Madrid Day 1

First off, what a weekend! We fit so many museums, palaces, shows and everything else into about two and a half days. I am so exhausted, but it’s a very fulfilling tired. I feel like I have gained some much cultural knowledge of Spanish history. Before I start describing every last little detail of my excursion to Madrid, I want everyone to know what Guernica is. Guernica is probably one of the most famous paintings by Pablo Picasso. He pained this work during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. This painting, or should I more of a mural, holds both artistic and political significance. Google it to find out more! It was so cool to see in person.

Now I will start. We left from Plaza G. G., as always, at 7 am on Friday morning. As usually the nightlife crowd was just headed back in from the clubs. We arrived in Madrid by 10:30 after making a stop for come café and los servicios. Our first stop on our museum tour was to el Museo del Prado. This museum was located in the heart of the city, and was surrounded by beautiful buildings and statues. As we waited for Jesus to get our tickets, we took in the glorious sunlight that would grace our entire weekend in Madrid.

The Museo del Prado was enormous. It housed a significant amount of all the paintings from the famous Spanish Artists like Velázquez, Greco, and Goya. Jesus took us around to all these paintings and explained the history behind these masterpieces. Velázquez painted for the royal families during his lifetime. He painted several family portraits, religious and mythological scenes. Greco, painted most religious works. The royal families did not care Greco’s brutal style of painting, so he was denied artistic patronage. Goya also painted for the royal family. My favorite of these three artists is Velázquez. His paintings are so detailed. They seem to jump off the canvas even though they were painted over 400 years ago.

After our first museum, we headed to our Hotel to check in and eat our lunches our Madres packed for us. The hotel we stayed at was Hotel Melia Galgos. It was like walking into heaven when we came through the front door. Everything was marble and glistening with luxury. Our rooms had wonderful pillows, a nice big bathroom and a shower with excellent water pressure. This is why I love the excursions, the fabulous hotels. Once again our Madre packed us a feast for twenty. She made us a Spanish tortilla bocadilla, packed us 5 pieces of fruit, a pastry, and a roll of cookies. I don’t think I left anything out. I shared with everyone like always. Everyone seems to be appreciative our of Madres massive lunches.

At four we left the hotel again and went to another museum. This one was called el Museo Thyssen. It had mostly paintings from the 19th century, including a lot of great impressionist pieces, which just so happen to be my favorite! I saw painting from Monet and Renoir. I even saw a few pieces from Picasso. The third floor of the museum was mostly dedicated to religious works. There were more paintings by Greco on this floor. I really enjoyed this museum, and thought it was really relaxing to wonder through the galleries by myself and look at the artwork.

Directly from the museum we headed to a show. We were all expecting some type of musical drama, like Jesus Christ Superstar, but that was not the case at all. The show we saw was called Momentum. It is hard to describe what I saw because it was such a sensory overload of everything. The best description I can come up with is a combination of Stomp, Cirque De Sole and Acapello singing. The cast of the show was incredibly talented. They preformed these amazing synchronized drumming and dancing routines. They also coordinated for several acapello skits. There was roller-skating, dancing, flashing lights, playing music with water and cups, beat boxing, and flamenco. On top of all that they did this one skit where they incorporated the audience into their show. They had the audience members beat box and then pull these different cords that kept coming down from the ceiling. Each of the cords from the ceiling had a different sound, so the people in the audience had to coordinate with the musicians on stage. It had a really cool effect in the end, and it was hilarious to see some of the older Spaniards get in touch with the beat. The beat boxing performer also came up to people in the audience and gave them the microphone so they could try their hand at beat boxing. An older lady got handed the mic she looked so shocked, and made this sound like a dying cow. I was sitting on the end of my row, so I kept thinking the guy was going to come back and hand me the mic. Thank god he didn’t. I don’t know what kind of sound would have come out of my mouth.

The show ended around 10, which in Spain equals dinner time. Each of us was given forty euros to pay for the three meals we had to eat on our own this weekend. The bus dropped us off at the hotel, and a group of us headed out in search of food. We found this restaurant called VIPS. It was kind of like a Panera, but a little different. I got a turkey burger and salad, which tasted nice and wonderfully American. Most of us stayed in on Friday night because we had a full day ahead of us packed with a tour of a palace and another museum. Stay tuned for more of Madrid!