Recent art exhibit outings in Madrid

In the past couple weeks we've gone out with greater frequency with the primary motivation of catching some temporary exhibits before they left the city, and along the way we've found some decent culinary spots too.

We saw a Picasso exhibit at the Reina Sofia, which included 5 times the number of Picasso works that normally grace the museum, on the last day before it was shipped back to the Musée Picasso in Paris. (Also, I recently read that the museum will be changing the installation space for Guernica in a good way, and I hope it gets completed soon. Since last year was a major anniversary of the painting, we saw tributes throughout Madrid and País Vasco, including a documentary about all the trouble the cuadro went through before it was finally restored to Spain.)

Then we went to the "Noche de museos" for free midnight entrance to the Modigliani exhibit at the Thyssen. The visit continued at the always-free Caja Madrid exhibition space. We saw some really great Modigliani portraits--with their signature elongation and soft brushstrokes--and plenty of other works by his contemporaries. I'm confident I would have been perfect for Paris in the 1910's.

Finally, just yesterday we caught the Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the newly inaugurated CaixaForum in Madrid. A Czech Art Nouveau artist, Mucha was well known for his gorgeous posters advertising everything from Sarah Bernhardt to bicycles to cigarette rolling paper, but it was also interesting to see his studies for non-commercial works.

Three places we've eaten out at and enjoyed recently have been Manuelas, with their turn-of-the-century columns and molding (and board games), Home Burger Bar, with delicious organic burgers (make a reservation or just get take-out), and La Sueca, a Swedish lounge with lots of salmon (surprise).

One thing's for sure: these three artists had very distinct ways of depicting women in their art. Just take a look at these three examples (all of which I like very much).

A beautiful May trip to Paris

Preparatory research
lots of friends' personal recommendations
New York travel section
Paris veggie recs

French brushing up resources
Speaking Hints-French Notes
Real Life French podcast episodes
Easy French Poetry podcast
My conversations go quite well and I am pleasantly surprised to understand the majority of everything I hear and read.

Food eaten
carrot bread, tomme des vosges cheese, and rambutans from the Baudoyer plaza market:pain chocolat
crêpes (especially with nutella)
best bagels ever at Rosiers and Ecouffies Jewish bakeryfalafel at both L'As du Falafel and Chez Mariannemacaroons (a little disappointing, they remind me of flavored Tootsie Rolls)
decadent Ladurée berry cream puff

Museums visitedThe Louvre: Behold the crowds. The Denon wing is pretty well covered in a Rick Steves audio tour. After listening, we try to see some Rembrandt and Vermeer and stumble upon a truly bizarre temporary exhibit that has installed contemporary pieces alongside permanent collection pieces in the Flemish and Dutch painting rooms. We are completely unprepared for Jan Fabre's weirdness: sculptures covered in brass tacks, peacocks constructed out of pills, a recording of people moaning and wearing armor and the coup de grâce--Voldemort-Nagini amalgamation spread over tombstones occupying the Rubens hall. I don't photograph the craziest stuff.Musée d'Orsay: We only do the top floor because we want to concentrate more time there on Impressionists and Post-impressionists. New-found love of Toulouse-Lautrec for A. and discovery of Redon. Superb collection with lots of gems.Musée Rodin: There's a temporary exhibit of Camille Claudel which I would encourage everyone to see even though we couldn't. The place is really packed and we are there a little too close to closing time. Since I don't get to see the exhibit, I buy a book about her. So make sure you go early and preferably before July 20. I personally prefer the garden sculptures to the indoor installations, which are not laid out to handle so many visitors.Centre Pompidou: Only the Stravinsky fountains outside.
Sights seen
Institut du Monde Arabe: The mechanical openings are supposed to move but are at a standstill.Notre Dame: Outside only: way too many tourists for me to want to push through the swarms.InvalidesEiffel towerPantheonArc de Triomphe
Ambient highlights:
Rue Mouffetard
Other Latin Quarter streets, including one where a private lunch is being enjoyed in the shadeSpace invaders street art mosaicsFun little Marais shops near where we stay
Escaping the crowds back behind the Sacre CoeurBridges galore and the sunny SeineA much too long walk at night from Arc de Triomphe via the Eiffel tower to our hotel, admiring houseboats on the Seine along the way but ultimately killing our feet.
The marked contrast between a quiet right bank in the mornings and Les Halles packed with Paris teens in the evening.
The view outside our hotel window (Place Baudoyer):The only disconcerting experience we have is on a packed metro car on the way to Montmartre when a psychotic man picks a fight with an older woman who had (barely) bumped him with her baby stroller and it escalates to the point where he is forced off the car by fellow passengers, but not without yelling and striking the outside of the car. A couple of very tense minutes ensue, but in the end a plainclothes cop shows up and we all go on our way.

Window-shopping (window licking in French)
Stohrer bakery and other Rue Montorgueil gourmet shopsAve. Montagne: I don't recognize half the fashion house names but A. says he does. My jaw drops at the 4-digit price of a dress I see...and there's no decimal point.

Places on our to-see list for next time
Ste.-Chappelle
Peace memorial close to the Eiffel tower
Cinémathèque Française
Versailles
Flea markets

We saw a lot in three days. We hope it's the first of many.
(More photos at Picasa link).

A plea for Burma

I will be updating shortly about our recent travels to Paris, but right now, because it weighs heavily on my mind, I want to provide you with some information about the cylcone aid crisis in Burma. My friend Thelma posted a heart-wrenching piece today about the current situation on her blog and it deserves mass distribution. I'm not sure if I merely feel out of the loop here in Spain or if there actually is as little coverage and widespread outrage regarding this tragedy--devasation on the scale of the 2004 tsunami--as I sense there is. (Thelma and company are obviously outraged and doing everything humanly possible to lobby important decision-makers about this--brava).

For those of you who may not know, Burma (called Myanmar by the junta dictatorship) has been in rough shape for a while now because of its thwarted attempts at democracy and human rights repression. The stituation started to get more press coverage with the monks protesting in fall 2007. And now, not only has the island been hit with a massive cyclone, but the junta's cruel indifference--no, willful neglect--is exacerbating the people's suffering. As you can read on the U.S. Campaign for Burma's main Cyclone Nargis information page, hundreds of thousands or millions of people are now at risk for death by starvation and disease because the government won't sanction foreign aid.

Their estimates already show 100,000 dead, 220,000 missing, at least 1 million homeless and at least 2 million more in desperate need of help. "A natural disaster is turning into a humanitarian catastrophe of genuinely epic proportions in significant part because of the malign neglect of the regime," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

People and goverments need to take action on the scale they did after the December 2004 tsunami. But the trouble is not just donating, because supllies are already piling up. More vitally needed is the political willpower from the UN and the US to insist that food and medicine break through the military checkpoints. Thelma's organization has a handy-dandy list of ways you can help now. It includes:

1. Donate for Cyclone Relief

2. Host an event for the Global Day of Action, May 17th

3. Urge the UN to force Burma to accept aid

4. Pledge to Not Watch the Beijing Olympics

I don't know what else I can say, but here you have the information about what is happening and what action you can take within your sphere.