Why?

Why is it the Palacio Real, but the Real Armeria and the Real Farmacia? (I know, I'm missing accents in there, I'll come back and put them in later.)

Also, two new phrases that I learned: venta al mayor (wholesale) and enhorabuena (expecting). The first was written on signs in many of the businesses around Tirso de Molina, where I stayed in Madrid. Wholesale fashion storefronts abounded. The second I read in a gossipy magazine insert in the Saturday edition of ABC. Which also happened to feature blurbs about two of the few non-royal, non-mainstream sporting Spaniards whose names I recognize: Fran and Cayetano Rivera Ordóñez. Er, not that the enhorabuena came up in the context of those two, but for someone else whose name I did not recognize.

Book to look for: Ghosts of Spain by Giles Someone.