the prado museum

so, living so close to such a major european city, i would have been disappointed with myself if i hadn't taken advantage of visiting everything that i could and getting all the culture i could out of it. so we've been somewhat regular attendees of the museums around here. or at least, we've gone a few times, which has been a really cool experience. i've discovered that i do have some kind of artistic taste, in that i can figure out what i like and what i don't, even if i don't have very much knowledge on the style or era that it comes from. and this is what i like:

this painting is by bartolomé e. murillo, and it is called "la sagrada familia del pajarito," or "the Holy Family of the little bird." and oh my gosh, i loved it from the first time i saw it. after walking through and seeing oh so many of the same type of paintings of christ as a child (usually just a small looking person being held by mary, not a baby, with joseph nowhere to be found), it was so dang refreshing to see something so realistic and true-to-life. look at the holy family: they're just hanging out together, spending time together. joseph is being so fatherly to his young toddler. mary is sewing. jesus is playing like any normal toddler would do. i love this painting. a lot. it's even better in real size.

there's only one week left of our program, and we're still working on cramming in as much museum/madrid time as we can. man, time has flown...