Day 65: Madrid, Spain

Our second day to relax in Madrid but we don't know how to relax, so we spent the morning figuring out a day trip for tomorrow, which is now scheduled to be Segovia (more on that tomorrow). Our next step was to check out the nearby Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Heinrich Thyssen born in Germany, left for Hungary to study chemistry and philosophy. After marrying and becoming an Austria-Hungary citizen, his father (who happened to be the chamberlain to the emperor) in law adopted him. The Emperor Franz Joseph (of Austria-Hungary) permitted Heinrich Thyssen to inherit the title of baron since his father in law had no sons of his own.

Heinrich Thyssen along with his baron title was an entreprenaur and art collector who amassed one of the largest private collections ever. One of Heinrich Thyssen's later wives (Carmen) was a former Miss Spain (1961) and was introduced to art collecting by her now late husband. Carmen is still involved in the museum and has a collection of her own, although Spain has purchased a large amount of their original collection and is available for public viewing. The display of works are in chronological order which start with Italian works from the 1200's through modern art. In between works can be found by such famous artists as Picasso, Dali, Matisse, Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Thyssen-Bornemisza

Having fulfilled our history lesson for the day we set off in search of food, relaxation, and some sunshine. It is HOT here this week. With a high of about 97 degrees today. The only saving factor is that there is no humidity so 97 here is so much better than 80 and humid in NYC. We had tapas for lunch, then relaxed in the park for the rest of the afternoon before heading home for more relaxation.

Here are some pictures from our walk around the city today.







(Peacocks walk around one of the parks near the Palace)


(Siena, another turtle that asked us to say hello to Deliliah)





(For my Simpsons friends who would appreciate this store front window)


(And lastly, this an interesting way to see the city. There are tours groups that ride around on Segway's to cover more ground quicker and are less exhausted by the end.)

Hasta manana

FJ