Feelings of the Day: The little things make life enjoyable, like someone who thanks you or when you immediately find a parking spot downtown. Other little things can make life hard, like getting held up by all the red street lights or forgetting to bring lunch to work. Some call it luck or fate, good or bad. I just call it life. It's how you react to those little things that matter.
Full Day’s Events: Today I had a mission to visit the headquarters of a miniature game company that had been unresponsive to my emails along with several hundred other people. It was causing concern amongst fans of the game and to the current state and future of the company. I spent the first part of the morning writing questions, in English and Spanish, which I should have done during downtime in Almazan.
Backpack ready, and route to the company’s location locked in, I started on the first leg. I took the fast train several kilometers North and got off to take the regional train for the next leg, but I needed to use the bathroom (a #1). I looked. Then I looked again. Nothing. I asked a janitor and they said there were no bathrooms in the station. What?
Leaving the station I punched into my phone a search for public bathrooms. There was one a little to the South so I started walking towards it and noticed there was construction up ahead. Then I noticed the wall and a crane behind it. It was where the washroom was supposed to be and it was all under re-construction.
Again looking at my phone, the nearest one was a kilometre and a half away. While I was going there several of the recommended routes my phone was giving me were fenced or blocked off for undeclared reasons. Once there I found it was an outdoor free one. As soon as I opened it I regretted this entire excursion as the smell from the almost overflowing backed up toilet reminded me of being back in the Navy and going to the washrooms the morning after the first night in a foreign port of call. I had to go so I pushed my revulsion down and went anyway.
After I was done, I tried to wash my hands. Water didn’t run. Soap didn’t dispense. I was very glad I carried hand sanitizer. I gave up on the excursion for the day and would try again tomorrow.
I returned to my accommodations, dropped off my backpack, and headed for lunch at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. The Thyssen art museum was established in 1992 and, when it opened, was the second largest private collection of art on display in the world. It receives over one million visitors a year and, with its early Italian, English, Dutch, and German art along with Impressionist and expressionist works, it forms a trifecta of world class galleries in Madrid alongside the Reina Sofia and Prado.
My wife and I visited the museum, and ate here, two years ago. My meal for lunch today was filling and tasty with an ensalada rusa (Spanish potato salad with smoked sardines, apple, and creamy egg) and a seafood bisque with spider crab ravioli. I ate the meal with a nice white wine and for dessert had a cappuccino.
Belly full, I entered the museum and visited art that seemed like old friends. It was comforting to walk slowly around and see the paintings that had interested and affected me back then and found they still did so.
The Annunciation Diptych by Jan van Eyck, 1433-35
The Risen Christ by Bramantino, 1490
Portrait of a Young Man with a Ring by Francesco del Cossa, 1472-77
The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Babtist by Bernardino Luini, 1523-25
Young Knight in a Landscape by Vittore Carpaccio, 1505
Portrait of a Young Woman Known as "La Bella" by Palma el Viejo, 1518-1520
Portrait of a Young Lady Spinning by Maerten van Heemskerck, 1531
The Annunciation by El Greco, 1596-1600
Many of my favourites were not the “big and famous” paintings, but they had that special something. It was a pleasant several hours. Something new that I discovered on the museum website, while writing this, is that you can do high quality virtual tours from the comfort of your own home. A bonus, since I didn’t get to walk around the whole museum today.
Saint Sebastian by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1616-17
David with the Head of Goliath by Valentin de Boulogne, 1616-18
The Piazza San Marco in Venice by Canaletto, 1723-24
The Grand Canal from San Vio, Venice by Canaletto, 1723-24
Easter Morning by Caspar David Friedrich, 1828-35
Portrait of Sarah Buxton by Thomas Gainsborough, 1776-77
After getting back to my apartment I linked up with the group and J had gotten the ingredients for making supper. We were treated to fantastic wine, huge shrimps with delicate meat, and stuffed raviolis with pesto. She ended the meal with a choice of desserts from a nice place just down the street. 8.5km and 26 flights walked.
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