Madrid

Jo and I took a walk through a part of the city 2 days ago. It was a nice comfortable walk. Lots of trees, plenty of parks, nice roads, and cute shops and buildings. It's a nice city.

Not much to do for tourists in terms of interesting things to see. I think living in Madrid would be comfortable and convenient. It's a full out city just like NYC but much smaller and less metro-ish of course. Plenty of things to do in the evening and restaurants are everywhere.

There are a couple of art museums that are famous in the city. I only visited 1, Prado. It had quite a bit of old Italian paintings in it, as well as a Roman sculpture exhibition. I really enjoyed the paintings by Goya. I've decided that I don't get bored by all old paintings anymore. I am really starting to enjoy the ones that have incedible detail in them. It's amazes me what painters can do with a brush. They provide detail like you would see in an ink pen drawing.

I used to find almost all old paintings boring. Maybe I'm maturing as I get older? Probably not. :)

The old paintings are not as entertaining as contemporary art, but they certainly make most contemporary art look really cheap. You can tell just by looking at these paintings that it took the painter a year or 2 to draw it. Most contemporary art looks like an emotional outburst of 3-5 minutes. Haha that's my opinion anyway.

I had a good time in Madrid for the last 5 days but it wasn't like Barcelona. In Barc I felt like something kept pulling me outside, but in Madrid not so much so. I know it has a lot to do with the hostel I'm in, the weather, and the people I'm nearby, so I can't say it's entirely because of the city itself.

I'd visit again sometime if I was nearby and especially if I had a friend there. It's one of those places where if you know a local it would be a lot more interesting.