08/06/2015

Hemingway was here

Sorry. Couldn't resist doing a graffiti title. We're in Madrid and Hemingway spent a lot of time here. He loved the place, called it the "most Spanish of all cities" so "Hemingway was here" is in the air. His writing is one thing but, as I'm not into bullfighting or booze, machismo or meat, I am not that enamored by the lore of “Don Ernesto" as he was called here. If it's not too much out of our way, we may walk by his favorite bar. It's still here, still the same and the same family still runs it. But I have no interest in making a pilgrimage to his favorite restaurant even if it is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest restaurant in the world. Remember, we are the people who spent many hours over many days in the Louvre and never made it by to see the Mona Lisa.

But, if we do find ourselves on the Hemingway trail, I will photograph the highlights and post them here because that is what I do, make notes along the way, whether they are about the birds in the Bird Park or the bar where Hemingway drank. But, speaking of birds, it was cool this morning watching the river of swallows swirling above the dome of the old cathedral down the alley and rushing through the narrow corridors of buildings in our neighborhood in search of breakfast. We are on the fifth (top) floor and the windows are always open. It is very hot and the apartment has no air conditioning, or screens for that matter. But today we are headed out to the museum. We are in Madrid for the museums, especially the Prado. Not only did Hemingway frequent the place, Picasso was the head curator for some time. This was before the museum realized what shitty administrators artists make.

4 comments:

Roy said...

Was not Hemingway the father of the Usenet model for testosterone soaked male writers who "pound out" novels on old typewriters in between macho pursuits and generally wallowing in a state of knowing everything?

I gave up on modeling myself after him when I discovered my Dickensian love of run-on sentences, along with my woeful ignorance, (which the run-on sentences tended to hide.)

Ahhh. I do know that Madrid is in Spain, unlike Lisbon!

asha said...

Yes. The glory of alcoholism eh? Suicide on the installment plan until the final payment comes due. I prefer the run-on-sentences as well. As for Madrid....so far we are not impressed and that is putting it mildly. This place is like those dreams where, try as you might, you cannot escape the webbing. You spend the night fighting your way forward only to find that you are where you began but now you are also exhausted and it is morning. Lisbon has a lot more going for it and, the fact is, you could not pay Lisbon to live in Spain.

Roy said...

I just "got" the Mona Lisa photograph. Kind of like the Superbowl game--best seat is in your living room.

asha said...

Exactly. Not only is it a tiny painting, it is always mobbed.