NYR #31: Visit the House/Museum of Joaquín Sorolla

Sorolla's house and museum is really awesome, and it's definitely one of the coolest, yet lesser-known museums in Madrid.

Back in the late 1800s/early 1900s, Joaquín Sorolla was kind of a big deal, both in Spain and around the world. In contrast with many other famous Spanish painters, Joaquín Sorolla really focused on ensuring that his paintings used a lot of light.

He painted a lot of portraits, but he also used his unique style to draw attention to the pressing social issues of his day, such as poverty, famine, illness, and so on. And of course, as you can see by the paintings that I happened to capture with my camera, he painted a lot of beach scenes at Valencia. They're my favorites.

But the house is definitely the best part of the museum. The gardens are incredibly calm and tranquil, and it's right in the middle of Madrid, just off the Castellana.

It's totally worth a visit.

NYR #12: Participate in the Festival of San Isidro

#12 was originally: Go see a musical on Gran Vía. Given that the list includes doing several other things on Gran Vía (including going to see a movie, which I've already done), I decided that it would be cool to sub this one out for something so very Madrileñan that it only happens once a year: The festival of San Isidro. Otherwise know as Madrid's patron saint/the party that marks the beginning of Madrid's bullfighting season. 

If you're a REAL madrileño (or an immigrant family looking to fit in, apparently), you wear the traditional chulapo/a dress. Basically, that means that for the women, there's a lot of polka-dots and for the men, those awesome page-boy hats and checked suit coats. 

And of course there were some great concerts/dancing venues, like the one where we saw this older couple grooving with about 8 others, all dancing the same dances and singing the same songs. If I could figure out how to make the video download work on this thing, I'd upload a video of one of the dances. It was pretty spectacular.

NYR #78: See the roses in the Parque del Oeste

This was originally "Circle Madrid on the big green bicycle route", but I decided that I liked roses better. While hanging out in the Parque del Oeste one day, Laura and I discovered that they had just judged a rose-growing competition, and all the lovely roses were in full bloom. Clearly, entering to take a few photos required no thought whatsoever, even though it meant that Laura's allergies started acting up the minute we stepped through the gate. whoops.

Pretty flowers

Lots of pretty flowers

The obligatory imitation high school senior picture shot...

Oh pretty roses...

92 and home

Well, I'm currently back in Kansas on my way to Austin, and the heat here is making me seriously question why I ever decided that it was a good idea to come back.

My goal to complete ALL 100 things on the list did not come to fruition, or rather, there remain several things on the list that I actually wanted to do, but in the end did not have time for, and there are still others that I never did, either because they were complicated, or I preferred doing something else instead, so I substituted.

Seeing Katy Perry LIVE for free was so much better than paying 100€
to see a concert in the Sports Arena 

In all, I completed 92 of the 100 things I hoped to do during my year in Madrid, and I'm sure that I can think of 8 things that I did that weren't on the list but probably should be (discovering the delights of sweet vermouth from the tap is one, spending an ungodly amount of time in the National Library is another--although I probably wouldn't recommend that one to anyone else). But I'm a bit disappointed in myself that I didn't actually complete my list before I left, even though the whole point of that resolution was simply to get myself out and about in Madrid, and thus, the AIM of the resolution has been accomplished, even if I never completed it in and of itself.

Me. Chillin. Oot and aboot in Madrid. 

And that got me thinking...the whole point of a New Year's Resolution is to complete it before the end of the year, right? And technically, the year 2011 doesn't end until December 31st. Soooo, if I can get myself back to Madrid before the year ends, I will have the opportunity to finish up my list. I think that this is a good plan.

Of course, I currently have no means to get myself back to Madrid before the year ends, but that's ok. I'll figure it out. Cibeles up there is calling my name.