I´m so sad because I just went to post today´s entry and I lost my connection and my entire post! 

Anyway… today I was in search of Barcelo and Tapies and I was determined to find that at the Renier Sophia.  So I got up and off I went.  The museum is down by the beautiful train station that I arrived in over 5 weeks ago.  I cannot believe that it has been this long!  In a way, I feel like I have been here forever and yet got here just yesterday.  It´s pretty wild.  But arriving at the museum, it is decked out with two glass elevators that give youa bit of vertigo when you ride them.  It´s pretty weird to ride four floors with no grounding point.

BUT I digress… right in front of you when you walk through the doors is the small sculpture garden centered around a Calder.  As you continue around the small square you see a Joan Miro and 4 Juan Muñoz pieces, who is someone I would get to know later.  Then to commence into the museum proper and quite frankly after hitting up the desk for all paper goods (including map) I came to realize how pointless the map really was because it did not have all that much information for you. 

Momentum started pretty slow here and i didn´t expect it to… The first exhibition I went through was not resonating in the very least for me and I was trying to figure out if the Prado kicked the energy out of me yesterday or I just didn´t like the work.  Things picked up when I started to get into some stuff I could get excited over… Donald Judd, Cy Twombley, (lots of) Yves Klein, Mark Rothko and John Cage to name a few.  Now that that wet my appetite I knew that I just didn´t like the first exhibition I saw and now I was on the prowl for my Barcelo and Tapies.

The rooms in the museum are pretty much divided into themes and this is something I didn´t really pay much attention to for a long while.  It seemed like pretty random associations at first and I wasn´t really seeing why they did what they did.  You see, I think I have stopped paying attention to most things audible since I don´t understand and I also haven´t really read much for the same reason.  Once I realized there was English on the wall, I started to pay attention.  So this started to catch on after many rooms that had combinations of Picasso, Miro, DeChirico and Dali (amongst others).  I also finally got to see a portion of a Luis Bunuel film who is someone Sergio has been telling me about since before I left the States.  He was a Surrealist film maker and friend of Dali´s. 

But I then started in on a room that had Picasso´s Guernica sketches and photographs of the piece in progress.  I thought that was cool and quite frankly then wondered where the actual piece resides.  You see, folks, I never actually researched the places I was going to go in all of Spain.  I just went and saw what I saw.  So you can imagine my surprise when I turned around and there it was… Guernica.  AND you can imagine how much more surprised I was when I saw that we were allowed to take photos even though there were signs all over the museum and two guards that stand guard over just this piece.  I don´t know but who am I to complain… I whipped out my camera a snapped a few shots!

So then it was about time for a coffee break… I was with my new friend, Camilo so we asked a guard and got directions to the cafe… and asked three guards along the way for more directions.  Feeling recharged and only with an hour before I needed to return home to Vero, I still had not seen any of my Tapies or Barcelo so Camilo asked a guard and off we went.  We only had to ask one other guard to get to it and as I walked into the room a saw three small pieces on the wall I was so underwhelmed and was thinking… how can this be?  Feeling a little defeated I moved on and looked at what else the rooms had to offer.  Forgetting this museum´s unique catagorizing, I ran into 6 more tapies pieces in the next few rooms and felt redeemed.  Honestly, I am thrilled to have seen them because in person does not compare to a book.  His surfaces are so unique and gorgeous.  And with that, I was happy and also accpeting that I was not going to see Barcelo.  So sad but what can you do?

The big surprise was Juan Muñoz, aka dude i never heard of.  His work is about the depersonalization of the human and the self absorbed communication we have with one another.  This pieces relate with each other but also inanimate objects and the spaces thay inhabit.  I loved them  They have no eyes, in fact they look taped shut and they were cast in a number of mediums including resin and bronze.  His early work has an affinity for little people and staged theatrics but really I loved these ball bottomed people.  But with that,  my time was up and I headed back home to get ready for our outing.

Vero invited me to accompany them to a friend´s house where the boys went swimming.  We sat by the pool and chatted about “the crisis” which is something I hear spill off people´s mouths quite readily.  Everyone seems to be hurting.  BUT, it was a nice little time and the boys seem to enjoy rattling off words that can go with banana.  They are pretty fun!  Once everyone was cooled off, we travelled back into the city center with “Slave to Love” on the radio.  Spain is a big Bryan Ferry fan.

Vero had decided that I needed a night out in Madrid so off to the Austrias neighborhood we went for tapas.   We settled into this sweet little place and had a selection of croquettes, gazpacho, tomato salad and tuna with oil and peppers on baguette.  Completely perfect for 10pm!  Then we were off to explore the neighborhood and  find a cafe con leche.  This section of the city is considered the elegant old section.  We strolled through Plaza Mayor(Cecilia, I don´t think i could find that sandwich place if I tried!), the Palace, the Opera House and many other nooks and crannied that screamed with charm.  Everywhere you go in this area there are terraces lined with tables and people enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Tomorrow… well, I´m sleeping in a bit then off to the Thyssen to see the Matisse show.  This is literally at the end of my block.  Can you even argue that it isn´t wonderful!