Madrid and Sol

When we went to Madrid, we really had no idea what to even look at, so we bought a book at the first bus stop and went off that.  I knew there was a palace of some kind, and we were told to go to Sol, but other than that we were lost.  So we headed in the direction of the palace and made a few stops along the way.  

This is Palacio Real, the Royal palace.  It's actually much bigger than it looks.  There is an entire courtyard to the side along with more buildings, and many underground rooms.  We took a tour inside, and of course, I had to lock my camera up to go in.  This palace is still in use by the Royal family, so the only cameras allowed are for the press, if at all.  There are security guards every few feet, making sure nobody has a camera.  It was actually very interesting inside; each King that has been on the throne (and there is an actual throne still) has made his own changes to the palace.  One king changed where the staircase was, another changed where some statues were.  My favorite part of the tour was at the beginning, on the staircase.  When the palace was originally built, it was customary for the women of the palace NOT to have to go up and down the staircase by themselves.  So there was a sort of belt built into the staircase, so that they could sit on a chair and be moved up and down.  

The Palace also had a Royal Armory, a Royal Pharmacy and  Royal Library.

These are from inside the courtyard.

Downtown Madrid, also called Sol.

I love that the person taking this picture waited until the Policia were in it. 

On this day, apparently, it was "No Pants" day, so we ran into this group of people going pantless. 

And then the skateboarders came by, to make it even more interesting. 

More of downtown Madrid.  

The Metropolis building.  There are actually a lot of naked statues on this building.

We were told we had to try the hot chocolate and churros.  The churros were not like the American churros that we are used to.  They have no sugar or sweetener on them, but it didn't matter- they are made just for dipping in the hot chocolate.  And the hot chocolate was the BEST I have ever had.  It was more like liquid chocolate mousse.... I have to figure out how to make it.  

When we were making reservations for our stay, we tried to get a room in the Temple housing.  They were full, but they referred us to a few places.  We chose the cheapest one, figuring we wouldn't be there  very much.  We reserved a double room, and this is what we got:

We stayed in a hostel, which is just a really cheap hotel, and you rent a bed versus a room.  We rented two beds and had to share a bathroom.  We ended up putting the mattresses on the floor next to each other.

And because I forgot to put these pictures on my Barcelona post, here they are.  This is where we stayed in Barcelona.  It was also a hostel, but a very fancy one.  We had a beautiful room, two bathrooms, and the housekeeper made us breakfast every morning.  There were 5 rooms in the hostel, and we rarely saw the other occupants.