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Published: March 14th 2008
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Hello for the last time from this travel blog.
The end of my journey is finally here. It is hard for me to believe that 5 months of traveling have gone by already. It seems like not so long ago I was sitting in the same spot I am now, at my computer in the house I grew up in, looking at the dogs lying on the couch and enjoying the peace and quiet. It feels nice, comfortable, after constantly moving from city to city, culture to culture, country to country, but it also feels a bit strange. I think because I have gotten used to the consistent exploring of a new environment every day for the past 150, that being back in the familiar will take a bit of getting used to. But before I get into my feelings of being home to much I'll back up to my final days in Spain.
The morning following writing my last blog I took two buses and a train back to Madrid and easily found my hostel by taking the subway. All within 1 1/2 hours. I love how well connected European cities are. Immediately I mapped out the
parts of the city I would explore that day and the next and set out.
First I walked through the cities large park, complete with all you would expect from the European's. Fountains with statues, a large pond with paddle boats, streams, small palaces (one completely made of glass), people bike riding, roller blading, and pristinely manicured gardens. One of the fountains had a statue of the fallen angel Lucifer, which is apparently one of the few in the world of the lord of the underworld.
Then I headed over to the first of three world renowned art museums, the Thyssen-Bornemisza. The museum is an extensive personal collection from the Baron and Baroness of Spain that was opened in 1992. There was a special exhibit on an artist named Modigliani, who painted sensual nude pictures in his day that were controversial because of the topic. So much so that the police shut down his one and only exhibition in the early 1900's.
I then explored dozens and dozens of rooms with over 1000 paintings from all over Europe and America, dating from the 13th century to modern day. It was incredibly extensive and unfortunately I had to
rush through because I was going to another art museum that day. But I did enjoy the couple Dali paintings. One being the influence of the concept album El Cielo by Dredg for you music fans out there.
Then I headed over to the Prado where I had to wait in line for an hour but that meant I could get in for free so I didn't mind to much. The Prado has an extensive collection of art from El Greco and Goya to Ruban and even a few Carvaggios! Sweet. It was a visual feast. There was also a very strange surrealist painting by El Bosco that was intriguing because it was painted in the 14th century before surrealism even had a name, so art historians are a bit confused by it.
The following day I took the metro to an Egyptian temple built around 200 BC, walked through the huge palace of Madrid, and made my way eventually to the Reina Sofia, yet another well known art museum. There was a huge exhibit on Picasso which had been transfered from the Paris Picasso museum because work was being done on it. So I think I have
seen most of Picasso's publicly shown work now, since I have been to the Picasso museum in Barcelona and now this one.
I understand his stuff a bit more, but still am not a huge fan. I like the idea that Cubism presents, which is showing the viewer multiple angles of a subject by dividing up the surface of the painting into well defined geometric shapes, making the viewer visualize the painting from different angles. It's a very unique concept, but I still like the surrealism and naturalism stuff much more.
The rest of the museum consisted of Spanish art from the 20th century to modern day. So I got a bunch of Dali's to feast my eyes on and was able to see the progression of the art form from surrealism to modern abstract. I really liked the definition of surrealism provided by one of the founders of the art form named Andre Breton. He wrote, surrealism is "Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other means, the real function of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic
and moral preoccupation." So the rule surrealist artists followed was to present art without social influences or ego, ultimately creating something from their unconscious I suppose. It is a pure form of art in my opinion.
I walked back to my hostel, had some McDonalds for dinner, (I was pre-exposing my body to American food 😊, grabbed my bags and headed to the airport by subway, which was super fast and cheap. I arrived around 9 PM and my plane didn't leave till 6 AM so I had a bunch of time to kill trying to fall asleep on a 2 seated metal bench. My body didn't agree with that so I got 0 hrs of sleep. This was going to be a long day.
Paul and I met up again before our flight catching up a bit before taking our 2 3/4 hr flight to Frankfurt where we had about a 5 hr layover and I attempted to sleep again. But my body still wasn't having it. So no sleep except for 1 hr on the flight for the previous 31 hrs. I felt pretty strange. Then we got on our flight to San Francisco around 2
where I successfully recouped another hour of sleep, watched Elizabeth II and an episode of House, both very good watches, and landed in SF around 5:30 PM. Paul's dad Steve picked us up, where I promptly passed out and woke up at home.
I was happy to be hugging my parents after 5 months, and briefly talking with them before I drank a glass of wine and fell into a deep sleep. So in total, 4 hrs of sleep in 46 hrs. I don't recommend it.
The past couple days have been nice and relaxing as I have gotten reacquainted with American culture. Sex scandals in the news, people who say "like" every other word, people who peel out in their cars. It is actually comforting in a strange way because it is so familiar.
Reconnecting with friends and organizing my things has been a slow process, but I am getting there.
I appreciate all the support that my friends and family have provided me while on this trip, especially my parents who made all of this possible. I am in your debt. Figuratively and literally 😊
I hope all of you have enjoyed reading
about and looking at pictures from my journey and that I have inspired some of you to travel as well. It has been an incredible experience that will shape my future, most definitely for the better.
I will be editing and framing some of my pictures so if anyone is interested in them please e-mail me at dantheman9999@gmail.com. I will also be cutting together a video of my trip so stay tuned for that.
See all of you very soon 😊
Daniel Neal
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Dave Martino
non-member comment
HOMEY!
Hey Mr. Ferguson, welcome back to the states! Glad to hear everything went smoothly and you are back home safe. I am jealous of your experience but I rather enjoyed checking your blog. I got to see all the cool things you saw, and for a lot cheaper! And with your video editing and documentary skills I expect your video will be even more rewarding. Don't know when I will be back in CA, but I will undoubtedly let you know when I am. Like, werd.