India Trekker: Madrid, Spain

Large building: The Royal Palace in Madrid.

Soooo..... Madrid has impressive architecture too. It's all getting a bit overwhelming. Of course there's the Museo del Prado which I did not go see. Blasphemy, I know, but couldn't do it. I was just getting saturated and I'm not too interested in it's collections. 50 cazillion images of Madonna & Child just don't do it for me. Another time I will make myself do it. For this trip I stayed outside in the beautiful weather and walked around and around and around. Then I got tickets to see REAL MADRID C.F.! Holy crap!

Another large building in "Plaza Mayor".

My first peek at the stadium Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Stadium holds 81,000 people and it filled to the brim. This is a cathedral of another sort.

Start of the game. That's Rinaldo on the left end, and my favourite cutie, James Rodriques fifth from the left.
My ticket was 90 Euros. You do the math. Leaf tickets are same price for this location. I just sucked it up and enjoyed.

I must have taken 500 shots to get this one. Real Madrid were playing Basel F.C. and it was a boring game. Madrid won 5 - 1 and were a much stronger team, Rinaldo is truly a master of the game.

Back to outside before the game. It's a bit of a circus. There is media and police. Oh, are there police. Notice all the vans lined up? Paddy Wagons?

Plenty of police on horses.

Police fully armed and with riot gear.
I had a street pointed out to me where the 'hooligans' were partying and drinking beer but it didn't seem overly active. The stadium was rather tame. Lots of families. But, I suspect they know best.

This one took some time to figure out. As I entered my section in the stands I noticed this sign. "Great, I thought. I'm in the bleachers where everyone gets sick." As it turns out a vomitorio is a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre or a stadium, through which big crowds can exit rapidly at the end of a performance. The Latin word vomitorium, derives from the verb vomō, vomere, "to spew forth."
Whew, good to know.

A number of downtown Madrid streets have limited vehicular traffic and mostly pedestrian. There are canopies hung from the buildings that allow light through but protect from the harsh sun. This was done in Seville too.