Madrid and home

 

I walked to a 9:30 bus to Madrid. As the bus was going to the station, I noticed the Museo de America, which I had planned to visit. I walked to the museum, which as organized by topic, not by area or culture. Not my favorite museum. I took a metro to my hotel, but found it uncharacteristically confusing. I asked for help, and got where I was going. When I arrived at the plaza del Sol, I found the tail end of a pro-palestine demonstration.

I checked into the hotel and retrieved the bag I had left two weeks ago. I went to mass at a local church, and then heard a marching band, so I followed. It was a religious procession, with a statue carried by dozens of men, people in street clothes carrying candles, etc. They like processions in Spain.





There was a Viva Madrid music festival, so I participated by going to a basement nightclub. The leader was Carla Lourdes, a singer-songwriter of the pop rock persuasion. She had many followers there who sang along. I enjoyed it.








Sunday I went to the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum, a huge museum with art from the medieval era up to the 20th century, and a good amount of impressionist art. 











I took a nap, and visited the cathedral and its crypt. After a Ramen dinner, I went to the Plaza Mayor, where they had set up a huge stage, with pop musicians. Antonio Orozco, Conchita, and David Demaría. These are big stars here; folks knew the words and sang along.  I enjoyed Conchita.





Guernica




Monday I walked to the Reina Sophia museum. Most of what I saw seemed to be between about 1900 and 1940, with quite a bit of material from the Spanish Civil War. There were a couple of interesting metal pieces, one of them was a 38 ton Serra sculpture that somehow disappeared from storage. What was on exhibit was a re-creation. The other was a Alexander Calder sculpture, the mercury fountain. The model did not actually contain mercury, but the real fountain, from 1937, had mercury circulating in it with a little pump. The flowing mercury would’ve been quite spectacular, I’m sure.





I walked up to where I was going to catch the bus in the morning, to make sure I knew where the bus stop was. I repacked for the flight. I did a little shopping for gifts in the afternoon, and went to a jazz show in the evening, the Daniel Juarez quartet at the Cafe Central.

All day I was just feeling that I was so grateful that I could even be here. Actually, I’ve been feeling very grateful for the entire trip. As usual, we cannot count our blessings. I have been praying for some friends and family facing serious health issues.

I woke Tuesday at 5 AM to find an email that my flight was now 5 hours late! I went back to bed. Later I got up and went for a real breakfast, not the croissant and orange juice that had been my standard on this trip. I walked to the bus stop, and paid 5 euros to ride a crowded bus to Terminal 1. I was very early, so I hung out at the airport. Delta gave me a 13 euro chit to buy food, about $2 per hour of delay. :-(

Terminal 1 is modern; I walked what seemed like a long distance without leaving the terminal. None of the electrical outlets worked, including ones with big signs saying “Charge Here”. Luckily the Delta aircraft had a USB outlet that would charge my phone. It was a long flight. I did not try to sleep. When I got to Atlanta I was worried I would not make the connection, but with the help of Global Entry I sailed through immigration, and made it to my new flight before they started boarding. I took the bus to Fort Collins, where I learned that Uber may not be helpful on Tuesday at midnight; I called a taxi, got home around 1 am.