Madrid

After accompanying students to Zaragoza, Spain, for an exchange program, my colleague and I were free to travel to Madrid for a few days. The students will stay in Zaragoza for 5 weeks, and their host families will accompany them back to Madrid to catch their flight to the U.S.

In Madrid, we walked around and visited several must-see sights. My colleague had been to Madrid several times before, but everything was new to me. We visited El Prado, El Museo Reina Sofia, El Palacio Real, El Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, La Plaza Mayor and El Parque de Buen Retiro. We visited a few stores, but my favorite store was Salvador Bachiller (http://salvadorbachiller.com/), which has everything from shoes to purses to suitcases to iPhone cases.

What impressed me the most:
-The beautiful and stately interior design in El Palacio Real. I like that they have kept most of the original designs dating back to the 18th century. It's impressive to see the artwork and the "souvenirs" that past royals have collected from other countries.
-La Guernica en El Museo Reina Sofia. I have read about and seen many pictures of Pablo Picasso's masterpiece, but I was not prepared for the size. It was in a room about the size of a football field with bare white walls , and it was the only art work in the room which added to the tragedy of the scene. There were Picasso's sketches of the painting and photos showing the stages of completion.
-Also in the Reina Sofia there was an exhibit with front pages from about 300 newspapers dating September 12, 2001.
-We did not spend that much time in El Retiro, but I appreciated the beautiful quiet in a large metropolitan city. Every large city should have something similar.
-Of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning Las Meninas by Diego Velazquez which is located in El Prado. A friend of mine who visited Madrid several years earlier told me we had to see Las Meninas. I had seen pictures of the painting before, and I did not understand until I saw it. There is something about the painting that is so intriguing. Perhaps it is Velazquez's play with perspective or that he painted himself in the painting or the princess in the painting. I really don't know, but I could have looked at it for hours.
-The ease of transportation. My hometown does not have a great public transportation system, and being in Madrid made me wish for one. It was easy to figure out and easy to get to everywhere we wanted to go.