Goodbye Madrid - heading home!

Leaving the coast of Spain behind...

Adios Madrid

Friday,  November 08, 2019                                            Depart for Chicago

            

Heading for home today. We were up at 6:30 AM, for a shower and breakfast. We left for the airport at 8 AM via taxi and arrived at airport by 8:30, a quick trip during Friday morning “rush hour”. As our plane didn’t leave until 11:30 AM, we had extra time to process a VAT refund of $25 and I felt unhurried through the 2 additional security screens for which I was randomly selected.

Terminal 4 at the Madrid Barajes Airport

The new terminal opened in 2006, making this the second largest airport in Europe

This delightfully colorful and modern terminal was designed by Pamela, Rogers and Vidal

We had nice seats on Iberia Airlines - 14 A & C. It was a pretty day for flying – sunny with white puffy clouds. As we departed, we had a great view of downtown Madrid and the Cuatro Torres sky scrapers. We passed over more Sierra mountains, and headed to the Atlantic via the northernmost coast of Spain.

Whoo hoo! One of 50 Notable Women in Healthcare (Crain's)

The Cuatro Torres - 4 skyscrapers in the modern section of Madrid

Heading out over the mountains of central Spain

Heading over the Atlantic, crossing the northernmost coast of Spain

While waiting at the airport, I checked the internet and work emails. I found out I was named one of Crain’s 50 Notable Women in Healthcare! Very nice surprise.

Our seats did not have a working outlet, so I was only able to work on the computer for about an hour before it ran out of juice. After that, I watched Quentin Tarantino’s new movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. Not bad, I liked it because of its focus on 60s California culture. The  9 hour flight went by quickly enough.

Always great to fly over our city in our approach to Chicago's ORD

We arrived at ORD on time at 2:45, although it took over an hour via taxi to get back to apartment to pick up our car. We then drove back to Wisconsin, leaving by 5 PM, as it was already getting dark. I slept most of the last half of the trip –a big car crash near Stoughton slowed our progress. We made it home by 9 and I went right to bed. Definitely tired and feeling the 7 hour time difference. Looking forward to seeing the grandkids tomorrow!

Last afternoon in Madrid

One of the final stops that we needed to make on our Madrid tour

Thursday,  November 07, 2019            Madrid

Since it was our last afternoon and evening in Madrid, we wanted to squeeze in a few more sights in this magnificent cosmopolitan city. After leaving the Brueghels exhibition, we walked to the Puerta del Sol, and saw the clock on the tower of the Real Casa de Correos, where New Year’s Eve is famously celebrated it Madrid. Twelve grapes are traditionally eaten at the stroke of midnight. IKR?

The tower of the Real Casa de Correos in the Puerta del Sol

A little touch of graffiti escaped removal in central Madrid

Waiting for Godot under the Miguel Cervantes statue

We walked past the beautiful lion statues of the Congreso del los Disputatos (Congress of Deputies – government office) on our way to visit the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum.

These lions can definitely take out the Chicago Art Institute lions!

Government office in Neo-Classical style

Heck, these lions can even take on the NYC Public Library lions!

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, named after its founder, is an art museum in Madrid that is one of three anchors of its “Golden Triangle of Art”.  Along with the Prado and the Reina Sofia national galleries, the Thyssen-Bornemisza fills the historical gaps in its counterparts' collections. With over 1,600 paintings, it was once the second largest private collection in the world after the British Royal Collection. 

Squeezing in one more art museum before we leave tomorrow

Exterior of the T-B art museum.  There's a patio across the interior plaza for dining in nice weather.

The museum was hosting a special exhibition on impressionist paintings and photography, comparing the 2 side by side, which we greatly enjoyed. We then started at the top floor of the regular collection and saw many El Greco’s and a Rembrandt. But we ran out of steam after about 2 hours and we skipped the more modern items by Picasso and Dali, etc. That’s OK, they will be there another day.

Rembrandt self-portrait

El Greco painting of the Annunciation

After a very satisfying day in the city, we walked back to our hotel. Mike says we’ve averaged 14,000 daily steps this week. I believe it! I packed up for an hour – we have plenty of room, even with all of our purchases. At around 7 PM, we walked up the street to El Velazquez for dinner – we were the only ones upstairs, as it’s early. We had the salmorejo tomato soup and fried eggplant, and artichokes and quinoa salad topped with salmon, and some cava. All very tasty.

Next, we decided to stop at the “Best Chocolate Cake in the World” site on the way home – it was just around the corner. (La Mejor Tarta de Chocolate del Mundo). We had a piece of cake and café con leche for 6 euro – and it was the best. It had a crunchy chocolate meringue as part of the cake – just delicious.  We were home by 9 and ready for bed. We’re heading to the airport in the AM.

We walked past this place twice a day for the last 4 days and decided we had to check it out!

Rich and crunchy, with little pieces of intensely chocolate meringue

The menu - printed on a circular card the size of a CD

Who knew Madrid would have a fabulous Brueghel exhibition?

The Outdoor Wedding Dance by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

Thursday,  November 07, 2019            Madrid

As we headed east through the city center, we decided to stop at the Palacio de Gaviria, which was hosting a Brueghels exhibition. The paintings were fantastic and we ended up spending  almost 2 hours there.

This sign, outside of the Palacio, caught my eye and we decided to attend the exhibition

The palace setting was ideal for this exhibition  - soothing blue walls, rich wood paneling and multiple  mirrors

The Palace of Gaviria has two beautiful courtyards and a large chapel

Built in 1846, it now serves as a place for exhibitions and events

The Palacio is an eclectic building which was built in 1846 for a Marquis of the House of Gaviria. Historically, it was also known as the Palacio de Buena Esperanza (Good Hope). The Palace was inaugurated in 1851 at a ball presided over by Queen Isabella II.

Pieter Brueghel the Elder started a family dynasty of 4 generations of painters, including Pieter the Younger, Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jan the Younger.  They were educated Protestants that lived in the Low Countries.  Pieter the Elder was highly influenced by Hieronymus Bosch - and imitated his style in many etchings and paintings.  The exhibition said he was known in some circles as Bosch the Second.

An etching by Pieter the Elder, highly imitative of Bosch's fanciful style

A pen and charcoal drawing of 16th century agricultural life, with impressive windmills

River Landscape by Jan Brueghel the Elder

Vision of Saint Hubertus by Jan Brueghel the Younger

The Bird Trap by Pieter Brueghel the Younger

In addition to the peaceful winter and agricultural scenes, the floral still lifes were mesmerizing for their details.  It was amazing to come all the way to Spain to see a fantastic exhibition of a family of 16th and 17th century Dutch artists!

Floral masterpiece framed by the long hall and courtyard windows

Iberian graphic design - can you tell the boys from the girls?

Graphic representations of men, women, disabled and baby changing facilities

Often when traveling in other countries, it can be confusing when one is ready to use the facilities - the WC, the rest rooms, the toilettes, the break room.  Most often, it's because I have to make the effort to remember what to call the bathroom in that country's language.

However, in Portugal and Spain, even when you know the location, trying to tell the men's room from the women's room was a challenge - primarily because of their fondness for using very stylized graphic symbols to label the rooms.  This tendency made it imperative to look very closely before selecting what's behind the door in front of you! See the images below for a better sense of what i mean:

And this pair:

These symbols don't seem so bad when grouped together:

                                  But take a look when it's the only sign on the door:

Here's a crazy pair - how do you tell the boy birds from the girl birds?:

I should've cued in on the pink and blue, I guess

I like the new facilities that are Unisex -- you don't have to figure it out, you just get to close the door on your own little cabinet and use a common sink area!

All are welcome here!