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Madrid, Page 2
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Madrid's Parque del Buen Retiro is the place to be Sunday evenings, when it seems the whole city turns out for an evening of cheap fun in the park. Shown here is the Monumento a Alfonso XII. |
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Bands, including Runa Marka shown here, perform on Sunday nights for free, collecting donations and selling their CDs. Also scattered throughout the park are magicians, gymnasts, artists, puppeteers, mimes, and other espectaculos. The bands are very professional and much better than the amateur street musicians whose banging on buckets and tin cans pollutes peaceful North Michigan Ave here in Chicago. I've had a couple requests for Runa Marka contact information, and all I can provide is the address of their record company: Lady Alicia Records - Téllez, 3 28807 Madrid. Telephone: 91 552 30 98. There is also a list of "contactos": Ecuador: 292479 (Luis); Spain: 606871755 (Luis); Great Britain: 44 1752674763 (Maureen). |
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Over two dozen "pick-up" volleyball games were played simultaneously as onlookers waited their chance. Notice the number of brown beer bottles in the foreground. |
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Anyone who's been to Indiana Beach will understand why these carp fighting for popcorn made me feel so at home! |
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Uh-oh! Somebody alert Hilary Rosen! The Museo del Prado is "sharing" artists' intellectual property with people who are making duplicates! This guy could be the Napster of the art world! |
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My fave Museo del Prado artwork: Joven entre la Virtud y el Vicio (Youth Torn Between Virtue and Vice) by Paolo Caliari. The Prado's description goes into great detail on the characteristics of the lefthand figure, representing vice. [More info...]. The Goya sketches titled "The Disasters of War" was also amazing. Goya was drawing political cartoons long before Tommy Nast, although these were more serious than funny. Also not to be missed are Goya's "black paintings", including Saturn Devouring One of His Sons and Two Old Women Eating from a Bowl. |
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The Madrid Jardín Botánico (Botanical Garden) is the perfect place to spend a relaxing evening. The Garden features more plants than I could count plus a tropical rainforest and desert in glasshouses and a photography exhibit. |
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Flowers hide away the city beyond the jardín. |
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A giant sequoia was the last thing I expected to see in Spain! |
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The sun falls in the sky behind the jardín. |
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Spain's Eiffel Tower is a poor imitation of the original. <g> |
>> Next Page: Avila, Spain>> |
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