After staying up too late and sleeping way too late, our group went to the Spanish Palace! It is known as the Palacio Real de Madrid (the Royal Palace of Madrid) and is still the official residence of the King of Spain, Juan Carlos. It is still used for ceremonies of state and other functions to this day even though the royal family chooses to live in the less prominent palace outside the city. Darn, right? I could like in a palace outside a European city.
Anyway, it was some sort of fortress at some time really long ago with some sort of people (I'm brilliant and informative I know), then the capital was moved to Madrid during the reign of Philip II in the 1500s, and the building began construction in the 1700s and it became the official royal palace. Interestingly, it is also known as the Palace of the Orient because of some of the gardens and rooms that are purely dedicated to oriental art. The Spanish, I feel, just become obsessed with any sort of different culture and consume it fully, making Spain a true melting pot of history and culture.
Take clocks for example. Clocks are made elsewhere, namely Switzerland, yet the Spanish like to put MANY clocks in EVERY royal room in the palace. We got the audioguide with the tour which was actually very informative about the clock obsession and worth the 3 or 4€. At one point one truly wonders about Spanish sanity with such an obsession with clocks. They also have an obsession with lions, gold, oriental patterns, and matching every single little thing in a room. A room might only have three or four different colors, all the materials would be the same, and all of the pieces from the same country. They certainly didn't understand the concept of mix-and-match. But, the palace was truly wonderful. Each room was lovely and gorgeous. Some of the rooms were super elegant and royal and some were truly colorful and vibrant, the contrast in the whole place was amazing. They even had some plates, dishes, and utensils used in royal dinners and ceremonies displayed. It is a great place, just not as big and extravagant as Versailles.
Midday snack was, of course, ham and cheese at a HAM MUSEUM. The Spanish do this thing where they call the best ham restaurants Ham Museums. They also enjoy hanging slabs of ham from the ceiling and from the walls in these sorts of establishments, charming I know. They love ham so much, any kind, and can eat it any time of the day. It is really delicious especially when you are given a plate of four different kinds, different cheeses, and great bread. In case anyone was wondering, I eat too well in Europe.
Later, we got our American fix by getting dinner at Vips. Vips serves sandwiches and fries, what a novelty.
Sunday
Lucky for us, we got to wake to the most magical, and largest flea market in all of Europe! This place went on forever. We spent the entire morning walking around the market yet barely saw half of it. If I remember correctly, Asher bought a fan for Caroline, Ava got some earrings, and I just bummed around with them. It was super entertaining to see what everyone brought to the market, to see everything.
We then had lunch in the huge Parque del Retiro.
Europeans do an excellent job designing cities and placing large, beautiful parks in the center of cities. This lake and all of the statues are just in this one park which is basically in the center of Madrid. It's great, but we were obviously battling the weather that day.
Unfortunately, Asher felt that he needed to go to school the next day in Manchester, so we parted that night. Ava and I continued vacationing by going to fancy bars and restaurants though. Stay tuned, this blog will travel to Barcelona, Spain next!
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