Without Question or Pause

I think it would be nearly impossible to go to Madrid and NOT see anything Cervantes or Don Quixote related.  Above is a statue of Miguel de Cervantes.

And the street where he lived is named after him.

The street is a pedestrian only street - I think we should have more of those in the US.  

This inscription is hung on the wall of the building where Miguel de Cervantes lived and died in 1616.

This, a line from Chapter 7, can be found just outside the house Cervantes lived in:  ¿Qué aposento, o qué nada, busca vuestra merced? Ya no hay aposento ni libros en esta casa, porque todo se lo llevó el mesmo diablo. 

The statues of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Plaza de España appeared to be the most photographed thing in Madrid - at least from what I saw.  People EVERYWHERE.  

Ruiz, a friend of mine from the Mish, who now lives in La Mancha, brought me my very own copies of Don Quixote that are printed in La Mancha.  Thanks Ruiz!

And I think this might be my favorite Picasso.  I didn't see it in Spain.  I wonder where the original is located.  Also, I was disappointed not to have seen an old windmill while traveling in Spain.  I did, however, see plenty of new HUGE windmills.  Which gave me an idea for a movie:  an updated Sci-Fi Don Quixote with him fighting the modern windmills in some way.  That's the basic premise, now someone go write the script.  Thank you very much.

The Surprising Life of Ham

There was a minor feria (expo) in Plaza Mayor while we were in Madrid.  For Ham.

Big ol' legs of pigs.  Just hanging around.  

Then sliced for folks that had paid 7 Euro for a plate of the stuff.

I never liked the stuff when I lived in Spain.  It was rubbery and just not my kind of ham.  I'm a a jamón de york kind of girl, if forced to choose between the two options.  But really, I don't much like jamón de york either.  It's too over processed and jamón serrano is not processed enough.  So I prefer the ham that's in between.  The kind you find under glass in the deli at Safeway.

I've gotten used to seeing lets of ham hanging around, but it's still a little disconcerting to see so MUCH of it in one place.

I couldn't get my sister to try jamón serrano at all while we were in Spain.  Probably because every time I spoke of it I was crawling with heebie-jeebies.  It's hard to hide heebie-jeebies.  And I feel bad, because she may have actually liked it.

That same day I learned something about ham that came as quite a surprise to me:  Spaniards love ham because of the Spanish Inquisition (which nobody has expected since then, by the way).  In Spain's effort to ensure recently converted Moors and Jews to the Catholic faith had left behind their old ways, they encouraged the consumption of ham - ham being prohibited both by the law of Moses and the Quran.  

I'm not exactly sure why I find this so surprising.  I just do.

Sea of Taxis

Outside Atocha there had to have been at least 100 taxis.  

I've never seen so many taxis in my life.

And yet I didn't see a single person get in one at the station.

Atocha

Puerta de Atocha is the main railway station in Madrid.  We stayed about a block away in a tiny little two bedroom apartment.  We caught a shuttle from the airport to the train station then walked the short distance to the apartment.  I think we must have walked through or by the train station every day.

We saw the tropical trees when we arrived.  But we hadn't realized the effort that was needed to keep the trees.

Is that steam?  Or just water?  In addition to the tropical gardens they had a photo exhibit of Russia as seen from the window of a train.  It was quite breath taking, really.  It made me want to ride a train through Russia.  

There are turtles in several areas.  These reminded me of Simpson...she had a  little turtle on the Mish...what was it called?  I don't remember.  Nugget? Maybe.

The station was built with the collaboration of Gustave Eiffel.  That guy had his fingers in everything it seems.  The Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Atocha.  As train stations go, it's not ugly.  It's a surprising bit of paradise intermingled between the hustle and bustle of every day commuting.  

Modern Art

My first night back in Spain we headed to the Reina Sofia see some Modern art.  I'd heard about this museum quite a bit when I was first in Spain, probably because it had opened a few months prior to my first arrival.

I saw some pretty amazing and a bit surprising works from Dalí.  I had only ever seen his surrealist stuff.  I hadn't expected something so real and relatable from him.  

I also saw a lot of Miró.  I really enjoy Miró.  His art is simple.

And child-like.  But mostly, I think, I like his art because so much of it features primary colors prominently.  I'm a big fan of red and yellow and blue.

This photo is taken from the Guardian UK's website.

I mostly was looking forward to seeing this painting.  "Guernica" by Pablo Picasso.  Why?  Because when I was in high school a woman who had survived the bombing of Guernica as a child, came to visit my Spanish class to talk about the bombing.  She spoke of being dragged through the streets by her mother.  The rushing and the stumbling and the scraping of knees as she was pulled to the nearby caves for safety.  This bombing was the impetus for her family's emigration from País Basco and eventual settlement in the Boise area.


This painting is a huge symbol for the Basque people.  I'm sure it reminds them of where they've come from and what they've survived.  For me, like much of the WWII era, it reminds me of the dangers of unchecked aggression.  And how that aggression can lead to evil.


The painting is very large and impressive.  It evokes vivid pictures of mother's running with their children.  What must it be like to have the day disturbed in such a way that it changes your entire life?  I hope I never know.

We found ourselves at an MC Escher-ish staircase.  I think I count 8 floors below the main floor we were on.  I imagine rooms filled with crates of art.  I'd like very much to explore this staircase and the halls that branch off of it.

Maybe next time.

In the shadows of tall buildings

Today I saw this:

And then I saw this:

I also saw this:

Overall not a bad day of seeing things.

Quite the Retreat

Parque del Buen Retiro is a former Monastery/Royal Gardens or Retreat in what used to be the outskirts of Madrid.  It is now very close to Madrid's city center and would be, I guess, the equivalent of NYC's Central Park. 

It is filled with trees and absolutely gorgeous.  We didn't see half of the park during the few hours we were there.  It was beautiful and peaceful.  Lots of families hanging out before going home from school.  And LOTS and LOTS of green.