Optical Illusion

& a birthday request

We met Andrea today, our tour guide through the city and into the Prado.  She is an Art Historian and is passionate about the intersection of art and history.  It was such a rich experience to walk the halls of that immense museum with her.  We heard story after story, usually about men being up to no good or portraits that were like the Facebook of the day, carefully painted in one’s best light.

I am neither an Art Historian nor a Historian at all, but she definitely made me want to learn (or relearn?) the varied historical context that goes along with all of that art.  There are 2000 pieces on display, and another 9000 in storage.  (Even the Prado exceeds its boundaries.  lol)  One of the pieces they found “in the basement” was a copy of the Mona Lisa.  I actually liked this one better than the one in the Louvre.

We saw many paintings by many famous artists and got to see how each influenced others behind him.  I wish I could remember the names of all, but I was too busy enjoying stories.  My favorite story was one Andrea told about herself.  She is a native madrileño, and she said as a child she used to go to the Prado often.  Her favorite painting was this one: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-washing-of-the-feet/77d1fd63-1918-40b7-a79e-6d427e19bed8  She showed us how if you walk from one side to the other, the position of the table seems to change.  She loved running back and forth as a kid to see this amazing optical illusion in art…and it’s what made her decide to study Art & Art History. 

Yet another time that one place in this city changed the trajectory of someone’s life.

Not much else to report on today.  I did laundry and thought about running the dishwasher.  Boring stuff (that’s exciting!) of “living” in one place.

***** YOUR TURN! *****

This one is a request, pretty please with cherries on top!  As I’ve already told you before, my birthday is tomorrow.  You’re off the hook for buying me a gift since I have no room in my bag.  There are consistently around 125 views of this blog so unless my mom is rereading over and over again, there are plenty of you who could make my wish come true. I’d love it if 50 of you would

please write a comment (ideally on this very blog entry,

but ok if you prefer to write me directly) telling one of your most memorable travel stories.  It can be exhilarating, funny, a comedy of errors, something/somewhere beautiful, a bucket list, something/somewhere that scared you until you did it, life-changing, relaxing, etc.  If you don’t want to tell a whole story, you could just recommend a place we should consider visiting and why.  Be thinking!  Y’all will (fingers crossed) be writing my post for Friday!  : )

FOOTNOTE:

1. www.museodelprado.es if you want to tour from your living room

2. Speaking of seeing things in different ways, I’m not encouraging Chad to post pictures he takes of me on Instagram.  I’m about ready to settle for selfies instead.  Just ran across this Smize concept on wikihow & wonder if I’m late to the game in hearing this?

3. Writing prompts:

• a copy of the Mona Lisa

• optical illusion

• What made you “run back and forth” with excitement as a kid?  Do you still have whatever that was in your life?