First off a bit of a downer for today. This afternoon we went to McDonalds to get a cool drink and use the Internet to search for a good restaurant tonight. Billy ordered the drinks and I put my phone on the table in front of us while it was loading. Billy came back and said they were bringing our drinks over. A lady came over with paper and first of all I thought she worked at maccas and was talking to us about our order. It took 3 seconds for me to realise she was a beggar. I grabbed my bag and it was locked so thought I was all fine. After saying no three times to her she left McDonalds and I thought hmm that's a bit strange why isn't she bothering other people? It was then I realised my phone was gone. I rang mum though (sorry for the 2am wake up call!) and she got Vodafone to put a stop on my phone. I was fairly calm until I called her and then shock set in. It could have been much worse (passport etc) but it's more the whole thinking about people going through your things. There were tears but Billy took me to the police station where we filed a report (picking it up in the morning as there was a 2 hour wait this afternoon), then fed me some chocolate and helped me with our washing. I'm feeling a bit better now. I can replace a phone. The important thing is we aren't hurt and we have our passports and access to money. So don't worry mum I'm fine now and I've stopped crying, sorry about the early morning freak out session. Also the policeman was super nice and really patient with me and gave us free tickets for a tourist hop on hop off bus for tomorrow which was lovely of him.
Anyway! Other things happened today. Where details are lacking I do apologise but I type notes on my phone every day so right now a group of gypsies are reading about Goya and bullfights, lucky them!
We started our day at the royal palace, where we toured the state apartments, the armoury and the pharmacy. The rooms were gorgeous! Apparently the palace is bigger than Versailles (yay I remembered details from my phone notepad!). We strolled through and saw lots of antique furniture, armour and weird smelling medicines!! Also saw an exhibition about Goya showing his works and talking about his relationship with Infante Dom Luis who was a royal.
Then we had a look in the palace gardens which were pretty! Then the Almudene Cathedral. This cathedral took 300 years to build and 3 different architects helped build it. As a result 3 of its facades are completely different! It looks very strange! Had a look at the opera house and then caught the train to the Bull Fighting Ring for a tour. Now not everyone reading this will agree with us going there so first off I'm going to say in no way do I support cruelty to animals. I wanted to go because it's a part of the culture here and I thought by learning a bit about it I could understand why the Spanish still do it and think it's not cruel. After a 45 minute tour, I still don't understand!! But we got to see the stands (the field was covered as they are repairing it in the off season) and learn various facts about the tour. Lucky for you guys I have a freakish memory so I'm going to recite as many facts about the bull fight tour as I can. Wish me luck! The old bull ring was near Retiro Park and burnt down in 1922. This one was built in 1929 and the first fight took place on 17th June 1931. It has a capacity of 24,000, the largest in Europe and 3rd largest in the world. 8 countries in the world have bull fighting - Spain, France, Portugal, Venezuela, Mexico, Columbia and one I can't remember (noooo!). A 'trophy' for the bull fighter is the 2 ears of the bull and an even harder to get 'trophy' is he bull's tail. if a matador gets the bull's ears he is allowed to open the main gate (Puerta del Grande) and celebrate with the people. The record is held by someone Martinez who opened the gate 16 times! Before a bull fight there is a parade, then there are three different phases of the 'show'. First a picador with a lance frustrates the bull and taunts it with a pink and yellow cape. Then another fighter pokes the bull with sticks to further aggravate it. Finally the bull fighter fights the bull with a red cape. There is a 'president' who sits in the royal box and controls the fight. He has various coloured handkerchiefs to signal different things. Green means to swap the bull if the bull is struggling before the last stage and orange means to free the bull if it has been a brave and strong bull (this has only happened once in 80 years in Madrid, in 1982). There was a blue handkerchief but whatever that signals has escaped me! How did I do??
After this we went to Sant Antonio de la Florida, a church with frescoes by Goya and Goya's grave. The frescoes were beautiful! We walked to McDonalds after this and you know the rest!
We were going to go to the Prado Museum from 6-8pm as it's free but the whole police station report took up a while and I was a bit shaken up so we are going tomorrow.
Have definitely had an underwhelming experience in Madrid. Barcelona was much better. I forgot to mention too that I got my worst night's sleep of the holiday last night as our room is so stuffy, and when I went downstairs at 4am to ask for the air conditioning remote I was told they are only given out in summer. What great customer service I received at 4am when telling reception I'd had 30 minutes of sleep because we have a heater in our room that only they can turn off!
BRING ON PORTUGAL!! Lol. Am determined to not let that stupid gypsy ruin my holiday though.
Just went out for tea (typed the rest later). We shared ham and cheese croquettes, billy had lamb with fondue and I had a beef burger. Feeling back to normal now, just got to get the police report and all will be ok!
Lots of love to all,
Claire
Xoxoxox
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