Madrid, Spain, Day 60-The 10% chance of rain was more like a 70% chance of rain with temperatures in the low 50’s. People here were bundled up in down coats and mufflers. Everyone had their hands jammed in their pockets. I didn’t see any gloves, except for mine. We went towards the Prado again, but this time we bought tickets and spent 3 hours looking at the fabulous religious and secular paintings. The Prado is one of the greatest art museums in the would. It was established in 1819 and comprises 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings. About 1300 works are one display at a time. Thousands more are out on loan to other museums and institutions. Spending 3 hours wandering the galleries wasn’t enough time to see more than a little over half the collection currently on display. They don’t allow photos, except I have one from a very naughty person that will remain unnamed.This painting of The Feast of Herod is a masterpiece by Bartholomeus Strobel the younger. Salome is crowned, right of the pillar, with the head of John the Baptist on a platter. The painting is over 32′ long and is absolutely stunning in detail, color and execution. Here is a copy of the painting from Wikipedia, with some close up details below. This painting was one of our favorites in the entire museum.

The featured photo is of the fountain of Neptune, located between the Prado and the Thyssen museum that we will visit tomorrow. There is a little art store near the Prado that has some winsome mannequins on their balconies.

We stopped for a glass of wine, which comes with a little plate of tapas on the house. Restaurante Viva Madrid opened in 1856. This little pit stop was our afternoon pain killer and snack. Nothing like creeping through a museum for hours to make anything that might flare up, do just that.

On our walk back to the hotel we passed the famous Cibeles (the Greek goddess of fertility and nature) fountain and square.

Here is a close up of the sculpture.