3 days in Madrid

On June 28th, I and 'D' left for Madrid; we flew out of Heathrow at 2pm and arrived at Barajas airport around 5pm in the local time. Then, we took a subway to Atocha station which is the nearest to our hotel, Hostal Barrera. I forget to mention that she paid for the hotel and airplane tickets because it was her who had asked me to just come with her to Madrid and see how her sister was doing. Therefore, literally, I had only to accompany her; I cannot speak Spanish as she does (not castellano but español), and I had not researched the city in advance. Nevertheless, I have been to Madrid once at the age of 18, so I could remember a few things such as useful expressions in Spanish and the location of the museums. We checked in the hotel late but it was still bright outside. When 'D' contacted with her sister, 'J' told her that she would wait for us with her friend from Netherlands at Plaza Mayor and have dinner with us. So we headed to the square soon after we had got ready. There were fairs and street performances still going on, and we enjoyed looking around the Plaza. Finally, we could meet them in the restaurant, and had dinner together. It was around half past 10 when we went back to our room. This is the outline of Day 1 in Madrid.
The following day, 29th, we saw lots of famous paintings by visiting the 3 museums in Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo del Prado, and Museo de Thyssen Bornemisza. In the first one, which was the nearest to our hotel, we could appreciate the famous Guernica by Pablo Picasso (right above). The last time I saw it in 1995, I did not understand at all what each motif signifies; but this time I got some knowledge of the masterpiece on the Internet and transferred that information to my mobile phone. By referring to it, this time I think I could understand the painting better, and even explain it to my friend. Again I was impressed by the great work of art, but this time it was not only the impression but also the story behind each objects in it that I could learn. I thought that I could really enjoy appreciating the picture. As is well known, Museo del Prado has many Spanish masterpieces. Even visiting this museum only would be a wonderful experience; here you can see Las Meninas and Rendicion de Breda by Diego Velasquez, La Maja Desnuda and La Maja Vestida by Francisco Goya. When I saw Guernica, I felt the joy of having some knowledge of the pictures in advance and appreciating them by consulting some notes in my mobile phone. Therefore, I did the same thing to appreciate these well-known pictures in the Prado museum. I found a few pages about these masterpieces on the Internet with my mobile phone, and saved them first. Then, referring to them, I watched the pictures carefully to see what the explanations say of them with my own eyes. Of course, the best way to get information about the pictures in the museum is to buy the official guidebook; but I did not have enough time to read through it in English, so at least at that moment using the Internet was a better way. Seeing the paintings at the museums was not boring any more but it did become exciting by such an active reading. I think the experiences of Day 2 stimulated my brain very much. Also this evening, we had dinner with 'J' and her friend in the restaurant near our hotel. I think I had the famous Spanish cuisine, paella.
In Day 3, 30th, we looked around popular tourist attractions in the city, such as Palacio Real, Plaza de España, and Estadio Santiago Bernabeu or the home stadium of the famous soccer team Real Madrid. Of these three, I've been to Plaza de España where the statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panther stand; but visiting other two places was brand new to me, so I really enjoyed them and could learn the Spanish history a bit. These historical sites were very beautiful and the fine weather made the scenery more fantastic, though it was hot. The blue sky and the white buildings made a beautiful contrast. In the stadium, we could see not only the playing ground, but also the press room, the locker room, and even the shower room which David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane would definitely use. There was also a museum, in which you can learn the history of the most popular soccer team. Through these 3days, I think we had a really good time in Madrid.