Museum Hopper

At the spur of the moment, Jason and I decided to go to the Bullfighting Museum on the northeast side of central Madrid.   The museum is next to the bullfighting arena and was just a short subway ride from our hotel.  The building is built in the Moorish style with strong Northern African and Islamic influences.   Outside of the museum and stadium, they also have statues to famous bullfighters. The museum was free to get into, which was great.  It was a few euros to get into the stadium, which we opted to skip.   The museum had paintings of famous bullfighters.  I had not really realized the art of bullfighting and how it is scored, or viewed as "successful" in the ring.  The three rounds required stamina and skill.  I still do not quite understand how it was scored or what was considered more complex; other than, the closer the bull got to the bullfighter, the more advanced it was.  Some famous bullfighters really did have hundreds of fights with bulls that

Get ready -- a lot more posts coming soon!  We just got back from a two week vacation in Spain, France, Italy.   As soon as we woke up from our post-red eye nap, we headed to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia .  The museum is now free on Sunday afternoons.   I went the last time I was in Madrid, I saw the Guernica by Picasso .  I really wanted Jason to see it.  We spent most of our time in the permanent exhibits section.  He really liked it.  Unfortunately, it is a room that they don't allow pictures in.  We stood at a few different angles to view the painting.  You notice different elements of the room depending on where you view it. Here are a few pictures of items that I found interesting: This museum also quite a few Salvador Dali paintings as well.   Even the second time through, I did struggle a bit with the thematic rooms.  The themes do not quite align to artistic styles and movements, but it did seem that influenced the room themes.   T