La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor and El Palacio Nacional

Today I went to La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor and El Palacio Nacional.  Here is some basic info.
-  La Puerta del Sol translates into the door of the sun.  This is basically point zero for Madrid.  The major streets start here and go out and some of the major roads of the country go out from here as well.  I hear there is a plaque showing the exact center, but I couldn't find it and I got too hot to care.
-  La Plaza Mayor translates into main square and is basically just that.  It has tons of shops, cafes and a tourist center.  Many of the tours of Madrid start here.
-  El Palacio Nacional translates into National Palace.  This was the home of the royalty until the 1930s.  It is massive.  I cannot express in words how amazing it was.  I wish I could share pictures of the inside, but they are not allowed.  Every room is decorated beyond belief, with painted ceilings, statues, beautiful tapestries, carpets, some of the walls are even covered in silk.  The rooms are large as well as elaborate.  To give you an idea, the kings "dressing room" is bigger than my apartment at home.


I also went to Chocolatería San Ginés, it's a popular place in Madrid that is open 24hours (one of few places here) that serves Churros or Porras (like churros but bigger) with chocolate. I'm told you can drink the chocolate like hot chocolate, but it was so strong I could only use it to dip my churros and porras.  There is a saying that after going out all night young people go here and get churros y chocolate and then when the churros are gone they get more and then the chocolate runs out and the get more chocolate and it's a vicious cycle.




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 Building on the way

 I hope this doesn't scare any of you as it shouldn't. This is graffiti near the banks of Madrid. Spain is having economic problems with the banks and government and people are very worried and upset. For the most part, people voice their opinions as we do in the states, but there are some you graffiti buildings, just like in the states. I'm not sure what this one says although it's something about Capitalism.

 This one says thieves. These are both from the building in the first picture.

La Puerta del Sol

 La Plaza Mayor

 La Plaza Mayor

 Churros and Porras

 Chocolate (WOW!)

 Chocolate San Gines

 The Cathedral next to the National Palace

 Video of the courtyard of the National Palace

 National Palace

 Dinner - I call this chicken helper spanish style.

Tuna  Empanadas

 Salad

Rice Pudding