Anna hits Spain

Well, the bed here is very different to the hard boards we have had so far. Amalia must like her creature comforts and she has a lovely soft bed. So a nice sleep was had and Marjan was in a good frame of mind. Taking advantage of this I decided to have morcilla for breakfast. It was Burgos morcilla, so that is OK as it has rice in it so that is my cereal. I feel more weight loss coming on.

We decided to have a morning at the Royal Palace. Last time I was here I fell down the main staircase leading up to the royal apartments. Katherine, you will be pleased to know I made it up without embarrassing anyone, or making you cry.  I had dressed specially for the palace as well....my Pink Floyd T-shirt.  Marjan was the embarrassing one this time. She put on he Benny Hill specially for the royals.

You are not allowed to take photos inside which is a shame as some of the rooms are very impressive. I particularly liked the porcelain room. Also a couple of Goyas and a Velazquez ceiling. The armory was kind of interesting with the different suits of armour and one of the longest guns I have ever seen. I can see Dom in one of those suits, wreaking havoc. 

The place is impressive but a little cold.

By then it was time to head off to the airport to pick up Anna. The metro system just gets better every time I come. It was so smooth, even with two changes of line required. We got off the metro, up an escalator and we were in the arrivals lounge.  Melbourne should just stop talking and act on a rail line to the airport. It is sooooooo useful.

Anna arrived, happy and excited. We did the metro back and got her settled into her bedroom. She checked out the balcony almost immediately.

We popped around the corner to a little local place that Amalia recommended. It has a 9€ Menú del Día. It is one of those places that the tourists never go. It is 15 metes from the Plaza Mayor, but the sign is broken, the door leads to an un appealing bar and the eating room is back behind that. Once you get there, the busy but efficient waitress asks one question ¿qué queréis? As we had not memorized the menu  we broke her rhythm so she wandered off, set a table, took a few more orders and then came back. Not rude, just busy. Anyway, as it was an Extremaduran place, I had the Migas for an entree which was really nice, bread crumbs fried with garlic, chorizo and a few grapes. Odd but nice. The merluza for mains was a nice tasty, juicy piece of fish. Awesome value in the heart of Madrid. 

Suitably fed we wandered around aimlessly. Anna bought some jeans and we managed to walk far enough to make some room for chocolate and churros at San Gines. Like Candido, this has become a tourist cliche, but after all we are tourists. I found it really strange to have to pay before we sat down. So different to the normal Spanish custom of paying at the end.

Anna was tired and we were also ready for a quiet evening. Madrid is likely to be a little bit of calm time before the next stretch of travel and adventure. A family day with my aunt, mum's sister, planned tomorrow. 

I promised Marjan  I would eat healthy. She did not believe me. I did not believe me either.