dave's thashetheme

Barcelona I

Palau de Musica Catalana, Palace of Catalan Music, is privately owned by the Palau. Originally built by and for the Orfeo Catala, a choral society which still exists and performs in the building. Building started in 1905 and finished in 1908. The concert hall itself has a huge stained glass ceiling and stained glass windows.

Street in the Gothic Quarter.

This skateboard mural is made of a whole bunch of skateboards.

From the Train

This one is getting closer to Barcelona. The bottom four are between Madrid and Zaragosa.

This apparently is not the plain in Spain upon which the rain mainly falls.

Ave Train, Madrid to Barcelona

Electronic display inside our Car No. 5 keeps up with time and velocity (186.411 mph). 300Km/h was pretty close to top speed, and it was smoother than the DC metro. The displays cycled through this one and outside temperature and next destination screens. This train stopped only at Zaragosa and Barcelona.

These three are from the train, between Madrid and Zaragosa. I had no idea it was so arid. Looks like New Mexico.

This is Madrid from the train window.

Madrid

These are all Madrid after dark. The Christmas tree in the bottom photo is metal and glass with lights in the middle. Pretty neat. It's in the Plaza del Sol, about a block from our hotel. We were within a mile of the Palacio Real, Cathedral, Plaza Mayor, Prado -- we just walked around town. These pictures are Christmas Eve. We went to the Prado Christmas Eve, but the other two museums I wanted to go to were closed, so I guess we have to go back. I wanted to see the Picasso painting "Guernica" and also the Thyssen museum which has a lot of modern art. Maybe our next trip. Spain didn't seem to be as expensive as Italy, at least for food and lodging.

Around Madrid

Santa Claus climbing up an apartment building, near the Prado.

At the botanical garden, which is in a big park which surrounds the Prado. This is in the outdoor bonzai garden. The bonzai were pretty neat, some of them obviously very old.

The Prado, one of Europe's great museums. We were lucky because they were also having a Rembrandt exhibition, on loan from another museum. I am happy to report that the Reubens ladies are still as well fed as ever. I got to see the two paintings I really wanted to see, the 3rd of May and 5th of May in Madrid paintings of Goya. They are displayed side by side in a smaller room at the end of the museum. Seeing paintings in a book, of course, is a poor substitute for seeing them in person, if for no other reason than appreciating the size. These paintings are bigger than I thought, probably 10 or 12 feet wide and 8 or so feet tall.

Cindy on the terrace at the Palacio Real.

Palacio Real, residence of Spanish king, built in the mid-1700s. It was very lavish.

Cathedral, Madrid

All of these photos are of the Cathedral in Madrid. In the fourth picture, the one with the data-loss white square, to the far right is the Royal Palace, Palacio Real. The cathedral is gothic on the inside and neoclassical outside, started in 1879 and finished not very long ago.

Kruje

This was taken from the airport before we got on the plane to Munich. In the distance on the side of the mountain is the old town of Kruje. It is about halfway up the mountain.