\nWe started the week with a rare afternoon on the beach (for me anyway, since I am not a beach person):
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![\"_1010344\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_1.jpg\")
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\nPolice officer with a tough job (not!):
\n![\"_1010349\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_2.jpg\")
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\nTuesday was our 30th wedding anniversary, and the children got up early to make us breakfast:
\n![\"DSF3635\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_3.jpg\")
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\nThe breakfast spread. Cheeta is on her post:
\n![\"DSF3638\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_4.jpg\")
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\nThursday morning my son and I drove the 440 km to Madrid, left the car at the hotel and took the metro to the Rastro neighbourhood to start our exploration of the city. One of the first sights that met us was this happy woman listening to a band of buscers playing rather good jazz:
\n![\"DSF3696\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_5.jpg\")
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\nPersonalized scooter for two:
\n![\"DSF3665\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_6.jpg\")
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\nRecently I have become fascinated by wall art in cities. There is something inherently democratic about having art out there, not on a museum wall. Some of it is good, some less so, but more often than not, it is interesting. Here is a request for silence, presumably motivated by noisy bar-goers in the evenings:
\n![\"DSF3680\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_7.jpg\")
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\nStreet sign and flower:
\n![\"DSF3682\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_8.jpg\")
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\nTrans-Atlantic cultures meet in El Rastro:
\n![\"DSF3681\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_9.jpg\")
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\nMy son’s lunch, Rabo de Toro<\/em>, or bull tail, a traditional Spanish dish:
\n![\"DSF3702\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_10.jpg\")
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\nWe walked from El Rastro to the Royal Palace, and then through the old city towards Plaza Mayor. Suddenly we saw black smoke among the buildings:
\n![\"DSF3719\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_11.jpg\")
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\nAs we came closer, the cause became clear. The fire was quite spectacular, but in the end nobody was hurt and there was no significant damage. What burned was garbage that had accumulated in a vacant lot, so it did not take the firemen long to put it out once they had navigated the narrow streets with their fire engine:
\n![\"DSF3721\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_12.jpg\")
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\nA gym near our hotel. It was closed for the holiday, so I could amuse myself with the runner with a cigarette painted on the shutter:
\n![\"DSF3728\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_13.jpg\")
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\nEven in the courtyard of the hotel there was wall art. This was the view from my room:
\n![\"DSF3730\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_14.jpg\")
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\nIf Madrid can be said to have a central square, it is Plaza Puerta del Sol. The main pedestrian shopping streets emanate from this square which also contains one of the main metro stations. And it is also the traditional place for rallies and demonstrations. This evening, it was a group of elderly people. I never figured out exactly what it was about but it had to with Civil War memories, still a subject of controversy in Spain:
\n![\"DSF3735\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_15.jpg\")
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\nBar Los Marcianos near the Sol square:
\n![\"DSF3736\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_16.jpg\")
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\nWe went to have dinner at Bayres Beef, an excellent restaurant just a few hundred metres from Sol, which we had found on Tripadvisor:
\n![\"DSF3738\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_17.jpg\")
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\nThe food was great, and the bartender was cute:
\n![\"DSF3740\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_18.jpg\")
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\nThe next day we spent most of the morning in the Prado, where photography is not permitted. Afterwards, we had lunch, and the lady at the neighbouring table demonstrated a very handy device to give her little dog water in the Madrid heat:
\n![\"DSF3768\"](\"uploads\/2013\/33_19.jpg\")
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