Our second day in Spain began in the afternoon.  We struggled to get up around 1 pm.  As we walked out into the streets, the sun was shining brightly but I noticed that the city was hardly awake.  Many shops and restaurants were still closed though café’s were open.  Aside from a few tourists, I assumed that most of the locals were either working or recovering from the stupor of the previous night.  We walked into a Spanish buffet restaurant.  It was a bit late for breakfast so we settled for a lunch buffet.  The food was bland and terrible and left me longing for Tapas.  After lunch we proceeded to walk towards Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza.  Madrid had so many museums and art galleries that it was impossible to see them all in four days.  We decided to choose a selected few that appealed to us.  The Museums were also quite large.  The Prado museum holds about 7000 works of art.  A full day can be easily spent in Prado.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza contains about 1000 paintings from the 13^th to the 20^th century.  I have never seen such spectacular works of art in person.  I realized how pictures could never do them justice and one must see them in person to truly appreciate them.  The shades, shadows and reflections of the 17^th century Dutch paintings were beyond belief.  The contrasts of darkness and light of the 17^th century baroque works were amazing. Some of the portraits were so brilliant that it seemed that the characters were alive. After spending a couple of hours in Thyssen-Bornemisza we decided to see various squares and streets in the vicinity.  The architecture in the city was simply spectacular.  It looked as if every building was a work of art.  The streets and squares were lined with rows of magnificent structures.  We walked around for a few hours and shopped in the local stores.  As night drew closer we went back to our room. It was my birthday and my wife had booked us a couple a tickets to see Flamenco at Corral de la Morería.  Our show didn’t start until midnight so we walked around the city and ate some tapas before arriving at the restaurant.  We were immediately awestruck by the magnificent cathedral on the hill across the street from the venue.  The site was on a hill and provided brilliant views of the city from the top.

Corral de la Morería is considered to be the best venues for Flamenco in Europe.  I wanted to see a bull fight and Flamenco in Madrid.  Tickets for bull fights sell out well in advance but Flamenco tickets were easier to obtain.  The night of my birthday at Corral de la Morería was one of the most memorable evenings of my life.  It was a small restaurant with a small stage surrounded by tables.  The show lasted about two hours and we saw solo and group performances by male and female dancers.  Flamenco in itself is not grandiose but sustains a level of finesse that is present in few other dances.  The aura and energy of the dancers was shocking.  Their facial features and body gestures exuded intensity and passion.  I was surprised at the physical stamina and strength required for the performance.  Our jaws were dropped as we were completely mesmerized by the incredible show which at times felt like an opera or drama being played out on the stage.  I wish that I could have understood the songs which resulted in cheers and bouts of laughter in the crowd.

As the night was still young in Madrid, we left Corral de la Morería at 2am and decided to go to Kapital.  Kapital was a massive 7 floor nightclub.  Each floor can be considered a distinct club on its own.  Different music, décor and dance floors exist on each floor.  One floor even had a theatre where people could watch films on a big screen.  Another looked like a fine restaurant where patrons could relax.  We spent the next few hours at Kapital and left around 7:00 am.  The club was still quite busy as we left to go home and enjoy a few precious hours of sleep.  I have never had such an experience and I saw things that I have never seen before.  It was an unforgettable evening.