Madrid

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Today I spent much of the day at the Prado Museum. It has a world class art collection and a policy of no photography, so I won't be showing you any pictures of the pictures. Seeing great art is an indescribable experience anyway, so I'll mention a few other things that you may find interesting. I like being in Spain and one plus compared to France is the many fewer police and security guards around town. There are still screens to get into some museums, but I haven't seen one automatic weapon since I arrived. In Paris, there were machine gun-toting officers everywhere. One bad thing about Madrid is the frequency of tobacco use in public places. Sitting at an outdoor cafe is a time-limited experience for me because I can only tolerate the smoke for so long. It only takes one person. On the good side of the balance sheet is the family-friendly atmosphere everywhere. Even late at night there are people of all ages out on the street and in the public squares. I have noticed that the young kids seem to disappear between ten and eleven PM and those over 60 about an hour later. That's good because I have a hard time staying up later than midnight! One other pleasant thing is that Madrid has lots of street performers. I'll grant you that most of them are not very good, but I think it is a nice comment on society that so many buskers are able make a living (or at least get by) by simply entertaining people. And I'll just mention one of the restaurants I went to. Two nights ago the restaurant I chose turned itself into a sports bar with several big screens showing Real Madrid vs. Barcelona. Apparently this is a big football (soccer) event. I considered it a cultural experience to sip beer and eat my dinner while those around me cheered and groaned at every move the players made. Service was very slow because of the big crowd in the restaurant and also because half the kitchen staff was standing in the back of the room watching the TV instead of working. BTW, Barcelona won 3-2.

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