Cultural Day

Hello again. So, yesterday I had my first full on cultural day. Anne and I decided that we needed to go to Madrid and actually do some of the cultural activities the city has to offer. So, we got up in the morning and rode the train into Madrid. Our first stop of the day was to the Palacio Real. The Palacio Real is in the middle of Madrid and is used to ceremonies and dinners. King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia do not actually live there. The live in a palace about 12 km outside of Madrid. The last king to live in the palace was King Alfonso XIII. Anyway, we arrived at the palace and decided it would be best to take a tour, so we paid our 10 euros and were walked around what I would call 1/3 of the actual palace. The rest is off limits to the public. The palace was huge and impressive. Each room had a different theme with a different color scheme. Anne and I both decided that that simply added to the clashing affect. Every room was so busy that it actually began to hurt your eyes. Below are a few pictures of the outside.




Scott, Kendra, and me at the Reina Sofia


After we were done at the palace we hopped unto the metro to go the the Reina Sofia Art Museum. Also at this point Kendra and Scott and meet us in Madrid. So, we all went through the museum together. The Reina Sofia is a massive art museum that houses paintings by Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Joan Miro to name a few. Now, normally I am not one to go to the art museums and I will say that by the end I was burned out. However, it was quite interesting because Kendra is a big art person and so as we walked around she would explain the different paintings. One of the coolest paintings we saw was Picasso's Guernica.

I thought this was very cool because Kendra was explaining that it was a painting was of a bombing by Germans during the Spanish Civil War. Once she explained the scene you could really see it. Also, the museum had photos and the painting as Picasso was working on it so you could see his progression and how he changed his mind several times.

All in all it was a very successful day of cultural activities. I was glad that we decided to take the opportunity to see some of these things in Madrid.

Besos