May 1st and 2nd, 2024 – Madrid

I’m putting 2 days together because they were both holidays and I don’t have a lot of pictures.
May 1 is Labor Day in Europe.  Everything is closed except bars and Restaurants and some shops.  We slept late and finally ventured out 1030am .  We went in search of a street that Oskar found where they have multiple hot chocolate and churro places. We got there and there were very long lines everywhere.   I guess that is what Madridians (?), do on holidays.
We walked some more,  had a tapas lunch, and went back to the apartment to start packing. At 430pm., Oskar suggested we try again for hot chocolate and churros.  The lines were just as long so we got some to go.  The hot chocolate was so thick that you either dunk a churro into it or eat it with a spoon. Very delicious.
Back at the apartment we decided to skip dinner. At 8pm we changed our minds and returned to Cava Baja to have wine and tapas. The place was crowded but we got 2 stools at the bar.  We were drinking wine and eating when 2 women came in and were drinking at the bar next to us. One asked the bartender about the wall of wine bottles. When he was done Oskar asked the woman if she got the answer she expected. Anyway, we chatted with them for a little while when Addy said that she and Dawn live in Malaga. I said that I have a new friend who lives in Malaga. They asked who and I said Jordan and Claudio. They shrieked and said “they are our best friends”.   Wow, what a small world. They were in Madrid for the night before flying to Miami to visit relatives.  We took a picture of the 3 of us and sent it to Jordan.   They had heard all about me and the 7am coffee that Jordan and I had every morning.  I now have multiple invitations to visit Malaga.
May 2 is the Day of Madrid.  Many businesses were closed so once again everywhere was crowded.  We took a tour of Theatre Real, the opera house.   Next  we went to the Reina Sofia Museum.  We saw Picasso’s Guernica,  several other works by Dali, Gris, Leger, Miro and others. 
Our final Madrid stop was to go to a bull fight. It was very crowded and the parade of horse drawn carriages was fun. Unfortunately I did not like the actual bull fights. (We saw 6 of them).  I won’t describe them but it is inhumane.
Tomorrow we go back to Barcelona for one night before flying home.  I’ll wait until I get home to post again.