Hola de Toledo…hacia frio cuando estabamos alla (I don’t know how to do accents)
(Hello from Toledo…it was cold when we were there)
Barcelona is beautiful! Wednesday we arrived and went to the Picasso museum. Thursday was Gaudí day: La Pedrera, La Sagrada Família, and Park Güell. Today we went through the Barri Góthic, walked by the harbor, and visited Park Montjüic (and the Fundació Joan Miró which is inside it). Tomorrow it will rain. :(
El Parque del Buen Retiro, Madrid
(My mom and I agreed that this lady dressed like Jackie will in 60 years. Pug and all)
Yesterday, we finished up the Reina Sofia, took the Metro for the first time, saw the Royal Palace (from the outside as it was closed for “official ceremonies”), walked around the Gran Via, saw the Plaza España, went to like 5 million churches, and got churros con chocolate.
Today, we went to Toledo. We toured the Santa Cruz Museum (lots of El Greco), went to the Cathedral (really really beautiful…no photos allowed -tears-), walked around, went to the Synagogue of La Maria Blanca, went to the Church of Santo Tomé (El Greco´s Burial of Count Orgaz), and ate mazápan. Toledo was super beautiful. Everything is exactly how it was in medieval times because they don´t let you build modern buildings. It´s really gorgeous. Also there aren´t many cars. And there´s lots of Islamic architecture.
When we returned to Madrid, we ran through the Thyssen museum. We only had 40 minutes, and they suggested 2 hours, but honestly, it worked out. We saw the kinds of stuff we liked. There was a really cool one called Express by Bauschenberg or something, and there were a couple awesome Dalís (all Dalís are awesome). Now we´re back at the hotel where there is apparently a party for models according to the concierge lady. Lots of skinny, funkily dressed people around, but that´s pretty much how every day is here. So yeah. Perhaps seeing some jazz tonight. We´ll see!
Tomorrow, we head for Barcelona! Cán´t wait. And also tomorrow I´ll be able to uplaod photos and videos (finally…).
Today we went to the Centro de Arte de Reina Sofia, which is a modern art museum. Its big draw is Guernica, obvi, but the rest was really interesting. Some early Dali, early Lorca (!), Bunuel, etc… Lots of surrealism. And such. Lots of really interesting artists whose names I don´t remember. And there was one room solely for Guernica, which is really amazing in person. It´s great because with some paintings you´re underwhelmed (the Mona Lisa anyone?) but with this one it exceeds your expectations for drama, size, everything. Also there´s another room dedicated to all the sketches and work Picasso did before and after Guernica that was related to the work, which was really interesting. It sort of emphasized the process.
Then we went to the Prado, which is like the Louvre of Spain. It´s HUGE but we got through all we wanted to see, which was El Greco, Goya, and Velazquez. We also got to see some Rubens and random other Northern painters. I prefer Italian and Spanish art. The progression of Goya is really cool. We viewed his works in chronological order (which required us to walk up and down several flights of stairs several times because the museum was totally randomly organized) and it was cool because he started out on board with the system, a court painter, then became politically motivated and antiwar, then basically went crazy and started painting his nightmares. So that´s good. Also El Greco is one of mah favs due to AP Euro, so his paintings were interesting to see in person. Especially because they´re HUGE. All these Spanish painters definitely have an appreciation for the effect of making a canvas enormous.
After we were museum´d out, we walked around the city. We got to see Garcia Lorca´s statue in the Plaza de Santa Ana, Plaza Mayor (where people got killed for the Inquistion), the Puerta de Alcala (some prime minister got assassinated there), and some other Plazas y Puertas. Pretty much we just walked up and down this one street that had big monuments and statues every few blocks.
People watching is very fun here, even though I don´t understand that much of their Spanish. It´s still interesting. We saw some more random Carnaval stuff.
And tomorrow, we´re going to Toledo, seein´some cathedrals, etc., then returning in time to finish up our visit of the Reina Sofia and maybe walk around some more. I want to check out some live jazz at some bar at Plaza del Angel but I dunno if Mom´s down. Also we´re getting some churros con chocolate at some point.
It’s beautiful here! Yesterday we landed at about 9:30, got a taxi (with a terribly rude driver), checked in, napped, got coffee, walked around El Parque del Buen Retiro, saw two different monuments to Cuba, saw one statue of Satan (srsly), and then stumbled upon the city’s parade for Carnavál (the days leading up to Lent). The parade was wild. Dancing kids dressed as priests and nuns, dancing adults dressed like Greek gods, acrobats, Bolivians folk dancing (we didn’t get it either), etc… Then we got dinner and slept.
Today, the plan is to visit La Reina Sofía (modern art), the Thyssen (Impressionism), and el Prado (everything) museums. I’m psyched. Especially to see Picasso’s Guernica in person (nbd).
We don’t get free wifi here (wtf) so I won’t post often - and won’t post pictures - till Barcelona on Wednesday.
so i’ve changed the title of my newly resurrected blog because next friday i am going to SPAIN.
i am very excited. anyway, expect much of the same that you saw while i was in paris: bilingual ramblings, various cultural experiences, lots of artwork, etc!
¡hasta luego!
