K & L's Travel Blog

Madrid, 31 January & 1 February 2024

Two more weeks to go.  When we look back our first week, it feels like years ago.  

Wednesday, we decide to visit the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum.  It is a private collection near the Prada.  We thought “how big could it be if it was a private family’s collection?”  Boy were we wrong!  Seems it’s the largest private collect after the British royal collection. I am afraid I am not the museum consumer Lorena is.  Lorena encourages me to figure out which picture I would take home from each salon.  That doesn’t work too long because so many are so big.  Hard to imagine them in our home!  

They let you take photos here unlike the Prado so I try and take pics of artists I have heard of.  Remember the movie, Six Degrees of Separation?  A running gag in that movie was a spoof of a Kandinsky that rotated.  So, I got a pic.  Of course, I know Salvador Dali, Monet, Picasso and Degas.  Some others like Hopper and Sargent too.  I have read biographies of Lucian Freud and Frances Bacon so I am interested in those pictures. One artiest I did not know but I was attracted to was Christian Schad.  Lovely two ladies.  But after three hours I am exhausted.  I saw a Munch picture but I am so tired I don’t even try and take a picture. Ha!

At home we make Linguine with clams.  They have such good seafood: canned, fresh and frozen.  It is fun to try the different ingredients.  The produce is SO fresh.  It makes me realize what we are missing at home.  For example, the celery is so firm, green with strong fresh aroma.  Same with the parsley and onions.  And the fruit! This is one thing I love about traveling in Europe is experiencing the food shopping.

Today we venture out to a big local market Mercado de Maravillas.  It is just under a square mile with 250 stalls.  It was thronging with people.  I mean thronging.  Everyone was competing, pushing and buying.  I got overwhelmed after a short time and can’t imagine buying anything. Besides the new to me seafood there are baby pigs, pig ears, bull tongues and tripe galore.  With the crowds and visual overload Lorena could barely take pictures.  Many of the stalls have the same quality items. Some are clearly more popular than others.  It must be the price that make some stalls more popular than others?  It could be the relationship with the sellers?  Who knows.  Of course, we are clueless.  Lorena did manage to buy some olives but the man serving her was mocking.  They are not catering to tourists which is appropriate but sometimes the authentic experience can be exhausting.  Between the language barriers,  cultural differences and  sensory overload we get worn out.  But then you step into a store and find “Buncha Masks” Jigsaw and “Dog Park, The Game.”