Day 8 - Saturday 29Nov

Today was just a day of walking around. The streets were crowded with tourists and holiday shoppers. I guess we are on one of the main shopping streets, so what can we expect, right?

We headed to Plaza Mayor, which was decorated with lights for Christmas.

However, it was too crowded with tourists to even bother, so we started searching some of the side streets for places to eat. We ended up at a Juan Valdez cafe for a latte and juice, while we warmed up a bit. Madrid is definitely colder this time than when we were here 2 years ago. Have I said how much I miss Barcelona :(

After the cafe, we walked across the street to the Almudena Cathedral - a chance for C to pray and K to take pictures. It's a beautiful church. Last time we were here it was night so we didn't get many pictures inside.

Right next to the Cathedral is the Palacio Real. We found out you could actually walk inside the grounds without buying a ticket.

After meandering around their bookstore and gift shop, we headed to Plaza Orient to see if we could get tickets for the Avila and Segovia tour we want to take on Monday. Everything online was booked, but aparently not so when you walk into the tour office. Better yet, they will pick us up at our hotel. Bueno.

C was in the mood for Italian food ("no more Spanish food" I think she said). Que pasa? We ate at another place we ate last time we were here, Cafe La Traviata because they were close by and we knew they had pasta. C had the carbonara, while K had the pasta con al ajillo (garlic and olive oil) with vino de la casa (of course). If I haven't said it before, the wine is always cheaper than soda or a bottle of water. I think we finally settled into the Spanish times for eating. It was 4pm when we were having this meal - our lunch. I guess we'll be ready for dinner at 10.
(1) apertivo of potatoes with garlic sauce (2) carbonara (3) pasta con al ajillo

After lunch, even though we were full, we HAD to stop by Chocolateria San Gines, which was noted in K's November issue of Bon Appetit as a favorite place of Madrilenos to enjoy chocolat con churros. Oh my gosh, the chocolate was so thick and delicious - dark and not too sweet. I see why the place is always so crowded.

Instead of fighting the crowd, we just got ours para llevar (to go) and enjoyed it at the hotel.

And we even found a recipe for the chocolat and churros from San Gines at FoodNetwork.com.

We didn't head out for dinner until after 10. When in Madrid, do as the madrileños do. Because it was cold out and we didn't want to walk far, we opted for a plain cafe/cerveseria nearby. Plus, it's the name of one of Angelina's kids - Zahara. Staying with the Italian cuisine theme for the day we opted for Quatro Estaciona pizza and Pasta Bolognese along with a pitcher of Sangria. C has a thing for Sangria at every meal. This version however, was way too sweet. I see why my sister used to call it "good juice". They also served us a plate of olives as tapas to accompany the vino.

Traffic on Gran Via seemed like rush hour and it was 11:15pm.