Finding the Bear

It seemed like everyone I told that I went to Madrid, asked me if I saw the Bear and Tree statue . . . so apparently I missed the essence of Madrid during my random one day tour.  Today I am catching a late afternoon train back to Madrid in prep for my flight tomorrow morning, I'll get in about an hour before dark, so I decide I must locate this most quintessential Madrid experience.  I quickly check into my hotel and start walking.  Its a long walk, mostly up hill, but not too strenuous.  Eventually I hone in on the plaza that hosts the statue, I turn a corner and it is . . . filled with more than a thousand people, many protesting various things including pro and con Catalan independence (which is garnering a lot of attention at the moment).  I walk the length of the plaza and nothing: Where's the Bear?  I look at google maps and it places it very near where I entered the plaza, so I turn around and start looking.  Finally I spot this diminutive statue (4 feet tall?) perched on a small pedestal behind some protesters.  Don't get me wrong, its a nice statue, but I was expecting something bigger.  I am reminded of a previous experience: looking for the Mannekin-Pis statue/fountain in Brussels.  Again the symbol of the city and in that case a near life size statue of 3 or 4 year old child relieving himself into a tiny pool and tucked away in a back alley.  Perhaps centering your city's identity around an under-sized statue is a source of eccentric pride among European cities.  Copenhagen did have that hard-to-find mermaid statue.  I'll followup on future trips . . .

In any case, that's all for my Spain checklist.  Adios España.

The plaza hosting to the Bear.

Found it.  It looks bigger than it was.