Hours in Airports - Erika and Simon's Adventure Blog: Madrid Days 3 and 4

Yesterday we rolled out of bed a lot later than we anticipated (11:30) and decided that in order to make up for our tardiness, we had to take in a day of Madrid's culture. We walked to the Prado Museum to get our fill of beautiful Spanish art and I must say that even though I'd sworn off art museums for the rest of the summer, the Prado was worth it. We spent three hours there but it felt like it went a lot quicker and I got my first exposure to the works of Goya and Velazquez. My favorite pieces were Goya's revolutionary pieces and Velazquez' portraits of Phillip the IV's family and his beautiful work Las Meninas where he paints himself painting a family portrait.

On our way back we passed the Cibeles Fountain which was constructed as a monument to the Greek God Demeter. On our way back we went to the grocery store to get food for yesterday and today because our restaurant excursion two nights ago set us back a little more than we'd hoped it would. We stocked up because grocery stores are closed on Sundays.

At this point I want to take a moment and tell a little story as an aside:
On our second night, Paul was sitting out on the balcony for a while and came to realize that there were several women at the plaza below who literally had been sitting in the same places all day. They were sitting on the railings or on Vespas and were dressed a little, but not too obscenely suggestively. Clever Paul then saw, over the course of a few hours, men walking up to the women and sometimes, the women would leave with them... but then come back later. We've realized that their are hookers outside of our hostel! Even more interestingly, their pimp operates out of the snack stand on the plaza right next to where they wait all day. The candy, chips and sodas are all a front!

Today we woke up considerably earlier in order to get out of room by 11am so that our beds would be made and the sheets would be changed. We went to the Reina Sofia Gallery of Modern Art and were lucky enough to see some of the most famous paintings by Picasso and Dali.

The Reina Sofia Gallery is home to many of Dali's most beautiful works and it also houses Picasso's most famous piece, Guernica. Still, one of my favorite sets of works was a set of beautiful cityscape photographs of Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla taken from the 1860s-1880s. The most interesting part of the photos, however, were that they were in full color. There was a beautiful photo of the Puerta Del Sol from 130 years ago and everything was in color. It's so funny how when we picture the past, or our ancestors, we always picture them in black and white while knowing full well that life still had the same colors as we have now. Still, it was a really surprising contrast to see the plaza that we live on in full color and 130 years ago.
I also saw a very important piece that warns one of what could happen if they play too much piano. Rennie and Mom, take note:

After touring the artwork, we went up to the top floor of the gallery to get some really cool views of the roof and also of downtown Madrid.

Realizing that it was about 100 degrees however, we decided to head back to take a siesta and rest up for our evening activity - the Bull Fight. We left at 5pm and go to the stadium at around 5:30 to get tickets.

We thought that the bullfight was going to be at 6:30 but unfortunately Paul and Matt can't read so at 7pm, while waiting outside the stadium, we realized that we still had an hour and a half to wait and went to get some kebabs instead. We got back well in time for the proceedings, however, and got to our stone seats in the large stadium.

There were 6 novellos (young bulls) and three really young matadors performing today. The matadors, one of whom was making his debut, were all 21 or 22 years old. After watching the fights, however, Matt, Paul and I were pretty horrified with how gruesome the whole event was.
All of the time with the bull seems to be designed to piss off, then weaken, then tease, then weaken, then piss off, and then finally kill the bull... and the final kill is never as humane or precise as it needs to be.
First, the bull is stabbed with a shallow pick tied to a ribbon to make it angry and then let out into the ring. Then the younger not-yet-matadors run around and taunt the bull and try to tire it out. (I'm sorry these photos are so awfully distant... again my camera can no longer zoom).

After that, they bring out two padded horses that are ridden by guys with spears. The not-yet-matadors taunt the bull and direct it to attack the horses and when the bull comes toward the horse, the riders spear the bull in the back of its neck.

This only wounds the bull, however, and next the not-yet-matadors take these metal sticks with hooks on the end and try to pin them on the bull as well. If they put two on at a time they're applauded but if they fail they are booed mercilessly.

At this point, the real matador comes out and starts flashing his red cape around. He is the only one who gets to use a red cape and he teases and taunts the bull until it seems sufficiently tired. Remember that the bull has now been stabbed and speared multiple times and has hooks hanging out of its back.

The matador finally brandishes his sword and, if the bull is lucky, he stabs it cleanly deep through the neck and into its heart. There were only two clean stabs all night, however, and most times the matador misses and has to try a few times. (And he gets upset because he loses "points" for stabbing poorly). Meanwhile, the poor bull is getting mutilated and cut up. Finally, after the matador manages to hit the bull's heart, the bull, dying, is taunted again and staggers around until it collapses. At this point, a not-yet-matador comes up to it with what must've been the equivalent of a butter knife and stabs at its spinal cord to finally end the poor beast's life. It is then tied to a rope and dragged off the field by horses...