We woke up this morning after a wonderful night of sleep and it felt just fantastic to be in Madrid. And the pleasant surprise of the morning came when I got out of the shower to see that our luxury hotel gets the tiniest of details right. You got it, a heated bathroom mirror so that it never fogs.
Yes, I fetched the iPhone in my towel to take this picture. How could I not share this?
We got ready for our day and stopped at the Starbucks in front of our hotel for a breakfast of muffins and coffee. That's right, our first Starbucks experience of the trip. It was already nearly 90 degrees out, and I had an iced coffee. By the way, this was breakfast to us, but it was also noon. I said that we slept wonderfully.
Today would be all about the museums that surround our hotel, starting with an 8 minute walk to the Reina Sofia.
There she is, the Reina Sofia. Not as "out there" as the Pompidou in Paris, but it doesn't need to be.
I like nothing more than pictures of people appreciating art. You'll see that throughout this post. I also like how it gives a perspective as to the size of the works.
I cannot name these works for you. Sorry. I pulled the iPhone out of my pocket when I liked something.
The spaces in the Reina Sofia are just wonderful. I would rank it with the best museums in the world.
Okay, fine. Sometimes the iPhone came out of my pocket for less idealistic reasons.
Picasso alert! It is funny to walk throughout a museum knowing that there is a masterpiece you cannot wait to see, yet you force yourself to walk throughout the museum and give your attention to everything. As if you're a little league coach who has to spend time with the kids who really aren't that good, and you do your best to hide that you really just want to pitch to the kid who can hit. That's how I felt in the house of Guernica, and seeing a Picasso made my brain dance a bit inside my head.
Even the outdoor spaces of the Reina Sofia are beautiful.
A Picasso sculpture, Man Holding a Ram, I believe.
I swear that there other very fine artists represented at the Reina Sofia. But I am biased, and this trip has certainly had a Picasso theme from the get go.
Barbie appreciating a Picasso. Me, I'm aware of what is right behind me. I swear to you, as I take this picture I am forcing myself not to turn and walk right to it.
There she is, Guernica. I took many pictures of it.
But here is a cheat, taken from Wikipedia. The truth is that I never got a shot of it without a head in the way. But I stood there with Barbie for a long time, as we whispered things that we saw in it. The truth is that I am going to do a second blog post today of just Guernica pics, because the adjacent room had many figure studies and other works that Picasso painted as her prepared to create this. And you have to read the Wikipedia entry on this painting to grasp it's historical importance.
Picasso places an open door at very right side of this painting. Look and you will see it. Amid all this death and destruction, he provides an escape.
I took this one, focusing on the horse that is central to the painting.
There was great sincerity among the crowd. As I took this pic, I heard two museum workers next to me say, "Fastspanish fastspanish fastspanish fastspanish fastspanish iPhone fastspanish fastspanish fastspanish."
We leave through the opposite door.
In the room behind Guernica, where you find all of the figure studies, stands a Picasso sculpture of a man who is staring at Guernica. How brilliant is that? Have you ever seen a museum place an artist's work admiring another of that artist's works? Game, set, and match, the Spanish.
Nearby were these photographs of the Spanish Civil War. This is not the city of Guernica.
Another photograph of the Spanish Civil War. Reading the history of it, Nazi Germany's tactics in aiding Franco's Nationalists should have been all we needed to predict and perhaps prevent World War II. But hindsight is always 20-20.
Something particularly interesting about the Reina Sofia is that in the program there is no art on the floor 3. And in the elevator, it showed floor 3 as Verandas and floor 4 as access to the verandas, so we did as we were told and went up to floor 4. There, we found an escalator that went down to this amazing veranda. Essentially, floor 3 is itself a work of art that turns the skyline of Madrid into a canvas.
I would need a panoramic camera to show you how amazing the view is from this veranda.
The ceiling is reflective, with skylights, which adds to the effect.
Back on the bottom floor, Barbie posed for me by this statue to show its size.
I quite liked these. They're huge, but a person would break up the effect. We soon went outside into the patio and rear exit.
We both felt that this statue was a bird-like ribbon, so I did my best to strike a bird-like pose there.
From here you can see the bird-like ribbon as well as the open space of the floor 3 veranda and the open skylight areas in the roof. Finally I was far enough away from them for a picture that captured their scale.
On the way out... and over to the Museo del Prado. Man, this is a busy day. That is, a Great Day.
No lies here. I totally forgot who this is. But clearly he's one important dude, important enough check on the Madrid map and then google. This is Plaza Murillo, and that statue is... Murillo.
Museo del Prado. The Velazquez entrance. We tried to enter here, and they sent us to the other end of the building, where they sent us back. When we returned, all the rope lines had changed and the same security dude who sent us away claimed that he hadn't. Lovely. It's not like we were going to leave, but a, "Lo siento," wouldn't hurt.
As soon as we walked in, Barbie was scolded for taking a picture of me. Her flash went off, but nobody was taking pictures. Between you and me, the iPhone is a bit small and easy to conceal, and has no flash. There's really no way to know if I'm reading an email or taking a picture. Besides, I always obey rules of they make sense. If they make no sense...
The Prado is devoted to pre-Renaissance and Renaissance art, with some classical Greek and Roman statues here and there. Again, there are many beautiful, large spaces.
Redundancy.
Barbie stood between me and the museum personnel to get this one. Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son. Does it get any darker?
Anything that relates to Rome's Coliseum gets a picture.
The look on that man's face next to the Jesus is chilling.
I loved this room partially for the wall color.
How great is that shot? Really effing great, I say.
I snagged this Raphael pic, stepping back onto stairs leading to the next room so that the Museo Policia couldn't see me. Viva la revolucion!
Barbie blocked for me again.
A great Titian painting, made better by Dan Akroyd's character who mispronounced his name. Within the painting there is a piece of paper which reads, "He who drinks and does not drink again does not know what drinking is." Somehow that's more poetic than the average drinking song chanted at frat houses, but it means the same thing.
Outside the Prado one finds this... church? We didn't get any closer than this.
In Rome, what did I say about obelisks? They must be photographed. And, seriously, how many obelisks were taken out of Egypt?
La Puerta de Alcalá again, only from the other side and on foot. If I had time I would have cropped it for you, but this blog is going up at 3am Madrid time.
The Mayor's office, Le Palacio de las Comunicaciones. Not bad, eh? Crazy that there's comic-like voice bubbles on there rooting for Madrid to get the Summer Olympics.
We marched 15-20 minutes in the heat to the Hard Rock Cafe, for a shot glass and nachos. Barbie finally got the pig meat that Rome could not deliver.
Not sure why I felt the need to take this pic, let alone include it here.
In Europe, you get off the hotel elevator and there you are, in a lovely lobby for your floor. This basically kciks ass.
Jeff, you make me want to travel! I love the museum sneaky shots! Great job, worthy of a pro. Yo Mamma
ReplyDelete