lotsa beauty

Que te lo pases bien, guapa

Ay caramba, bad things are happening in Spain. Temperatures at ~30 degrees Fahrenheit. Now the clear blue skies are filled with ugly heavy clouds, yes really, they are a mass of very solid-looking white lumps. My host family and I are in a slightly sick way by way of El Gripe. My host brother had to stay home with a fever and play Call of Duty all day long. Also, I believe I have a baby wisdom tooth coming in right now, weewoow it hurts sometimes. 

Arte desde 1945

Friday I went to the Museo Reina Sofia--it is literally amazing and I love it so much. It's my favorite thing in the city so far. It is loads of fun, kind of like a science museum but with fun art installations. It is actually gigantic. And wonderful. Magnificent. Spectacular. Umm etcetera. I want to live there and play every day.

The current CaixaForum exhibition--Persistencia de la geometria (?)-- is also very nice, but I've been a fan of geometry so I am biased obviously. There is nothing like a mundane rectangle doing crazy things. Another favorite of mine is the room of film projectors showing simultaneously ten films of dominoes falling. I realized that a surprising majority (I am too lazy to double-check...) of the art represented in here comes from Latin American artistas, not that I don't believe Venezuela or Argentina to be countries of geometry-based aesthetics, but this just shows how little I know about art.

Which is why I'm taking my contemporary art history class! That class has finally picked up its pace and here come flashbacks of 7th/8th/9th grade Art History at Hunter. I still feel guilty that I have never taken an art history class at Williams (nor economics, for that matter...). I'll survive, creo.

Aranjuez

Saturday was Aranjuez day. The Palacio Real was absolutely stunning. Isabel II made quite an effort to fill every wall and space with luxury. Now I'm really not a bougie person, but inside the palacio I felt lucky to marvel at every little thing. The entire palace is lleno de sorpresas--I felt like a child exploring a mundo fantastico. It is a strange sensation, also, to feel your eyes being pleasantly attacked. I definitely had no brain space left at the end of the hour-long visit.

El Palacio Real de Aranjuez

Detalle de un portal del palacio

Fuente en el Jardin del Parterre
(el jardin directamente al lado del palacio)

Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside, so for anybody to truly understand my love for this palace, you must enjoy these pictures from the internet (of my two favorite rooms):

The ceiling of the "arab" room (sorry)

The "asian" room (sorry)

Unfortunately there was barely anything in Aranjuez to see besides the Palacio Real, all because of the atypical cold weather. I am looking forward to coming back here again in the spring or summer when the gardens are gardens and the famed fresas and asparragos are in season and I can take a nice boat ride and chase some ducks.

So here's to trying to fall in love with Spain.

"Fade Into You", Mazzy Star. 1994.