in good company

zumo

everyday i make a glass of fresh orange juice.
it reminds me of my lovely Florida.

Guernica

this is my favorite painting. it is displayed in the contemporary art museum of Madrid, Museo de la Reina Sofia, in an exhibit called "la iluminacion de la Guernica". shining light directly at the painting would cause the painting to fade over time. instead the 11 feet tall 26 foot wide canvas hangs over a white platform, lights shine at the platform which then reflect upon the painting, in effect illuminating la Guernica. Picasso painted this in 1937 after the Nazi German bombing of the civilian town Guernica in the Basque Country of Spain.

i can relate to this song and this painting in similar ways.

Bright Eyes_Devil in the Details.mp3

Aranjuez

the Spanish spring palace

Monasterio de El Escorial

Today we went to El Escorial which is less than an hour away from Madrid by train. The original plan was to hike the mountain behind the monastery but since the student admissions rate for the monastery was only 3 euros, we decided to venture through this mighty castle. It turned out to be a good call because while we were admiring the astonishingly accurate maps drawn by Spanish explorers from the 16th century, it started pouring rain.

El Monasterio de El Escorial was both a monastery and a Spanish Royal Palace during the 16th and 17th centuries. King Philip II contracted architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to build this complex as an expression in stone of Catholicism in Spain. Highlights: gold ceilings, the pantheon of kings, King Philip II's death bed, and the Basilica [words cannot describe the grandiosity of this church].

Toledo

75 km outside of Madrid, Toledo is the old Visigoth capital of Spain. El Alcázar is a stone fort once used as palace by the Roman's in the 3rd century. everything here is so old, i can't get over it.

El Estanque del Retiro

today Madrid celebrates its patron saint, San Isidro. Madrid knows how to put on a good show...

El Museo del Prado

these are my favorite pieces from the Prado:

nico & rosie

nico in his school uniform

















rosie the retriever

andando

today i met a pug and smashed it despite its owner's reluctance. i had my first taste of Manchego cheese. the botanical garden was beautiful but i got busted for getting too close to the poppy flowers to take a picture. a violinst played "All of Me" in front of the Prado. i shared a Hefeweizen with a friend from Gainesville. it was a success.

Plaza de Cibeles:




Pictures:

London Part I

i spent my first night in Europe in Canary Wharf (London's financial district). i had a couple of hours before my flight to Madrid today, so i decided to go see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. The Tower of London sits in front of London Bridge along the Thames River. The Tower is famous for being the site of royal executions, torture, and diamonds. The crown jewels were spectacular, unfortunately I couldn't take a picture of the 534 carat diamond known as the 1st Star of Africa.

romance has new meaning in an old country. i'm loving the final words of King Henry VIII's fifth wife, Katherine Howard, upon the scaffold..."I die a Queen, but I would rather have died the wife of Culpepper." [Culpepper was her humble lover with whom she had an affair while married to the King.]

NYC

On my way out of the country, I spent a day in NYC with the fam. I stumbled upon some climbers in Central Park and decided to give this problem a go on Rat Rock.

the start of something

i met a friend on my way to madrid on his way back from barcelona in the newark airport. soon i will be bright-eyed too...