Madrid, June 23+24

 Last night I asked la señorita en recepción how long it took to get to la estación de trenes.  "Twenty minutes."  In reality, it took five.  Anyway, having arrived almost an hour before departure time, I thought it wise to verify that my voucher was all I needed to board BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNOW!  The man in ticketing to whom I showed it, gave me a scornful look, said the piece of paper was not large enough, shoved it back, and pointed to Customer Service.  Customer Service said that the piece of paper was not large enough and 1, 2, 3 printed out an official looking ticket, the kind no one uses any more.  Then I saw people lining up at the boarding track a good thirty minutes before departure.  So I got in line, too.  What with all security checks, it really was not too early.  And besides, being near the front of the line, earned me a prime spot to stow Rojita.  All good!

On the train, I got a message that the Royal Palace, which was to be tomorrow's big excursion, would be closed and they were refunding the price of the ticket!  Bummer!  I went to-day instead as the wait to get in was only about 15 minutes.  Photos not allowed, so to see the opulence, and get more information that you probably want, you can watch this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmWnIAzMunk

And for the Royal Armory—worth the price of the ticket—watch this video for the music alone! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L89uCB2TwUk

The Royal Kitchens I did not get to see.  

Stopped back at my hotel, actually, a hostel, where I can sit in a fancy chair and watch the microwave, all I want!!

After a trip to the grocery store, I walked to a huge park, 1535,52 hectares (that may mean something to some people) but only

strolled around the lake (not so big), which has a number of restaurants and cafes on its perimeter

There were kids having a kayak lesson:

Ducks vying for bread crumbs:

As well as a duck out of water:

Art.  There has to be art in a big park:

And, on the way back to the hostel, a flamenco dancer who had lost her head:

June 24. Set out at about 7:00 and headed to Salamanca, an "upscale" neighborhood on the other side of the city, and, indeed, it was reminiscent of the Upper East Side.  It was such a gorgeous day—unseasonably so for Madrid, usually very hot about now—that I just did not want to go into a museum, so I kept touring the neighborhood.  Then ambled over to the Retiro, a Central Park sort of park.

Formal gardens of bright orange (red?) begonias:

Sculpted trees:

Trees that were not sculpted:

And the HUGEST thistles ever!

They were very tall, as well!

A tortuga (tortoise) was spitting way more water

than his friend the iguana:

The best, though, was watching these guys dancing:

They were doing martial arts moves—along with sound effects— to popular western music.  That combination, especially when the song was Despacito, was the best culture clash I ever saw!!

There was an art exhibit, so I went in.  This artist, whose name I did not note, really liked orange, yellow and red:

But Georgia O'Keefe used those colors better, IMO):

(The above painting was at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum)

Other goodies at the Thyssen were some Miro's:

An exhibit of Alex Katz's work:

The fun part about that show was trying to guess the titles of the paintings since he often chooses a color as part the name, ergo, Girl with a Red Smile, but there was Girl with a Black Jacket, Girl with a Green Cap, Blue Umbrella, and so on.  The "game" consists of guessing which component of the composition he chose to name.  If you like his work—I am lukewarm, heavy on the luke—you can see more of it here: 

https://www.google.com/search?q=alex+katz&sxsrf=ALiCzsYyFbNTO7cooex2gk6TX3UK99vXMA:1656099439352&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEga6W68b4AhWQu6QKHdxdCO8Q_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1307&bih=723&dpr=2.2

The painting I liked best was this Black Crow by Arthur Dove!!

After the Thyssen, a stop at the Reina Sofia Museum and the Botanic Gardens, neither of which was a wowser.  This last day was a full and gratifying finale to a wonderful excursion.

What's next?  I heard that there is great walking in the Azores and that you don't have to speak Portuguese to manage, but I don't know.......