. OnHiatus.com > Journal 1 > Day Index > Journal Entry: July 23, 1998

Thursday, July 23, 1998
Madrid, Spain
Spain's Flag

Map
Madrid, Spain:
Latitude: 40° 24' 56" North
Longitude: 3° 42' 27" West
Altitude: 2264 feet
From Seattle: 5873 miles
Lodging: Hotel - La Pensión Luz

Map
Today's Travel:
Country: Spain
Region: Madrid
Weather: Sunny

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Map
Trip Stats to Date:
Day: 469
Linear Dist: 120775
Countries Visited: 33
Regions Visited: 131
More stats...
Hotels: 90
Friends / Family: 154
Camping: 41
Hostels: 134
Transit: 49
Beers: 1850
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Journal Entry:
Today was Prado day. I went to the Museo del Prado with great expectations. I'd been told by many that this was a great museum. I was disappointed. I was expecting a Louvre or Hermitage what I got was a collection of uninspiring (to me), boring (to me), not even that large collection of paintings. The Goyas were especially disappointing. I found the images more reminiscent of bad children's books illustrations than great paintings. Goya's Pinturas Negras were somewhat better, at least the twisted themes and shocking images got a reaction out of me (he painted these scenes on the walls of his house while his health was failing before he died). The paintings that I liked the best in the entire museum was Luis Meléndez's series "Frutero", especially "Peros y Sandias". It's a still life of a watermelon in front of a storm. I think it says it all that my favorite painting in the entire museum was a still life.

Tonight I went with Brad (my roommate) to meet up with some people he'd met. We went to "International Night" at a club near out pension. We had tickets to get in free before 10:30pm and we got there at 10. Unfortunately the queue was incredibly long. Actually it was kind of a scam, they only let in about five people in the 30 minute free time. So it ended up costing 1,500 pesetas to get in (that's close to the highest cover I've ever paid). It was a pretty cool place though. It was an old house with fifteen foot ceilings and at least a dozen rooms. There were three or four different dance floors (each with it's own kind of music). It was an international night because everyone got a sticker with the name of their country on it (the USA was E.E. U.U. for some reason). It was sort of interesting, but I felt pretty out of it and left early (about 4am). I glanced at a thermometer on my way home and was shocked to find out it was still 35° C (95° F) at 3:30AM!


Related Sites:
CNN: Current Weather in Madrid
US State Department Consular Information Sheets: Spain
CIA World Fact Book: Spain

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