Madrid day 2

I've always thought of Paris as the epicenter of late C19th and early C20th elaborate commercial architecture: seemingly I should have come to Madrid.  Here's the 1891 Banco de España building; below, the 1911 Metropolis Building, currently being converted into a hotel from its insurance past.

Here's an unanswerable question.  I refused to come to Spain when Franco was still alive - he died in November 1975 - which meant that it didn't form part of my pre-university Interrailing.  Had I done so - would I have become fascinated by C19th Spain, as I did with C19th Italy? Possibly not, since I don't think the painting was nearly as interesting ... but still: C19th Spain was a big hole in my knowledge. Alas, I missed last year's Art and Social Change in Spain exhibition at the Prado (but if they still have the catalogue, my luggage will get suddenly heavier).

I did, of course, do some standard tourist stuff - the Plaza Mayor was impressive;

the Mercado de San Miguel had some impressive skewers of olives (and I had a burrata tapas for my lunch),

But mostly I just enjoyed wandering around.

I spent all afternoon in the huge Thyssen-Bornemisza museum, largely because of its tremendous collection of C19th American art (yes, I know it's a long way to come ...) - and there were some real surprises: this is from a ridiculous Winslow Homer painting I didn't know;

this a very early Frederic Church, of an Abandoned Skiff (1850).

I did indeed know that this splendid lichen was there - from James McDougal Hart's Summer in the Catskills, because it's in my book ...

But there were so many other titbits ... don't even ask what this woman is doing, with her legs spread apart like that, but the cat is delighted to be able to play with the wool while she's distracted.

There were other Bad Cats too,

and a very fine stoat,

and a flower.

Apparently I walked over 20, 000 steps: my feet are registering every single one of them.