8th wonder?

On a cold, cold day last month, I walked and walked from uptown to central Madrid in search of the Prado. Little did I know how far it was or how cold it was gonna be in Spain's capital at that time of year. Despite wind-chill factor 10, one of the great pleasures of walking was happening upon this amazing vertical plant wall at the CaixaForum Madrid. It's an art exhibition space sponsored by The La Caixa Foundation that opened in February 2008 as part of their social and cultural outreach efforts.

Designed by French botanist Patrick Blanc, this wall of green has 15,000 plants of 250 species covering a 460 m2 wall in the square in front of The CaixaForum. Blanc's theory that plants don’t need earth, only water, minerals, light and carbon dioxide, clearly hangs. And on a parallel level, it got me thinking about how much we think we need in life to sustain us. And how much our consumerist society feeds our need for greed and having the next best thing. But in reality a roof over our head, work, food and love – the basics are all we really need for happiness.