Madrid

I realise now that I haven't exactly over-reported my short trip to Madrid. That probably has something to do with my lack of enthusiasm for the place, which to no small degree may be attributed to the scorching heat there. Granted, I've only had a full day to spend there, but often times, you only confirm your first impression anyway. And since I've been to Madrid before a few years ago, that was my second impression in fact.

No doubt impressive and an excellent way to escape the heat are the art collections. I only visited Thyssen & the Prado, where a lot of copying seems to be happening:Never saw that before, so that was quite interesting. I also enjoyed seeing those Goyas and of course El Grecos @home, so to speak. I definitely want to find out more about Goya's black paintings - very enigmatic! However, what absolutely took my breath away was Sargent's life size picture of Millicent, the Duchess of Sutherland, at the Museo Thyssen. Naturally, the reproduction on your screen doesn't even begin to do her justice, if only for size. She's stunningly beautiful, elegant, arrogant & smart - I guess they just don't make them like that any more. I am entirely smitten, you can tell!
But that's enough gushing for the day. I'll leave you with yet another picture, this time from the great flight home. To the left, you can see lake Geneva and to the right, that would be lake Neuenburg.