Madrid Is

If Barcelona is like The Pavement Magazine, then Madrid is like Harper's Bazzare : not quite quirky enough to be interesting but classically beautiful, bold, spacious and slick that you love it for the variety. To me Madrid is much more Spanish than Barcelona, which was to me much more international in its appeal and make-up.

What's Hot
Big grand plazas and gardens for chilling out
More pretty buildings
Calzone and Callos
Going to the deli
More fabulous fashion
Reina Sofic museum of modern art (houses the Picassos and the Dalis = but they have a Bill Hansen too!!)
Free hugs at Parque Retiro (see below)What's Not
Bull fighting
The service, as usual
Weather

What the Locals Do

#A number of young men seems to have taken up wooden pipe smoking
#24 hour live music _ like in Barcelona, they busk everywhere including inside train carriages and can take any form and shape, such as reciting a poem written by some one else or dressed up as Simply Red in a Devil Outfit draped in rose petals
#Go to stand up tapas bars reminiscent of the soba noodle stations in Japan
#drink beer for breakfast