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.

I'm Flabbergasted

Studying in Starbucks today (it happens, ok?!?!) and I notice that this guy at the table next to me spills his coffee. Had that happened to me, I would have run almost immediately to the napkins to start mopping up the mess. At the very least, I would have notified a member of the staff so that they could get their mop on.

This dude (and his wife, who is sitting right next to him!) do nothing. NOTHING! Just sit there and finish their conversation and then leave. They don't even say something to a barista as they walk by the counter on their way out!

Over the next 45 minutes to an hour, at least 8 people try to sit down at this table, but promptly leave as soon as they notice the big puddle of coffee on the floor. It's not on any of the chairs or the table, really, so they theoretically could have sat down, but they all chose not to do so. Not one of these people thinks to go grab a pile of napkins, or even to tell a barista that there's a spill that needs fixin'. (While most napkins in Spain aren't particularly absorbent, Starbucks' ones are relatively normal, so cleaning up with napkins is a distinct possibility there).

And it's not like this Starbucks wasn't busy and all of these people could have simply sat at any table in the place. Oh no. This Starbucks was packed! The spilt-coffee-table was off hiding in the corner behind the staircase and the only reason people were even considering sitting there is that there weren't many other options in the rest of the store.

And you are probably wondering how I know that no one told a barista about the spill if I was off hiding in a corner somewhere. I know this because, when the barista finally came around to pick up people's glasses off the tables, he was genuinely surprised and annoyed to see spilt coffee on the floor. He even muttered 'joder'! (which isn't actually saying much because its one of the most popular invectives in Spain, but it's not something he would have said if he had been prepared to see spilt coffee).

Big whoop, you say. Mr. Barista took his pile of dirty cups back to the kitchen, grabbed a mop, cleaned up the mess, and you were able to go back to your reading, right? WRONG! Mr. Barista disappears for about 10 minutes, and the next time I see him, he's out on his SMOKE BREAK!

wtf, Mr. Barista? wtf?

After that, he's gone for another ten minutes and then he finally appears with a mop and cleans up the mess. Finally. I'm sort of surprised that the coffee hadn't congealed to the floor by this point.

Man, there are some things that I just do not understand about this country. And I probably never will.


***You are probably wondering why I am criticizing people for not cleaning up spilled coffee when I didn't lift a hand to clean up the mess either. 

• First off, I seriously thought that the first couple had told a barista about the mess right until the barista finally showed up and acted surprised to see spilt coffee on the floor. 
• Second, I already had a table and the spill wasn't affecting me, except for the fact that it was keeping me from doing my reading. 
• Third, as I kept watching people refuse both to sit at the table and to clean up the spill, I just decided I'd wait it out and see what happened. 

Not my brightest hour, I confess, but I really don't care...I have to get back to my reading.