Hola!
Robert had a pretty jet-lagged night, but when he finally fell asleep, he was able to stay in bed until about 7:30 am. Then, up for showers and we didn’t get down to breakfast until 9 am! As Robert has promised that we can return to Madrid one day, I decided that rather than get to the Royal Palace by 9 am we would take it easy today. Especially as we are going to a Flamenco concert/dance this evening, which of course doesn’t start until 10:30 pm! Robert is very much looking forward to picking up the car tomorrow morning, as that is his preferred way to get around!
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| Wide, lovely avenues and boulevards |
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| View from the 9th floor of Cortes Ingles |
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| Group singing opera! Quite lovely! |
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| Two beautiful buildings! |
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| Walk "through" building into plaza! |
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| Love the models! |
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| Made it! |
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| Now those are hams... |
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| Something for every taste! |
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| A nice glass of cava... |
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| SO much to see! |
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| And eat... |
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| So wished I was hungry... |
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| Mozarella bar! |
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| More meat for sandwiches! |
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| Mom would have absolutely loved this! |
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| This seriously scares me... |
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| Something for everyone! (Did I say that already?) |
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| On a bus! |
Note: Barca defeated Real Madrid by the final score of 3-0, which means they will go forward into the next round of Cup play!
There were several things that I did want to accomplish today, though, including finding the El Cortes Ingles department store and taking a look at their big 9thfloor food hall and visiting the Mercado San Miguel, which was recommended by friends Ketty and Gina! So thank you, ladies!
But first off, to find the right El Cortes Ingles. This time we walked a block north of our hotel, to one of the main streets in the area, Carrera de San Jeronimo. This took us to Puerta del Sol, which is a huge mainly pedestrian area filled with shops and restaurants. Robert has decided that the people in Madrid must be one of the best fed groups in the entire world – that’s how many food-related shops and restaurants there are. (I’m not going to count the Steak & Shake that we walked past along the way…) I don’t think those have even made it to Tucson yet!
Found the first of three El Cortes Ingles buildings located right off Puerta del Sol, and plunged in. Of course, the store we were really looking for was the third one – the farthest off the Puerta, but it was really fun to be able to look through the various stores and departments. And to tell you that this department store chain covers truly everything, they even had a dental office on one floor, with people waiting to be seen! Amazing! Who knew?! (Didn’t see a doctor’s office, but I’m sure there was one someone there!)
The 9thfloor Gourmet Foodcourt was lovely, and we were able to get a table by the window for coffee and water breaks for the two of us. On the inside of the glass outer wall were tracings of the buildings around us, identifying what was what. We were able to see the Royal Palace as well as the Cathedral. Great view! Rested up a bit, and then headed back downstairs, this time heading to Mercado San Miguel.
A lovely 10-minute walk to the southwest brought us through a lovely interior courtyard’ed building, and out the other side. (We were able to stop at an official Tourist Information office in this building, and Robert was able to pick up a bus map to the central area of Madrid. That made him very happy, as Robert is a great bus rider, and seems to be able to get from one place to another in record time via the bus!) And there was Mercado San Miguel, whose iconic signature logo “mm” was everywhere! And let me say, that is truly quite a place!
The original structure was built of iron and glass in 1916, and stands on the site of an even earlier marketplace. Renovated in the 21stcentury, it now contains some 30 high-end vendors of fresh produce, gourmet foods, wines by the glass, tapas and much, much more! There was a draft vermut (Vermouth) bar with kegs of the sweet dessert wine along with sangria (Debby??) and sherry. Truly amazing! It made both of us wish we hadn’t had breakfast so late, as we weren’t hungry at all. We were, however, thirsty, so R got a glass of red wine and I got a glass of Cava, and we were actually able to find places to sit at the high tables arranged in the center of the building. To say it was chaotic would be an understatement – there were wall to wall people, including a great many mom’s pushing strollers and carriages, though as Robert pointed out, mm wasn’t exactly equipped for it!
When we had finished our wine and taken a good look around all the various shops, we decided to head back to the hotel for a good rest. (R says this is SO much better than yesterday, when we were on our feet for seven hours straight!) And, we took the bus! A good old #3 was just passing by, and we hopped on. Tickets were 1.50€ each, and we were able to get them right on the bus. This took us as far as the House of the Deputies, which is right across the street from the DoubleTree. Couldn’t have asked for me! So, for now, R is napping and I may be joining him soon! As dinner isn’t until 8:30 pm tonight, I’m thinking we may head back to Casa Gonzalez for a repeat of the wine and cheese we had last night! That should keep us satisfied until the dinner and show (I hope!).
Lots of love and definitely more later!
m
xxx
Editor’s note: On second thought, I’m thinking as we will be getting back from the Flamenco REALLY late, that I will probably post that tomorrow morning!
m
xxx
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