12 days in Spain & 4 days in Paris- 9/12/14- 9/9/28/14
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Madrid -Day 1 |
Madrid -Day 2 |
Madrid- Day 2 - Centro de Arte Reina Sofia- Modern art Museum
The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is Madrid’s premier collection of contemporary art and is mainly dedicated to Spanish art with plenty of paintings by Picasso, Salvador Dalí , and Joan Miró just to name a few.
No pictures are allowed inside the building.
This building is a new construction and has 8000 m2 (86,000 ft2) and costing €92 million, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, and opened in October 2005.
Very avant garde building.
Inside the courtyard of the museum.
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Brushstroke sculpture, 1996 by Roy Lichtenstein
Painted and fabricated aluminum -32 feet 3 inches x 21 feet x 6 feet
Ceiling with plenty of natural lights.
The Museum Library
The main purpose of the Museo Reina Sofía Research Centre, Library and Archive is to provide documentary support to both its own experts and to researchers and students, and to facilitate access to its collections. The library specialized in Contemporary Art.
The materials can be consulted freely and at no charge in the reading room. Inaugurated in 1990, the reading room has been located since 2005 on the lower floors of the Nouvel Building.
View from the 3rd floor of the Nouvel building.
Wheat & steak by Antoni Miralda, the creation of Antoni Miralda a Spanish-born artist who specializes in festival extravaganzas located on top of the building.
Tri-Uni-Corn, made up of three figures, placed on top of each other like a pyramid, of animals for human consumption. The cow, the pig and the lamb, all made of fiber-glass, with horns covered in corn kernels, resemble figures halfway between the mythological unicorn with the names of the various edible cuts already inscribed on their bodies.
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The origins of Wheat & Steak can be found in Kansas City in 1981 as part of the Annual Western Farm Show. Miralda organized a parade through the city centre, an exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and the Gold Taste ceremony at the Grain Exchange.
The main piece of the parade was this Tri-Unicorn sculpture.
Dinner
Cerveceria Cervantes was recommended by Rick Steve in his guide book. It took us a while to find the restaurant and we almost gave up but Loan encouraged us to keep going until we find it.
And we did... here we are!
There are a lot of people in this restaurant which is a very good sign.
We did not have a reservation but luckily the restaurant was able to accommodate a table for us.
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Marinated olives and cold beers to start the evening. |
Large plate of Jamon de Iberico - €21 In Seville they served tapas portion for a few euros but here they only have racione (large plate) but Hoa insisted to get the plate. |
I am glad we got the plate because we devoured the whole thing and we don't have to hold back. We could eat as our heart's content.
Steamed mussels
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The mussels were fresh, succulent and plump.
This restaurant is know for their octopus and they were indeed excellent!
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Delicious and very flavorful.
Croquetas and fried Padrón peppers. The croquetas was not that great but I like the fried Padrón pepper
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This is their house salad made with Tuna, marinated roasted bell peppers, tomatoes, olives, etc.. |
We were so hungry and we ate pretty much everything...
The waiter here is really friendly and he took really good care of us. I definitely recommend this restaurant.
CHEERS to a great meal!
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After our meal we walked around a bit and then Hoa and Minh wanted to have a Digestif so we stopped by a cafe bar.
Hoa and Minh ordered each a shot of Macallan. Loan and I we ordered cafe con leche.
We sat outside close to main street and watch people going by....
Tomorrow we will be going to Barcelona.
Next....Barcelona
