Stepping Foot on the 7 Continents of the World A Step at a Time

In Madrid, I was back having breakfast in my hotel. It's always a pleasant experience taking my time to eat bagels, jam and some fruit while planning what I was to do for the day. The experience was made more pleasant by the nice Pinay staff I met at breakfast. My God! Another Pinay. How more would I bump into? I planned for 2 major trips today. The Palacio Real in the morning and the Reina Sofia Museum in the afternoon. Well, I did manage to visit both, with a few sidetrips in between. Palacio Real was a comfortable walking distance from my hotel. The weather was nice enough to walk during the early morning in Madrid. I knew I was near when I saw Parque del Oriente. At 8 Euros, I was inside the Palace touring its hundreds of rooms. I walked from one room to another. Each room was designed differently from the other. There were a lot of interesting ones like the throne room, which felt like it was untouched through the years. There was a room where every space was covered with porcelain. Another room's inspiration was Chinese. The dining room looked like it could seat 1,000 people. The royal collection, though, was not impressive considering how powerful the Spanish empire used to be. It was the same story in the Reina Sofia Museum. It had a thin collection with only Picasso's Guernica and Miro's works being the most impressive for me. But I think Madrid's treasures lay in the richness of its alleyways where every corner would surprise you with interesting details of the city like the Plaza Mayor. Standing in the middle of the plaza literally brought me back in time. It was like the whole place was frozen in time. I also found modern brands in shops lining up old streets where I bumped into the Pinoys I met in Sagrada Familia. We agreed to go out that night, but only for me to flake out to sleep instead. Looking back now, the Spanish night life was one undiscovered treasure that's still haunts me to this day.