Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid

Our second day in Madrid was largely given over to culture as we spent a good part of the day in the Reina Sofia Museum, which is Madrid's equivalent of MOMA in New York. It is an extensive gallery which is at times difficult to negotiate especially if like us you did not pick up a museum plan at the ticket desk. Still as senior citizens of the EU we did get in free. I took up the offer of an audio tour which does tend to extend your visit and must have been a bit of a bore for my wife who preferred to rely only on sight clues to the exhibits. This museum houses the original of Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica' which is a massively impressive painting which fills one room and your mind with unforgettable images of war. You were not allowed to take photographs inside so this picture of an exhibit in the inner garden courtyard will have to suffice. I am afraid I cannot even tell you what the sculpture is because by that stage we were cultured out and no end of searching on the web has enabled me to identify it. Any ideas, I am sure I have seen something similar by this artist previously ? (However, what really intrigues me is the lovely lighting on it. View LARGE

My daughter informs me it is Lunar Bird by Joan Miro

The rest of the day was spent walking home via the Plaza de Sol which felt a bit like the Edinburgh Festival as there were so many 'living sculptures' begging a living.