Madrid Day 2

Well, this is the third time I have written this post, and I hope the last.  Each time I get 3/4th of the way done I somehow delete it.  Could it be the wine I have drunk tonight?

We had a stressful, exhausting, and fun time last night trying to figure out Tapas and how to order/eat/pay/ etc. for it.  It appears in the guidebooks easy to do. Not so for two hicks from Iowa.  We left the apartment about 8:30 PM to find a street named Calle de la Baja, which from all reports is "the" Tapas street in our area.  A little known fact, but true, is that Madrid has more bars  per capita than anywhere else in the world.  Anyway.  we took off, found the street, and became paralyzed. We looked:  Too Spanish, too crowded, too complicated, too...too.  Anyway, Jerry wasn't comfortable.  We ended up at Tragatapas.  Not note worthy but fine for us.  Some pictures:

They carve the ham right there.

Easy menu, just point and pay.  Went back to the apartment and slept like babies.  

Next morning we got up and went to the market.  I had heard about Chocolate and churro, which is supposedly hot chocolate but not American hot chocolate.  It is like melted Dove bars.  Then you dip little fried pieces of doughnut in it.  How could that be bad?  It wasn't. 

Artichokes are in season.  5/1 euro

While at the market we saw these men filleting fish with this gigantic knife.  Jerry was impressed.

After sustenance, we started our big walk.  We started at the Palacio Real, which is the Spanish Royal palace until 1937.  The guy that built it, Felipe V, was really French, and wanted something to rival Versailles.  It came close.

Then we walked.  And walked, and walked.  About 5 miles we figured.  We saw the statue of Don Quixote and Pancho (I was immediately reminded of Jack Young and Joe Vap), we saw shopping streets, fountains, mimes (lots of fun, you don't know they are not statues until you come close to them).  We walked for about 5 hours.

The Mime in the Plaza.  He has no head!!!

I was pooped so we stopped in Plaza Mayor and had a Sangria and a beer.  Sangria might just be my new love, after Kir cocktails.  Came home and DIED!  Slept like the dead for 2 hours.

Jerry had been researching TAPAS restaurants and we took off.  Went to one called Tempranillo which was really a wine bar with food.  Very nice there.  They were helpful.  We had a toast (big crunchy bread) with Calamari and other wonderful things, and then a shrimp toast with Ratatouille.  Very good and great wine.  We wandered down the street to Casa Lucas and had another kind of wine and another Tapas with a quail egg on top.  It was so cute, looked like a robin egg.  

We were proud of ourselves for "doing" Tapas and felt like maybe we can do it again.  It is a little intimidating, but we had great waiters who were obviously taking pity on us.