Well, it didn't take me near as long to come back to Madrid this time as it's only been 6 months (compared to 32 years when I returned this past May). I decided to come back because there was more I wanted to see and I have saved up vacation time and money from not travling for two years. I've now spent three days here and decided to write a little bit about what I've done so far. I do this mainly for my family and friends that used to read the emails I would send back from my travles (a tradition started by my cousin Will). Just saying this because I don't mean to brag or boast. I hope whoever reads this enjoys it and gets something out of it.
I arrived in Madrd this past Saturday morning, exhausted from a flight that was just bumpy enough to make sleeping on the plane even harder than it already is. I checked into my hotel (my room was ready!), found a place for a quick breakfast, and then took a three hour nap. When I got up I headed to El Barrio de las Letras (the literary quarter) where many Spanish writers once lived, such as Cervantes and Lope de Vega. I saw the spot where Cervantes once lived and where he died although the building is not the same. I also was able to see the patio in the Lope de Vega house, but the rest of the house was by appointment only. Oh well. I found a tapas bar and enjoyed a slice of Tortilla Española (Spanish potato omelette) and a local IPA (I was suprised that IPAs even existed here) before heading to the Thyssen Bornemisza art museum. This is the massive private collection of Baron Thyssen Bornemisza that after it toured the world for much of the 80s, he decided to sell most of his collection to the Spanish government (775 paintings for $350 million) in 1992, after I lived here as a student. I enjoyed the museum but not as much as El Prado, and after a while I got tired of seeing paintings of Mary and Jesus. The Thyssen has paintings from many epochs, from medieval to Renaissance to modern. I enjoyed the modern most of all. There was a painting by Richard Estes of telephone booths in NYC that my brother used to have a poster of in his bedroom when we were kids. He had seen the painting on a middle school field trip to NYC when the Thyssen collection was there on tour. He no longer has the poster so I bought him another one in the gift shop. One interesting thing about the museum is that they had a very large collection of art from the United States. In fact, that was what I saw first which was a little strange having just arrived in Spain from the US. Later that night I went back to the Casa de Champiñones (houst of mushrooms) for dinner. Deliciosa!
Yesterday, after breakfast, I took a commuter bus to the Palace of El Pardo which is to the north of Madrid and was built in the 15th century as a hunting lodge for the king. It was later expanded under the Bourbons in the 18th century into the palace that it is today. From 1939 until 1975, the palace was occupied by dictator Francisco Franco as his official residence. Today it is used as a guest house for visiting heads of state (sort of like Blair House in Washington, DC but bigger and outside of the city). Almost all of the rooms we saw were decorated with tapistries, many based on paintings by Goya, from Belgium and Spain. The only rooms we saw that had anything to do with him were his cabinet room and his office. The office is still set up as it was when he was dictator. As I looked at the desk I wondered to myself how many death warrants he had signed from that desk; certainly thousands. Thinking about that gave me the heebeejeebees. I was very tempted to spit at the desk but somehow resisted. The entire tour was in Spanish and I was able to understand almost everything. It was a beautiful day and afterward I walked around a bit and had lunch at a nearby cafe. In the gift shop of the palace I had bought a book of photos of the Civil War and a couple of post cards. I forgot them when I left the cafe and didn't remember until I was on the bust back to the city and did not feel like getting off, waiting for a bus to go back, etc. Oh well. At least it was only a small book and post cards. I'm sure I can find that book elsewhere.
After resting at my hotel, I headed for the Malasaña neighborhood where I went on a pre-arranged Tapas walking tour. There were six of us on the tour plus a guide who was from Madrid. We all got a long great as we wandered the neighborhood, learned a bit about its history, and went to four Tapas bars. We were all from the states and got along really well. It was a delightful evening and I enjoyd seeing this neighborhood that was the center of La Movida Madrileña in the 1980s but that I had never been too (why?!) when I lived here in 1990 and didn't go out (I know; I know). The Movida was a virtual explosion of culture, art, and, yes, partying that resulted from the death of Franco and the transition to democracy when most Madrileños had their first taste of freedom. I had no idea when I lived here that I was living through the end of such an important time in the history of Madrid and of Spain. But I really appreciate it now. The films of Pedro Almodovar from this time period, such as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, and Tie Me Up Tie Me Down are examples of the artistic expression that flourished during this time. If you haven't seen these, you should at least see Women on theVerge... his best film in my opinion and the colors and the technology (or lack thereof) remind me of my time here.
Today I spent most of the day with my former art history teacher Marisa Marina Lopez. In the morning, I met the students from Furman University who are here now doing the same program (at la Universidad de Nebrija) that I did 32 years ago. Afterward, I walked over to the Parque del Oeste (Western Park) to see the gun fortifications from the Civil War. There were three of them in a row at the top of a ridge with no historical marker or notations of any kind. If you didn't know there had been a war, you wouldn't know whey they were there. While looking at them, two older women came by talking about them and so I asked if they knew if they were fortifications of the Spanish Republic or of the Franquistas and they said they were the latter. We talked for a few minutes in Spanish about the war and about Madrid. They complimented my on my Spanish which I appreciated. I met Marisa back at the school at 1:30 and we walked to a neaby tapas bar. After an hour or so, we went to another where we sat outside, ate and drank, and talked for about 5 hours! All of this in Spanish. I'm pretty comfortable with my Spanish but it is not easy and it is not natural for me like English so when Marisa complimented me it really meant a lot. We talked about our families, the Civil War, Spanish politics, food, movies, etc. It was a wonderful afternoon and I'm so grateful to have reconnected after all this time. Well that's it for now. Thank you for sharing this experience with me. Hasta luego. (Please forgive any spelling or grammatical errors).
Bill aka Carey aka Guillermo
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