5th October - Madrid

WARNING: This post may contain some disturbing content!!!

Today we got to explore Madrid a little. We began the day with a panoramic tour of the city. We made a quick stop at the Plaza Espana to take some pictures of the monument to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra which overlooks two bronze statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. We then stopped at the Royal Palace and saw some of the monuments and gardens and then walked up to the Puerta Del Sol. This is one of the best known and busiest places in Madrid and it's where they celebrate New Year. 

In the afternoon we had free time to explore the city ourselves. Linda, Marty and I stopped for lunch and surprisingly made ourselves understood by the non-English speaking waiter...maybe our Spanish is getting better! Then we headed for the Prado Museum. The art in this museum centres around the massive art collection gathered by Spanish royalty over the centuries. Luckily I had Linda (my very own art tour guide) to talk me through the collection and introduce me to new artists! We saw paintings by Spanish artists Velazquez, Goya and my new mate El Greco, I learnt about the Flemish painter Bosch and his painting 'The Garden of Earthly delights', I was disturbed by Rubens painting of Saturn eating his children and there was another painting that had something to do with over indulgence and there was a toddler vomiting in the picture because he was so drunk!!! Oh, and then there was the painting where breast milk was squirting from a woman's breast...it was called the Creation of the Milky Way and even more disturbing was the statue of the daughter breastfeeding her father who was imprisoned, in chains and starving!!!! Goodness knows what awaits me in the Louvre and the thousand other museums I am going to see in the next few weeks!

We then spent the afternoon walking in the Parque del Retiro...and after an exhausting day...went to a farewell dinner with our group, said our goodbyes and crashed into bed!!!