Madrid - Day one?

Meet Madrid:

Day 1: The Lonely Planet walk down Paseo del Prado. We can leave our hostel and walk to Tirso de Molina, the nearest Metro station. From there, we head to Banco de Espana and stop to admire the Fuente de Cibeles and Palacio de Comunicaciones. Two minutes north is the Palacio de Linares. Back to Paseo del Prado and working south, we can admire the Spanish Naval Museum and the stock exchange. Across the Plaza de la Lealtad is the Palacio de Canovas del Castillo, where the local sports teams celebrate their victories on the rather familiar fountain out front ... We can also take pictures in front of the Hotel Ritz and Hotel Palace, or stop for tea and pretend we are the celebrities we may or may not be surrounded by. And that is a solid guarantee. We can break for a fabulous collection of art at the Thyssen-Bornemisza, where a temporary exhibition of Matisse (1917-41) and both Thyssen-Bornmisza collections are showing for an admission price of 9 euros. On the Plaza de las Cortes is the Spanish Parliament and down the nearby Calle Duque de Medinaceli is the church which houses the famous Jesus de Medinaceli, brought out into the streets only on Easter! Back to the Paseo del Prado, we can see the Museo del Prado, with all of the splendors of classical and modern art. For the green thumbs out there, past the Plaza de Murillo lies the Real Jardin Botanico with three beautifully planted terraces and a greenhouse divided by climatic zones. Last, but not least, is the Estacion de Atocha which was converted into a greenhouse with a constant internal temperature of 24 C, which is a far cry from the 36 C it was in Madrid this weekend! Holy crap! From here, we can take the Metro to Estacion de Sol and head to the oldest restaurant in the world: Casa Botin, which seems to serve such old world dishes as suckling pig and lamb ... OR, we can go to Casa Labra, which is famous for their tapas and once housed the Spanish Socialist party. There are too many tabernas to choose from off this stop, so take your pick! Then, off to the clubs! Or ... sleep. Whatever works.