Thursday, March 30, 2023

28 March 2023 Madrid: Lunch at Amazonico and Tea at the Mandarin Oriental

 


Amazonica was a very nice place and our lunch was as nice as the restaurant was beautiful.  Leslie had a big grilled sirloin and I got a bowl of wok fried baby squid and veggies.  We got frog legs as an appetizer and they were the best we have ever had.  Excellent fare for two travelers.  The woman who served us bread was nervous and she told us that it was only her second day on the job.  We told her how good she was doing and as the lunch went on we saw her practice the bread serving technique.  We walked home via the Riofrio Park and then yet another new set of streets back to the square.




We have arrived!


A fancy copper chimney 


Frog plate for our frog legs


We are the first ones here


A monkey with a big drink


BEEF!


Each lamp shade was different


Toucan play this game


One fancy bar area!


Pineapples cooking in a chamber with coals in the bottom


Two fancy gin drinks and three gins to add to the "new gin" list


The best frog legs we have ever eaten


My baby squid entree


Leslie ordered the beef


One very elaborate glass construction


A gator serving dish


Back to Riofrio park on our walk home


Not a blackbird but a Spotless Starling (lifebird)


The pond is empty today


The big hairy gorilla is only halfway into the costume the buskers are out and about

https://youtu.be/TsCxRgTM6DE


A short toed creeper (lifebird #2)


Photoshoot!


Looking at the results


I found a new group on FB and it it "The Gate Appreciation Society".  They appreciate gates!  


The lobby of the Mandarin Oriental


A great open and airy dining area


We were serenaded by the piano playing all of Leslie's' favorites songs.  Many of them the songs that she would play when she played piano at the country club.


Hmmm, what to get?  Hot chocolate perhaps...


Some dunk-able goodies


The service was decorated by beautiful birds


My high tech teapot with my image reflected in it.  I got the "Night in Shanghai" tea is available only at the Mandarin Oriental in Madrid


Hmmm, can I add this bird to the list?


Albert Einstein and the Queen.  They were actually friends in life.


Get it all at the Hat


Beauty everywhere


Madrid is great!


Even a building in construction is gussied up



It has been 296 days since we began our Migration






27 March 2023 Madrid: The Botanical Gardens a Large Puppet

 


For two euros we were allowed into the Botanic Gardens.  What a deal!  We are in Madrid at the sweet spot of spring where so much is in bloom.  We strolled and gawked and birded a bit.  I did see two woodpeckers working a tree but they were very fast and I only got a partial picture.  It was a lesser spotted woodpecker.  We had a nice walk back through a new set of streets.  Madrid s a beautiful city and there are beautiful buildings and ally ways everywhere.  To our surprise there was a large, 15 feet tall, Medievel  Knight in the square.  We were even more surprised when a band of hooded characters started drumming and playing horns as the Knight "walked" through the plaza and out into Madrid.


A splash of orange to go with the white flowers


It is always fun to look at flowers


For only 2 Euros, we are in the gates


The shade was wonderful


Some formal gardens


Tulips of every color


Tulip fever


A fine time to be in Madrid


Thick with flowers


one million blooms!


The rouge yellow bloom


These make me happy looking at them


A classic spring flower


Double dafidols





So many blooms


Carpenter bees


The Bee Tree


Hair balls


A tall set of flowers, these blooms were 15 feet up in the air


A tree climbing crew walked by


High art and low art


Irises


A glimpse of two woodpeckers


Lucid?  Not me


Too-Lucid Toulouse-Lautrec


A cool street sign, this was on the exterior of the building at the corner of Poesia and Letras



Trees in flower


Grand buildings everywhere


Even dragons coming out of turrets


The White Dragon from the Never Ending Story


In the everything you could ever imagine store, a tiny bottle of gin


There it is!  Miller's Dry Gin


Distilled in London, Bottled in Iceland and imported by a company in Hollywood Florida!


Tea Shop!


Back at the Plaza there is a large Knight in Armor safely standing behind safety tape 


It is 20 feet tall at least


The Plaza Mayor has fantastical paintings on one of the buildings


This is on the side that we are on top right, second blip


Love this location


Art shot!


The oddest of performers


But not for long, the costume goes back in the bag


We heard some strange music



and looked outside



The puppet is moving!



Off he goes!



He is pretty slow for such big strides


What a fun thing to see 


It has been 295 days since we began our Migration