Sometimes Time Doesn’t Matter

 31 October 2021  

So as to yesterday and the whole art and the mall thing, well stuff went sideways, sort of. By that I mean nothing negative happened but it just didn’t work out as planned. So, it goes.  The traveler’s mantra has to be something like, “Be flexible and remember acceptance is the key.” 

 

First there was the serendipity of cascading moments which occurred.  In trying to get to the National Museum of Ancient Art Google Maps showed us that there was a bus that ran from just about directly outside our front door to the museum’s front door. Cool.  When we got to the bus stop the bus in question, (the 727 and yes, I chuckled at a bus numbered after a fast jet airliner), pulled in.  Thirteen minutes later we were at the museum.  

 

Given the time, pushing 14:00 as they say here (2 PM) we decided to grab some food in the Greek tavern across from the edifice.  The food was excellent, hot and hearty, just what was needed for a day that was turning wet with a twist of chill. I had a lamb meatball dish served over rice with a wonderful sauce.  Stoked up with filling food we were off into the art.

 

When we got to the desk, we had IDs out. There were driver’s licenses to prove ages 65 and under 26 together with a European Youth Card for the 26-30.  All the searching wallets was pointless because the clerk politely informed us the ticketing computer was down and thus the museum was free for the day. A third flash of serendipity who would have thought it? But it was not over.

 

The Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga as it is properly known is not one of those highlighted in the tourist guides. I mean it does get a mention here or there but it is really not emphasized.  As we entered the first exhibit was on liturgical vestments. While interesting this did not in my mind bode well for what the museum might hold.  The vestments was ornate with woven gold fibers but were faded and dimly lit.  I was worried.

But then I stepped into the room housing various nativity scenes from convents and churches and I grew amazed.  These depictions of the Christ child’s birth were over the top.  They were huge and they were intricate. One of them using my keen powers of guess-timation was eight or nine feet wide and six feet tall. You know that huge small town HO railroad towns your uncle had when you were a kid?  We these were that intricate on steroids. Just breathtaking.

 When you followed the stairs at the edge of this room down, they ended in as ornate a chapel as anything I had seen in my travels so far this fall. The room in all its gold glory just takes you back to a time of imperial splendor. Portugal was on top of the world once.

 

When you have finished visiting the chapel and start into the painting collections you suddenly discover there are works by Hieronymus Bosch, Raphael, Hans Holbein the Elder, Francisco de Zurbarán, Albrecht Dürer, Domingos Sequeira, and Giambattista Tiepolo. This palace of art is full of wonderful surprises.  I just loved the black and white paintings on the backs of the triptychs.  Truth be told I just got lost in the details of painting after painting and hours slipped away. 

 

The trip back to our base Airbnb here in Lisboa was a little different.  Francie and Loren took the 727 back.  (I make a whooshing sound here imitating what I think a jet sounds like) Their travel cards had expired and so Primus and I swapped with them.  My oldest son said the station is straight down this road, we can recharge the subway/bus cards there.  Truth is he just wanted to walk in the rain, for a mile plus.  GRRR.  I was drenched by the time we reached the station. Drenched I say.  Drenched I tell you.  And chilled.  But the young man was as happy as a clam and he was wearing shorts and carrying a flimsy umbrella.

 

By the time we got back and met up with our other two it was about 5:15 PM.  A quick look at the mall’s calendar revealed that it is not open past seven on the weekends tied most likely to Covid-19.  So, it goes. I spent a rainy day chasing eternal art instead of crass consumerisms.  Probably for the best.

 

Now I could have cut and pasted the details about the art museum, about the Greek taverna and the mall and made this way more specific and informative but would that have made it any better?  I don’t think so.  This is me, warmer and dryer now, just riffing on what the day was like.