Prado, Thyssen, Reina Sofia, and Toledo! Oh-so-many goodies.

Hola a todos! I've had a simply splendid week full of art, culture, good conversations, and touristy things besides. I've now been to the Prado museum twice with my Art History class, and AM LOVING IT. It's pretty amazing. My fave so far is the El Greco collection. Here's The Trinity. Gorgeous colors and expressive figures...

I've also been to the Reina Sofia museum (modern art, lotsa Picasso and Miró and Dalí) where I spent some quality time in awe-struck silence with Guernica.



And the final of the Big Three of Madrid's fabulous art museums: the Thyssen-Bornemisza (heavier on 19th century and impressionism). Went with some friends thinking that we'd possibly be able to peruse most of the galleries because it's the smallest of the three museums, but no! Spent almost 2 hours and couldn't even finish walking thru a quarter of the museum. Oh boy, four months aren't such a very long time, after all! I will definitely be back to each museum... Frequently.





I've been more successful talking with Spaniards this week. Wandering around, exploring shops on my street has been fruitful: I met a woman who wants me to tutor her in English! Cool. And intercambios (language exchanges) are going well, too! Meeting lots of great people :-)





Highlight of the weekend: day trip to Toledo (no, people, not Ohio). A really medieval-looking town rich in history, art, architecture, all that good stuff. It rained all day and never got above 41º F, but Toledo left an undeniably awesome impression. Here are some pictures of the walls around the city.









I liked visiting the churches/mosques/synagogues. This is a photo of the interior of the Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz, Toledo. Interesting name, Mosque of Christ, eh? The building was a Christian church during the era of the Visigoths, who made Toledo the capital of Spain. Then the moors invaded in the 700s and converted it to a mosque. Then the Catholics made it a church again after Toledo was reconquered in the 1080s. All these changes make for SUCH a cool mix of architecture! Here's a photo of the interior, featuring Jesus and some apostles... in a mosque. Cool.






Another interesting place name: Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca. Here's a pic of me in the courtyard, enjoying the view. Anyhow, I really really liked visiting this synagogue. It has a sad history, of course, because the Jews were all expelled from Spain in 1492, or forced to convert. But now the Church uses the building as a kind of museum, kind of celebration of Jewish culture in Spain. And I am a huge fan of Christian/Jewish reconciliation ;-)



AND! While in Toledo I got to see El Greco's masterpiece, the Burial of Count Orgaz! (photo below, detail) The tour guide helped us study for the art history test coming up this week, haha.



Anyhow, It's been a good weekend. Church was GREAT this morning. I'm so happy to have found such a great community here! And yes, I've been to some typical Spanish masses, too, and appreciated as much as I can considering my overall ignorance of language and tradition...

Welp! 22 h! Dinner time. Mari Carmen continues to stuff me with delicious homemade food. Life is good. Hope you've enjoyed. Hasta luego...