Madrid is much the same as we left it, though we've had more time to
appreciate its character. On day one we pretty much just wandered the
streets, down to the official royal palace. (The king now lives in the
suburbs, I believe). The reflecting pool was unguarded, so there were
maybe a dozen folks wading in the pool, cooling their feet from the 40
degree heat. That's 40 celsius, of course. You Canadians understand.
Dinner was paella and fried vegetables at a fancy place downtown,
where soccer played on the overhead tv and a scornful French woman and
her unruly children dissaproved of my American eating methods (picture
to come).
Today we got up and made a day of the museums. First was the Reina
Sofia, home to a collection of modernist art, most notably Picasso's
massive anti-war piece, Guernica. It's a painting perfectly suited to
his habit of destroying bodies to depict emotion; and it seems fitting
that long after the fascist regimes of Franco and Hitler are dust,
this protest of their damage is what survives.
The Prado is Madrid's other great museum, and home tpo countless works
by masters such as Rubens, Velazquez, and my two favorites, Goya and
el Greco. Funny how they're sort of opposites but both touch me - Goya
painted brooding secular things with short, dark people, and el Greco
painted tall, elongated saints in vibrant reds and blues.
Well, that's it for Mike's brief history of art. We did some shopping,
then had a last meal of melons and Iberian ham and returned to our
hostel to finish packing up for the trip.
--
Sent from my mobile device
Mike Ramberg
mramberg@visi.com
http://grebmar.net
buy my book: http://lulu.com/mramberg
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