Madrid

First stop today was a randomly chosen boulangerie. I have no idea what this pastry is called, but it was very buttery and tasty:

Next stop was the Royal Palace. It’s past my bedtime now, so come back in a week or two for captions:

One of FIVE Stradavarius instruments in the room!

Next up was the Prado museum, which doesn’t allow photos to be taken inside (which means we didn’t have to deal with the hordes of Instagrammers posing in front of all of the art).

After this, Ralph went back to the hotel, and I took a walk down the Gran Via:

Last but not least, we finished off the day with a tapas & wine food tour.

Build-your-own Iberian ham & tomato bread in a restaurant that looks like a coloring book

Stuffed mushrooms

Peppers

Plaza Mayor

Calamari sandwich (a Madrid specialty)

Shrimp with garlic (lots of it!) and olive oil

The trough under the bar for shrimp heads & napkins

Basque butter pastries, with our choice of fillings. These were much lighter than we expected.