Blake and Deborah in Europe: Madrid

Madrid is home to some amazing art museums. We visited two. First was the Reina Sofia, which features modern art including Picaso's famous Guernica painting and some fine pieces by Salvadore Dali (both artists were Spanish, of course). Our second visit was to the Prado, which many consider the greatest museum of paintings in the world. Deborah was quite patient as I stood for long moments staring at 500 year old paintings, especially Hieronymus Bosh's “Garden of Earthly Delights,” possibly my favorite painting.

In the matter of less serious art, we've also seen some pretty inventive street performers in Madrid, beyond the usual lot who paint themselves from head to toe in silver or gold and stand perfectly still until someone drops a coin into their upturned hat. There was a version of the creature from the Alien films. There was The Invisible Man who used some sort of undetectable wire frame to support his hat and glasses and nothing else above his collar. There was the Falling Over Guy who had some sort of very strong support hidden under his clothes to allow him to maintain a constant state of nearly horizontal posture as if he were tumbling to the pavement. And there was the paunchy Spiderman, who had no particular talent apart from looking like a middle-aged version of the superhero who had long since stopped scaling the exterior of buildings in favor of taking the elevator.

We also took a walking tour of central Madrid. While it was somewhat informative it was also disappointing as much of what was pointed out to us was no longer there. The guide had a strange interest in identifying for us the locations where such-and-such building was burned down or so-and-so cathedral was destroyed. It was almost like a ghost tour for buildings.

Update on the missing baby Jesus in the nativity scenes: My sister Lisa cleverly asks if there is a sign nearby asking “Have you found Jesus?” Also, if the wee messiah is not to make his appearance until December 25^th, then Deborah asks why until that time the figure of Mary doesn't have a pregnant belly? It's a good point.