10,000 STEPS WITH ANDREW AND JAMIE WYETH

This week, we had planned to do our El Camino trip, but it has been delayed. Four of the seven people in this household have been very sick with a nasty virus which has them coughing much of the time, high temperatures, and requiring lots and lots of sleep. It really was for the best that we delay, as there was snow and very cold temperatures on the Camino where we planned to hike.

There are two creatures in this household - a Papillon dog and a cat. They are best of friends - and about the same size. 

I remember seeing an article a couple of years ago about a dog in a senior care facility letting the staff know who was going to die next as it would go to that person and lay with them just before their passing. Well, this cat was like that dog this week, in that he would go and lay on/sleep with the person who was getting sick to comfort them and let them know he was sympathetic!

Yesterday, those of us who were still well decided to go in to Madrid by train, to the Thyssen Museum (of art).  I have my FitBit on every day, and 10,000 steps were easy to achieve when walking through the museum.  There were 3 major exhibits at the Thyssen; the one which inspired me, fired my imagination, and which I related to the most was the  Andrew and Jamie Wyeth exhibit. I LOVED it! Having lived in the prairies for the majority of my life, I knew their monochromatic palette was true to life, and I knew the old buildings and landscapes smelled of dust, sunbaked grasses and wild herbs. The paintings of their summers at the coast took me back to my childhood in New Brunswick on the east coast of Canada - a region very similar to the neighbouring state of Maine. What an amazing collection of their work.  You are not allowed to take photos in the museum, yet I brought home photos of every one of the paintings - in a now-treasured book of the entire display!

Walking to and from the train stations was also an experience. (We arrived and exited Madrid from different stations.) Here are some photos of downtown Madrid, and my fellow art lovers who had this experience with me. :-)

The first thing we noticed once we were on the streets of Madrid was this huge sign on  the Post Office.

Madrid has many beautiful parks,  ponds, fountains, and gardens where "wildlife" can be seen. This pair had come out of one pond in the hopes of being fed by the many admirers who had stopped to take pictures of them.

After seeing the Wyeth display as well as the Madrid Realist exhibit, it was a given that I would take a photo of my cafe con leche at the Museum. In all 3 of the current exhibits, the artists took photos of,  and painted, what was around them in their every day lives. 

Downtown Madrid has beautiful old apartment buildings

Syd and Kim were looking for wild parrots in the trees next to the Prado Museum, which is a short distance from the Thyssen Museum

This building is the Department of Agriculture. So many of Madrid's buildings are like this one in that they have statues on the top of the building, and many artistic features on the face of the building as well.

Here is another museum in Madrid - and its "living wall" which has to be watered from a crane as it is so tall! In the spring, when the plants bloom, Kim says it forms beautiful patterns of color.

As with many of the major train stations of the world, Madrid's premier train station is a work of art ! This building is immense and a beautiful piece of architecture.