Plan A  to spend my day in the museum district was aborted when I felt that I headed out too late. So I just started walking and ended up at a wonderful city park, Parque del Retiro!   Sticking to the perimeter, I enjoyed the variety of trees and flowers that were in bloom, many people enjoying the beautiful day, tons of students on spring break, cats nestled way up in tree branches and an amazing number of people in rented boats paddling around a lake! After three hours I decided that the park was endless and traced my way back for an afternoon break! Someone told me the park was the second largest in the world!  This 1/2 square mile gem is a “complex of royal buildings and immense formal gardens designed in the 1630’s for Philip IV” (Fodor’s).  The large statue on the lake is of Alfonso XII.  On my morning stroll I snapped away at architecture that caught my eye, including the Metroplis Building, Plaza de la Cibeles and the Puerta de Alcala’.