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It?s taken almost 4 months but I finally made it to Madrid, Spain?s capital.  Spain had what they call a ?puente? or bridge, or what we call a long weekend.  It was Labor Day on May first so I took advantage of the extra time off.  I left Friday night at 11 on an overnight train and shared a sleeper car room with 5 other guys from Barcelona.  I had the top, rather small and hot, bunk but I managed to get some sleep so I could do the tourist thing when I got there.  We arrived at 8am and I immediately went in search of a hostel for the night.  That was taken care of fast enough as I booked a room at Mad hostel.  It?s quite the place but only cost $16 for a bunk.  I ended up rooming with a family of five from Holland.  The place had a bar downstairs with a pool table, beer vending machine, a kitchen, and nice cushioned benches, and another bar on the rooftop terrace.  At any rate,  I was out and about by 10 and went straight (as I could) to Puerta del Sol.  I stopped on they way to watch a bunch of huge dogs get beat in a game of fetch by a tiny Chihuahua.  In Puerta del Sol there is the statue of a bear getting berries of a tree, the symbol of Madrid, and Kilometer Zero.  That is the starting point from which all highways in Spain are measured.  I actually couldn?t find it but read all about it.  Next it was on to Plaza Mayor, one of the largest squares in Europe.  I swung by a convent and the ?Cathedral of the Armed Forces? on the way.  The interior of that reminded me of all the churches in Rome, covered with frescos.  Plaza Mayor was definitely huge, but relatively quite at that hour minus a few performers getting ready for the day?s show.  This square has seen inquisition public hangings and even bull fights for many years. 

Moving east I went to Palacio Real, or the Royal Palace which was built in on the site of an old Arab fortress.  The Palace and accompanying cathedral, with squares in between, were enormous.  The Palace only functions now for tourism and official military parades, events, and state dinners.  The king and queen live a bit outside the city.  It has 2800 rooms, of which I was only able to visit about 30, a 400 year old pharmacy, and the royal armory that houses loads of battle, jousting, and parade armor, swords, and rifles.  The few rooms included on the tour were pretty amazing.  The throne room had red velvet wall covering and fresco ceilings, the dinning room with a table that seats 140 had Chinese vases, there was a Porcelain room that was completely covered in just that, and the chapel that had 10 marble columns that were made from one giant slab of marble.  Just around the corner there was some beautiful gardens along the way to Plaza de Espana where the Senate is located.

Heading down Gran Via we see all the modern shops, then I headed back toward the hostel for a kebab lunch.  Then it was back to the hostel for a nice nap and off toward the Prado museum for a stroll along the pedestrian streets there.  I stopped by Cervantes? and Lope de Vega?s houses on the way.  The area near the museums, Paseo de Prado, was really beautiful with tons of trees, gardens, and some sidewalk cafes.  I walked by the Bank of Espana which was huge, and supposedly has part of the country?s gold reserves reaching under the fountain in the middle of the traffic circle.  Further up, I stopped in El Espejo for a beer then walked though Plaza de Colon and behind the museums and along the Parque de Buen Retiro.  From there it was down to the Atocha train station that has a botanical garden inside, and back to the hostel for dinner and to watch the Barca game.  There I chatted with a priest from New Zealand, a guy from Costa Rica, an Australian, and a few Americans and headed out for drinks.

After about three hours sleep I got up with family I was rooming with at 9:30, had some breakfast, checked out, and was out on the town once again.  I headed straight to the Prado museum, free on Sundays, and had a self-guided tour as there were so many people that they were out of audio guides.  I saw all the paintings that I was interested in and was on to lunch in about an hour and a half.  Then, for another nap, I found a nice spot in the huge Parque de Buen Retiro and took in some sun and caught some z?s.  I was content resting there for almost 4 hours, then walked around the rest of the park.  There?s an area where they have an international rose contest, a huge class building that projected a rainbow of colors over the pond in front of it, and a large man-made lake with rentable dinghies.  I exited by the Puerta de Alcala, and headed back toward Puerta del Sol for another failed attempt at finding Kilometro Cero.  I picked up some food at the super, watched part of a show in Plaza Mayor, then it was time to head to the train station.  This time I was in the middle bunk where I fit much better.  We left at 10, and when I woke up we were in Barcelona at 7:30.

It seems fast, but I had two really long and full days there.  The thing that I noticed most was the liveliness of the city at all hours, and not just from tourists, and all the greenery.  The Parque de Buen Retiro was like a forest and there were countless, beautiful, tree-lined streets.  It was definitely a nice weekend trip and of course, I couldn?t leave Spain without checking out Madrid.