Hotel Desperado - I mean Francisco 1

Hannah and I smiled nicely enough at the bus driver on Saturday morning so he let us on the bus with all our gear - sometimes they won´t if they are feeling cranky!! We had a small amount of difficulty finding the hotel, but after asking a couple of people, we arrived. The foyer looked really good, a little old but still nice, that is of course until you go upstairs. I think it must be one of the original hotels ever built. The floor tiles in our room come off if your feet are a little sticky, and it goes up and downhill. The bathroom is really small and they only provide soap, no cute little bottles of anything. The window, when open, overlooks an internal courtyard that is a building site. The tv is the size of the one Tim uses at home. All that aside, the one good thing is that it is right in the middle of downtown Madrid on a pedestrian street.
We unpacked a little then went and found the Madrid tourist bus, and toured round Madrid for the afternoon. There are two bus routes here and we did them both. We love all the really old, ornate buildings here, far more of them than in Paris.
After the bus trip, we went back to the hotel for a while, then went for a walk to find the theatre we had seen on the bus trip, where Beauty and the Beast was showing. We found it at 5.55pm and there was a show starting at 6pm.. We bought tickets and spent the next two 1/2 hours transported back in time. It was a great production with some really innovative staging. We laughed when the audience all clapped each time one of the characters turned back into a real person at the end of the show, especially when Chip runs on to his mother, Mrs Potts... there was a collective sigh of wonderment from the whole audience and then they all clapped. Anyone would think they didn´t know the story or that they thought it was real. Anyway it was a really good show. On the way home we stopped for a Kebap for dinner and got home round 11.30.
Today we were up earlyish.... 8.30 for breakfast before catching the metro to the Sofia Reina Museum. It opened at 10 and was free today. We got there before the crowds and spent several hours wandering the halls, taking everything in. John, you would have loved the Flaminco section. There were several original films showing flaminco music and dancing and also Ramon Montoya´s guitar!!
After the gallery, we caught a bus to the Rastro Markets. Think Melbourne markets, but on the street, not in one area. The crowds were huge and it was all uphill!!! I bought a necklace and Hannah bought a new top that she is wearing now. We finally ended up not too far from the hotel and so I bought some cheese and bread to go with the apples and Pringles we bought last night and we ate lunch in the hotel room. On our travels we have seen some amazing busking acts. A lot of them must be professionals so we have been treated to many great concerts in Paris and Madrid. Either Hannah or I usually find some change to give them as I think it mean to stop andlisten and then just walk away. Hannah has been taking photos for a busking series.
After a bit of a rest, we came up to the northern end of Plaza del Sol to find this internet cafe and so y0u are all up to date.
In the morning we will leave about 9 to get to the airport for our flight to Barcelona and the next stop in our journey.
thanks for all the emails y´all.
Hasta luego