The next day we wandered around the local area and took in the sights of the Royal Palace, Alumenda Cathedral and Plaza Mayor. While this walk should have been pleasant it turned out to be somewhat uncomfortable due to the almost constant heavy rain and my legs being very sore. On the way back to the hotel we ran into a politcal rally which while I wanted to hang around and see what was happening my travel companion recommended we keep moving and with the large police presence I finally agreed. After a rest and a change of clothes we headed out for more wandering and ended up at a Tapas bar for dinner. What started as a quiet evening at the Tapas bar turned interesting when a large group of women showed up with something in common, they all were wearing a picture of the same man. One of the women was in curlers and wearing an apron. So we surmised it was probably a bachelorette party which our waitress confirmed. During the dinner there was lots of singing and probably jokes(my Spanish is not so good so only a guess on my part) running around the table. The dinner was quite tasty with one of dishes containing shark.

Sunday we took the high speed train to Toledo which is a World Heritage City with the old city up on the hill overlooking the modern city. Toledo is famous for the old city and also is home to Toledo Steel used in making world famous swords. As we wandered through the old cobblestoned streets were bit surprised by all the stores and of course they had swords of all shapes and sizes with a large number of the swords tourist knockoffs. Something which was really out of character for the old city was a McDonalds which really did not belong. After wandering for most of the day we found a small restaurant where we enjoyed a nice meal. I had a home made beef stew and a jub of local Sangria.

From our time in Madrid a couple of things stand out for me, first the amount of restaurants that serve Ham and even some places that only serve Ham. Second and probably what really stands out for me was how rude people seemed to be and how pushy people were and I mean physically pushy. This was not just men, it was men and women young and old. I have spoken to several people who have indicated they have had similar experiences while others who have visited Barcelona and other areas of Spain did not find this to be the case. So I am left with a negative impression and I am not sure if it was something I did or just the luck of the draw. I would like to give Spain another try and hopefully leave with a different impression.