Day 5: Palace & Museums

Thursday was our last full day in Madrid, as we had a day trip planned for Friday. First, we went to the Royal Palace (Palacio Real). The palace is still used for royal functions, although the royal family does not live here. It can be closed with very short notice for events. This actually happened to my cousins when they visited Madrid last year. We were lucky that the palace was open for us.

As is the norm with Spanish attractions, no pictures were allowed. It was very opulent, and our favorite of the three palaces we visited on this trip.
After the visit, we hung out in the courtyard for a few hours, enjoying the perfect day. Many people were walking around, and there were performers. This guy is playing the accordion. There were other musicians, and also the street performers who stand perfectly still until you give them some money and then they give a little performance.
Brian took many pictures of the courtyard and nearby park, but here are just a few:

After this, we headed over to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum. Although the Prado was impressive, it was almost too much. This museum was just about perfect. There were works from pretty much every genre, from baroque to modern. Many were by famous artists, including Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, etc.

After our visit, we went to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch. This was nice, as we could order the menu del dia, where you get a nice starter, main course, dessert, and a drink for a very reasonable price. We were unable to order this at most restaurants due to the meat in those courses. The food was delicious. However, we didn't arrive for lunch until 3:15 pm, and the service was very slow. We exited the restaurant at about the time we'd start eating dinner in America!

We walked to the Reina Sofia Museum, which is the 3rd of the 3 major art museums in Madrid. The Paris Picasso Art Museum is currently undergoing renovations, and most of that collection was sent here for display. Brian was pleased to have crossed a Paris sight off of his to-do list, even though we were in Madrid. It was a lot of Picasso. Although we enjoyed ourselves, we probably didn't enjoy it as much as others would have!

The major attraction at this museum is Picasso's large work, Guernica. This painting depicts the aftermath of the Nazi bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica in the 1930s. There are also works by Dali (a favorite of ours) and other, with a focus on more modern works.

After all of this walking, our feet were in pain, so we took the metro back to our hotel and grabbed a quick dinner at Pans. After all, our lunch did not finish until after 5! We were sleeping before our heads hit the pillows.