First day in Madrid

Day 2

We woke to blue sky, sunshine and frost, what a glorious day. Up and out early for breakfast. Rod has discovered the churros..oh dear!  I am trying not to give in.

So we are told the museums are not open on a Monday s decided to just explore the centre of the city.  We walked through to the Gran Via and headed down to the Palacio Real.  it is the most beautiful city, with grand buildings, everything seems to be built super big, the post office and all of the government offices.  Apartment buildings line the roads, and if you veer off down a side street there are small squares with cafes in the middle.  Everything looks vaguely familiar, the shops are virtually the same, everyone seems to be obsessed with shopping or yacking on their mobiles and not looking where they are going. But it is different, perhaps the blue sky and the weather makes it much more open.

Apartment balconies

We reached the Palacio Real which is gorgeous, with lovely gardens surrounding it, and it was open.   What a grand place, completely over the top, bit like Buckingham Palace I suppose, all red, blue and gold.  It had a great art exhibition on, and spent all morning there.

But, I have noticed sine arriving that I've been wheezing quite a lot, and as you looked out over the outskirts of the city, you could see a thick haze of smog, sitting over it.  It's got a lot of traffic.

We wandered around all afternoon, through into the Plaza Mayor down alleyways, had lunch. Brilliant day.

so much to tell you, it's such a brilliant place