Del Prado, Real Madrid, IPhones and a Last Evening.

We decided to divide and conquer and take ourselves to our own interests.
David to see the immense stadium that Real Madrid (apparently the most valuable sports team of all time – he says 3.4 Billion, and closely followed by his old timers hockey team) plays in. Me to the Museo Del Prado.

We map out our metro lines and agree to meet at 2 pm at the McDonalds in the Puerta de Sol Plaza (again, wifi and easily identifiable) and just in case of troubles I download the Whatsapp app and we test it out. With everything working great, maps and directions, we set off to find some coffee and breakfast.
Breakfast in Spain is usually coffee and some bread like item (croissants, toast, etc). The lovely young man behind the counter at the restaurant we stopped into, convinced David to try the churros (roll those rrrs). Like donuts but long and skinny and not too sweet. Very tasty!
I leave David on one of the metro trains to change to the line I need, and arrive at Del Prado after a lovely walk alongside the very gated Botanical Gardens. Snapped a few pictures

As I enter the museum I pull out my phone to set a timer, I don’t want to lose track of time ! My phone is dead! Totally blacked out! And I don’t wear a watch. Nothing that I could do, so I did wander the museum, took in the El Greco display and caught some of the highlights.

Now, what I haven’t mentioned is that in Barcelona our camera developed some problems. We couldn’t charge the battery (after buying a new battery and charger at home, just for this trip), and there was a black dot in the corner of our pics. At first we thought we had captured a UFO on film, but then it seemed to be following us. 👽😊 So we are not carrying a camera since day 2 in Barcelona. In del Prado you are not really allowed to take pics, and you know how I do with those rules. So no iPhone no pics, seemed like a conspiracy of sorts. I did have to get pretty friendly with people and ask the time. Snagged a few pics from the internet… These canvasses are HUGE in real life

I left with plenty of time and stopped at a phone store, plugged in my iPhone and NOTHING! So I went to McDonalds and waited for David who was almost on time! We compared notes on our adventures. Here are some stadium pics

He had a great time. We may see if we can catch a futbol game in Lisbon or Amsterdam!
We headed back to the flat and I googled the iPhone issue. Toggle the silent switch two times, then press and hold the home and sleep button… Violá it works. Phew!
We freshened up and then I took David on a walkabout to areas we hadn’t been to yet.

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We stop for drinks and tapas and watch the setting sun cast shadows on the buildings.

We move to the Plaza Mayor for our final dinner. The location is wonderful and the meal was delicious.

The night would not be complete without another stop at the cutest little bar. A small beer order resulted in a baby beer

Shooter beers!

We got back and chatted with our host. She is nice but a little high maintenance. It was 12:30 when we headed to bed. She was still up, but asked us not to use the shower in the morning before we leave, as she has a busy day tomorrow and doesn’t want to be awoken. WTF?
Oh well, we loved Madrid and wish we had more time here!!
Early train to catch to Granada!