¡Hola! España 1

¡Hola a todos!

Estoy en Sevilla, España ahora y mañana, iré a Granada para ver la Alhambra. OK, so my Spanish, I have learned, is passable (I can ask questions, order at restaurants, and have broken conversations), but it is not what it should be. ¡Lo siento a mis professores! I really should have brushed up my Spanish before I left, but I do what I can. So I flew from London Gatwick to Madrid and made my way to my hostel, a converted 18th century mansion. Quite nice...again, pictures coming soon. Using my survival skills, I immediately befriended some people in the room and went along for dinner. That´s right, when food is involved, do all you can. Anyway, they were very nice and we had a very nice tapas dinner.

The next day was the art day. Woke up and the girl sleeping in the bunk below me said that she´d like to come along to the art museums (character: Sinead, a nurse from Australia who is travelling for a few months in Europe before settling down in Cork, Ireland). We headed first to the Prado, a huge museum that had a great collection of 15th-18th century paintings with plenty of Goya, El Greco, and all of the Spanish giants. In the middle of it all was a great exhibit on Tintoretto. And Sinead discovered her love of late 15th century Flemish painting. Interesting love to find, but good that she found it all the same. I found that I already tire of Madonna and Child...but I guess I´m in that for the long haul. After using my limited Spanish to buy lunch, we headed back into art at the Thyssen-Bornomesza Museum, a private collection across from the Prado, and in my mind, better. I was suprised that it was so comprehensive with many of the huge names from all eras of art, just not the most famous pieces. Found some amazing Whistlers, Homers, Lautrecs, and others whom I love. It´s always great to the turn the corner and discover a piece right in front of you that you´ve seen only in books. When we looked at the time, we found that we had been trekking through art museums for about nine and a half hours, so we decided to call it quits on the day and head back to the hostel. There, we met a new roommate, Emily (character: Emily, student at University of Washington who just finished a semester studying in Sevilla) whom we convinced to come out with us, even in the cold rain, to the Plaza Mayor. I really wanted to sit outside and people watch, but people don´t tend to go out in the rain, nor do they go out before midnight. So, we ate churros and chocolate alone, but chatted a lot about travel and where we´ve all come from. We called it an "early" night...for Madrid at least...

Having had the inclination of doing all three art museums in one day, I had to go to the last of the three, the Reina Sofia, the next morning. Emily, who successfully did all three in less than a full day, decided to start her art tour with me. We bonded over the fact that we hate bad knock-offs of Picasso and blank canvases; both were quite in abundance at this museum. Back story...I´ve been known to scream at pieces such as "Duct Tape on Floor #2" and "Blue Canvas, the Smaller" and other garbage that masks itself as brilliant art of the 20th and 21st century. Anyways, Blue Canvas is a piece by Ives Klein at the Tate Modern in London. The Tate said in its description of the piece that it was so grateful to be able to obtain such a work since Klein only did 36 objects dipped in his special blue paint. Well, Tate Modern, the Reina Sofia was lucky enough to have not only one Blue Canvas, but 3 pieces from this blue collection! THREE! They have Blue Canvas, probably the Bigger, a curved piece of concrete, and my personal favorite, a fuzzy, velvetly, small Winged Victory which I think used to be one of those penny banks you can buy at the Dollar Store. AND...wait, there´s more...they have a PINK canvas...AND a MUSTARD YELLOW canvas. This is a Klein lover´s mecca! And my hell. Anyway, the museum does have it´s high points such as some important Dalis which I love and Picasso´s "Guernica." I don´t tend to like Picasso, but "Guernica" is very impressive. It´s huge! After ranting about contemporary art for awhile, we parted and I headed to the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) in the pouring rain. As I walked along the side of the Palace to get to the entrance, a guard inside was laughing at me...there was no one around...I had no umbrella...and the streets were flooding. Regardless, the Palace is a must see if you are in Madrid! It´s gorgeous. The outside looks nice and all, but when touring inside, you go through one jaw-droppingly gorgeous room to a more jaw-droppingly gorgeous room. Every surface is covered in either an opulent tapestry, silk fabric, intricate stucco designs, or Tribaldi fresco masterpieces. You start in a smaller ballroom, go into a stunning throne room, through a breakfast room (which was the nicest room in a mansion I´ve ever seen) to passing rooms that would be gems if by themselves to a huge ballroom that is just to die for...to the cherry on top...the chapel. I´ve never seen a more beautiful place. Everyone gasped. I stayed behind to sketch a bit and take it all in again because it was just so beautiful.

Just one word of advice and warning...don´t be that American tourist. I was on an English tour with 10 other Americans who were angry that the woman didn´t speak perfect English. They made her repeat herself 3 or 4 times, and after every room said to each other, "Can you understand her? I can´t understand a word. Why can´t these people speak English?" Oh, I don´t know...because you are in SPAIN and they speak SPANISH in SPAIN. Sigh. Just don´t be that tourist.

OK, moving on. Ran over in the rain to the Cathedral next door...it was ok...and then took advantage of a lull in the weather to visit the gardens, also ok, and Sol, the city center. It´s just a city center. No big deal. Had a wonderful tapas dinner with Sinead and Emily at a funky and crowded tapas bar.

Sinead was moving on the next morning to Granada, and Emily wanted to go to El Escorial, the palace-monestary about an hour outside of Madrid. I decided to take the day trip, since the weather was finally decent. It was really nice to get out of the city for a bit and see the countryside. El Escorial is huge, and the monarchy doesn´t hold back on anything...even the religious and austere Felipe II. The grounds and the views were a stunning background to a beautiful palace. Came back to Madrid, still in good weather, and strolled through the Buen Retiro, the really big park. I love parks...they are so relaxing. You walk along paths and come to big clearings with huge fountains or monuments every once and awhile. Quite nice. The highlight of the Buen Retiro is the Crystal Palace, a large empty structure made of glass. Absolutely beautiful. (Again, pictures coming.) Got back to the hostel to a new room with new roommates who were great (Jordan, from MN, Kristy and Sarah from New Zealand). Hung out in the cave/common area/internet cafe/bar downstairs in the hostel for a Flamenco show. The dancer was great when she finally started, but before that it was just the guitar players and the singer, who literally sounded like a dying cat. Everyone agreed.

Overall, a great time in Madrid, but I will say that now that I have something to compare it to, I would skip Madrid and come straight to Sevilla...but that will have to wait until a next chapter.