More museums! El Palacio Real was regal, to say the least. I must have been royal in a past life, because I felt right at home! I can't imagine how many people you would need to staff to keep it up and running. The palace was the site of the recent wedding reception of Principe Felipe and Dona Letizia, so things were still spit polished and shined. My favorite room was the Japanese Room, also called the Smoking Room. It almost looked like the walls had been made of cloisonne. Turquoise was the prominent color, save for bright red doors. Sounds strange, I know, but it looked beautiful. The armory collection was also quite impressive. The most suits of armour I had ever seen, including little bitty suits of armour for the princes. (Royal dress up?)
Yesterday, we went to El Museo de La Reina Sofia. Picasso's "La Guernica" is the jewel in the museum's crown. You may visit the museum via the web at
http://museoreinasofia.mcu.es/portada/portada.phpBefore going to the museum, however, we enjoyed a tasty lunch of tortilla espanola (potato omelet) and gazpacho made by Blair. Our neighbor, Mari, gave him a cooking lesson. Delicious! I'll include the recipes as soon as he gives them to me.
Pablo Gargallo's "Mascara de Greta Garbo" was my favorite work at the museum, aside from Picasso's "Guernica," and you may see it at
http://museoreinasofia.mcu.es/coleccion/sala05/default.phpThe museum also houses a nice collection of Joan Miro's work. Aedan wasn't too impressed, though. One painting that was a white canvas with black dots on it stumped her. "Why is that famous?" she asked. I had to agree with her assessment! We rushed through another floor, because Aedan and her friend Cristina (our neighbor from downstairs) were ready to go. A Donald Judd sculpture that Blair and I wanted to see was on loan to some other museum.
Today is another jam-packed day. We're going to the Prado, followed by a classical guitar concert of "Carmen," followed by a paella dinner. The good news is that we don't have any classes tomorrow, so we'll be able to take it easy. We leave for Guadalix de la Sierra on Saturday morning to spend the weekend with my Spanish sister, Silvia, and her family.
We leave Madrid a week from today. The only thing that's taking the sting out of our departure is having Paris to look forward to. Coming soon: things I'll miss/things I won't miss. Stay tuned!