Thanks for the excellent guided tour of Madrid and the museums Nathan.
...Wayne
> -----Original Message-----
> From: olympus <olympus-
> bounces+wayne.harridge=structuregraphs.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
> Behalf Of Nathan Wajsman
> Sent: Tuesday, 4 August 2020 3:05 PM
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; Olympus Camera Discussion
> <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [OM] IMG: Madrid, mostly art
>
> Last Friday I made the first trip away from Alicante since coming home from
> my last business trip in early March. I have long wanted to make another day
> trip to Madrid, alone, to visit art museums at my own pace and generally
> enjoy the big city for a few hours. So that s what I did on Friday, the first
> day
> of my summer vacation. The logistics were simple: I took the high speed train
> AVE at 7 a.m., arriving in Madrid at 9:30, spent the day there, and took a
> 19:20
> train back to Alicante in the evening. I started by visiting the Museo Reina
> Sofia, the main contemporary art museum in Madrid, which houses Picasso s
> Guernica painting (no pics of that, as there is a prohibition against
> photography in that room, and there are several attendants to enforce it). I
> then took a walk in the magnificent Parque de Buen Retiro, Madrid s
> equivalent of New York s Central Park, and then went to the recently re-
> opened Museo del Prado to see (again) some of my own favourites from
> previous visits, including the Flemish masters, Hieronymous Bosch, the
> Spanish painters Vel quez, Goya, Murillo etc. In-between I visited another
> cultural icon, the bar El Brillante, and had an early lunch of their excellent
> version of one of Madrid s signature sandwiches, the bocadillo de calamares.
> After the Prado I walked to the centre of the city (I walked everywhere;
> given the epidemic, I did not want to use Madrid s metro to move around as I
> usually do), first Puerta del Sol, heart of the shopping district, and then
> Plaza
> Mayor, a large square containing Madrid s old town hall and lined by bars and
> restaurants that usually making a roaring trade vastly overcharging the
> tourists for mediocre food. But not now. The plaza was virtually deserted,
> and had I wanted a table at one of the restaurants that were open for
> business (quite a few had not bothered to re-open) I would have had ample
> choice. The museums were also almost empty they are only allowed to let in
> 1/3 of the usual maximum number of visitors, but do not even come close to
> that. This was nice for me, not that nice for the museums.
>
> The virus-control procedures are quite strict. It goes without saying that
> facemasks are compulsory everywhere; to enter the Prado you must submit
> to a temperature check and if you score 37.5C or above, you will not be
> admitted. I was slightly concerned because I had just spent an hour in the
> Retiro park, and the outside temperature was getting close to the afternoon
> high of 40C, but I need not have worried my temperature was 36.5. At the
> Atocha train station where were gates through which passengers would
> pass, and the same rules applied anybody with a temperature of over 37.5C
> would not be allowed to board the train. On the train, none of the usual
> services were available the cafeteria car was closed, no free earphones or
> newspapers were distributed as is usually the case, and passengers were
> encouraged to stay in their seat throughout the journey and not to talk to
> other passengers. Obviously masks were worn by everyone throughout.
>
> Enough words. Here are the photos I took, many of the art works at the
> Reina Sofia, a musuem I have visited before but always together with
> someone else. This was the first time I really had time to explore it, and I
> was
> really astounded by the quality of Spanish painting in the postwar decades,
> when cultural life in this country was constrained by the Franco dictatorship
> but this did not keep its artists from producing excellent work (I see some of
> the same when I visit Poland and look at art from Communist times the
> censors were too stupid to catch some of the nuances of modern art; writers
> had it more difficult).
>
> So come for a Covid walk around Madrid, that looks familiar and yet very
> different from the city I am used to visiting:
>
> http://www.frozenlight.eu/madrid_july2020/
> <http://www.frozenlight.eu/madrid_july2020/>
>
> Cheers,
> Nathan
>
> Nathan Wajsman
>
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/> http://
> <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
> <http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog:
> http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
> <http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
>
> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator
> <http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
>
> YNWA
>
> "I m not arguing, I m just explaining why I m right"
>
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