El Escorial visit

Hello, everyone.
Today we went out to the famous El Escorial monastery and royal residence.
First we went to our local Metro station and rode to the Moncloa interchange. Then we boarded a bus and rode for over an hour (it was rush hour) to the village 50 km from Madrid and strolled from the bus station to the monastery.
There is a lot of beautiful and edifying art there. The museum does not have a bin ov prints of art works to buy, nor does it have a Print on Demand kiosk in the gift shop. (Sad) They should get with the Prado or the Muso Thyssen-Bournemisza about how to set it up. Really. There were some paintings that I would love to have a print of hanging there.
There is a basilica which is beautiful and full of art. It has an Adoration chapel, too. It wasn't clear to me whether any monks are in residence these days. There is a school in part of the facility.
The king who set up the monastery had apartments there, too. Out of his window he could see the garden. They still have a garden there.

This is an old-school knot garden with flowers between the little hedges. There is a little lookout where we stood to take the picture.
Weather here is a drier version of Texas now, getting close to a dry 100F every afternoon. I have begun drinking white wine instead of red because it will be served cool. Another option is to have sangria, which always has ice chunks in it.