Wax museum

Today we had a very important job to do, we needed to get to the Australian Embassy and vote YES in the Voice Referendum. We had to take the metro out to the embassy, located in the suburb of La Paz. Ian worked out the route, which required one change, but was easy enough to achieve. We are very impressed with the Metro system in Madrid. It is clean and cool and, if you miss a train, another one arrives within 3 minutes. We arrived at the embassy which is located on level 24 of a tall tower. We had to go through security screening twice, once in the lobby and then again in the embassy. We also had to hand over all electronics, including my Apple Watch and our chargers, before we could go in and vote.

Once we got through all of that, the process was pretty straightforward. We filled in a form which we then signed in front of an embassy staff member, she then gave us the voting paper. When we returned it she had to confirm our electorate and place the ballot into an envelope while we watched.

There were a number of other Aussies there, all doing the right thing and voting, which was pleasing to see. We met a lady who has been living in Spain for 5 years and another couple who have been in Spain for 6 months, with the intention of making the move more permanent as they have retired.

When we left the embassy a number of planes in formation did a flyby right over us. Some seemed to get very close to some of the tall towers in the area. We have no idea what it was in aid of.

We then caught the metro back into the centre of town. We found a nice café close to the Prada Museum to stop at for a coffee and snack, we decided we would walk to our lunch engagement and just stroll through different areas and check out the sites. We passed lovely neighbourhoods and several churches and government buildings, as well as some other interesting statues, art and fountains. It is a lovely way to discover what you may well otherwise miss.

We arrived at the restaurant Sala De Despiece a few minutes early, so we checked out the surrounding area till the allotted time.Read more