Madrid Card - Day 1... Happy and exhausted.

I went and picked up my Madrid Card at the Tourism Center at 9am this morning. The Center is located in the Plaza Mayor. And, from the get-go I realized a recurring theme... there are few Spaniards in the tourism field that speak any other language... more specifically, none of which I came across today. I found myself translating for Brits, Chinese and Germans (gestures)... man some of these Spanish ticket people are rude. Just because they work there every day and are probably bored out of their minds and expect people to know their language in their country... ok, so maybe it sucks to be them. Just sayin', some of these poor tourists.

So, the first thing I did was take the provided Madrid Vision bus on a trip around the center of the city, past all the museums around the Paseo del Prado that I'm going to see tomorrow, past el Retiro (famous park, constructed by King Felipe IV and considered to be his baby in terms of public works), through the ritzy shopping district on Calle Salamanca, past the National Library, down and around, etc.

The first stop I got off at was the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace)!! Phillip V built it. He was the first Spanish Monarch of the Bourbon Dynasty, and Spain wasn't the popular Monarchy back in the 18th Century so everything's super decked out to overcompensate for that and to exude an image of power and wealth. The throne room was unbelievable, and all of the material used for everything was rich, rich, rich. Also, there was some great artwork, including lux tapestries and some paintings by the likes of Velázquez, Caravaggio, and Goya. It was very interesting to see some of the queens' toys too, that were made out of like solid gold if I'm not mistaken. I like stuff like that simply to imagine what it would feel like to walk down those corridors as a noble back in the day who had to worry about colonies and heirs and the like, and apparently the current Royal family uses this place for state functions still so... that's cool.

This is the view of Segovia from a terrace to the left of the Palace as shown above.

I didn't go into the Campo del Moro (the park behind the palace) because it was raining and I did not see the entrance for the life of me; so, I went to the Plaza del Oriente in front of the palace and frolicked for a little bit before I headed off to Santiago Bernabeu. It looks sunny and I'm squinting/ winking(?), but I assure you it was downcast. Hence the hood. Here are more pictures of the Plaza del Oriente.

Next, I took the metro to Real Madrid's Stadium, Santiago Bernabeu. It was SOOOO fun, even though I felt like a huge loser because I kept trying to take pictures of myself until this group of African guys in front of me offered to take my picture. Also why I'm a loser... I kept taking random pictures of Sergio Ramos and giggling to myself.

Here's one to the right... haha. And then down below to the left is me sitting on Real Madrid's cushy, cushy bench!!! My feet didn't even touch the ground which is pretty disconcerting, as I'm sure there are players shorter than 5'10" who need to rest their dogs.

After playing around at Santiago Bernabeu, I went to the Reina Sofia national museum of art!!

It was fantastic, particularly because I studied a lot of its works freshman year of University. Also, I saw Picasso's "Guernica" which was truly horrifying, huge and daunting and makes you want to cry. There was a lot of photography and art in general regarding the Spanish Civil War. There was a temporary exhibit featuring some George Grosz, who depicted Germany's Weimar Republic as gluttonous and he then joined another artist John Heartfield as one of the first to publicly criticize Hitler. So, I found that interesting. Also, I love the Spanish surrealists Dali and Miro, and I got to see an abundance of their work. Here's a picture I snuck in of Dali's "Invisible Man," which is actually pretty perverted from far away, but the detail and the colours, even the characterization... unbelievable.

Okay, I'm exhausted and have a whole day left on my Madrid Card for tomorrow!! So, I guess, hasta pronto!