Saturday

Saturday mornings there are free tours at 10:30 AM of the lower house of Parliament (Congress), the Congreso de Diputados. We got to see the Constitutions, rooms where they meet and sign important documents, a really cool clock with a barometer, the rotation of the earth, sunset and rise, time (of course), and pretty much anything you wanted to know in a grandfather type clock, and the room where the congressional sessions are held. They have different sections for the two biggest party, and one middle section for the rest. In the back are bullet holes from when the Franco supporters tried to create a monarchy again, but King Juan Carlos supported the democracy, and so the coup failed. They pointed out the chair where the president and prime minister sit. And we saw how they voted. Several people were excited to sit in the President’s chair.

Then we went to the Naval Museum. Boats!! It detailed the history of the Spanish nation based on their naval history, complete with miniature models and weapons from each era. What stood out to us were the weaponry (more Amy), the mast heads/ figureheads, the replicas of the Chinese and other people’s boats and a Chinese pirate ship, and maps. It was amazing to see that exploration was such a big part of the Spanish nation for so long.

---Palacio de Comunicaciones (next to Naval Museum)

---Metropolis Building
On our way to eat, we stopped to see the Casa de Siete Chimeneas (seven chimneys). Apparently, some king stayed there and tried to get married to some royal person in Spain, but it failed. Too bad for him. The house has seven chimneys, from which it derives it’s name. It is one of the sole survivors of the Bourbon period in that area of Madrid. Cool, huh? It sounds cooler than it looked, cause we definitely walked by it the first time.

Third museum/tour of the day was the Monastery of Las Descalzas (the barefoot monastery). The nuns were mostly nobles that would bring a dowry. But, after the passage of time, the nuns were more poor people, and the nuns were practically starving and forbidden to sell any of their treasure. Finally, they were allowed to open part of the convent as a museum, while they cloistered themselves in another part. We saw the room where they used to sleep on the floor on little pallets and lots of things that would be more meaningful to Catholics who know all the virgins and saints. Unfortunately, the guide was rude and talked one million miles per hour, so I didn’t understand a lot of it, much less translate. On the other hand, there was a really nice Spanish couple that spoke some English, or even just slower Spanish, that helped us.

During the early evening, we went to a flamenco/Spanish dance show. Amy liked the costumes and castanets. It’s kind of like a Spanish version of river dance, for lack of a better description (which I’m sure exists). There was a live band during part of it, which was cool. I don’t know how authentic it all was, but we really enjoyed it.