Cultural Tuesday

Tuesday, March 28 - Mornings still do not exists for me yet. If I'm not up late 'cause I'm going out, I'm up catching up on the computer or the tv :)

So, this afternoon I went to the local "Central Park"... el parque del Buen Retiro. It was a gorgeous day, and many were jogging or milling around. I entered the park through the door of the fallen angel. At the end of the road there is a statue of satan at the moment of his fall. i vaguely remembered this from 3 years ago, angela and her friends had brought me there to see it, and they were convinced it was the only sculpture representation of this moment of the devil, as an angel. I never did look it up to find out if it was true... maybe it's the only one in spain? i forgot to look for a plaque, but here are some shots of the plaza, a close-up of the statue, and a close-up of the details that surround the bottom, which are these funny gargoyle faces with lizards in their talons.

I also started a series of pictures of people at rest in public. Every time I saw someone sleeping on a bench or chair I took a snapshot. I'm going to try and make an album out of it, it's pretty fun, and apparently there's enough material in madrid :) take a look at the first series.

Leaving the park I saw the famous Puerta de Alcala` (famous to me only 'cause I have a song stuck in my head that keeps repeating the name... If you ask me about the history behind it, I'm gonna give ya a rain check until I have a chance to look it up :D ). To the uncultured observer, it's just an archway in the middle of a plaza, surrounded by traffic.

Continuing up north I reached the plaza where Angela works, but I went into the National Library to see a temporary exhibit of some of Rembrandt's work. Really cool stuff, the guy is amazing! It was only etchings, proofs of concept and unfinished stuff, but you could see the skill. No pictures allowed, unfortunately.

Back down towards the street of Alcala, looking for the Plaza de Bellas Artes, where every day there's supposed to be outdoor shows at 5pm. I walked and walked and ended up at Puerta del Sol, way past the area it was supposed to be in. No clue if I missed it 'cause it was under construction (half of Madrid is under construction!! I have come to hate them "obras" signs) or if I was supposed to turn somewhere... it was already past 5pm, and I had babysitting duties at 6:15 again, so I opted to walk back home. The evening was spent going to Angela's old place, looking for a package I sent her with travel guides before I left. We didn't make it back until 10pm! At which time I looked for a local Flamenco show place to make reservations for tomorrow night! Yey!

Here's a pic of me about an hour ago, Angela's handiwork, and how I spend most of the nights I'm home ;)