Kate and Calvin went to Madrid today to explore the capital of Spain! After breakfast at home, we drove to Aranjuez and caught the train all the way in (Kate slept for most of the journey) to Sol station.

Hanan had told us about Sol and apparently there is a tile on the ground nearby the station where you can stand right in the centre of Spain - we totally forgot this so missed this momentous opportunity!

Madrid is a beautiful city and it didn't feel as hectic as some other major cities. The squares and streets are filled with buskers (sometimes extremely creepy buskers - think of a goat dressed as a witch doctor, little Chucky, obese man in a pram) and people trying to sell selfie sticks.

It was a beautiful day out - sunny and fairly warm for a European winter's day so we took a circular route around the city hitting all the major sites:

Plaza Mayor - a large square with beautifully designed buildings
Mercado de San Miguel - cosy covered markets full of food, drinks and tapas. We had a stuffed olive each and Calvin had an empanada.
Palacio Real - a stunning building (now a museum). Didn't bother going in though.
Alumna Cathedral - quite a large stone building opposite the palace.
Plaza de Oriente - great place to hang out in the sun across from the palace.
Templo de Debod - a reassembled Egyptian temple which was unfortunately closed. Calvin decided a handstand next to it would be appropriate.
Plaza de Espana - a nice square (one of many).
Walked down Gran Via - stopped for lunch just off the road at TapaTapa. Delicious olives, a tortilla, deep fried brie and chicken skewers.
Fuente de la Cibeles - extravagant fountain serving as a big roundabout.
Parque del Retiro - a massive and beautiful park with beautiful green spaces, hedges, trees and a lake which you can row a boat! Calvin wanted to sit on the grass (Kate didn't as she thought it wet) - Kate and Calvin did ascertain the grass was indeed wet after about 10 seconds of sitting on it and walked around with wet butt patches. Calvin also thought it might be romantic to row Kate around the little lake (with a Spanish band playing in the background) however Kate felt that this might be boring.
Palacio de Cristal - great building which has glass walls and roof. Now an artists space - current installation was a 2 hour sound track of ice breaking (boring...).

Back to the Mercado de San Miguel for some more food! Paella and dessert (frozen yoghurt with mango and oreo) this time. On the way, Kate tried a really ugly Skechers shoe on. Kate has now shoe shopped in every European country so far (Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Spain and UK)!

Took the train home and cooked Char Kway Teow for dinner! Bananagrams also came out to play tonight!