Madrid: Reina Sofia, Cable Car, and El Rastro

Weekend of March 1-3
       On Friday March 1, some friends and I went to the Reina Sofia museum, which is an art museum with modern art. It was a very interesting museum, as it didn't make you walk through galleries, but you got to choose what areas you wanted to go into. Today my art history teacher said that the new director of the Reina Sofia moved things around recently...that might explain why we couldn't find anything. The first thing to see was Pablo Picasso's Guernica, which is very large and painted in black and white. It was painted during the Spanish Civil war, and is supposed to reflect the tragedy and suffering of war. It is a very interesting piece, and I didn't realize how large it was until I stood in front of it. You could see where Picasso painted over lines, and made changes. We walked around to different parts of the museum, and I tried to find some of Dali's paintings (since he is Spanish), but I couldn't find very many....I might have to look up their location online and then go and find them. We walked into some temporary exhibits, some of which were quite bizarre, and some of which were pretty neat. There was one exhibit that had hanging walls of eucalyptus leaves, and other hanging walls, and also a fountain. I'm not sure how I feel about modern art, but I definitely like the Prado better! For lunch we stopped at a little pizza restaurant, that turned out to be really cute on the inside and really cheap!

Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Of course this painting was one of the only ones you couldn't take pictures of! so this image is from wikipedia. 

 

         On Saturday March 2, some friends and I went on the Teleferico cable car, a gondola type thing that takes you from Parque de Oeste to Casa de Campo. We got a view of the city, and Palacio from the cable cars. When we got on, somehow the man working the cable cars knew we spoke English and turned on the English audio guide for us. The ride was about 10-12 minutes, and then we got off and walked around Casa de Campo a little bit. Casa de Campo is a really big park on the outskirts of Madrid, and it has an amusement park inside it! 

View from cable car, with mountains in background

View of Royal Palace and Cathedral from Casa de Campo

        On Sunday March 3 we went to El Rastro. I bought a leather purse! Since the boot hunt is going so well, I decided to get a leather purse instead (real leather, handmade in Spain) and not worrying about getting boots here anymore...they would take a up a lot of space in my suitcase coming back. And besides, the only ones that I see that I like are the $300-$400 Frye boots! I'll have to save up so I can buy a pair some day.
         The week of March 3, I had a cold and it started getting worse. Since I have been here I have had 3 colds! I finally went to the English speaking doctor the University recommends, and he said I had a sinus infection...eww. But the doctor was really nice, and the hardest part was trying to find his office. But I got on some antibiotics and after I took them I felt better (and still do). I'm really glad I went, and fingers crossed I won't get sick anymore!

Things I have learned in Spain:

• Visiting the doctor here is not a big deal...and with the University we get some sort of health insurance that we don't have to pay for doctor's visits
• I don't know how I feel about modern art
• The amusement park in Casa de Campo is huge! We could see it from the cable car and I didn't know it was a legit amusement park!
• Sometimes our senora likes to sit after dinner for a long time...normally we just sit there and watch TV, with Spanish conversations about what we are watching
• It is hard to catch up on blog posts when you fall behind!

Adios!