This week, it has seriously not stopped raining. Like pouring. Like soaked to the bone. Like the umbrella doesn’t do anything. Like my Toms are now probably ruined (which is probably for the better, because I have been slipping and sliding all over Madrid in them).
This is what I woke up to on Tuesday morning:
Yeah, POURING! It was, in fact, NOT hailing. Sure sounded like it though. And then on Friday, when going to pick up my dorsal for the Carrera de la Mujer, it poured again, and the streets were seriously overflowing… Check this out.
Anyway, I tried not to let the rain keep me from my list of 100 things. But it was a bit of a challenge, let me tell you. All I really wanted to do was stay in the jams and watch The Big Bang Theory…
But here’s this week’s countdown, picking up from last week.
93. The CaixaForum
This is a museum of sorts, but one where the exhibits change on a very regular basis. There’s another name for it, but I am drawing a blank. I went with Chris and we had the immense pleasure of seeing about 30 drawings like this one:
As Chris said, it was like watching a tennis match. Some guy drew very accurate drawings of famous places in Italy. It was sort of like Spot the Difference… Then we moved on to a Russian Ballet exhibit. Followed by a third one, which was so memorable that I in fact cannot remember what it was. We spent more time in the gift shop than in the exhibits. Ha!
There was a cool vertical garden outside. Or wall garden. Or something.
92. El Museo de Artes Decorativas (The Decorative Arts Museum)
I was told by a friend that this was a must-see museum. She said it was full of cool furniture! Silly me, I was definitely thinking more along the lines of IKEA or Pottery Barn.
Lots and lots of plates and stuff…
Clearly my jewelry needs some updating.
Spanish fans.
Baby bed and the wet nurse bed (?).
There was a lot of other furniture, but the beds were lumpy and everything was over the top ornate! I like simple, clean lines. And comfy beds. More like IKEA.
But then I stumbled into this room sponsored by the Red Cross. This was MUCH more my kind of art.
The caption under this was “We are what we give, and we are also what we receive.”
“Addiction distorts reality, but also one’s own image.” (My distorted image and me.)
“To construct a fragil and solitary world. It’s our intimate room. Almost all of us have fallen into this metaphor.”
“We get closer to the light, from death, overcoming difficulties and climbing the steps we need toward well-being and heath.”
I loved it. It was amazing. I love art that makes me think. And modern art totally does. And I love it. :)
91. A Spanish wedding.
As I was heading to the museum, I passed by a wedding that was just ending. All the guests were outside waiting for the bride and groom to come out. I wanted to see the novia (bride) so I sort of lurked behind the small crowd, waiting. Everyone kept turning to look at me, and I looked around and was clearly not the only one who clearly wasn’t part of the wedding. Then I realized I was standing right in front of the two cars the bride and groom would be leaving in. Oops. So I snapped a few pictures and vamoosed. Apparently, throwing rice isn’t not allowed here. And the birds were eating it up as I walked by on my way back home. Poor birds… Not that I am particularly fond of pigeons.
The church.
Throwing rice and confetti poppers. The bride and groom were pretty short, so I couldn’t get a good shot.
90. Madrid Rio
I am not sure how many years ago (a couple, at least), the city of Madrid put a TON of money into re-routing the M-30, a pretty manor freeway, underground, in order to build a beautiful park around the Madrid river, the Manzanares. It is beautiful– so serene in the city. I started at Principe Pio and managed to go as far as 2 hours walking took me (a long way!). It was beautiful. Even as the clouds rolled in and it poured again…
89. The Euro-Mullet.
The Euro-Mullet is the single reason I will not let ANYone touch my hair here. I didn’t get a picture of Mr. Euro-Mullet, but it was real. Very real. Not sure how I missed it the first time ’round, but toward the end of our walk along the Rio just before it started to rain (see above), we stopped to get ice cream and when he went to pay (such the gentleman!), it became painfully apparent. The party in the back sort of creeped up out of his collar. Nice guy otherwise though.
88. Taquería Mi Ciudad
Cinco de mayo. Heck, yes. And there’s a MEAN little taco place here in Madrid called Mi Ciudad. Here are the remnants of our little celebration.
All in all, not a bad week! :) The last one of the week needs its own entry. Stay tuned.
la rubia en españa 