Saturday, April 23, 2011

A Royal Pain

We started our Monday morning touring the Royal Palace.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed...so our photo-taking was strictly limited to outside.  :-(  But on the flip side, it cut down drastically on the amount of time it took for my dad and me to get through the Palace!

Afterwards we took the Metro to Retiro Park where we walked through the gardens, enjoying the lake and the "interesting-people-watching".  Of course, we made time for another sangria and cerveza break, too :-)

After our booze break, we cut through the west side of Retiro Park and found our way to the Paseo del Prado and walked back to Puerto del Sol.  It was wonderful to see some new and different areas of Madrid.

For dinner, we enjoyed a great meal at Casa Paco...just south of Plaza Mayor.  The food was great, the service was wonderful and most importantly, for my self-esteem, our waiter understood my "pigeon Spanish"! 

After our meal, we walked back through Plaza Mayor on our way to the hotel.  Plaza Mayor is so beautiful at night.  We really enjoyed walking through there...

Royal Opera Theater
Near the Royal Opera Theater
Royal Palace Gardens
Royal Palace and Statue of Philip IV
Philip IV Statue
Philip IV Statue
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Dressing their mannequins for the day....
Now for her arm!
Royal Palace & Cathedral of Almudena
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Cathedral of Almudena
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Cathedral of Almudena
Royal Palace
Cathedral of Almudena
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
Royal Palace
View of Cathedral Almudena from reception area
of the Royal Palace
Mom's turn to play Palace Guard!
Close-up of a sculpture in Retiro Park

Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Fun puppet show for the kids...!

Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Enjoying the view during our sangria and cerveza break...

Retiro Park
Strange "Mushroom-Shaped" Trees!
Not sure what the name of this statue is...
Retiro Park
Retiro Park
Prado Museum Annex
Prado Museum (back of the Goya Statue)
Prado Museum

Palace Hotel
Palace Hotel
Plaza Canalejas
Plaza Canalejas
Tio Pepe is GONE!!!
There goes an "S"!
Gran Via
Gran Via
Penelope Cruz...spokeswoman for Tresor...
Gran Via
Gran Via
Gran Via
Gran Via
Gran Via
Plaza Mayor
Plaza Mayor
Not sure what I can say about this photo...
Plaza Mayor
Knife Throwers...in Plaza Mayor
Obama and Dali
Cheers!
Here's to Madrid!
Plaza Mayor at night...
Plaza Mayor at night...
Plaza Mayor
Puerta del Sol

1 comment:

Paul said...

That picture with Dad and the guy in the red outfit is very interesting! It does kind of speak for itself! Great pics!