Educational travel

It is good to explore new places and learn new things.  I don't know what I'll do with the things I learn, but at least I get to explore!

When we arrived in Madrid I noticed the cute animal
and tree in the center of the maintenance cover and 

just steps away it was also on the trash can.

A. helpfully pointed out that it was also on the parking guides.

We finally got more than a few steps from our place and saw an ad from the city
trying to get residents to submit proposals and to increase citizen participation.

The coat of arms was also on the trash cans in Parque de El Retiro.

Unfortunately I didn't know you were supposed to rub the statue for good luck.  I'll have to go back.

The bear eating from the strawberry tree has been the symbol for the city since the 13th century.  This is what I learned from this site

No one seems to know exactly why the bear and the strawberry tree are the city's icons except that there used to be many bears in the fields around Madrid, and the strawberry tree might actually be representative of the hackberry tree that once was in abundance around the city. Another theory is that following a 13th-century dispute over hunting rights on the land that was owned by the church, an agreement was reached that the church owned the soil, but the people of Madrid owned everything above the ground, namely game. Then, the symbol of Madrid was born -- a Bear (the church's emblem) sniffing a tree.  The 20-ton bear statue was constructed in 1967 by sculptor Antonio Navarro Santa Fe and is a popular gathering spot.