Final Madrid Day

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Today was supposed to be a relaxing final day in Madrid, and it was I guess, but for some reason I'm absolutely exhausted, both mentally and physically. Had a nice espresso to pick me up instead of my customary nightly cerveza. This oddly tiring day started in the morning at the Thyssen Museum, literally right across from the Prado, and compared to that behemoth, an easy collection to make it through. Time flew away from me, though, and I spent over 4 hours at the place, and probably only saw half of the galleries. I do like to take my time, but when I saw it was already mid-afternoon, I was shocked. And it was funny, when I suddenly realized the time, my feet and back started to hurt, and I was suddenly really hungry. So I left.

Then, for the rest of the afternoon I wandered down the Gran Via, which, as far as I can tell, is Spain's attempt to emulate 5th Avenue in New York. Lot of traffic, people, filth, odd things going on, tall buildings, some of which are old, and in general a relatively dull and boring experience. Maybe I'm missing something, but it was basically just like walking down a street with like 15 Starbucks on it. From here, I relaxed for a bit, and then, again, in the evening went for my last free night at the Prado.

This was nice, but it was also where I was suddenly hit with an extreme fatigue. I was standing there looking at a painting, and, like a slap across the face, I realized I wanted to leave and go get a coffee. So I abruptly left the gallery, walked out of the museum, and did get a nice coffee before basically just crawling back to the hotel, exhausted. Museums really are tiring places.

Tomorrow I very happily leave Madrid, heading just a little South to Toledo.

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Photos

Thyssen Museum
Very small compared to the Prado across the street.

Great Matthew Detail
Liked it because Matthew takes a break from his gospel writing to sharpen his pencil, while his angel looks on really bored like. Gospel writing apparently was pretty dull work.

Lamentation
Touching lamentation I thought. Great emotions on the faces.

Kind Jerome
Jerome makes his lion friend happy, giving him a good pet. Usually Jerome's lion sits away from him - never seen them actually interact.

Nice Cloud Detail
Just thought it was nice, that's all.

Random Bierstadt Painting
Albert Bierstadt painted scenes of the West, and this might be of Colorado. Isn't there a Mt. Bierstadt?

Start of Gran Via
The street on the right.

Gran Via View
Built mainly during early decades of 20th century, before the Civil War in the 30s.

Wannabe 5th Avenue
Can see one of the many, many Starbucks just across the street.

My Hotel
The Plaza Major, the pink one. Nice little place. My room is on the left, 3 floors up.