As mentioned earlier last week we travelled to Madrid on Friday to see our friends Cesar and Inma. We were collected by Cesar at the airport and drove to their home where we had delicious home-made tapas and caught up with their news. Saturday morning arrived quickly and after we pulled the blinds up (we in the UK definitely should all get blinds!) we were blinded by the blue sky and strong sunshine that poured into their apartment. After a quick shower we jumped out into the street and headed for a local purras (Madrid’s giant version of churros) and chocolate. Mmm delicious! A power slap in the face getting the blood super-saturated with sugar and fat, and also laying the foundation for the weekend to come we then explored much of Madrid’s center including a futuristic house where everything was controlled by mobile phone or computer. For lunch we had the famous Cocido Madrileño which consists of a starter of soup, followed by chickpeas and vegetables, then the most enormous pile of meat (chicken, beef, ham, chorizo, blood sausage) which we were only able to eat 50% of. In the afternoon we went walking once more and found the Parque del Retiro and joined the ten thousand Madrileños celebrating the first decent weather of the year and saw mime artists, graffiti artists and punch and Judy shows centralised round the lake and chilled out on the grass for a while relaxing. In the evening we went to see a Jazz Quartet at Clamores Jazz and then hit a few clubs (first Tupaware -ok, too many English- then Penta Bar where they played everything from Spanish to worldwide 80s 90s music - really excellent place!). Sunday we started early again having coffee at Cesar and Inma’s place before heading into town. We saw the Plaza de Toros Las Ventas Museo Taurino (Bull Ring) and markets in town before going to have Tapas. Tapas is what they do in Madrid on Sunday. All afternoon long. We were met by Cesar’s sister and her boyfriend and had lots and lots of tapas. We had to walk this off and again set out into the city and found a delightful park below the cathedral and watched people and took in the last of the weekends sun rays before taking the tube back to Cesar and Inma’s and onto the Airport. A fantastic weekend!