No, you're not at the Vatican Museums...
by morgane1692
but it's an easy mistake to make, with all of this GOLD on the ceilings!!! Well, gold-colored framing to the hundreds of paintings. One or two well-placed chandeliers and you have enough reflected light for the entire city in this one room. This one really big room...;-) Need even more light? How about a brilliant + toasty fireplace, mmm?
La Noche en Blanco (The Sleepless Night)
by Redang
For the 5th time in a row, Madrid celebrates La Noche en Blanco (The Sleepless Night). It consists in more than 150 different events that take place during the night, beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday 11, till 7 a.m. Sunday 12 September 2.010. Some museums are open all night long.
Some other cities celebrate the same event such as:
- Amsterdam (Holland): www.nuitblancheamsterdam.nl
- Brussels (Belgium): 2 October 2010 (www.nuitblanchebrussels.be/?lang=fr)
- Bucharest (Romania): I don't have information yet
- Paris (France): www.paris.fr/portail/Culture/Portal.lut?page_id=6806
- Riga (Latvia): 1 September (www.baltanakts.lv/2010/)
- Valetta (Malta): 25 September 2010 (www.nottebiancamalta.com/)
For info in some other languages, visit:
- www.esmadrid.com
- www.nochesblancaseuropa.eu
- E mail: infolanocheenblanco@munimadrid.es
Note: I apologize if I can't find the dates for the other cities.
Atocho Station
by barryg23
It might seem strange to recommend a train station as a place to see but Atocha is fairly unique. It's the largest and oldest station in Madrid and was build in 1851.
The most interesting part of the station is the huge tropical garden which was added in 1982. We found it quite a relaxing place to wait while we were waiting for our train to Toledo.
Atocha was the scene of the Madrid bombings in 2004 so, not surprisingly, security was very high at the station.
El corte Ingles
by Danalia about Department Stores
The El Corte Ingles is probably the most famous chain store in Spain, and easy to be find in each and every city.
With more then 115 chain stores in Spain, up to 10 different departments such as: Women's, men's, childrens and teen clothes, electronic, shoes, toys and games, grocery, sports, cosmetics, books, travel agent and a coffee bar at the top floor.
It's not cheap, prices are not very tempted, but since it is another Spanish identity then I am sending you if you are in Madrid (or any other city at Spain) to go and visit.
Red sofas and the eyes of his mother
by agarcia about Olivera
Intriguing title, isn't it? The funny thing is that I could not summarize better the decoration of Oliveira, a fashionable cafe in the Chueca neighbourhood that zumodemango suggested us during the past VT meeting. The red sofas part is easy to explain, as the bar offers some quite comfortable and cosy sofas. The eyes of her mother... well that could be explained by saying that the owner decided to decorate the place with pictures of his own mother. Quite an occurrence, if you ask me. Dress code is quite open, as it usually happens with the bars I like to go.