Friday, November 23, 2012

Day 2- Art & Food

Our goal for our first full day in Madrid was to jump right into the culture. After a morning of searching for a quaint cafe' to write my morning blog I quickly learned a cafe' in Spain serves both coffee and alcohol, which is great but many are not open very early and they do not have wifi. So we ended up at the all american wifi central, Starbucks. After our lattes we headed to Museo del Prado, the main Spanish national art museum. It features one the world's finest collection of European art from 12th century to early 19th century but unquestionably the best single collection of Spanish art. My favorite part was the collection by landscape painter Martin Rico a Spanish painter who's works include beautiful images of Spain and Italy. I also enjoyed Las Pinturas Negras (The Black Pictures) By Goya, it was something very different especially during that time period and he originally did them as murals in his home, they were later transferred to prints. I did in fact take away a few more pieces of information, 1. 18th century or earlier art starts to look the same after a while, 2. larger women were definitely considered sexy back in the day and, 3. any painting done of a baby or child is extremely creepy. After a walk through Parque del Buen Retiro where we saw Madrid's oldest tree it was time for tapas and vino of course. I mean when in Rome, right...... La Casita was the place, Patatos bravas (spicy potatoes), Albondigas (homemade meatballs) and my new favorite Croqueta casera de jargon serrano (homemade ham croquettes). It was basically fried mash potatoes with pieces of ham mixed in. Another thing we learned is that a late dinner is not 8 o'clock. The dining room of the restaurant we went to did not even open until 9pm. Tonight we need to start adjusting our schedules to start our day later so we can try to get into the Madrid night life which is apparently the highlight of the city.

2 comments:

  1. When will we see you on the travel channel, their writers have nothing on you.

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