Sunday 11.21.2010


The Separation

We never thought it would come to this, but after 22 years of working and retiring together, over 8000 days Mary and John are separating—but only for a few hours. But first there are pastries to be had. John runs for pastries and coffees while Mary gets ready for the day. Mary gets the same as yesterday and John opts for the Napolitana and both are as good as one could hope. The trip is harder this morning because there is a marathon going on and there are thousands of runners on the street crossing the south end of our square. We must be near the start because the runners are tightly bunched for a good fifteen minutes.

The separation occurs because John thinks that if in Madrid, one should visit the Prado, one of Europe’s great art museums. Mary thinks that a study of the present is much more valuable. After the pastries and coffees are downed and meeting plans made, John walks the 15-minutes to the Prado and is concerned with the line that goes around the block. Fortunately there is a special Rubens temporary exhibit and that is what those people are waiting for. The general exhibition line is short at 10:30 on Sunday morning and he gets right in.

John rents the audioguide to get through the labyrinth of art works inside and to better get his brain wrapped around the process. There are basically two very large floors in the Prado exhibiting more than 3,000 works. While the Prado doesn’t reach into antiquity like the Louvre, it also doesn’t do modern so there is nothing later than the 18th century. The key players here are the Spaniards or those who spent time here, Goya, El Greco, Titian, Velasquez and Murillo. There is also a nice sampling of Northern European art with key works by Bosch, Bruegel and Durer.

Most works from that period tend to be biblical, Grecian, or portraits with a sprinkling of landscapes and still-lifes. After covering one floor completely, John concentrates on the guide to the masterpieces among those on the second floor. There is only so much time a non-artsy person can devote to this exercise. It is amazing that there are paintings here that were done 700 years ago, are still in their original frames and look like they were painted yesterday. It is raining lightly when he leaves at 1:30 for his 2:00 meeting with Mary so he covers up and hustles back to the hotel. What was Mary up to? Let’s ask her.

Well, Mary has decided to visit the Plaza Mayor to check out the Sunday morning market but finds that it’s only a coin and stamp market. So she heads back to the Puerta del Sol for some people watching. As she arrives, she notices a sea of lilac colored umbrellas – another protest is in progress. The leaders of this protest have organized the umbrellas to form the symbol for “woman” as this is about eliminating violence against women throughout the world. After worming her way through the crowds to the information table, she comes away with 2 umbrellas, 4 t-shirts and several pamphlets about the cause, which she can’t read because they’re all in Spanish.

When we reconnect we decide to eat at the first available option down “that” street. It turns out to be a little chain place called “Café y Te” where we get a pretty good Iberico ham and cheese pizza and a beer. We go east today and find new ground with parks, monuments and tons of government buildings including the Congress. As a national capitol Madrid certainly has a different feel with the influence of government and all the pomp and circumstance that involves. We haven’t seen this many buildings with columns in front since our last visit to Washington DC.

We end today’s afternoon walk at about 5:30. Our dinner reservation tonight is at the ultimate in touristy restaurants called Sobrino del Botin. It has all of its Guinness book plaques displayed naming it the oldest restaurant in the world (1725) where Hemingway and Michener have hung out and Goya has worked as a dishwasher. Reagan, Clinton and Bush (Nancy, Hillary and Laura) have all dined here as guests of local royalty. It is a traditional “roasting” tavern where little pigs and lambs are cooked in centuries old oak-burning ovens.

Our reservation is for 8:00 and apparently so is everyone else’s. It seems obvious that they fill it up early (8:00 – 8:30) with tourists, clear it out and seat it all again at 10:00 with locals. There is tons of staff and since most of the entrees have been cooked, they only need to slice and serve. We get a bowl of green beans cooked to smithereens with ham (amazingly tasty) and John has the suckling pig while Mary plays it safe with the salmon and scrambled egg dish. As touristy as it is, the food comes highly recommended and it is very nicely done. The service is efficient and professional and we don’t even have to wait to get the check. We are in and out by 9:30.


It is a stop at one of the cave bars on the way back and since it is the weekend we stop at one more little place just off our square. The streets and square are packed with people shoulder to shoulder at 11:00 on Sunday night in November. These recessions are tough. We’re glad we got back together.

Today’s Picture: Mary’s protesting pals in our square.