Palacio Real in Madrid

I think every little girl dreams of living in a palace and acts out elaborate tea parties with her little dolls and dishes. Well, the little girl in me is pleased to announce my trip to the Royal Palace in Madrid this week. As I'm a writer and not a photographic artist, I'll only share a few of my favorite photos for you here, as I'm sure there are MUCH better photos available.

Throne of His Royal Majesty 

Before we go into the royal palace though, come with me on a little tour around the city of Madrid. It's the capital of Spain, so of course there are lots and lots of things to see there. We first peered through the windows of this humongous library with rows and rows of books from floor to ceiling. We didn't go into the library, but I snapped a picture from the window. If only bookworms had teeth strong enough to chew through glass in order to get to the books inside!

Library with Lighted Bookshelves

We next paid a visit to the museum that houses Picasso's most famous painting, Guernica, which is his representation of a German bombing of a city in Spain. It's absolutely hideous, and I suppose it's supposed to be. Since half the art historians in the world have explained the painting already, I'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, it's really ugly like war itself. Despite how much I disliked the art itself, standing beside a painting so famous that it has 24/7 guards stationed on either side of it gave me a sense of pride for all I've been able to see and do despite my poor health. 

Picasso's Guernica

Now that you've had your art history lesson for the day, let's have a tea party with the Queen of Spain. The real queen wasn't home that day, so they left a rock queen to attend the tea party in her stead. 

Queen Isabela

This fancy basin near the chapel was used for baptism. The King and Queen are baptized with water from the Jordan River which is transported to the Royal Palace for that purpose. 

Baptism Basin

A royal tea party needs royal music, so they have authentic Stradivarius instruments for that. They had bass, cello, violas, violins, and the whole works. 

Stradivarius Violin

The Royal Palace has 3,418 rooms in order to house all the servants, cooks, guards, painters, musicians, and etc. After about the 2,000th room, they all started to look the same to me. (We really didn't actually see all the rooms, but we saw dozens of them.) Our tour guide, Javier, told us about the many amazing things in the Palace along with some of the history of the Kings and Queens.

Javier "Javi"

The palace was lavishly decorated in many different styles. I preferred some of the quieter, less excessive designs in cool and calming colors, but a lot of the palace was ornately embellished with extravagant details from floor to ceiling. Most ceilings were painted with cupids and renaissance art, while numerous crystal chandeliers added a sparkling beauty to the sense of awesome luxury the palace already exuded. 

Ornate Details

A king definitely needs a gold crown, so a majestic specimen is at his disposal in the crown room. It's made of silver and plated in gold. As an interesting side note, this crown isn't made to be used. It sits safely on a royal cushion looking pretty all day... a little like I do. 

King's Crown

As we neared the dining hall for the royal tea party, there were rooms full of silver dishes and utensils on display. I suppose they had to have the staff of a mid-size company available just to keep all the silver shined and polished. 

Silverware Display

We did finally make it to the dining hall after about two hours of walking. My classmates were all complaining about how tired their legs were. I'm not sure what their trouble was; my legs felt just fine. Perhaps being in a wheelchair has its perks after all. Anyway, the royal dining hall was definitely a site to see! You can imagine how nice it would be to have space for all your little dollies to have tea at the same time. Now, that's what I call dining in style. 

Dining Hall

Of course, we didn't really have a royal tea party, but the little girl in me had just as much fun pretending it was so. Now, off to bed with all of you, and happy playtime until the next time the queen invites you to tea. Sweet dreams!