April 9. We started the day with a 26 minute video of Madrid. We took notes and began planning our adventures. A special thanks to our friend Danielle Stanko for her great recommendations!
Following Danielle's sage advice, we took the metro to La Puerta del Sol and then walked to Plaza Mayor. Puerta del Sol was originally the site of one of the city's gates. It faced east and had an image of the sun, hence it's name. It's semicircular and owes it's current form to major renovations done between 1854 and 1860. Today, the place was filled with people doing tricks (see photos below of kids standing in front of two different "statues"; both are actually people). Pretty cool.
Plaza Mayor was built during Phillip III's reign (1598-1621). It's surrounded by 3-story residential buildings having 237 balconies face the Plaza. In the past, it's been used for markets, bullfighting, football (aka soccer), and public executions. The statue in the middle (see photo of kids taking a picture of it) is Phillip III. We ate lunch in the Plaza, chased bubbles near the statue, admired artist and other vendors, and bought some postcards, etc in a shop along the edge of the Plaza. We also used a restaurant bathroom and noticed that even their back hallways had beautiful wall tiles.
While walking back from the metro, we couldn't resist stopping at a playground for a hour or so.
We then got to Skype with Daddy - We love and miss you, Daddy!
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