Monday, September 12, 2016

Taking in the Thyssen...

Playlist
The Tubes - What Do You Want From Live
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Greatest Hits
Uriah Heep - Wonderworld
Brown - Abstract Sound Objects
Les Arts Florissants - 10 ans Arts Florissants
Haydn - Die Jahreszeiten
Various Composers - American 20th Century Piano Music
J S Bach - Orchestral Suite Nos. 1-4
Beethoven - Complete String Quartets
Tchaikovsky - The Seasons
Various Composers - Classic CD (1990)
Victoria De Los Angeles - The Fabulous Victoria De Los Angeles
Chopin - The Piano Sonatas
Various Composers - Hyperion - A 10th Anniversary Sampler
Julian Bream - Highlights From The Julian Bream Edition
Various Composers - The Original Sound of L'Oiseau-Lyre Volume 2
Gubaidulina - Offertorium

Another scorcher...


Breakfast at home...



...and out...






Through Plaza Santa Ana...






...and to Plaze de Canalejas, with its imposing facades...




On we went on our morning walk...

Along Calle de Alcalá...







...towards Plaza de Cibeles with the Puerta de Alcalá in the background...








Spain's outloook rather different from that of the inward looking bigots of the Brexit campaign...


Looking back along the Paseo de Recoletos...




...we walked round the plaza...



...leaving Calle de Alcalá behind...


Students were on the streets - but just for a coffee break...


...as we strolled along Calle Alfonso XI...


...then down to Plaza de la Lealtad. where a welcome seat was partaken of by two stupid walking in the hot sun walkers from Northern Europe...


We noted the Stock Exchange...


...and the Fuente de Apolo...



...as we arrived at our destination, quite definitely having taken the long way round...


The queue was round the block for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum...


...so we had a we break in nearby Faborit Cortes, enjoying what was, to all intents and purposes, a second breakfast...


This allowed the queues to enter...


...and your correspondents to just stroll in...






Here, the benefactors - fortunes made in industrialisation and spent on art...


These works individually pictured and so, as agreed with the EP, collaged...


The one exception, these two, a couple the same age as we will be next year...

And so a long and enjoyable tour of every room in the gallery ensued - the collection extends from the very earliest days of painting through to the present day...







Attendants were on hand...or leg...
















A surreptitiously snapped oriental gentleman in a jaunty hat...










Still Life: Lady Awaiting Relief...





As with classical music, I tend to like early and contemporary best - so the ground floor was particularly good...








Ooh! A Clyfford Still - you don't see them very often...







Mr Quartet was in his element...



He enjoyed it so much he bought the book...


Back into the hot sun...







...and back home...


...but only briefly...

Back out...






Through sunny as ever Sol...



Ooh! A record shop - Killers - nothing purchased...


Along the Gran Via to Calleo...




...and FNAC...




...,where two items were secured...



Onward...






It was now around 7:15 in the evening and it was still 39 degrees...




...to Plaza de España...



...and its monument to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza...



On towards tomorrow's target, the Royal Palace of Madrid...


...passing the rear of this unidentified but impressive building...


We enjoyed the calm surroundings of the Jardines De Sabatini...























...and the Plaza de Oriente...



On past the palace to the Cathedral, another target for tomorrow...







A walk in the evening sun along Calle del Sacramento...





The beast was about it's shadowy business with its EP alongside...





A welcome bar was found in Calle de Toledo...


Onward...


..noting Ms Pausini will be here shortly before we see her in that London...


We made our way through the darkening streets to the wee bar we'd found near El Rastro, Skinazo...


..and enjoyed a couple of drinks before heading back to Plaza de Agustín Lara...



...where a tasty al fresco late evening meal was enjoyed at Abu Gassan...





Back home and Calle Ave María was buzzing as usual...



An excellent day...

Highlight of the Day : Thyssen...

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