The Way of St. James

Clock and body time began to merge this morning, so we were out and about by 10 am. The church pictured yesterday is St. Jeronimo de Real which is directly behind the Prado and has been closed to the public for a long time for reconstruction.

We ambled for sometime after a breakfast that avoided jamon. The locals were out to for a Saturday on the boulevards, in the parks and eateries. We saw 2 unique street acts – living statues. One was 2 terra cotta men except for the eyes. The other is 2 women facing each other and colored gray with one supposedly chiseling the other out of stone. Like the guards at Buckingham Palace, it is good sport to try and make them break character. Unfortunately it began to rain and the acts we washed out for the day!

We visited the Naval Museum which turned out to be fascinating – the glory of the Spanish Armada to modern day. King Juan Carlos is a noted yachtsman, so there is some emphasis on the maritime.

One block from our hotel is the exquisite Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art, once the Palace Villahermosa. The vast collection was donated and is chronologically displayed on 4 floors. It is an awesome way to spend a rainy day.

As with the Prado and most great museums, most of the art was commissioned by royalty and wealth. Initially most was religious in theme. A lot or museum collections are donated (can you spell “tax deductions”), but it demonstrates the responsibility of the “haves” to society. Rockefellers, Fords, Smithsons, Thyssens, et al answered the call to sponsor the arts and sciences. Great art, architecture, music, and public service programs can be attributed to their noblesse oblige.

We took a nap break, rested tired feet and then set out in the evening to look for food. Everyone in Madrid was out in the rainy weather for fashionable dining at 9 or 10 pm. We found a small cafe with wine and fresh pasta – sigh – and strolled back to the hotel. We go now to the free WiFi area to google search for an Anglican Church to attend. Until to tomorrow ….

0530 checked in at LAX – 4/28 … 0830 4/29 in the taxi from Madrid Airport (9 hour time difference).

Checked into our hotel on the Plaza Canovas del Castillo. Collapsed into jet lag coma and missed The Wedding on Spanish TV. Finally pulled ourselves together to go exploring and begin the necessary acclimation to Spanish time. It was coolish (60’s), a little breezy and grey, but refreshing for benumbed travelers.

I do not believe that in the entire history of Spain one morsel of undesirable food has ever been served. There is an inordinate amount of jamon (ham), but the Spanish are very proud of their cuisine, service, and knowledge of wines. Public conversations are quiet and intimate with very little raucous behavior.

We headed across the Paseo del Prado to make a late day visit to the Prado Museum – my favorite in all the world – and it is free. Saw “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Hieronymous Bosch – a triptych from 1500 – which glowed with amazing color and fantasmagorical creatures. Found my absolute favorite, “Il descentimento” – The Descent from the Cross – more awesome than I remembered and it brought me to tears. John said that seeing this was a good way to begin our journey.

Suddenly it was 8 pm and the staff quietly asked everyone to leave ….and they did! No quibbling, no stalling – everyone simply turned and did as asked.

We ambled for awhile in the twilight and made tomorrow’s plans. Back at the hotel we sat at the tapas bar for a bite and a beverage. This was a great beginning to our sojourn especially since a lovely couple sat down next to us who turned out to be true Buckeyes from Columbus, Ohio – a sign!

All of us in own way search for the sacred in our lives – that which inspires awe or reverence beyond Kobe in the playoffs. It has become increasingly difficult in the modern world where we are besieged directly or ambiently by noise, lights, a constant communication barrage, and screens everywhere projecting visions of a society we are told is correct and desirable, to hear the small, true voice within saying, “here I am”. Even the tactile pleasure of turning a page in a well-loved book has now been “modernized” to a touch screen. Our lives can become desensitized and our spirits numbed, and so we must occasionally find them again. A pilgrim travels in search of an awakening to a place of spiritual significance and power – it is, however, often the journey itself which heals and enlightens.

The beauty of the passing landscape, the quiet and wonder of God’s creation, the flow of time being unmonitored by clocks and watches, the cadence of the walkers as a constant calmative beat, the cycles of the earth made more obvious by our presence in it, the stimulus of a new culture, new languages, strangers not yet friends – no one knows who you are …

Our training walks along the Palos Verdes peninsula – just a few miles from home – were startling in beauty and diversity. We had never “walked” the paths before – only driven by at a good clip to get somewhere else. We intend to walk the paths again when we return I am sure, but, for now we are off to a land of antiquity, civility, and intrigue to walk where hundreds of thousands of other pilgrims have gone before us……ultreya!