Spain Part 2: Madrid

Madrid was not as kind to us weather-wise. It was cold and rainy for both of the days we were there. Luckily, there are plenty of indoor activities one can do in Madrid. Number one: The Prado. We went there twice as it was free after 6pm until 7:30. It is definitely a great museum, although all the paintings I liked weren't the ones they had postcards of in the gift shop. However, they have one of my favorite paintings EVER and I didn't even know it until I saw it on a postcard in the gift shop. I then freaked out, found it on my map and ran off to find it. What is this painting you ask? It is a triptych by Bosch called "The Garden of Earthly Delights" and is the coolest thing you will ever see come out of the 1400s. The left side shows paradise, the middle shows what the Earth would be like if we all gave in to sin, and the right shows hell. I studied this in Art History freshman year, and it was mostly the colors and the weird figures in the painting that drew me to it, but I also kind of like the concept too. Of course, I doubt that Bosch was promoting the idea that Earthly Delights would be a good idea (it is a triptych after all) but who knows how ironic he was being. It is so impressive to see in person because it is giant and the colors are just as vibrant as they look in the picture. Plus it is fun to find all the weird creatures. I will admit that I got a shirt that featured a design from this painting and I'm very happy I did.

We visited the Royal Palace and the Cathedral the next day. The Palace was like any other one which is why I liked going through it so much; it was richly decorated with rooms of different themes, sometimes overdone to such an extent to make them almost gaudy. The porcelain room was one example of this as the walls were covered with porcelain figures and designs that made the room way too busy. The Cathedral was really cool and basically emphasized what I had noticed most about Spain: the art, and most everything for that matter, is more colorful and more angular. I think we tend to see more Italian and French styles and influences and seeing Spanish art and designs was so cool. The paintings in this Cathedral were so brilliantly and brightly colored. I don't know how else to describe it so check out the pictures. After the Cathedral we went to get some churros and chocolate. Churros are amazing because how could fried dough not be amazing? Then you get some hot chocolate with it and dip and eat away. That night we had some amazing Indian food as our hostel was located in a neighborhood full of Indian restaurants.

The next day was our last in Madrid. Our flight wasn't until 8:35 pm, so we had almost the entire day to do some more exploring. It was still rainy and cold, but we decided to go over to the huge park in the heart of the city called Parque del Buen Retiro. It was a bit muddy in some places, but still beautiful. We saw a monument to Alfonso VII, a pond with a waterfall and some black swans, and the Crystal Palace, which wasn't open because it was raining. After some lunch, we were planning on going to an art museum that was free after 2:30, but as we were killing time we were distracted by another museum that was having a giant exhibition on Monet. So we ended up at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza which ended up having one of the most amazing permanent collections I have ever seen. It was huge too and I have no idea how I got through the entire thing in one go. Once again, the gift shop sucked as far as having prints of the paintings I liked, but they did a Degas that I really liked. Plus they had the Chagall painting featured in the movie Notting Hill (with the violin-playing goat!!) which is just as cool as Anna Scott says it is. So that was pretty exciting. And then there was the Monet. The exhibition was so big that the second part of it was in a separate building that we had to hike over to. But it was so cool. I think most people think waterlillies, haystacks, and Japanese bridge when they think Monet, but he is so much more than that. There were flowers, willow trees, and his winter scenes are super cool too. We ended up being extremely happy we went to the Monet collection. The Reina Sofia will be a reason to come back.

Overall, most of us liked Barcelona better than Madrid, but to be fair we spent more time in Barcelona, took a walking tour there which made us more familiar with the layout and the history, and the weather and the hostel were a lot nicer. I'd definitely want to go back to both cities, especially Madrid as I didn't think I really got all that I could out of it.

So now, back to London which all of sudden feels like home. It is nice to be somewhere familiar again. Also, for those of you who don't know, I was accepted to do a summer internship program here so I will be in London until the end of July. Will I continue with the blog? We shall see. :)