Apparently Zoe woke up at two and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I woke up for a bit then but I went back to sleep and didn’t wake back up until nearly nine a.m. When nine did roll around, Kate was over here chomping at the bit to get going. She and Sue were up, dressed, and ready to roll. Robert showered in their room, Zoe and I showered here, and I bet we were all ready to go by 9:30 ish.
First Breakfast in Madrid
We first went down for breakfast and had the usual continental. The best was the rolls and ham and cheese. They had mueseli, but no yogurt. The coffee was strong and black, black, black. Good juice too, but nothing spectacular.
The Prado in the Rain After a 34-Year Wait
I spoke to the guy at the desk to get a reservation at the Restaurante Botin for tonight and he said he would take care of it and then we headed off to the Prado. It was about 10 or so. We walked straight down the same street the gelato place was on called the Calle de las Huertas. The only problem was that it was pouring rain. Three of us had umbrellas. Sue had a crazy neon yellow garbage bag poncho, and Zoe and Robert really just had their coats. By the time we got there our shoes and pants were pretty much soaked. When we were trying to cross the Paseo del Prado we all almost got completely drenched by the cars that were spraying amazingly huge amounts of water from the gutters.
Robert and Kate lining up in a rainstorm to get into the Prado
It didn’t take too long to find the huge line of umbrellas waiting to get to the ticket (taquillas) windows at the Puerta de Goya for the museum. Apparently you can enter at any of the four entrances, but we walked around to the Puertas de Jeronimos where the new wing is and waited in the rain in another line to get in. Once in we checked our wet umbrellas, bags, and coats and went through the metal detector and were finally in the museum. Almost instantly we were approached by a woman with dyed pinkish red hair asking if we would like a private tour of the museum. I noticed that she had an official looking badge on, so she seemed legit. She said that for €50 she would give us an approximate one hour tour of the Spanish masters on the second floor. Sounded like a great idea to me and a pretty good bargain at that. Her name was Julia and off we went up the elevator to the first floor galleries. No thought about where to start or what to do or how to get there. We were in Hulia's hands. Amen what a blessing
It should be said that I have been wanting to visit the Prado for about 34 years or so. It all began when I was a senior in high school and Mr. Crane, my Spanish 4 teacher, assigned parts of Michener’s Iberia for us to read for a class assignment. In that book is a chapter on Madrid and a section on the Prado and I have always remembered his descriptions of the room that held all the paintings of El Greco. That started my lifelong love of El Greco and my lifelong desire to see them for myself at the Prado. I actually went back and read the Madrid chapter from Michener's Iberia and the Room 12 (Sala XII) he was talking about held the paintings of Velasquez, not El Greco.
In 1974 when Larry Finney and I came to Europe, Madrid was on our itinerary primarily for me to see the Prado, but when we realized how long it would take to get over here and then back to Paris we decided to stop at Barcelona and head up to Lyon from there. So no Prado. In 1982 when my mother and I were in Washington DC on the East Coast trip with Uncle Bill and Aunt Doris there was a traveling El Greco exhibit at the National Gallery and I have the poster from that exhibition in my house to this day. At any rate it is quite a big deal for me to be finally be having the opportunity to see the Prado.
Julia first took us to the rooms with the Rubens with the great horse in St. George and the Dragon, Adoration of the Magi, and the Duke of Lerma with the same looking horse.
Rubens, St. George and the Dragon, 1607
Rubens, Adoration of the Magi, 1609-1628
Rubens, Duke of Lerma, 1603
Then to the El Grecos. I remember the huge canvas of the Trinity, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Annunciation, the Portrait of a Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest–all in the same room.
El Greco, the Trinity, 1577-1579, Sala 10a
El Greco, Adoration of the Shepherds, 1612-1615, Sala 9a
El Greco, Portrait of a Nobleman with His Hand on His Chest, 1580, Sala 10a
Sala XII
She then took us to the Velasquez room (Sala 12)
where we saw Las Meninas and then out in the hallway for Las Lanzas (lances), the Surrender of Breda.
Velasquez, The Family of Felipe IV or Las Meninas, 1656, Sala XII
Velasquez, The Surrender of Breda or The Lances, 1635, Sala XVI
And then all the Goyas: The painting of Charles IV and His Family, The clothed and nude Majas, The Third of May 1808, the Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 1814,
Goya, Charles IV and His Family, 1800, Sala 32
Goya, The Third of May 1808. the Execution of the Defenders of Madrid, 1814, Sala 32
Goya, Saturn Devouring One of His Son, 1821-1823, Sala 38
Saturn Devouring One of His Sons and The Dog, perhaps about Goya himself at the end of his life longing for heaven.
Goya, The Dog
We also saw the Colossus which some feel is not actually by Goya himself. At this point we paid Julia, said our goodbyes and headed back into the galleries. This was definitely a God thing.
With our tour guide Hulia. For €50 we had an amazing one hour tour.
We went back to see Rubens Three Graces, but it was out on loan. We did find the Caravaggio, the Beheading of Goliath, the Poussins, and several Titians.
Caravaggio, the Beheading of Goliath
Raphael, The Cardinal
Then we went down to the ground floor and saw the Cardinal by Raphael, and eventually found the Garden of Earthly Delights by Heironymous Bosch (El Bosco).
Heironymous Bosch (El Bosco), Garden of Earthly Delights
We also saw his The Haywagon and a couple of Boticelli panels. The Durher Self Portrait was out on loan but we did see his Adam and Eve.
The troops were getting hungry and thirsty and so we went back to the new wing and fumbled around when we couldn’t tell for sure if you HAD to buy the €15 pris fixe lunch or if you could buy a la carte. We decided to try and find the other café in the basement, but that turned out to be a wild goose chase. The café was no longer there. It was in the new wing. This walk did allow us to see some of the sculpture we might have otherwise missed so it was all OK. Out of other options we went back to the café and got in line for the café which was three times as long as it had been. When we got to the front finally asked and we could order a la carte. No problema. I had a bean and sausage soup and a basket of bread, and a cervesa, Christine had pretty much the same and Robert had a Spanish omelet, Tortilla España.
We looked in the bookstore, which was a pretty poor one at that and then we went over to the new wing to look at the exhibition “The Nineteenth Century in the Prado.” The new wing has three levels. We saw many Spanish artists I was not familiar with that were great. I loved the Little Naturalists by Aranda, Boys on the Beach by Joaquin Sorolla, the Legend of the Monk King by Alisal, and the Execution of Torrijos and His Companions on the Beach at Malaga by Antonia Gisbert, and Los Picos de Europe by Carlos de Haes.
Sorollo, Young Boys on the Beach
Gisbert Pérez, Antonio (Spanish), Execution by Firing Squad of Torrijos and his Colleages on the beach at Málaga
Jose Alisal, The Legend of the Monk King
Goya, The Butterfly Bull
On the third floor was this space with apparently old masonry and columns around the walls. We couldn’t figure out if it was new or where it came from, but it was cool and the lighting was amazing. It appeared to be a part of the church that was across the street from the Puerta Jeronimos entrance we went in. After we finished up there we went back to the bookstore. By the way the bookstore was weak. Not much to buy even if you wanted to. We did buy a few things thought and then got our coats and bags and headed back out into the rain.
Goya, The Butterfly Bull
Zoe and her new hat
Yes it was still pouring. We took a bunch of pictures out in front of the Prado and then headed up past the Plaza de las Cortes and then up Carrera de San Jeronimo toward Puerta del Sol. We stopped at a souvenir shop along the way and at a shoe shop at the Plaza del Sol, but we were all sopping wet by this time and Sue’s paper bags had begun to disintegrate, so we headed back to the Persal. I took my best guess from the map and low and behold it took us 10 yards from our front door. I haven’t completely lost my touch!
Zoe and her new Madrid knit hat
Robert taking a well-deserved nap
After we got back Kate and Sue took naps and Robert and Zoe went down to in Internet café to try and connect with their friends. Robert then went on a walk of his own and I sat most of the time up here writing.
Restaurante Botin–The Oldest Restaurant in the World
I went down to the front desk and check about our reservation at Restaurante Botin which is supposed to be the oldest restaurant in the world dating from 1725 and apparently it was all taken care of. We all hung out until about 7:40 when we started the walk over. I got one street cockeyed once but I quickly figured out where the Plaza Mayor and we walked down a set of stairs and there it was. Later we found a postcard and with that exact view of the restaurant from the top of the stair case. Our reservation was for eight but we got there just a couple of minutes early and there was a line. But as soon as the door opened we got right in.
We went down into the cave room. Talk about atmosphere.
First steps down
Next flight
Our dining room.
This restaurant dates from 1725 and supposedly the Guiness Book of Records calls it the Oldest Restaurant in the World. Hemingway mentions it in The Sun Also Rises. In the final two pages of the novel Jake Barnes invites Brett Ashley there for the segovian speciality of roast suckling pig washed down with Rioja Alta. Robert, Kate, Zoe and I had the House Pris fixe meal. It was now €35.90 instead of the €30 many of the guidebooks said.
Zoe and a glass of Rioja
With the house menu you got bread, water, wine, garlic bread soup with egg, the roast suckling pig and ice cream for dessert.
The bread. Five mini loaves
Robert and Kate at Restaurant Botin
We also got a bottle of the house Rioja and let all the kids have some–like the doctor’sfamily did in Italy this past summer. I sort of believe that if you let them try some it will tend to demystify the whole drinking thing. Christine had a salad and their filet mignon with mushrooms and Sue had grilled prawns.
Sue's grilled prawns
They also sent out this huge basket of bread with five mini loaves. It was all quite good especially the new potatoes that came with the pig.
The house speciality-roast suckling pig
Chocolate and ice cream for dessert
The pork was actually quite moist and succulent. Sue through in €50 so the bill started at €231 and wound up at €181 ($271.50 or $54.30 each) Not bad for a memory of an experience that will last a lifetime. We left and wandered back to out place and stopped at the internet place the kids had been to earlier. No earth shaking news from home except that the elder board meeting had been cancelled for tonight.
Out front of Botin
I then had this bright idea of walking down to the Atoches train station to buy ticket for our trip to Toledo tomorrow, but by the time I got there the ticket windows were closed. I at least got a schedule and know exactly where to go. The round trip walking trip took almost an hour and I was just a little bit hot and sweaty when I arrived at a little after 11.
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