Madrid Day 6

Chris’s introduction for the Japanese translation for Learn To Program was due today. We found a nice cafe with free internet. It was 2 metro stops north and maybe a bit east of Hostal Helena. It seemed like a nice young area. Chris suspected that the cafe’s clientelle were (ah-hem) oriented in a different direction that he is. Lauren and I visited later, and the waitress was hitting on Lauren.

This was a pretty slow day, trying to give Ruby ample time to recover. We visited the Reina Sofia museum, and they had a nice Picasso installation. It’s the 25th anniversary of the Guernica being back in Spain. We had lunch at the museum cafe, and explored a bit more. My favorite Miró was not on exhibit, for some reason. :(

We enjoyed more street performers this evening after our picnic dinner on the balcony. There was one group that enthralled C: a group of classical musicians (all string instruments) that plays outside the El Corte Ingles right near Hotal Helena. We’ve stopped to listen to them a few different times.

Lauren and I went out tonight. We were going to visit the Joy disco, since Lauren got herself on the “Lista de Leo”, but once we got there the door man said that list didn’t get used until about 2:30. Too late for us! So we went over and tried out a couple of Irish pubs south of Puerta del Sol. Guiness on tap… can’t beat it! A stranger bought Lauren a rose.

There was a whole new section added to the Reina Sofia since the last time I was there. This picture was taken in the courtyard between the old building and the new addition. It was a nice big area to run around in and there were some muralists working on one end. They’d been commissioned to make murals in the spirit of the Guernica.

Ruby and I were waiting near the elevators on the top floor for Chris and C to be done looking at the exhibits. That’s the Atocha Station in the distance. The elevators are glass and C really enjoyed going up and down in them.