We got up at about nine and got to the buffet by 10. It was a pretty weird buffet. Still no yogurt and a whole bunch of interesting Spanish delights including empeñadas and an interesting assortment of very interesting meats and cheeses. It was hard to find stuff I loved. Robert got a fresh omelette and it was tough getting coffee.
The family took off some where between 10:45 and 11 which didn’t make commander Kate happy. I registered and hung out in the lobby area looking at my email, talking to a woman from Stuttgart, and setting up my España blog.
The journalism committee meeting I had agreed to run started at two. Russell Viers and Jim Petrucci were there and two advisers actually showed up–Shannon from the American School in London and Jonathon from the other school in Zurich so with me that made five of us. We all got pretty excited about putting together some king of a European journalism contest with pdfs and both Shannon and Jonathon agreed to co-chair the committee so it was all a success. I finished by 3 and I was probably on the road by 3:30. I was to meet the family at the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum at 4:30.
Museo de America
They had left about 11 and went to see the Museo de Las Americas which told the story of the peoples of North and South America.
Robert wanted to go there even if the girls didn’t care too much about it. The only bad part was that none of the signage was in English, but Robert seemed to enjoy it so that was good.
Thyssen-Bornemisza
Here is Jim's history of art as seen at the Thyssen. These are paintings that I absolutely remember that I saw!
GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico di Tommaso Bigordi
Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni, 1488
Caravaggio, Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1597
REMBRANDT, Harmensz. van Rijn
Self Portrait, c. 1643
CANALETTO (CANALE, Antonio) View of Piazza San Marco, Venice, 1723
GOGH, Vincent van Watermill at Gennep, 1884
DEGAS, Edgar Race Horses in a Landscape, 1894
PICASSO, Pablo Ruiz Harlequin with a Mirror, 1923
ROTHKO, Mark Green on Maroon, 1961
I had no trouble getting back downtown except it was extremely hot in the bus and I took another metro route. I got off at the Plaza de España and walked down toward the Prado and easily found the Thyssen. I arrived at just about 4:30 to find Robert, but no girls. He was sitting there talking to two women. Apparently the girls had stopped to get something to eat. After the museum they has all benn doing some serious H and M shopping, At almost exactly 4:30 the girls showed up and we went into the museum. We decided not to try and do the extra Duhrer/Cranach exhibit and just went to the main galleries which was plenty. However we did splurge and get two of the hand held audio guides.
LICHTENSTEIN, Roy Woman in Bath, 1963
We started with the twentieth century stuff on the ground floor, but the museum is laid out for you to start at the top and work down and it really is a chronological walk through art history. The collection originally belonged to a wealthy German who married a former Miss Spain who sold the collection to Spain for $350 million. The nucleus of the collection consists of 700 world-class paintings by, among others, El Greco, Velasquez, Durer, Rembrandt ,Ribera, Caneletto, Caravaggio, Hals, Goya, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, Kandinsky, Rothko, Lichtenstein, and more. By the time we got two-tirds through the collection we began experiencing heavy art museum fatigue. It would be fun to go back with more time and more energy. We simply ran out of gas.
Museo del Jamon
We made a quick stop at the gift store and got out at about 6:30. For dinner we decided to got to the Museo del Jamon at Carrera de San Jeronimo 6 (one block east of the Puerta del Sol).
This is a chain; I’ve seen at least three of them. We went upstairs to the seating area although many were down at the bar with barra portions. The upstairs was very clean and was a great atmosphere. It also was great because it was open before 8.
Robert got a chicken platter with fries, a salad, and consume and we got paella for cuatro. We also had a side order of Jamon Serrano. We also learned that the small sandwiches are called bocattas. The paella was excellent and the saffron rice was filled with pieces of chicken, shrimp, calamari, mini clams, huge mussels, and little baby crabs that we couldn’t figure out how to eat. After a 35-minute wait, which the waiter told us about, it all came out piping hot in a big pan. It really was gorgeous; exactly what you would have expected it to look like. It was very tasty and may have been my favorite meal we have had so far in Madrid.
We headed back right after dinner and were back in the hotel by 9:30. We then all went down to the lobby and everyone got 10 minute on Wi-Fi which all tolled took over and hour. I think we all tried to get to sleep by midnight, but I had the worst night of sleep so far on the trip. I even got up and took a Tylenol PM. Robert couldn’t sleep either; I heard him tossing and turning for quite a while. I’ll bet I did not fall asleep until after 2 a.m. Then I woke up a bunch of times to check the clock.
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