Madrid

We have been lucky with the weather - no rain, clear blue skies.  It was the same again today, and not too cold.  Today we walked down to Parque del Retiro ("Park of the Pleasant Retreat"), a 350 acre 19th century park.  It was indeed very pleasant there, and many locals were out strolling along the side of the lake, or having a drink in a cafe.  Sue had a "churro" (we were introduced to these by Gary), which is a slightly disgusting local speciality comprising a light crispy deep-fried dough and a cup of melted chocolate to dip it in.

Churros

Ew - there's a pigeon on my elbow!

Fountain demons

We spent most of the afternoon in the Prado Museum, which houses a large collection of painting and sculpture.  We found it was too much to get around in the time we had, so did the Goya and Greco rooms, plus a few miscellaneous others.

The streets are very busy - christmas shopping perhaps?  Our flat is right in the middle of town, a couple of minutes from the Plaza Mayor square, and the Puerta del Sol square in the other direction.  Both have been full of people each time we went through.  Last night all the decorations were lit up which made it very pretty.

Christmas decorations above Plaza Mayor