Madrid, Spain: After a good sleep and a few shots of espresso in our room (though DT drinks decaf, so really, why?), we hit the streets again with plans to visit two museums. Again, the neighborhood is simply a lively combination of locals, tourists, shops and restaurants, grocers and tacky tourist souvenir stalls. Something new around every corner... like this well-appointed charcuterie, cheese and butcher shop.
After watching us peering through the window, the butcher waved us in and said I could take a photograph, and could he give us samples? He dangled two see-through-thin slices of jambon and it was all I could do to tell him no. Sadly, he was not offering cheese samples. Everyone in the shop was so friendly, especially since they knew we weren't going to buy a thing.
Our first stop today was to the Queen Sofia Museum, or the Centro de Arte - the museum holding Picasso's 1937 masterpiece Guernica. Picasso was living in France when he learned Germany was bombing a small Basque town in Spain, Guernica. His anger and revulsion to war inspired this painting. War is Hell.
This was not the only school group we saw at the museum this morning - we saw a toddler class. We strolled through most of the permanent exhibits. Nearly all of the art is Spanish, and it is mostly modern, with large collections of Dali and Miro. The building itself, is a work of art. Originally a hospital, it consists of four wings surrounding a square garden courtyard. Beautiful.
No time to waste, there are more paintings to explore! We walked from the Queen Sofia to the Prado Museum - one of the most respected and popular art museums in the world. We had pre-paid tickets to the Queen Sofia Museum, but bought walk-up tickets at the Prado. Glad we did. The cheapest tickets on-line was 36.90€, but with our senior discount, we paid 7.50€! This old age stuff is awesome. The Prado Museum would take days or weeks to explore properly, so we concentrated on a few select paintings we wanted to see, found them first, but ogled at other things as we wandered by.
The museum holds many Rubens, so we started there, especially excited to see The Three Graces, then off to the Goya area for The Clothed Maja, down a floor for Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, and up again to Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez. The museum was pretty crowded. There are really a lot of religious paintings. Like hundreds. Many languages were heard. And though I did not see a sign that photography was not allowed, no one was taking photos (even with their phone), so I did not. I really enjoyed the Las Meninas best. There are so many interesting characters depicted in the painting - including the artist hisownself - shown painting! Clever. The little princess is being primped by two attendants and her parents can be seen in a mirror reflection.
Though I had already reached my daily step goal, DT decided "as long as we are here" to visit El Retiro Park, the largest park in Madrid. Covering 350 acres, the park has an artificial lake, miles of jogging/walking/bicycle paths, sculptures, fountains, and thousands of trees.
I think we saw them all.
I love that they don't manicure everything so much and just let the daisies bloom. Children were making daisy chains and throwing the flowers up into the air.
There were so many massive grass carp swimming in the lake. (Where was Leo, our fisherman?) The statue behind us is a monument to King Alfonso XII. The King served for ten years and died at age 27.
Fun thing, as we were approaching the park exit, two very well-dressed and handsome young men (20-somethings) approached me and started speaking to me in Spanish. They were very polite... pardon, Senora. Of course, I immediately think they are working some-sort of scam, but they were there with their university teacher who had asked his students to approach strangers in the park and ask for their favorite quote, and quickly switched to perfect English. The boys were doing a year abroad in Madrid from their home in Monterey, Mexico. Imagine my surprise! We wrote our quotes (mine was from Jimmy Buffett; Dave's was Steve Prefontaine), signed their assignment book and wished them a good day, after learning there were many Mexican students studying in Spain. Viva Mexico!
The Puerta de Alcala arch was once the main entrance gate to the city of Madrid. It is older than the Brandenburg Gate and the Arc de Triomphe. So there. Now, the ancient gate sits in the center of a big traffic circle, just like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
By now it was getting on towards 2p and we had not had lunch. Time for a rest and a cold drink. How interesting that we were walking by the James Joyce Pub (the one mentioned by Margaret in the comment section on my April 8 post), so we went in, had a pint of Guinness and chatted up the friendly (English) owner.
A Guinness is basically a meal, right?
We just kept walking and walking, ducking down any alley or avenue that seemed interesting, and found ourselves back to our hotel around 6p. DT had a rest and I edited the above photos, but by 7:30p we needed food. Tapas!
To my credit, I ordered the tomatoes because the menu read tomatoes with cheese, when the dish was actually melted cheese with four tomatoes. Four! Most every table in the tapas bar had a basket of mini chicken fingers (more like chicken toes?) served with a mustard dip and a BBQ sauce-type dip, at their table. We joined in. Dang, where is Lucile when you need her? That girl can't pass-up a crispy chicken bit. And, they were super good.
The weather has changed. It was much cooler this evening and the first of our three nights we have needed a sweater in the evening. Rain is predicted tomorrow.
Pedometer: Winner, winner, Chicken Toe Dinner - 18,196 steps/7+ miles.
Until my next update, I remain, your "I need a rest day" correspondent.
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