The Trials and Tribulations of a Twentysomething Traveller

So I’ve finally got around to updating my blog! I arrived safely in Madrid after my flight from Toronto through London Heathrow around 4pm on Monday June 4th. But because of a mishap in London my bag didn’t arrive in Madrid when I did so I had use what little Spanish I had to find out that my bags were still safely in London and that they would arrive that evening on a different plane and would be sent to my hostel in the morning. So for about 24 hours in Madrid all I had was my wallet, a toothbrush, a camera and my papers. I didn’t let this stop me! After having paella for dinner (which essentially looks like the ocean on a bed of rice, I went on a walkabout that evening in the west end of downtown. I saw Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Plaza Oriental, the Senate building (roundish dome thing) and Plaza de Espana. Madrid’s architecture reminded me of Paris. People were out very late, and it was still light out when I got back around 9:30.

The metro system is very efficient and modern here, but it is also very easy to walk from place to place in the downtown area. On Tuesday I walked down to the museum district to see two out of the three main museums in Madrid: the Prado and the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum. The Prado was really big, but large parts of it were under construction. It featured European art up to the 19th century. Large parts of it did focus on Spanish artists (Velazquez and Goya especially). It is a must for any art lover. I managed to pick up a book called Masterpieces of the Prado Museum which provided a good introduction for non-art history majors to some of the prominent pieces for 1 €. However I still don’t get why certain pieces are more valuable than others done by the same artist. To the unrefined eye (me) they all have their own appeal.

The Thyssen Museum was smaller, but I liked just the same because it had modern art (more my speed) But there were hardly any places to sit down and admire the art from…. a lot of standing today! I stopped in the Botanical Gardens in the evening before getting dinner. Unfortunately, the Botanical Gardens were a waste of time, none of the flowers were in bloom so it was all green and boring.

I saw the last of the big three museums the Reina Sofia before I left on Wednesday. It was definitely my favourite! Nice and big like the Prado, but had lots of modern art. I saw Guernica! Left for Dublin in the afternoon…