November 8th A new museum and a date

Last night at the end of our Spanish lesson we had a conversation with Norm our teacher and we made a date to meet today at the Museo Cerralbo.  You may remember that late last week tried to go to this museum and the line was outside the building, around the corner and down the block.  So today we got there around 11:00am to meet Norm and there were only a few people ahead of us in line.  So we spent a couple of hours going through rooms on the lower floor and the beginning of the upper floor before Norm had to leave to meet  with a possible guitar teacher for his son.  We thank him for taking time to go out with us and give his unique insights on Spanish life and culture. The impression I had from the lower floors was one of seeing a late 19^th century upper class home, very nice furnishings, paintings, sculptures, etc.  It was dedicated to the private family life of the Marquis and his wife, so nothing flashy but extremely high quality.   Then you go upstairs and see the ‘public’ side of their life and just how wealthy they were.  There are paintings by, Titian, Velasquez, Goya, Veronese, El Greco, and others.  Then there are Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and other artifacts, also an entire 50 foot hall of arms and armor, likely belonging to the descendants, of the Marquis.  He was a world class collector of coins, and a noted archeologist who is still recognized for his work.  It is simply an overwhelming display of 19^th century opulence.  One of the museum employees was kind enough to spend nearly a half hour with us just talking about the family and how the palace came to the Spanish people as a museum.  The marquis married an even wealthier Spanish noblewoman who was 29 years his senior and the mother of his best friend.  They never had children and the marquisate passed to his brother after his death.  The brother worked out donating it to Spain.  And all this was before lunch.  Sorry no pics inside.