Where's Watkins?: Watkins is in Madrid

This morning we went to the Prado!! It was INCREDIBLE. Seriously every piece of art here is a masterpiece (or perfect copy of one). We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside (the story of this whole trip) but I took notes! We had a guide, and she told us about certain paintings in the section we were wandering which contained mainly Spanish historical art.

Pretty cathedral next to the Prado.
Didn't get to go in, but check out the border of the building;
it's a bunch of tiny crosses!

Here are some of my favorite paintings from today!

"Descent from the Cross" por Rogier van der Weyden
Insanely lifelike textures, it looked 3D!

"The Garden of Earthly Delights" por Bosch

Washing of the feet por Tintoretto

Washing of the feet was especially cool because the painting changed depending on what angle you were viewing it from. The table seemed to always be in the middle!

Vulcan's Forge por Velazquez

Nothing like looking at a Velázquez to make you feel talentless. He was painting masterpieces (many of which were in the Prado) by age 19.

The Clothed Maja por Goya

The Naked Maja por Goya

These ones were historically significant because The Naked Maja was the first time a naked women was posed in a painting (at least publically). For ages women had been portrayed naked in sculpture and as angels or subjects in paintings, but never as a portrait. The artist combined a different head and body to protect the anonymity of the subject. It was so scandalous that a second, clothed, Maja was commissioned and displayed directly in front of the original so it could only be viewed at a very specific angle.

Saw this crazy guy on the walk over- He's made of giant sequins!

Outside of Palace

Other side of plaza, a huge cathedral that had beautiful live music

clearly someone's sneaky picture of the main dining room... thanks google

The next stop of the day way the Palace Real (Royal Palace). Still in use today, this incredible palace has maintained most of its original furnishings and was by far the most lavish building I’ve ever been in. The throne room, still used to receive international guests, is honestly ridiculously ornate. The walls are ceiling to floor red velvet, and all the fixtures and decorative pieces in the room were either solid gold or gold covered. The frescoes, painted by a guy in his 70’s (Yeah, he was lying on scaffolding painting super intricate art without the benefit of glasses at 74.) have never been restored, only cleaned (they were really proud of this). Everything in the Palace Real was incredibly well preserved. For example the room with embroidered walls. How does that still look so good after hundreds of years!? It was crazy intricate, and floor to ceiling on all the walls. The cleaning alone must cost a fortune. Every room had its own unique decorating scheme and color palette, each more beautiful than the last. They also had the fanciest man cave of all time. 4 large rooms with adjoining doors housed activities like billiards and smoking; for your classy bachelor.

The room with embroidered walls

throne room with velvet and gold- doesn't begin to do it justice!

Frescoes in the royal chapel

We also made it over to the Armory, which housed dozens and dozens of fully clad knights in shining armor, cannons, swords, shields, and more lining the walls. They also featured 12 fully dressed life-sized horses and riders in the center of the room.

Super sneaky pic of the armory

The next room held all the childrens’ armor, which was sad. They had full coats of arms and horse armor for tiny people and ponies because they fought too.

That night we ended up walking around the center of Madrid (Palace to Prado) for hours and hours, trying different foods and drinks until about 2 in the morning. We found this cool market that was kind of like the Redmond Saturday Market, but indoors and packed with people eating, drinking, and having fun. There was one pastry shop that had everything pistachio (Like this adorable bird nest thing!)