Day Two in Madrid: The Spanish Way

After the bedbug incident, I'm not really in the mood for an Art Gallery this morning. But, because it's the Reina Sofia, and they have Picasso's magnum opus, Guernica, I make the effort to be chipper.

The sculpture in the lobby is of a paintstroke. Paul fell in love and took about 100 photos.

The Reina Sofia was huge, and free because it's Sunday! We weren't so lucky at our next gallery, the Thyssen Bornemisza. Because they're a private collection they charge too much all the time. I decided not to go, as I felt I'd had my fill already from three enormous galleries in two days! Paul spent the afternoon there while I checked out the markets near our hostel.

In the evening, we made good on our promise to have proper tapas in Spain, and walked to La Latina, where there's a street of the cutest little Spanish tapas bars you ever saw. As we walked through Old Town, I finally felt like I was in Spain. The rest of Madrid is fairly non-descript, and could really be any modern city. But Old Town (and La Latina) couldn't be anywhere else, and I loved that.




We feasted on three tapas and drinks at three different bars. My favourite dish was like a potato quiche with a crunchy top that I plan to find a recipe for. And, since discovering them not so long ago, I've believed that a good caipiroska is one of life's best treats. And though they're mainly a South American drink, I can tell you that the Spanish make a great one! I love the the way the fruit is muddled, rather than blended, so it's like a cross between a cocktail and a fruit salad.




When we got home, there was a huge party at our hostel. It's totally that kind of place. Knowing we wouldn't be able to sleep (and not wanting to be reacquainted with the bedbugs too soon), we decided to join in and get to know the people in the hostel. It was worth it - by the time we got to bed (way too late, as per usual), we'd had a great night.


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Day One in Madrid: The Rain in Spain

My first impression of Madrid by daylight wasn´t great. We headed straight to the Prado  (Spain´s major art gallery which includes Las Meninas, a work often called the greatest painting ever). Unfortunately, it was raining and we didn´t have an umbrella. We also weren´t expecting queues that snaked around the building (damn you Lonely Planet for saying it would be empty!)



The museum itself was great (and enormous). Once we left, naturally we headed straight to the next gallery! Caixa Forum is a lesser known gallery but I would totally recommend it. It features a wall garden (pic below), and mainly newer works including (at the moment) a really cool photography exhibition covering the life of a prodigy photographer who started at the age of 8, in 1905.


The garden wall at Caixa Forum. Not posed. I actually did look this stupid.

 The sun had decided to come out to play by the time we left Caixa Forum, so we headed into Parque del Retiro, the Madrid equivalent of Central Park, and wandered around for an hour. The highlight was the Crystal Palace, in the middle of the park. Being inside it feels like standing in the centre of a palatial greenhouse!

We were hoping to find a nice tapas bar for dinner, but there were no decent ones near our place, so we had a really nice kebab instead, and promised ourselves we´d do tapas tomorrow.

 

 

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Last Day in New York

We woke up feeling bittersweet this morning. That's a feeling I'm getting used to. I love New York and it feels weird to say that I'm ready to go.

After checking out (and having one last lesson on spotting fakes from Snoring Lamp Man), we tool the subway to the Museum of Natural History.

We hopped on the wrong line, and by the time we got there, we only really had time to do one thing. I wanted to do the dinosaurs. Paul wanted to do the Gift Shop. Go figure.

We went to the dinosaurs.

Then we headed back to the Theater District to enjoy our final (eleventh) broadway show, the fantastic Driving Miss Daisy.

After buying one last enormous Jamba Juice, we dropped by the New York Public Library. It was cavernous and felt very foreboding. You have to go through two metal detectors and up two stone flights of stairs before you see a book. Well, except for the books in the gift shop. Go figure.

Paul in front of the library.

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