La primavera la sangre altera

Hundreds of people queueing up to see the Escher exhibition. I was in the queue at the point from which I took this picture. I still had a long way to go.

So I got to Plaza de Castilla at past ten with a twenty-euro note in my pocket to see the Maurits Cornelis Escher exhibition at the Fundación Canal. The ticket clerk asked me, somewhat complainingly, whether I didn't have two euros to pay for the reduced ('student':) entrance fee. I apologetically said no, that that was the smallest note I could get, but didn't go into more detail. I could have related to her how I had tried to withdraw some money from the ATM on Atocha 75 but it had no cash; how I had walked to the cash machine on Carrera de San Jerónimo 14 with the same result and from there to Virgen de los Peligros 3, where at long last I got my hands on that precious twenty-euro note. I was thankful and relieved.

I was also late, and judging by the length of the queue, my getting up early that Sunday morning had been in vain. I had at least five hundred people before me and the sun was already starting to feel too strong (it would get stronger as hours passed). Mateo and his three wards kept me company; so did the blonde woman reading Newsweek just in front of me, my camera, with which I took some pictures of the Puerta de Europa Towers, and the book by D. Brown I sometimes read and sometimes used for covering my head with when it got too hot and I thought my integrity was at stake. Time flew away and in a bit more than two hours I was inside. I found it very interesting to try and make sense of Escher's works, especially his later ones. There were three that for different reasons caught my attention and impressed me more than any other in those dark, labyrinthine rooms: Eye, Night and Day and Print Gallery.

Eye

Night and Day

Print Gallery

There were actually four that stood out above the rest. I must include Belvedere if I want to be true to the facts. I think couples should be banned from exhibitions —from exhibitions and overcrowded supermarkets at peak hours.

Belvedere

So this couple was in front of the lithograph print and I was next to them waiting for them to finish their thorough analysis, despairingly tapping my foot. "So he made this cube by rotating the lower side against the upper side like this", and the girl mimicked the turning movement with her hands. "No, what he did was to rotate the lower side like this", and also showed the rotation by rotating one hand with respect to the other. "But that's what I said!!". "No, look! What he did was this", and repeated the movement. "But...". "Doesn't matter!, I'll explain it to you when we get home", and kissed her on the forehead. He went on, "You understand how he got the rotating effect between the ground and first floors, don't you?". "Yes, he got it by linking the columns with the wrong corners of the upper floor". "Yes, that's right. Very well", and kissed her again. I was looking at them in disbelief with my lips parted. I struggled to control the retching spasms and wished they had given out puke bags at the scanning stage at the entrance of the building. An interpretation of their actual words will help understand my reaction:

"So he made this cube by rotating the lower side against the upper side like this", said the girl. "No, what he did was to rotate the lower side like this". The girl was like, "But that's what I said!!". And the boy replied, "How stupid can you get! I wonder how you could graduate from secondary school. Look, I'll do it again more slowly so that you don't get lost", and repeated the movement. "But...". "It's too intellectually demanding for your small brain, love!, I'll explain it to you when we get home". He went on in his condescending tone, "You understand how he got the rotating effect between the ground and first floors, don't you?". "Yes, he got it by linking the columns with the wrong corners of the upper floor". "Yes, that's a good girl!"

I cringed when I saw them again in the ninth room. That was the last room and there wasn't much to see, so I got out of the exhibition and breathed in some fresh air. I was hungry.

Torres Puerta de Europa (or Torres Kio)

I didn't eat anything though. I had seen a Subway (the sandwich restaurant) up Paseo de la Castellana and a Rodilla (another sandwich restaurant) on the other side of the boulevard, but I didn't feel much like having a sandwich. Instead, I walked on to the CTBA (Cuatro Torres Business Area). I had wanted to attend the "Madrid is Science" fair at Ifema, but I was too tired and didn't have much time left before it closed.

CTBA

Clouds had been dirtying the clean blue canvas that the sky had been before I entered the exhibition and it threatened rain.

Torre de Cristal and Torre Espacio

I walked from Begoña station to Chamartín station instead of taking the metro, I had some food when I got there and took Line 1 to Pinar the Chamartín. I wanted to see the new stations on lines 1 and 4. Pinar the Chamartín station exhibits the restored tram 477, which used to go from Serrano to Puerta del Sol between 1908 and 1917. A panel next to it informs that this tram was featured in films like "Doctor Zhivago" (1965) and "Las bicicletas son para el verano" (1984).


People gathered around the tram and took pictures of themselves with the vehicle. An old man said he could remember it, but it used to be yellow, not blue. I reckon it was a good idea to show that tram at this particular station, as this is the station from which the first light-rail line within the boundaries of the city will depart since the tram closed in Madrid in 1972. Tarik has told me another tram is being exhibited at Alto del Arenal station.

I ended my journey at Atocha station. I took a picture of some turtles in the tropical garden (what are those two doing one on top of the other?) and read in the Mail on Sunday that Prince William had split up with his long-term girlfriend Kate. Shit happens.