About 4 days ago now, I set off for a 5-week adventure, mostly in Botswana, to take part in a partnership with a hospital in Botswana. I will be working as an internal medicine resident alongside mostly doctors and interns of Botswana, but there are also a few other residents, including my friend and U of M colleague Adrienne, and a global health fellow out of Boston. Adrienne and I will be traveling together the entire 5 weeks. We also have a 1-week vacation at the end of our trip, at which point my boyfriend, her husband, and one other friend will join us for safaris and Victoria Falls. Due to strict residency training rules, Adrienne and I have been planning this trip for over a year and a half now, and we're thrilled to finally be here.
Out first adventure was getting to and exploring Madrid, Spain! We had a 15-hour layover in Madrid, so planned to spend a day in the city. We had a fantastic time! After an overnight flight with little sleep and a 6 hours of time change, we were pretty tired to start the day, and 22,000 steps and 15 hours later, it felt like the end of a 28-hour call. Good thing we're practiced at working through sleep deprivation.
We took a train from the airport into the city and locked our carry-ons in a secure luggage room with lockers. Free of our bags pressing into our shoulders, we practically skipped into the city. After quickly consulting the maps I had saved via screenshot onto my phone, we strolled up one of the boulevards to The Prado, the national art museum of Spain. We spent the morning wandering through the many galleries ranging from Italian Renaissance to early 20th century Spanish art. Some of my favorites included Raphael "Portrait of a Cardinal," El Greco, Velazquez "Las Meninas" and other portraits, Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights," and Goya, especially a whole hall of his darker, scarier paintings. That guy went through something terrible. We followed a guide of the "masterpieces" of the museum, which were numerous, but then wandered. It was really fun seeing some of the artists and paintings I remembered learning about in world history class long ago and art class even longer ago.
Around lunchtime, we wandered through streets in the general direction towards a restaurant we had looked up on Yelp, but enjoyed exploring the alleys, mostly for pedestrian traffic only. We reached Al Sur, a tapas restaurant, and enjoyed some tapas favorites (patatas bravas, croquetas, and prawns) and the most delicious glass of sangria I have ever enjoyed. Adrienne had never had tapas, what a place to try it out! After taking our time to enjoy lunch, we set out again to explore the city.
We made our way to the Plaza Mayor, a large plaza with only foot traffic. We enjoyed seeing street performers. We had 2 favorites: a person covered in a sparkly robe with a goat head and jaw that he would clack if given some coins and a man seemingly resting on air, but it was an elaborate set-up in which one arm and his body were fixed in place and carefully balanced against the rest of a sculpture. We made it to the Palace where we did more people-watching, but we did not end up touring it, mostly because for 2 hours a day, Madrid opens up its museums to EU citizens for free, and because we fell in this window, there was a super-long line (and we'd still have to pay full-price despite the crowd). Instead, we walked back across the city towards the train station and went to the Reina Sofia, a museum of 20th century art. The highlights here were the Picassos and Dalis. Their most famous possession is "Guernica" by Picasso. It is massive! I truly had no idea, even though I had previously been told it was large (11'x25'). It is such a passionate portrayal of the horrors of war (Spanish Civil War). There were also photos of his creation in various stages, and it was fun to see different limbs turn around and face different directions in the different stages of creation.
At this point, we were thoroughly exhausted, so went back to the train station, collected our belongings, made our way through the massive but cool Madrid airport, boarded our next flight to Johannesburg, and promptly fell asleep.
Out first adventure was getting to and exploring Madrid, Spain! We had a 15-hour layover in Madrid, so planned to spend a day in the city. We had a fantastic time! After an overnight flight with little sleep and a 6 hours of time change, we were pretty tired to start the day, and 22,000 steps and 15 hours later, it felt like the end of a 28-hour call. Good thing we're practiced at working through sleep deprivation.
Outside the train station: delirious, excited
We took a train from the airport into the city and locked our carry-ons in a secure luggage room with lockers. Free of our bags pressing into our shoulders, we practically skipped into the city. After quickly consulting the maps I had saved via screenshot onto my phone, we strolled up one of the boulevards to The Prado, the national art museum of Spain. We spent the morning wandering through the many galleries ranging from Italian Renaissance to early 20th century Spanish art. Some of my favorites included Raphael "Portrait of a Cardinal," El Greco, Velazquez "Las Meninas" and other portraits, Bosch "The Garden of Earthly Delights," and Goya, especially a whole hall of his darker, scarier paintings. That guy went through something terrible. We followed a guide of the "masterpieces" of the museum, which were numerous, but then wandered. It was really fun seeing some of the artists and paintings I remembered learning about in world history class long ago and art class even longer ago.
Velazquez y el Prado
Me and Adrienne at the Palace Real de Madrid
Around lunchtime, we wandered through streets in the general direction towards a restaurant we had looked up on Yelp, but enjoyed exploring the alleys, mostly for pedestrian traffic only. We reached Al Sur, a tapas restaurant, and enjoyed some tapas favorites (patatas bravas, croquetas, and prawns) and the most delicious glass of sangria I have ever enjoyed. Adrienne had never had tapas, what a place to try it out! After taking our time to enjoy lunch, we set out again to explore the city.
Exploring the alleyways
Mmm sangria
We made our way to the Plaza Mayor, a large plaza with only foot traffic. We enjoyed seeing street performers. We had 2 favorites: a person covered in a sparkly robe with a goat head and jaw that he would clack if given some coins and a man seemingly resting on air, but it was an elaborate set-up in which one arm and his body were fixed in place and carefully balanced against the rest of a sculpture. We made it to the Palace where we did more people-watching, but we did not end up touring it, mostly because for 2 hours a day, Madrid opens up its museums to EU citizens for free, and because we fell in this window, there was a super-long line (and we'd still have to pay full-price despite the crowd). Instead, we walked back across the city towards the train station and went to the Reina Sofia, a museum of 20th century art. The highlights here were the Picassos and Dalis. Their most famous possession is "Guernica" by Picasso. It is massive! I truly had no idea, even though I had previously been told it was large (11'x25'). It is such a passionate portrayal of the horrors of war (Spanish Civil War). There were also photos of his creation in various stages, and it was fun to see different limbs turn around and face different directions in the different stages of creation.
Plaza Mayor
Street performer... or a wizard?!
At this point, we were thoroughly exhausted, so went back to the train station, collected our belongings, made our way through the massive but cool Madrid airport, boarded our next flight to Johannesburg, and promptly fell asleep.
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