Tag: CaixaForum

The Desperate Artist: The Caixaforum

You can always go home after the naval museum.  That’s always a possibility.  You can always move on somewhere else.  But since I was in the downtown and willing to stay there, I strolled over to the Caixaforum to see what kind of exhibit they had there.  There always is something worht seeing, almost always at least, and if there ever was a day when there wasn’t at least you can enjoy walking up those polished stainless steel metal stairs.  You feel as if you are entering a B-29 bomber.  I’ve never been in one but I can picture it.

      I have mentioned the Caixaforum before, and talked about its plush wall of plants outside the entrance.  It’s one of my favorite museums in Madrid.  There was an exhibit about Soviet architecture between the years 1920 and 1935 before the Stalin repression period.  I never though looking at pictures of communist Russia would make me feel so free.  If you like architecture but don’t really know anything about it, you can still appreciate the the exposition.  And if you like history, even more so.

      I was there for an hour or so and then left feeling very hungry.  I decided to grab a bite in a legendary place at the Plaza de Carlos V next to the Atocha train station.  It was El Brillante and it specializes, among other things, in its calamari sandwich.  Breaded squid subs may sound as appealing as cracker filled tacos but I can assure you it is a small and unknown delicacy in the world of small and unknown things…in the world of small and everyday living…in the living…everyday.  I had a few things I wanted to get done, but El Brillante kind of stopped time. 

 

A Sunday Morning 4

I bought my newspaper and crossed the Paseo del Prado over to the CaixaForum just to see what was going over there.   It’s a museum funded by one of Spain’s most importante banks and it often has great exhibits.  Entrance is free, making them even greater.   You as a visitor are lured in fromthe outside, where a the wall of a neighboring building is literally covered with plants, turning it into a vertical garden.  It’s awesome.  I headed inside to see what I would find.

           Well, sure enough, there was something shaking there.  It was an exhibit on the Effect of Cinema.   It was good stuff.  Eight different directors presented short (and not so short) films on different aspects of the illusion of filmmaking.  It was great to get into those dark rooms, sit on the floor and hang out for a while watching something new and different.  I highly reccomend it.  In fact, I am planning on returning because some of the films are long, one is 51 minutes, and the bad thing about going to the CaixaForum on a Sunday morning is thta it gets crowdeeeeed!  Families like taking their kids so they tumble around on the floor.  It’s a perfect place for tumbling, I tell you.  So, by one o’clock, it wasjamming, so I said, “See ya!” and moved on to the Gran Via to get a book I was looking for.  I got it. 

            Then I met up with some friends for a little Sunday aperitivo for a little Sunday enjoyment.

           It was good to take a break from the the usual Sunday.  My daughter Clara said she was bored because she had done the same as always, so I told her that the next time she should come with me!

          All right…time to work on my books…I am almost finished…almost…almost…