Happy New Year in Madrid

From Consuegra we headed back north, past Toledo, aiming for a campground in Madrid that allegedly had wifi. We found it OK, but it was really on the outskirts of this city of 5 million, an hour bus/Metro ride, so we opted, in failing daylight, December 31, for the somewhat closer-in Camping Osuna, a few hundred meters from the Metro and only a dozen or so stops into the Centro. By the time we got to Osuna, it was dark, a wintry mix was falling, the wind was blowing, the temperature plummeting, the place was muddy and dingy, we got the last decent spot, and couldn't find anyone to explain to us how to get to the Metro. While it would have been neat to celebrate the New Year at the Plaza del Sol with 10 million Spanish personnes and other tourists, we opted finally for our own celebratory activities in the Grey Wanderer. Unlike the previous new year, on the Abel Tasman trek, we did manage to stay up till midnight, to welcome in the New Year, 2010. There were plenty of fireworks to see and hear, but, unlike the Kiwi boaties of 2009, it was all over fairly quickly.

The next morning we found our way to the Metro, bought a packet of ten trip tickets, and took the straight shot right into town, the Plaza del Opera, and the Royal Palace, which Vicki thought might be open.  As it happened, the Palace was closed, as was everything else, so, finally finding adequate wifi at the Plaza del Sol McDonald's, I spent the rest of the day there, doing email, blog, trip research, and the rest. Vicki explored the neighborhood a bit, then took the Metro back to Osuna.

Place del Opera in Madrid

The Royal Palace, which was closed New Year's Day, and which we later  opted 
not to see anyway (how many replicas of Versailles can a person handle?)

Across from the Palace

10 in the morning, New Year's Day, everything is closed, yet there are thousands 
of people out and about, just strolling/milling about; I never figured out whether 
they were getting an early start on the evening's paseo or were still paseo-ing

from the night before

On the Plaza del Sol, ground zero Madrid

Anyhow, it was New Year's Day