Today is my free day in Madrid. But for the freezing cold, it would have been a much more active day. I had a morning walk to the Puerta del Sol, a few minutes from the hotel. After that I had a two hour city tour covering many highlights including the main cathedral and the old palacio real, san francisco and san andrea churches, plaza Espana, etc. & ending at the Museo Thyssen.
I went in for a few hours. Pretty interesting collection of paintings organized chronologically. Will detail later. Now I am at the Reina Sofia museum, and plan to head to the Prado if energy permits. The cold conditions are worsened by the strong wind. So it is a major problem even walking from one museum to another despite them being fairly close to each other.
By the way, this museum has a vast Picasso collection including the famous Guernica. To tell the truth, it is a bizarre piece of art and I wonder why it is so famous.