Tuesday, January 6, 2015

One Church, One Museum Maximum Per Day


Tuesday, 6 January, 2015:

Today, the Feast of the Epiphany and/or Dia de los Reyes Magos is officially the last day of the Holidays in Spain. Again, most things were shut down for the day.

Surprisingly, I did not win this morning's big National Lottery.

I am once again trying to institute a policy of no more than one church and/or one museum visit per day.

Let's see how long this self-imposed edict lasts this time.

9:00 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral
on the Dia de los Reyes Magos

It was more than just a visit today.

The Cathedral's motto is: "A Sunday Without the Eucharist is Not a Sunday."

A Nativity or Belén as it is called
in Spain, is a MUST!

After the 35 minute Mass, I did visit the Cathedral's chapels one more time.

Nice Mural

Post-Mass Desayuno

A Café con Leche, a tortilla Española and the daily newspaper, what more could I want.

The good news in the headline above is a quote from one of the Three Wise Men, Balthazar I think. He stated that, "This year we forgot to bring the coal."

Yahoo, they brought presents for EVERY CHILD!!!

Seems Just to Me

Time to roam . . .

Next to Murcia's Plaza de Toros

Makes sense, Joselito was one of Spain's greatest matadors in the early 20th century. In 1920, he was fatally gored at Talavera de la Reina's bull ring at the tender age of 25.  

José Ortega Cano

A nice bust of the famous matador who had a solid 25 year career in the bull rings of Spain ending in 1998. It is located in the park across the street from Murcia's Plaza de Toros and was placed there in 2007.

Unfortunately for Cano, he started serving a two years, six month and one day sentence for vehicular manslaughter in Zaragoza's Zuera Prison last April.

DALÍ!!!

Museo de Bellas Artes de Murcia

For my one museum visit, I opted for this one, the Fine Arts Museum.

It did have a Special Exhibit featuring toys from the first half of the 20thy century.

Looks like Kevin's Ride to me

More Jacob's Mode of Transportation

Or they could both ride mini-Vespas

1930 Toy Bull Ring
Kevin would like this tank

Nice German toys

"MOW THEM DOWN!!!"

All of these war toys were nice lead ins to both the Spanish Civil War and World War II.

Miguel Indurain's First Bike?

Early Indy Car

Now for the Museum's Permanent Collection.

Cool Demon

St. Andrew

St. Michael

St. Agatha

Sometimes I wish that she would stop showing us her breasts.

Homage to the Raiders

This is going to leave a mark!

Fittingly, The Three Wise Men
in Bethlehem

The Cross of Santiago Matamoros

Another Martyr in the making

The Museum was small but had some very impressive pieces.

And it was FREE!!!

Cuban Music Concert on
22 January at the Teatro Romea

It's a Thursday and we don't have practice, I'm on it!

While reading the newspaper this morning, I read that there was going to be an "Auto de Reyes Magos" on Plaza Cardenal Belluga at 6:00 p.m. tonight.

I was not sure what an auto is but I was certain that it was not a car. I figured that it would be the last act of the Holiday season, so I just had to check it out.

Right?

The Cathedral would serve as
the "Auto's" backdrop

Love the Halos at the "Magic Hour"

Melchior's Opening Speech

Melchior

Gaspar on the left

I had a hard time getting a good shot of our third Wise Man, Balthazar at the start of what turned out to be a 90 minute play that incorporated the appearance of the Star to the Three Wise Men, King Herod's plight at the birth of the King of the Jews, the Martyrdom of the Innocents and finally the Presentation of the Gifts to the Baby Jesus by our Three Wise Men.

An Angel

No, REALLY!!!

She was amazing.

Two Country Folk who were HILARIOUS! 

They spoke in the local dialect of the Murcia Huerta.

King Herod, a BAD man in history

And a bit of a ham as an actor too.

 St. Michael the Archangel

I don't trust anything
that King Herod says!

I always thought that he was a he.

 There is Balthazar at last

The Holy Family

The Star over Belén

THE END

Taking a well deserved Bow

It was a well produced Auto if you ask me, I'm glad I went.

So what happened to the Three Kings after they presented the gifts to the baby Jesus?

I don't know about Melchior or Balthazar . . .

. . . But Gaspar went into
the restaurant business it seems

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