A week in Madrid is a long time, especially when I have already seen many of the major sites. However, I have kept busy for the most part, but have still missed two things high on my list. Will see if I can hit them on my last weekend here.
The symphony turned out to be ok, not great, for me anyway. There were singers and I just don´t care much for the soprano opera singing.... It was still nice and I am glad I went, just will be more selective next time! Upon leaving the concert, which started at 10:30. so ended around midnight, I caught the metro back to the hostal. But, the workers were on strike, which means slower service, and I had to change lines. I probably waited at least half an hour at the change point, along with many many other people. I think it was around 3am when I got back to the hostal, late for you and I, but about the norm for Spaniards that aren´t going out late!
I made it back to the Reina Sophia Museum the next day, during a free entry time. (I actually walked the 2-3 miles there from my hostal and ended up eating lunch at a Thai place. After 2 1/2 months of Spanish food, it was nice to have some other ethnicity!) This was the museum with Picasso´s ¨Guernica¨ in which I hadn´t had time to see everything that I had wanted to. I came across some really nice charcoals in one gallery of a Basque fisherman which I really enjoyed. Also some Mi´ro and Dali´s that seemed really out of character. Haven´t had a chance to look them up yet, but I think these were some of their early works before they did abstract - or whatever their most commonly known works are called.
Sunday´s list included going to the Rastro flea market and hitting at least one other museum that had free entry on Sunday. I succeeded in the first, but not the second! The market was incredible, with everything from antiques, new clothes, used clothes, souvenirs, collector items such as coins, old posters, etc., and just about anything else you can imagine. It took up block after block of city streets and there were some areas where it was hard to pass through all the people. I did a lot of looking, some picture taking, and no buying! But, by the time I had my fill, I realized it was too late to get to the museums, as they were on the other side of the city.
I chose instead to walk through Retiro Park, Madrid´s Central Park. It had been royal hunting grounds and is beautifully laid out. There were two buildings with exhibits, curated by the Reina Sophia. Hmmm, interesting! The first was in the "Crystal Palace" and was conceived by the space --- whatever! It was string strung around the posts throughout the beautiful building! The other was just as bad as far as I was concerned - although the exterior of that building was also beautiful.
The symphony turned out to be ok, not great, for me anyway. There were singers and I just don´t care much for the soprano opera singing.... It was still nice and I am glad I went, just will be more selective next time! Upon leaving the concert, which started at 10:30. so ended around midnight, I caught the metro back to the hostal. But, the workers were on strike, which means slower service, and I had to change lines. I probably waited at least half an hour at the change point, along with many many other people. I think it was around 3am when I got back to the hostal, late for you and I, but about the norm for Spaniards that aren´t going out late!
I made it back to the Reina Sophia Museum the next day, during a free entry time. (I actually walked the 2-3 miles there from my hostal and ended up eating lunch at a Thai place. After 2 1/2 months of Spanish food, it was nice to have some other ethnicity!) This was the museum with Picasso´s ¨Guernica¨ in which I hadn´t had time to see everything that I had wanted to. I came across some really nice charcoals in one gallery of a Basque fisherman which I really enjoyed. Also some Mi´ro and Dali´s that seemed really out of character. Haven´t had a chance to look them up yet, but I think these were some of their early works before they did abstract - or whatever their most commonly known works are called.
Sunday´s list included going to the Rastro flea market and hitting at least one other museum that had free entry on Sunday. I succeeded in the first, but not the second! The market was incredible, with everything from antiques, new clothes, used clothes, souvenirs, collector items such as coins, old posters, etc., and just about anything else you can imagine. It took up block after block of city streets and there were some areas where it was hard to pass through all the people. I did a lot of looking, some picture taking, and no buying! But, by the time I had my fill, I realized it was too late to get to the museums, as they were on the other side of the city.
I chose instead to walk through Retiro Park, Madrid´s Central Park. It had been royal hunting grounds and is beautifully laid out. There were two buildings with exhibits, curated by the Reina Sophia. Hmmm, interesting! The first was in the "Crystal Palace" and was conceived by the space --- whatever! It was string strung around the posts throughout the beautiful building! The other was just as bad as far as I was concerned - although the exterior of that building was also beautiful.
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