Around Madrid

As you can see, the scenery that surrounds Madrid, Spain, is quite beautiful. The photos are from the first time we visited Spain. Our last stop was Madrid. We spent five full days there and flew back to the states at the end of those five days.

People who want to travel, but are afraid of the cost should be aware that there are places where one can stay, nice places, that will not break your budget. The room we had in Madrid was in a really nice hotel, not fancy, just really nice, with a great big bathroom, a large tub as well as shower, and it cost 55 euros a night. At today's exchange rate, that is less than $75 a night.

The hotel was one of three that occupied the upper floors of the building. There was one hotel on each floor. Ours was on the third floor. The entrance did not remind one of the Ritz, the elevator was old and had interesting little quirks in order to operate it properly, but the room was really nice, and the owner was super nice and extremely helpful. If we have the opportunity to visit Madrid again, we will stay at the same hotel.

It was about a twenty minute walk from the Atocha train station, five minutes from El Prado, a huge museum of art, five minutes from the Thyssen Museum, and close to several great places to eat.

The Thyssen Museum holds the painting once owned by Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. She began collecting in 1980 inspired by the collecting activities of her husband, Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornenisza. The largest, and most important part of the collection, was acquired by Spain in 1993 for $385 million. The collection still continues to grow to this day.

I have yet to understand my desire to photograph people I see on our journeys. Perhaps it is

because I have this fantasy of producing works of art from them. I have done several paintings

of people I have photographed. One was a pastel painting of a person I refer to as the 'Pigeon

Lady of Vienna'. Another, that I have started, was of two elderly gentlemen sitting by the

Eiffel Tower in Paris feeding the pigeons. But, there it sits on my drawing board, just waiting

for me to dip the brush into water, then the paint, and as brush touches paper, bring them to life.

Maybe when the desire to write runs it course, if it ever does, I will take up the brush

once again.

The photos above are from the inside of a train station. That's correct, a train station. It is

the Atocha Station in Madrid, unfortunately the station where on March 3, 2004, bombs killed

191 people and wounded 1800. But, as you can see, it did not deter the people from returning,

and using this beautiful station.

One of the nicer things that took place near here was the day we arrived. I knew our hotel

was probably within walking distance, but once outside I wanted to get my bearings from a street

name perspective. As I was looking intently at the map, a woman came over and wanted to know

if we needed help to find something. Totally unsolicited. We had several experiences like that on

that trip, and it was nice to know people were so willing to assist us.

Click on the picture and notice the building leaning out over the

street. It was built that way....

Above are two pictures I took when we went to the park located not far from the hotel. It

was a Sunday, and the park was full of families enjoying the sunny weather. The nice thing about big cities such as Madrid is that many of them have big, beautiful parks in the center of town. What with the number of people who live in town, they are all well utilized.