Honeymoon- Day 10 (4/29/2011)

Some of you will be pleased to know that we did not eat copious amounts of cheese today.  After breakfast at VIPS, a Denny's-like chain with free WiFi, we walked to the Atocha train station.  We wanted to catch a train for a day trip to Segovia.  The station was a bit difficult to navigate, but from what we could tell, there were no tickets to Segovia.  The trip was not an entire loss, though, because the building itself was rather impressive.  The brick outside was striking and the windows on the inside also attractive.  Also inside was a jungle exhibit with lush palms and ferns, complete with a pond with turtles.  We definitely were not expecting that.  

After leaving the station, we walked to the Caixa Forum, a museum in a building that looks like it is floating on air.  The tour books described the building this way and I did not believe it would be evident to me, but as soon as we came upon it, it was easy to discern we had arrived.  The building is brick and it juts out over its first floor, making it look like it is floating on air.  We saw a photographic exhibit by Jacques Henri Lartigue.  It was a collection of photos from his life that we both really liked.  There was a great quote on the wall that sort of summed it all up, "Life is a marvelous thing that dances, jumps, flies, laughs and passes.  All of the pictures were about happiness, or things that made him happy (the sea, car racing, flying).  Some of the pictures were riveting.

From the floating museum, we wandered to the Royal Botanic Gardens.  The garden was immense and, full of flowering plants.  The tulips were entirely gone, but the irises were in bloom and there were so many I had not seen previously.  We enjoyed wandering the gardens, but were exhausted when we finished.  We stopped for an Italian lunch that was quite tasty.  

We then strolled through Retiro Park, a 350 acre public park near the Prado.  In the center of the park is a lake where people can rent row boats and enjoy the surroundings.  The walkways were lined with benches, where you could sit and enjoy the music of the parks performers.  Though the forecast had threatened rain, we had perfect park weather.  The sun was shining and it was warm, but not too warm.  We loved the relaxation, but were drawn back to our hotel to drop off our backpack and head out to the Prado.

From 6-8 nightly, the Prado opens its doors for free.  Goya, Velasquez, El Greco- all free.  In those two hours, we were only able to see about an eighth of the entire museum, but what we saw was wonderful.  We pledged to return the next morning, since there was still so much more to see.  We had hoped to see a Flamenco show, but they were sold out.  Instead, we returned to Bodeguilla Los Rotos for another egg, potato, bolognese bread cocoon.  We ordered potatoes and ribs and Tony's new favorite, ham croquettes.  I got a small glass of sangria and Tony enjoyed a crianza.  We were home by 11:30, an early night in Spain.  

It was our intention to pack, it was our last night in the Palace Hotel, and maybe read, but all of that walking caught up with us and we were out as soon as our heads hit the pillow.