At the moment I'm in Madrid eating an entire pizza and grapes with nutella. yummy. These last four days it's just me. My travel buddy has continued on to her home in Zafra and I am wrapping up my time in europe before my flight home. This trip has been a compilation of one unexpected thing after the next. Finally, here in Madrid everything is coming to a slow (thus I have enough the time to blog).
I just spent the past four hours in the Riena Sofia and actually plan on going back tomorrow. My student ID has come in handy lending me free access under the assumption I am still a student ;) The Riena Sofia holds many famous works focusing on the twentieth century art revolution. The most famous being Picasso's Guernica:
Unfortunately while viewing this masterpiece I coughed up a lung...literally. I have come down with something resembling the bubonic plague. I'm not sure how I got sick with the amount of dirty public transit, lack of sleep, and smoke filled city air. Buuuut it happened. And since about a week ago I have been eating whole bags of Ricola cough drops daily, and carying around rolls of toilet paper in my bag or back pocket. Despite my sudden urge to cough till no end, the beauty of the masterpiece perservered.
Although most of Dali's work resides in his hometown, just outside Barcelona, some works are kept in the Riena Sofia. I regret not making it to his museum ouside Barcelona...buuut I suppose that just gives me an excuse to one day return. Unlik the Picasso's cubism, Dali takes a surrealist approach to his work. It resembles dreamlike states with realistic and unrealistic characters intertwining, as if the work were a still frame of a dream world.
Yesterday I spent half my day on a train here, which by the way, went incredibly smoothly!!! Not only did the cabby give me a break on the cost (probably out of pitty and hope that I would spend the money on some meds) but I also a. new the address to the hostel b. new which metro line to take to the hostel c. new which stop to get off at and even d. knew which direction to walk out of the metro and exactly where the hostel was. Prrrrrbly the most prepared I've been this entire trip. lol
The second half the day I spet reading in the Botanical Gardens. Although I've encountered numerable gardens all over Europe, their beauty never ceases to amaze. I took a relaxing stroll through flowers I had never seen before, trying to remember the names of favorites until the list grew too long and I had to forfeit my efforts and give up. I wondered to myself if it was acceptable to lay on the benches in the garden and read...uhhh. Thus far public sleeping in Europe was much like public sleeping in Bloomington (never frowned upon but rather expected). I finally started seeing other doing it...safety in numbers. I quickly found a sunny bench next to a fountain and began to read. Oddly enough my animal whispering skills came out of nowhere and soon I had a kitty friend joining me. No joke...a random kitten decided to sleep with me on the bench. (ok maybe a little gross for some...but it was so sweet and of course I loved it). I read quite a bit before I jerked and woke up the sun receding behind the horizon. woops. I then resisted McDonalds and went to a little cafe and ordered coffe and a club sandwich. Later that night I took a walk around the city and observed the city full of life, food, love, and an unexplainable energy.
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