The train station, as seen from across the street, heading into the parking lot.
The front facade of the station. There's a large ornate clock at the base, and the Spanish flag at the top, between two sculptures of winged horses.
In the morning, while going out to the cafe at the end of the block to pick up some breakfast, I put a few euros in a slot machine, and ended up winning 31 euros! A nice way to start the day.
In addition to Salvi, Terry also corresponds with Alba, who lives in Valencia, on the eastern coast of Spain. When we decided to come to Spain, Terry made plans to meet up with Alba while we were there. So we drove to the train station:
The train station, as seen from across the street, heading into the parking lot.
The front facade of the station. There's a large ornate clock at the base, and the Spanish flag at the top, between two sculptures of winged horses.
On the way in, I took a picture of the building across the street, because I thought the scupltures on the top were interesting. It turned out to be the Ministry of Agriculture building:
Here's a closeup of the sculptures, courtesy of Wikipedia:
In the center is a winged figure holding what looks like a stalk of wheat in her right hand, and something else in her other hand, but I can't make it out. On either side are men riding winged horses.
We met up with Alba and her husband, Miguel Angel, and their foster daughter, Naima, and we all went to a nearby restaurant for tapas:
Alba and Miguel, sitting at an outdoor table. Alba holds Naima, who is a one month old baby.
As we sat there, I noticed many people walking by, toting backpacks and suitcases, and I was wondering why... then I realized we were right across the street from a train station! (Sound of hand slapping forehead.)
The restaurant was right next to a plaza:
The plaza is surrounded on three sides by buildings, and is filled with a dozen or so large posters on metal stands, advertising some sort of art exhibit.
...and we were serenaded by a saxophone player:
A gray haired man sits on a box at the corner of the plaza, playing a saxophone. Two young boys are perched on top of a trash can behind him.
Wandering around the plaza, I came upon this sculpture:
This one is hard to describe, and I can't be sure I took the picture from the correct angle. It's a tall pockmarked column of a material like white concrete. Near the top, it divides into two columns, one of them extending a foot or so higher than the other. At the very top is a red multi-pointed star.
...at the base of which was this plaque:
The text reads "Alberto. Toledo, 1895 - Moscú, Rusia 1962. El pueblo Español tiene un camino que conduce a una estrella. The Spanish people have a path that leads to a star. 1937 / 2001."
After lunch, we went around the corner to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre") (w), a modern art museum named for Queen Sofia, the wife of Spain's previous king, Juan Carlos I. While Terry, Alba, Miguel Angel and Salvi had drinks in the courtyard cafe, Juan Carlos (Salvi's husband, not the king) took me to see the museum. There was this interesting sculpture in the courtyard; I found out later that it's "Brushstroke," by Roy Lichtenstein:
As the name implies, it resembles three black and white paintbrush strokes.
The most interesting thing at this museum was Picasso' famous anti-war painting, Guernica (w), inspired by, to quote Wikipedia, "the 26 April 1937 bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country town in northern Spain which was bombed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy at the request of the Spanish Nationalists." I didn't get a picture of it, but I found this picture on the Internet:
Wikipedia describes this painting better than I can: "The grey, black, and white painting, on a canvas 3.49 meters (11 ft 5 in) tall and 7.76 meters (25 ft 6 in) across, portrays the suffering wrought by violence and chaos. Prominent in the composition are a gored horse, a bull, screaming women, a dead baby, a dismembered soldier, and flames.
It's a very striking work of art. And yet I have to admit that, because it's so abstract, if I hadn't already known in advance what it was about, I wouldn't have had any idea what it was about.
But there was another painting, also arising out of the Spanish Civil War, that caught my attention. I tried to take a picture of it, but a guard told me not to, so I made a note of the title and artist, and also found it on the Internet. It's by Horario Ferrer, and it's called Madrid 1937, Aviones Negros (Black Airplanes):
The painting shows several people apparently running from an aerial attack. In the center is a woman shaking her fist at the sky. She's carrying a baby in her other arm, and one of her breasts is exposed. Also in the picture are an older woman, another woman carrying a baby, and a woman leading a young boy by the hand. The boy is crying with fright.
I was particularly struck by the expression on the face of the little boy in the lower right corner - although I must admit the woman in the center shaking her fist also held a certain attraction.
When we were on the top floor, I looked over a railing to the courtyard below, and saw Terry and the others sitting at their table:
Hello down there!
We took Alba, Miguel Angel and Naima back to the train station to catch their train back to Valencia, and then drove out in the country, to a place where they like to take Salvi's dog (Goleta, remember?) to run. If you look at this map of Madrid, you'll see a large green area to the northwest:
...which was where we went. Unfortunately, the place where they take the dog was closed that day. But while we were there, we saw the Palacio Real de El Pardo (Royal Palace of El Pardo) (w):
A large mansion of yellow stone, with a broad hedge-lined driveway leading up to it.
...although this was the way we actually saw it:
The same mansion, now viewed through the bars of a locked gate.
This used to be where the King of Spain lived, and Francisco Franco also used it as his residence after the Spanish Civil War. Today, the King has another residence, and this building is used as a state guest house.
On the drive back, I spotted a couple of interesting items. First, there was this tower:
A tall cylindrical tower, with a large disc shaped structure at the top.
...and a little later, this triumphal arch:
At the top of the arch is a sculpture of four horses pulling a man in a chariot.
I later found out that the tower was the Faro de Moncloa, a communications tower with an observation deck at the top. The arch is the Arco de la Victoria, which Wikipedia informed me was "constructed at the behest of Francisco Franco to commemorate the victory of Francoist troops in the 1936 Battle of Ciudad Universitaria, part of the Spanish Civil War."