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Published: October 7th 2006
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Sunday morning we arrived to Madrid from Barcelona on the last overnight train of our trip. We liked Madrid better than Barcelona immediately as all the signage was in good ol' normal Spanish (the written anyway, we later enjoyed listening to the spoken form...lisp and all) AND the metro was attached to the train station rather than three blocks away as it was in Barcelona; however, due to some health issues on my behalf, we were off to a slow start.
After a fever, headache, complete weakness, and congestion, we made it to the hostel and I slept for hours on end while Ryan read or did whatever it is that he does. I eventually managed to shower and get out of the hostel around 5:30pm and we made it to the Museo del Prado, one of the most famous museums in Europe. I mean, afterall, I had to make myself get up as the museum is free on Sundays, and that's a price I can't pass up.
Some of the highlights of the museum were paintings by Goya, El Greco, Rembrandt, and Velazquez. The most famous one was Velazquez's Las Meninas. Personally, 12th to 19th century art isn't
Palacio Real
Courtyard of the Royal Palace my forte, but just watching Ryan get excited about the various works he recognized from having studied them in school made it enjoyable.
Basically, day one was slow, but I needed it to recuperate...only to wake up day two with self-diagnosed conjunctivitis (later confirmed by a pharmacist). In short, I haven't been the healthiest person as of late, but Ryan has been a great sport.
We visited the Palacio Real (Royal Palace), which I really enjoyed. Located just blocks from our hostel, we were able to enjoy the park out front of it, and toured the estate rooms, the armory and the royal pharmacy. The estates rooms were unique to the other royal apartments we've visited in that there was a billiards room and a smoking room! The Royal Amory was filled with armor for all sized men, boys, and horses. There were various weapons and shields, including an 8ft-long rifle!!! Later on in the evening, we returned to the courtyard of the royal palace to a nice cafe on the corner where we conversed, sipped sangria, and people watched.
The following day we ventured to the huge park in the city with lots of paths, trees,
Museo El Prado
Tenille outside the Prado grass and a lake in the middle. The park was originally built for Felipe IV in the 17th century for leisure and relaxation of the royal family. So, pretending we were royalty, we rented a row boat and ate our lunch on the lake listening to the acordian player sitting and playing on the side of the lake, took in the sun, and just relaxed...well I guess I did a bit more relaxing than Ryan, as he did all the rowing. It was a gorgeous day though and all the trees' leaves along the lake were changing color and it was just a beautiful autumn day.
Another day we visited the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, and this one was much more my style. The most famous painting there is Picasso's Guernica. This is one of the pieces that I studied in school, so I was finally able to experience Ryan's excitement in seeing "the real thing." The museum had lots of other works by Picasso and we decided he was a bit on the eccentric side. There were also paintings by Dalí and Miró. Unfortunately the Dalí exhibit was closed that day, but we were still able to
see a few of his odd works.
Overall, Madrid is a very nice place. We enjoyed the main plazas, including Plaza Mayor where all the major events take place. We wanted to see a bullfight, but unfortunately the dates didn't match up, so maybe in Sevilla.
Our last night in town we decided to get a little taste of Spanish culture and we headed out for a bite to eat and then to Las Tablas, a flamenco place. Let's just say it wasn't necessarily as we had expected. There were two guitar players, two singers (if you wanted to call them that, one sounded like a 90yr old man about to croak....maybe he was croaking), two female dancers and one guy that found his way into everything. I'm not sure if what we had in mind as "flamenco" is like a commercialized thing that doesn't really exist and what we saw was "the real thing," or if the flamenco we saw was a scam on tourists. To me it looked more like a combination of Stomp, tap dance, and interpretive dance, and who knows what the one guy was on...he was all over the place in his tight,
black unitard. However, we did at least get a glass of sangria out of it.
Next Up: Morocco - Oct. 5, 2006
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dadean
non-member comment
howdy
Hi you two! Been busy? Ryan, thanks for taking care of my baby. Sorry for the lack of comments, but I've been out of town for the last 3 weeks. I'll do better, promise. Seems like you two are on quite a schedule. I'll bet the time is flying by. Just a little over a month and we'll have you two back home. Enjoy the rest of your trip. We think of you always. Take care, be safe and have a ball. Love you both! Dad