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| Just one of many from the Botanical Garden at Madrid. In fact, there are SO many, I am just adding the others at the end! |
Once I asked my husband to let me look at his senior high school yearbook. In the front, was a large inscription: To the Madrid Kid. His parents sent him on a tour of Spain and although it appears he did actually see some of the famous places, museums and all, he had already told me what most of his memories consisted of. At that point, I closed the yearbook and read no more! Youth is often wasted on people who don't appreciate the experience to the fullest. But we really appreciated it today.
We started off at the Thyssen Collection. This museum is one of the "big three" and really close to our hotel as well.
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| Exterior of the Museum |
Currently, besides the permanent collection which spanned from religious art of the 1300s to present and all the usual masterpiece artists we have been fortunate to grow accustomed to, they also had temporary exhibits by the Spanish painter, Zurbaran, who mostly made work for churches and Vogue magazine photography-most of which wouldn't be allowed in ANY church. But maybe some of it should be!
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| Example of Zurbaran's work. This is very representative. |
The Zurbaran work was generally either depictions of Christ, saints and sometimes with the patron of the portrait conveniently present within the work :)
The Vogue exhibit was stunning. The photos were works that mimicked famous painting, some very recognizable, such as the Girl with the Pearl Earring. Also, in contrast to most exhibits, we were allowed to take photos so feast on these, if you can actually feast on predominantly anorectic things.
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| This is the only thing in the exhibit that was not a photo, but it is a Vogue outfit. Glad I don't have to wear it. |
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| But I have to admit, it is a work of art. |
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| You can see people reflected in the glass looking at the Vogue photo |
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| The photo and the reflection of the lady taking a picture of the photo |
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| Wow. That's a lot of pink and it doesn't stink. |
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| Beach shot |
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| A little crooked in my interpretation but you'll get the point. Gorgeous |
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| I wouldn't mind owning this dress...in a somewhat larger size |
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| Very Vogue |
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| A photo captioned the dress tree |
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| That's Paul admiring this photo you see reflected into the glass. I love this one |
It was a real pleasure to see all the sections of the museum. We were very grateful for the opportunity.
Then we had the pleasure of viewing the botanical gardens which were amazingly diverse. We had fun watching the green parrots flitting about through the trees. The garden is a wonderful bird sanctuary. And Paul had a blast at the koi pond just trying to find the one that most looked like a VOL fan. All these things are pictured below in a big photo series.
Lastly and not at all leastly, we had dinner with a friend, Bert, who was our hiking guide in Andorra last year. It was a grand reunion over a leg of lamb. They served the whole leg. Slightly disturbing, but Paul got the hoof....he thinks he gets the hoof occasionally anyway!
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| I'm pulling someone's leg. |
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| The restaurant. Rustic but very good. |
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| Men with full bellies |
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| Bert takes a bite, |
If we could have had a nicer day in Madrid with better company, I cannot imagine it at all.
Paul's Ponderings: A very relaxed day out and we got to see our friend Bert as well for dinner. The art museum was sort of overwhelming, as many such European museums are, with gallery after gallery of works. After about 3+ hours, we were ready for a break. The botanical garden was also quite nice and then it was time for dinner. Tomorrow is our last day -- where did 3 weeks go?
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