El Prado y El Escorial

Wednesday: I took the C4 line to Atocha station in the center of Madrid. Public transportation will hopefully begin to freak me out less as time goes on. Luckily, there are signs everywhere! In Spanish, of course.

I went to El Museo del Prado (The Prado Museum) and spent a good 4 and 1/2 hours. I will have to go back though; that wasn't nearly enough time. I saw some of my favorite works of art that, until this point, I had only seen in text books!

For example:

Caravaggio: "David Vencedor de Goliat"

Francesco Furini: Lot y sus Hijas"

Pedro Pablo Rubens: "El Rapto de Europa"

Pedro Nunez del Valle: "La Adoracion de los Reyes"

And of course... everything the Prado has by GOYA, including the Pinturas Negras and the "Maja Vestida" and the "Maja Desnuda."

Thursday: Thursday I went to the Real monasterio de El Escorial in El Escorial, Spain. It's about a 45-50 minute ride by train. The city itself is very picturesque, with wandering streets and buildings of every color. The Monastery was magnificent! After walking up a hill that makes Jaybird look like a kiddie skate-board ramp, we reached the monastery at the top. It houses museums of painting, tapestry, and architecture, as well as a grand library full of scientific gadgets. One of these gadgets was a gigantic, gold-plated model of the solar system based on Ptolemy's model. (As in, Earth at the center, everyone revolves around us) There were also beautiful gardens that offered a great view of some of the Monastery's architecture. If you are ever inclined to visit El Escorial, there are some things to remember:

1. No photos of the OUTSIDE from the INSIDE. Lame rule. But it's true. And security will hear you turning on your camera from a mile away. Trust me.

2. If you cannot read Spanish, I recommend a guided tour, or at least, an audio guide. The tapestries and some of the paintings have English captions, but most do not. It's a beautiful place, but no one wants to visit and not realize what they're seeing. You might miss the fact that Escorial houses Taller del Bosco's "The Creation." And that would be a shame. The Monastery also has a pretty big collection of Van der Weyden's work.

When I got back, I was in a cleaning mood. I cleaned my floors, baseboards, and bathroom, then rearranged my room. I think I finally found a way to disguise my "Wall of Electronics" (see fb for details).

I am trying to figure out how to put up pictures on here, but it never quite works. Until then, I'll be putting them all on Facebook.

Missing you all. Hasta Luego!

Whitney