Not a lot happened today. Late up, then a walk down Gran Via again and breakfast in a cafe, a few more photos. Fantastic weather again, 25C and sunny. I like Madrid; the buildings are very grand and well-maintained and clean. We have noticed a lot of police around, but don’t feel intimidated. They seem to stand around the government buildings and banks, usually in groups of 4 or so with a van or car. They also tend to be at the tourist spots, I think it’s to discourage pick pockets or beggars. Most of the time they are chatting with each other, smoking or on their phones. Not sure what they’d do if there was a real crime, probably tweet about it.
We met up with a friend of a friend for lunch – he’s Spanish but lived in Melbourne and Perth for about 20 years. He was very big in the ballet world, director of the Western Australian Ballet for a while. Very nice guy, had a good chat. It was another set menu. I had croquettes to start, Song had fish (again). I had a chicken shnitzel with chips (I didn’t realise that was what I’d ordered otherwise I would have chosen something else). Song had a lump of meat, ham I think. I had chocolate cake for dessert, Song had strawberry ice cream. Slightly better than average for this meal.
Said goodbye to our friend of a friend and walked back via the square we went to the other day, and it was virtually empty so got some decent photos. Also went to the market we went to the other day for a wander, not as crowded as before.
Got back to the hotel and relaxed, got to get up early tomorrow to catch the 07:30 train to Barcelona.