Spain

Spent a lovely sunny afternoon in Madrid yesterday during a layover between flights and made it to two of the city's notable cultural institutions: The Museo Prado (though our tastes tend to be a bit more contemporary, it was still very impressive) and the Museo del Jamon (it's actually a chain of restaurants featuring cured pork products).

We then enjoyed a nice walk across the city before heading back to the airport, happening across the interesting scene below in the Plaza Mayor.

We weren't sure whether they were one act or two...

Unfortunately, our past tribulations with Madrid Barajas Airport once again reared their head (despite having taken pains on the trip to specifically avoid flying Iberia). Upon arriving at LAN checkin, we were told they no longer accepted paper tickets and moreover suspected the legitimacy of ours, insisting that tickets normally have computer-style printing and barcodes on them. In fairness, that's usually a pretty safe assumption.
Took 2.5 hours of waiting for them to get clearance from the head office in Chile, but we were finally cleared to travel. Another 30 minutes to get through security and we were finally on our way.
On the plus side, we had the pleasure of waking up to this gorgeous sunrise over the Andes this morning and arrived to excellent weather in Santiago (though a not-so-pleasant $130 "reciprocity" entry fee for US citizens).