#4: Madrid: Museums and Boredom, part 2

21st December, 2009.

So yesterday I said "I’ll just take the photos tomorrow, right?"


Wrong.

Above: My view from the hostal room balcony. It had snowed overnight. 

I awoke today to find it had snowed overnight. While this may seem cool at first, my jubilation at seeing real snow (for what… the 3rd-4th time in my life?) subsided when it began to rain. With a touch of city grit to help it along, the white icy snow was quickly turning to a grey slush.

Above: A slushy Plaza de Canaleja, down the road from the hostal

However, Madrid’s dreary attitude didn’t hamper our plans. There were more sights to see. This morning we visited the Spanish Royal Palace. While I was initially excited to see something that was not an art gallery (yay), this also proved to be a painfully long and sometimes boring experience. 

We arrived early around 930, to avoid the crowds. From the outside, the complex looked rather impressive – there was the palace itself, an armoury and a large courtyard. Relatively undisturbed snow still covered the courtyard, so I was eager to get in to take some photos.

Above: The Spanish Royal Palace

The above photo cost me a little bit of trouble. Not 10 seconds after I reached the middle of the courtyard, it began to rain. Heavily. Wanting to protect my camera, I sought refuge under a nearby alcove in the courtyard wall.

Taking a few photos while waiting out the rain seems like a reasonable idea, right? 

Well… it wasn’t according to one of the security guards. He walked halfway across the courtyard, through snow and heavy rain, to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to stand there. That I wasn’t allowed to stand under the only cover for 40-50m while it was pouring. Sure those alcoves may have housed guards 200 years ago, but now..? 

Dickhead. 

Anyway, we eventually found our way to the Palace itself and began the relatively simple self-guided tour. This is going to sound similar to my thoughts on the art galleries, but after a certain point it became kind of boring. Yes, I admit that we were seeing some impressive stuff, but each room became another display of excessive amounts of wealth. No one needs completely gold encrusted room. 

I did find one thing particularly awesome – the music room. Behind a series of glass cases was a Stradivarius string quartet (del Cuarteto Real). As compensation for my earlier photographic injustices (and as a “fuck you” to “the Spanish man”), I decided to sneak a photo in when the guard momentarily stepped outside. This photo, of the cello Spanish Court, is for Olly.

Below: Stradivarius Spanish Court Cello

- Andrew