodles, chow mien, dumplings and curried chicken and a bottle of local vino. All was well in the world. And it cost the same as the entry fee we had saved at the Prado. Mind you, ordering Chinese food in English with a waiter who speaks only Spanish was interesting. Lots of pointing and smiling - but worth every minute of it to eat in an actual restaurant, with tablecloths and waiters. Wow. Sleep tight. Last day in Madrid tomorrow and train to Barcelona tomorrow evening.