Today we planned on getting up early and heading to the Centro De Arte Reina Sofia. I rose by 9:00 a.m. and waited for Charles, which took two more hours. So, out of the apartment by 12:30, we proceeded to the metro for the first time.
It was surprisingly the same as the others in France, so we were able to figure it out. It was actually easier to navigate than we anticipated. The hardest part was figuring out how to pay as half the machines were down and the other half would not accept my credit card. We finally found the one that takes coins and put them in and "voilà" or "aquí estás". Off to the races or the musee in our case.
The metro was surprisingly clean as is most of Madrid. There are workers everywhere sweeping and blowing. And they need to be as it is a busy big city! So up out of the metro we come and we stand before the Renfe train station. It is big and beautiful and very busy.
Just around the corner is the musee Reina Sofia. Very modern and old at the same time, the building was an old center that was made into a gallery. Then added on a very modern building of red and steel to house special collections, stores, libraries and a restaurant.
Seeing Picasso, Dali and Miro up close is very different than studying the books. The history of the era is alive in the photos and paintings and sculptures. Some of the drawings depicted pain so real, I had to walk away. Hitler and Franco devastation in art form. There is a long political history of the use of art to put forth political ideas, but I am way too ignorant of both art and history to espouse upon it here. We stayed for three hours in the musee and walked many corridors.
We emerged and Charles wanted to check out the inside of the train station before returning to the apartment. We strolled through and identified that we wanted to take a taxi so as not to have to drag bags up and down the stairwells.
We decided to go to the Plaza de Espana so that Charles could see the Don Quijote and Sancho Panza statutes on the Torre. The trip was for not, as the Torre Madrid was surrounded by Navidad stalls and you could not even approach near the Torre.
We realized how close we were to the apartment and walked back arm in arm. The day did not grow colder as usual. It stayed fairly moderate. And except for locking the neighbor out (we share a locked hallway) the night was calm. I miss my phone though....
It was surprisingly the same as the others in France, so we were able to figure it out. It was actually easier to navigate than we anticipated. The hardest part was figuring out how to pay as half the machines were down and the other half would not accept my credit card. We finally found the one that takes coins and put them in and "voilà" or "aquí estás". Off to the races or the musee in our case.
The metro was surprisingly clean as is most of Madrid. There are workers everywhere sweeping and blowing. And they need to be as it is a busy big city! So up out of the metro we come and we stand before the Renfe train station. It is big and beautiful and very busy.
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| Department of Agriculture |
Seeing Picasso, Dali and Miro up close is very different than studying the books. The history of the era is alive in the photos and paintings and sculptures. Some of the drawings depicted pain so real, I had to walk away. Hitler and Franco devastation in art form. There is a long political history of the use of art to put forth political ideas, but I am way too ignorant of both art and history to espouse upon it here. We stayed for three hours in the musee and walked many corridors.
We emerged and Charles wanted to check out the inside of the train station before returning to the apartment. We strolled through and identified that we wanted to take a taxi so as not to have to drag bags up and down the stairwells.
We decided to go to the Plaza de Espana so that Charles could see the Don Quijote and Sancho Panza statutes on the Torre. The trip was for not, as the Torre Madrid was surrounded by Navidad stalls and you could not even approach near the Torre.
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| Awe the map! |
We realized how close we were to the apartment and walked back arm in arm. The day did not grow colder as usual. It stayed fairly moderate. And except for locking the neighbor out (we share a locked hallway) the night was calm. I miss my phone though....
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