Another Fantastic Day in Madrid

The late morning started with a trip to the rastro. Katie and I learned that the rastro is a huge flea market set up in the streets. Imagine the Cullman flea market stretched out through the streets of Birmingham. We bought scarves and other souvenirs. At times we were packed together like sardines. The individual space that we enjoy in the States is not in evidence here in Spain.
For lunch, we stopped at a little shop and bought packaged sandwiches and water. Katie bought a Spanish Mountain Dew! We stopped and ate on the sidewalk.
Then we headed for the Prado Museum. Along with about a million other people. Hundreds of people were marching together with priests (or bishops) and maybe even a monk, carrying signs and at least one processional cross. Their signs said they were marching to fight for the strength of the Christian family. We wondered where all those people came from.
Sunday is free day at the Prado, but when we arrived at about 2:45, people were lined up all around the museum waiting to get in. It didn't look like the line moved at all while we watched. The marchers came by the Prado and marched on while we sat and rested. Craftspeople had their wares out for display and sale around the museum.
We left the Prado and decided to go to the huge Retiro Park in the city. It is acres and acres huge. It contains a man-made lake on which people like to paddle around in little blue boats. One show-off was standing up in his boat, rocking it, and Ginny hoped very strongly that he would fall into the water. That would have been funny. We walked around the lake and heard music. Yes, it was Ginny's favorite Andean music band. We stood and listened to their flutes, pan pipes, and drums until they took a break. She had already bought one of their CDs so we didn't feel as if we had to toss money into one of their instrument cases. As we were leaving the park, we noticed many, many buses parked around the edge of the park. I noticed that some were from Malaga and other southern cities. It dawned on us...that's where the marchers came from. They had bussed in on this day from all over Spain and carried out a huge march. Amazing. We're still not sure where all the people at the Prado came from though.
We came back to the apartment and rested for a while because we were going to be out late at a flamenco show tonight. It was a 10:00 show and, once again, when we arrived we became part of a can of sardines. But the show was fantastic! There were three dancers, a drummer, a guitarist, and a singer. It was a kind of singing like we'd never heard before. The dancers stomped and twirled and clapped. They danced solo and together. The show was not what I had imagined, but it was very good. We all three had a great time.
Now we are back and planning tomorrow. It will be New Year's Eve, so we plan to go (with everyone else in Spain) to the Puerta del Sol and ring in the new year. We've bought our sparkly hats, and today we bought boas also. Ginny has bought canned grapes for us. I'll tell you about that later. We don't plan on staying long after midnight, but I'm not really looking forward to all the crowds. It will be another totally new experience for all of us.

Other observations about Spain:
*strange hair styles (one is kind of like a mullet, but worse)
*weird clothing in weird combinations (some that shouldn't be worn in public)
*Other instruments we heard were accordions and mouth pianos (and a violinist got on the metro car with us).
*There are a lot of beggars here: one man with no arms who walked around rattling his cup of coins with his teeth, one man with no legs who sat at the side, and one woman who sat in the middle of the street at the rastro turning the crank of some kind of large music box. Those are in addition to the musicians in the metro and on the streets.
*many couples: old folks, young folks, and folks of the same gender. They are often very affectionate in public.
*others who are trying to "earn" money are street performers who dress up and paint their faces. They stand completely still until someone puts money in their collection boxes. Then they do robotic movements for a few seconds. They are very fascinating. One is dressed as Don Quixote and "rides" his horse, another woman is all in black (face and hands painted black, too), and one woman is covered in mud who does a good imitation of a clay statue.
*Have you taken down your Christmas tree and decorations yet? Well, in Spain it is still Christmas time. And it will be until January 6 when the Three Kings come to bring gifts to all the children. So the musicians are still playing Christmas carols and people are still saying "Feliz Navidad." There are lots of Christmas lights in the streets, but there are no Christmas trees. Ginny's small one is the only one I've seen in Spain.

More tomorrow...