Madrid Day 4

 For the past three nights, Bob has been dreaming about pigs. One night it was about an epileptic pig that he was trying to save from being shot by Al Munoz (a former administrator at Independence, now deceased). In another one, he had a dream of a pig and a midget. By the way, these were all nightmares as I had to wake him when he began to scream.

Last night, two prostitutes had a shouting match in the street below (8 stories) our window which lasted about 1/2 hour or more but we went back to sleep--a bit of excitement.We tried to hear what they were saying to each other but we could only hear words here and there.

Today was an amazing day with one pretty exciting incident in the metro. We woke up quite late after getting in a little later last night and reading for a while.

However, Matt had returned from seeing Veronica and Ana to the airport and he was ready to do something. I wasn’t, but Bob was. So the two guys went to do a guy thing—they went to the Naval Museum, which Bob loved. While they were gone, I did a little packing and a little shopping (just bought a scarf for 5 euros--so far I've only spent 15 euros on myself--mostly buying for kids and Ana). Then we met for lunch (it was 2:30 PM). After going to a few of Matt’s recommended restaurants and finding them very crowded, we decided to go to one that has cider from a specific region in Spain. The food was great: chorizo (cooked in cider) with potatoes, shrimp with garlic, cheese croquettes, pimentos stuffed with mashed potatoes—along with bread and beer, wine, cider! A good time was had by all.

From there, we took the metro to the Reina Sofia art museum where we saw modern art:  Picasso’s Guernica (among other paintings), Salvador Dali, Alexander Calder, and art by many more. It was a large museum and very crowded because after 2:30 PM on Saturdays, the museum is free. We spent about 2 ½ hours there and as we were walking to the metro station, Matt saw a restaurant that specialized in squid sandwiches, so we stopped and I had a beer, Bob had a brandy, Matt had some kind of wine that is pre-sherry (forgot the name of it) and Matt and I shared a squid bocadillo. We sat outside and did some people watching and then we walked to the metro.

Previously, on the metro ride to the Reina Sofia, we had a little excitement. Someone tried to pickpocket Bob and then cause an incident by arguing with his three accomplices. None of us could catch the language they were speaking. Bob didn’t have anything in his pocket but hit the guy's hand who kept brushing up against Bob's side (and no he didn't just want to get to know Bob better) away from him. Then they sat right next to me on the metro and two Madrid women across the way from me kept trying to warn me with gestures (like holding their purses to their chests with both hands) and facial expressions (wide eyed and directed at the would-be thieves). The 3-man (one woman) pickpocket team was foiled by my very cautious husband and son.