Part 8: Madrid Day 5 -- Reina Sofia Museum

20170415

The Trip

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

This is the Neptune Statue near the Atocha train station and close to Reina Sofia.

The streets in this area of town, like many areas in Madrid, are very narrow.

There is an interesting mix of architectural styles in this neighborhood of Madrid: old with new.  Note the new brick on top of the older-style stone.

One of the streets was turned into a pedestrian mall with this nice fountain.

More narrow streets.

An interesting building with an overhanging first floor.

A "green wall" with growing plants on the side of the wall.

We passed yet another custom ham shop.  Plenty of hams of various varieties.

The lower hams were available by the slice at up to $27 (euro) per kilo.

Our objective for the day was the Reina Sofia National Art Museum.  Clearly a popular place: the elevators were recently added as they do not match the motif of the balance of the building.

An interesting sculpture out front of the museum.

Turns out that photos inside the museum are prohibited.  But, before I realized that I got this shot.  This is a sold chuck of iron cut into a cube.  Not "cubist" art per se, but something close in an odd sort of way.

Another huge chunk of 10" thick steel plate.

A view looking toward Atocha from the upper floors of the museum.   "If I atocha once, I atocha a million times....".

Interesting and expensive stairways at the Reina Sofia.

A deep stairwell within the museum.

A rather odd sculpture in the museum's garden.

A nice kinetic sculpture in the center garden.

After looking at Picasso paintings all afternoon, this looked quite "art like".

We left the museum and got a bit at a corner cafe.  From there, we headed up the hill to Parque Retiro.  Along the way, we passed this government building.

The entrance to the park had this nice statue.



The center of Retiro had this nice statue/fountain combination.



The gargoyles were quite odd.



An interesting statue at the entrance to a museum in Parque del Retiro,



This family was having a great day on the lake in Parque Retiro.



One of the main statues at Parque del Retiro next to the lake.



The Madrid Stock Exchange (AKA "La Bolsa")



The CentroCentro building.  Note the sign.

We were pretty whipped from all the walking.  Reina Sofia was huge with 5 floors (we did 3) and it was hot.  Upon our return to the hotel, we could see bands teeing up outside in the street for another Semana Santa precession.  Later, we watched it from the comfort of our private balcony.

Interesting blue costumes with the pointed hoods.  Change the color to white and they are the KKK uniform.



The drums were very loud and they echoed through the concrete canyons of the city.



The second group carried Christ's body on a litter.



 The next group brought a statue of Mary.

Tomorrow, is kind of a down day.  We plan to see the M.C. Escher exhibit and maybe a bullfight.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2017 all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.