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Yesterday (Thursday), we had classes in the morning. The News Reporting and Writing I and II students are on the go. The ¨newbies¨ are learning what makes something newsworthy (Impact, Proximity, Timeliness, Prominence, Novelty, Conflict, Information, Cooperation/Consensus, Common Experience), and the ¨oldies¨ are learning how to write creative nonfiction/literary journalism. In additional to daily exercises, they are responsible for keeping a daily weblog and for writing one major article by the end of the session. So far, so good. After classes, we headed over to El Museo Cerralbo on the corner of Ventura Rodriguez and Calle Bailen. The Duke of Cerralbo gave his gorgeous home and its contents to the city of Madrid. (He married a widow who had two children from her previous marriage, but they never had any children.) It was GRAND. Totally baroque. Amazing tapestries, paintings (including some by El Greco), chandeliers, suits of armour, Oriental rugs, and on and on. How nice that everyone, instead of just one family, can enjoy this amazing collection! Afterward, Blair, Aedan and I went for a picnic in La Plaza de Espana. The park has been completely rennovated since the early ´80s when I was here. Beautiful. From there, we walked over to the Debod Temple, a sister temple to the Temple Dendor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I think Madrid has done a better job of displaying its temple than New York. For one, it´s outside in a beautiful park with a stunning vista high atop the city. You are able to walk into the temple, which is more than 2000 years old, and see the heiroglyphics up close. I´m going to recommend that the students see it while they are here. Even better, they don´t charge admission! We then walked over to El Palacio Real. First, through the gardens surrounding the palace and then over to the Almudena Cathedral, where Principe Felipe y Dona Letizia were married on May 22, 2004. It is absolutely beautiful. The painted ceilings are a sight to behold. I´d like to attend Mass at the cathedral while we are in town. We´ll tour the palace on June 22. I´m sure it will be more grand than El Museo Cerralbo, but I can´t imagine it´ll be much more grand. Stay tuned! We strolled over to La Plaza Mayor, and I left Blair and Aedan there to rest for awhile and enjoy an ice cream while I walked over to El Teatro Espanol to secure tickets to ¨Yerma,¨ a flamenco ballet choreographed by Cristina de Hoyos. The whole group will go on Sunday at 8.30 p.m., and I can´t wait! I´ve been a fan of Ms. De Hoyos since seeing her in Carlos Saura´s movies, ¨Carmen¨ and ¨El Amor Brujo¨. She´s the best flamenco dancer alive. I checked out some gift shops on the way back to La Plaza and made a few purchases. When I met up again with Blair and Aedan, we walked down to the McDonald's at La Puerta del Sol. It's been hard to find things that Aedan will eat. Happy Meals, disafortunadamente, are one of those things. Afterward, Blair decided he wanted to go to ¨El Museo de Jamon¨ (The Ham Museum) for a beer and a ham sandwich. Aedan and I decided to go to El Corte Ingles at La Puerta del Sol instead. The Corte Ingles is like a Foley´s or a Dillard´s, only bigger. Plus, I´ve never seen an olive bar at Foley's! From there, we walked down Calle Preciado. Aedan found a pair of hot pink hoop earrings at a shop named Six that she had to have. They were only 2.5 Euros, so I got them for her. She said that she wants to wear them on the first day of school in August! Afterward, we walked down Preciado some more until we came to La Plaza Callao, which is surrounded by movie theatres. I wanted to see if we could purchase advance tickets for Harry Potter 3. It opens on June 16 here. No luck, but I´m going to try other theatres. There was a man near the taquilla (ticket booth) who was selling his drawings. He was using old postcards to draw his pictures on. I asked him how much they cost, and he said, ¨Solo un oferta¨ (an offering). So, I gave him some change, and he gave me a drawing. He signed it F.M.W. He said, ¨Es una girafa.¨ I asked him what his name was, and he said Francisco Miguel something. I didn't catch his last name. I love the drawing, and I want to do a story on him to find out what it´s like to be a street artist. (I'm also going to get him a stack of cards from "Yerma" that I saw outside of the theatre.) When Aedan and I were walking away, he ran over to us to give us another drawing, "El Fantasmo del Opera" (The Phantom of the Opera). It's great, too. I hope I can find him again. Aedan and I ducked into the Corte Ingles near our apartment on Arguelles, and I had a salmon sandwich. Delicious. We bought some olives (aceitunas) from the olive bar, and ate them when we got home. You can buy a decent bottle of wine here for a little more than a Euro! Life is good. I walked to campus today, via El Parque Oeste and El Museo de America. I checked out group rates, and I hope we go while we're here. Tomorrow, we go to Segovia. Should be fun! Post a comment in response: |
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