Madrid, Spain

Arrived in Madrid on Saturday afternoon - omigod it's much colder here than in the Canaries! Thought as much when we could see heaps of snow on the ground when flying in.
Found the Hostal in which I'm staying, and almost laughed out loud when the guy showed me to my "room". Well, it IS a room, but I wouldn't even want to try and swing a cat in here! It has a minute bathroom attached, but is it SMALL!
However it appears this is the norm for budget accommodation in Madrid, and I am only in here at nights, and only for three, so I just have to suck it up! It is warm, although the bed is not very comfortable.

Today I put on about 5 layers of clothes and ventured out. At 9am it was -3, and there had been quite heavy snow overnight, judging by the amount still on cars both then and even at noon. I bought a ticket for the Madrid Vision Bus Tour, however couldn't bear to venture out onto the upper deck. Spent a lot of the day in art galleries - it's warm in there! Went to the Prado, the Thyssen and the Sofia Mueums, the Rastro Flea market and then basically just sat on the bus for the rest of the afternoon - on the upper deck as the sun was out. I think the top temp was about 5, and there were snow flurries all day. The photo on the left is looking up the Calle de Alcala from the Plaza de la Indepencia.
The photos below show some of the gorgeous architecture in Madrid. So many things, as is typical in Europe, are just on such a grand scale. The first is Puerto de Alcala, constructed in 1778, and is one of the gates to the city. The second is the Palacio Real - the Royal Palace, which is aparently one of the best preserved palaces in Europe. The statue of the bear and the strawberry tree, in Peurto del Sol, is a symbol of Madrid. After that is Las Cortes, the Palace of the Deputies, the main post office in Plaza del la Cibeles, and a couple of other nice bits of architecture, plus the cute taverna where I had dinner tonight!