Walking in the rain in Cordoba (& other reflections)

Hello all! So I have returned to my blog and I will be authoring it now until I leave. (Sadly there will be no more guest appearances so you're stuck with just me). This past Saturday I went to Cordoba with my program. I will tell you about that in one second ... first lets take a moment to ponder the calendar shall we? Today is Tuesday. Two more days of classes left (Wed, Thurs). Two more weekends in Spain. Finals are next week (Mon-Thurs). In a week I will have taken 2 finals and be two tests away from finishing my academic term here in Madrid. In 2 weeks - ready for this - I will be in the airport: In exactly 2 weeks, I will be sitting in the Madrid airport, a place I have visited often and come to know well, awaiting the boarding call for my flight home. Oh my! But in this short two weeks I have a lot planned. The short list: 2 more essays, 4 final exams, city-wide Christmas lights illumination, Thessyn Museum, Nun candies, El Rastro , Lope de Vega house, a night on the town with Elia, Kaleb's visit, Chrsitmas decorating with Elena! And I am sure I have left out things that I still want to do. Let's just say I am busy. Ok, enough with the future. Let's go back to this past weekend ...


So Thursday night, I was super productive and (drum roll please) I completed my 6.5 page Lit essay in a total of 4.5 hours. Yay for productivity. Friday, I also got headway research done on history (my next hurdle) so I was feeling pretty good by Saturday when we left on the train for Cordoba. Cordoba is in Southern Spain (near Granada and Seville) and it also has evidince of a tri-religion past (Catholic, Jewish, Muslim). We visited the Cathedral of Corodba (that used to be a mosque ans still looks very much like a mosque). It was beautiful with rows and rows of double arched columns: Fun fact, most of the columns are different because lots of them were recycled from Roman ruins. The roman influence is evident too in the (reconstructed) roman bridge that we walked on that still rests on it's somewhat original foundations accross the river. The mosque was every bit as impressive as I had been hoping. It is weird to think of it as a cathedral though. It literally looks like a mosque with a high alter/chior plopped down in the middle. There is even currently a squabble going on. Muslims in Cordoba want the right to go here to pray. But the bishop won't have that because the building is Cordoba's cathedral now. Also the bishop gets really irritated when people refer to it as the mosque of cordoba (Misquita de Cordoba), which nearly everyone does. It is techincally the Mosque/Cathedral of Cordoba. But the bishop is working his hardest to get the word mosque removed completely and have everyone refer to it as the only the Cathedral of Cordoba. It is said that Spain throughout much of it's history has been a land with the rich history of three religions. However, their co-existance is rich. But, as in the past, it is not always peaceful.

After seeing the mosque, we took a walk. It was drizzly all day so this walk was damp and chilly, but still pretty. I tried my hardest to focus on the pretty. We saw several of these hanging gardens that Cordoba is famous for. They were beautiful, made by hanging potted plants on the wall. They filled the patios with life and I loved them. Cordoba actually has a competition every year and people come from all around the world to see these hanging gardens. So pretty! After our walk, Kristine, Molly, Lindsay and I made our way to a tea room for lunch. Isabel negotiated with the owner and arranged it so that we could eat our sack lunches in the warm tea room if we bought tea. It was lovely. We sat in the low couches and tables and warmed up from the cold. We had several yummy tea flavors (including ttwo herbal teas, chai tea, vanilla and (my favorite) cinnamon!). We even got an order of hummus - which I love dearly and have greatly missed during my time here! After lunch, we went to explore the third religious influence of Spain, the Jewish culture. We went to the Jewish neighborhood and went to an old house that is now a museum. My favorite part of this was the mini-concert at the end. A kid studying traditional Jewish violin played some songs (a la Fiddler on the Roof) for us and it was hauntingly beautiful. Finally, we headed home for a final Spanish train ride.


On Sunday, I did some other homework and did my best to be producive. It was difficult because all day I wasn't thinking about my work. I was thinking about that night. Because we had reserved tickets ... for HARRY POTTER 7!! Here: Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte. We did see it in English so try not to judge me too harshly. Mainly, I wanted to see it in English first and I really don't like dubbed films no matter the language. Anyway, I think it has been possibly my favorite film so far. I have been a fan of the Yates influence in the seires and hope that he is able to round out the final film as well as he did this first half. However, I missed seeing this film with my usual midnight-premiere buddies and am glad that the series will not end until the summer when I am back home with you guys. :)

So, thus rounds out my weekend. Yesterday marked my final busy Monday (my day with 3 classes streatching from 9:30 am - 7:00 pm). Today I am on campus with the intention of writing a history paper (a daunting 11 pages) and then Wednesday and Thursday I will be finishing class. I'll probably be back later this week to talk about celebrating Turkey Day outside of the good ole USA. Until then, I miss you all lots and lots. I feel proud that I've kept this up and promise to end the year strong and fill you in on every detail (you know me) of my last two weeks. Chao for now. <3>

Spain Again & Saying Goodbye

Monday, while Suzanne had classes, I struck out on my own and traveled by bus to the city of Toledo. Perched atop a tall hill (with the bus station alllll the way at the bottom) it was a great day trip. I saw a beautiful cathedral and a museum. Not to mention more swords and knives than I have ever seen in my life. Mostly though I wandered the narrow streets and explored, popping in and out of shops and stopping for coffee. I made my way back to Madrid and finished up the last of my souvenir shopping, including getting my very own pooping nativity figurine (see previous post). For some reason there were a lot more living statue people out on Monday. My favorite was when I saw a guy dressed as Charlie Chaplin talking to a fat man in a Spider Man costume. I tried to get a picture but they parted ways before I could get one. When I met back up with Suzanne we went to a bar and had a final dinner of tapas and sangria. It was a great end to a great trip. After dinner it was back to Elena’s to finish packing for the return.

On Tuesday we headed out for the airport laden down with many a souvenir. My bag was just a taaad overweight when I got there. If anyone asks, three bottles of wine weighs about 8 pounds. And with a sad goodbye and reassurances that it wouldn’t be too much longer till we saw each other again, Suzanne and I parted ways. And that brings us to the present.

It was a funderful trip and I’m glad I got to go. Arrivederci amici.
-Patrick, signing off

Milano, an Italian Weekend

Finally we boarded our plane and set out for Milan. We arrived in Italy and worked our way to the hotel, passing the Sforza Castle and Arch of Peace. We decided to skip trying to get tickets to La Scala in exchange for a nap. Two operas in one week, we decided, would be a bit much. After our nap we struck out for the city. We walked through parco sempione and made our way to the Duomo for our first look at the soaring cathedral. We walked through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. It is named after the first king of unified Italy and is the precursor to the modern shopping mall. The Galleria is basically two corridors that intersect in the middle and are covered by a roof of arching glass and iron. Inside are a number of famous stores and restaurants. We passed through and on the other side was the world famous La Scala opera house. I must say that it is a rather unassuming building from the outside. The outside only serves to hide the lavishness that greeted us on the inside. The theatre was beautiful, even if the boxes didn’t exactly offer the best of views. We then proceeded to tour the theatre museum. After our tour we went to one of the restaurants in the Galleria and had our first Italian meal (P- Spaghetti Carbonara, S- Ravioli) followed by that Italian frozen nectar of the gods –Gelato. Then it was back to the hotel to rest.

We woke up on Saturday and got cappuccinos at a local café before heading into the Sforza Castle. The castle houses a number of museums and we saw most of them: Museum of Ancient Art, Museum of Antique Furniture, Museum of Applied Arts, Museum of Instruments. The coolest thing was at the end of the Ancient Art museum, the Rondanini Pieta. This is the last work of Michelangelo and remains unfinished. You can see on the sculpture where he had started to make changes to the design including an arm that no longer belongs to any of the figures. There were two more museums but we were hungry and set out for a delicious lunch of some authentic Italian pizza. We stopped in the Duomo for the end of an organ concert and to look around. While it was dark and cloudy outside it was much darker in the church. The outside stone is very bright but inside it is much greyer. This, combined with the dark stained glass, made for a somewhat somber feeling church.

Sunday was a bit rainy and so we slept in and then made our way down to the cathedral for mass. Afterwards we climbed to the top of the cathedral. This was extremely cool as you get to be up close to all the statuary and embellishments on the roof that are hard to appreciate from the ground. Possibly my favorite thing about the trip to the roof was the trip back down. While walking along the roof you have to pass through a number of archways. We were following a girl with a big blue umbrella. When she came to the first arch she tried to simply walk through with her umbrella open over her shoulder. It didn’t fit however and she got a little stuck, freed herself, and continued on. Then she did it again at the next doorway not 30 feet away. Then she did it AGAIN!!!!! I don’t know why she couldn’t learn that the arches were too narrow. I got a picture on the third time and so we missed her going through the fourth arch but we know by the fifth she had learned her lesson. We went to our last lunch in the Galleria and listened to the soccer fans chanting. It was a big game between AC Milan and Internazionale (both Milanese teams.) Lunch was a little slow and so as soon as it was over we started running to make sure we made our plane. Suffice it to say that it was a close call. A really close call. But we made it and that’s what counts. And what’s an adventure without a little panic. We returned to Elena’s and had a delicious homemade meal.

-Patrick

Guest blogger #2: Madrid :)

Buon giorno tutti! This is Suzanne’s second guest blogger, Patrick, recently returned from a great trip. It’s strange to think that I just spent a week over four thousand miles away and am now back home in my living room. At any rate, here is an accounting of my adventures. Where appropriate, the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

I arrived in Madrid on Tuesday morning. This worked out great since Suzanne didn’t have any classes on Tuesday and was able to meet me at the airport and guide me into the city. We took the train into town and checked into my hostel to drop off my suitcase. I stayed at the Way Hostel which was great because it was right in the middle of town and within walking distance of everything. Suzanne then took me on a whirlwind orientation tour of Madrid. We basically walked from one end of the city to the other catching glimpses of Plaza Mayor, Sol, The Cathedral, The Palace, Plaza de Espana, The Opera House, and Temple De Debod. Tuesday was also the celebration of the patron saint of Madrid, the Virgin of La Almudena. On the 9th of November, St. Almudena is remembered. Her image was supposedly brought to Spain by the Apostle Santiago (St. James) and hidden away inside a city wall when the Moors invaded in year 783. Two centuries later, the legend goes, the wall fell away exposing the same lit candles she had been hidden with. This made our tour even more interesting as there were lots of worshipers in traditional clothes making their way to the cathedral, there was a mass being said in Plaza Mayor, and later we saw some traditional dancing in the plaza. Our tour also took us to the old royal gardens, now a sprawling public park. The park was great with the changing leaves, Crystal Palace, and (perhaps my favorite part) a grassy spot to take a nap. We ended the night with dinner and a flamenco show. The flamenco was just as great as Suzanne’s previous posts have indicated. Finally worn out by an intense day I headed back to my hostel.

Wednesday began with a trip to a bakery in Sol where Suzanne and I had a delicious breakfast with pastries and café con leche. I actually returned to this bakery every morning I could. We then set off for the cathedral. We went through the cathedral museum, climbed to the roof for a spectacular view of the city, and ended with a walk through in inside. I really liked this cathedral for how bright it was inside. The stone is white and the stained glass is colorful without being heavily saturated, letting in lots of natural sunlight. Right when we came out of the cathedral, Suzanne and I noticed a crowd forming in front of the palace and so we headed over. The palace does a ceremonial changing of the guard on Wednesdays and so we got to watch the soldiers march in formation as well as a few horses. After this, Suzanne left me to my own devices and headed off to class. I headed back to the Egyptian temple for a tour in the daylight. Then it was off to the royal palace. Oddly enough I think one of my favorite parts about touring the palace was the grand staircase right at the beginning. You can’t walk up a staircase like that and not feel cool. After my tour of the palace and the armory and the pharmacy I walked to the back of the cathedral and toured the crypt which was cool. Exhausted I headed back to my hostel. On the way I passed the convent where the cloistered nuns sell their sweets. Suzanne and I had tried to get some the day before but they were out by the time we got there. On a whim I decided to stop and try my luck. I buzzed the door and new that I had to say “Dulces” to let them know I wanted candy. This I did and was buzzed in. I made my way to the window where you order via a lazy susan with dividers so that you can’t see the nun on the other side. Unfortunately she didn’t speak any English and my translator was not with me. I was a bit at a loss until the lazy susan started to spin and there was suddenly a box of cookies in front of me. Not knowing what else to do I took the cookies and put some money down and spun the susan back around and waited for some change. Nuns give the worst change! I returned for more cookies on another day and both times I got handfuls of coins as my change. That evening Suzanne and I went to the opera house for a performance of “The Turn of the Screw” and churros con chocolate. The opera was good with some very interesting staging and set pieces and the churros were every bit as delicious as I had hoped.

Thursday was my big museum day. I started out with breakfast at the aforementioned bakery and then headed down to the Prado. The museum was really nice and I was able to get through almost all of the rooms and see the highlights before I had to meet Suzanne at my second museum, Renia Sofia. We had some lunch and then Suzanne’s art teacher was nice enough to get me a free student ticket to the museum. I followed the class around looking at Picasso and Dali. After a full day of museums we headed to the San Miguel market. San Miguel used to be a covered market. The original cover structure still stands but it is now glassed in and is filled with gourmet food and wine vendors. We hopped from stall to stall sampling bits of food and glasses of wine. After this delicious meal we headed to Elena’s to pack for our trip to Milan! Because we had such an early flight we decided to spend the night in the airport. This was terrible. Marble is a very uncomfortable surface to sleep on. The best part of the stay at the airport was eavesdropping on a guy’s phone conversation. Here is the transcript: “Mama..mama..no I…mam..I told th..no….mama…ma…….whatever you want mama.”
-Patrick

Bad News Blogs

So ... I´ve got good news and bad news. Let´s do the good news first. I had a wonderful weekend in Lisbon last week and Milan this weekend. Great travels, lots to share with you ...

But now sharing will be a little slower in coming. Yesterday, my computer (that has served me faithfully with no problems for 3 years) died. At least not it won´t turn on beyond a blue screen. I could take it into a computer store and try to work through a language barrier (I know little Spanish about couputers). But, I have info on that computer that I don´t want to risk so I will probably not take it anywhere except an apple store when I get back to the states.

This means: 3 weeks of word-processing and working completely on campus. As I have three papers (24 pages) to write for the final week I am a little distressed. However, I can only manage my time and hope to finish it all. However, my stress levels are rising.

Also, I am going to probably feel most homesick these last three weeks as my main comunication (Skype) has essentially died as well. I can only skype in wireless with my phone now, so I will seek out wireless that I can use of campus if possible. Why couldn´t this problem have waited three weeks??? I miss you all terribly and feel that this computer crash has horrible timing. I´d appreciate any words of encouragement that you have to offer me.

So, I will try to update you on my travels as much as I can ... but no guarantees. Signing off. S

Lisbon: Trying to speak Portuguese in a city by the sea

It amazes me that less than a week after returning to Madrid from Paris, I was lucky enough to be travelling again the next weekend: This time to Portugal! Another country, another adventure. I was very excited to be exploring Spain’s neighbour on the Iberian Peninsula. Our flight to Lisbon left Friday afternoon, and with delays/time changes that put our arrival in Lisbon during late afternoon. We checked into the hotel and then set out – trying to make it to a museum before it closed at 5:30. We did not make it to the museum. However, we did enjoy a pleasant walk along the harbour and figured out how to use the (shiny, new) Lisbon metro. We walked through some of the city at night, orienting ourselves and looking for dinner. We stumbled upon the capitol building which was prettily lit up at night. I was also surprised to find the city already hung with the beginnings of Christmas lights (keep in mind that is only just November). However, I love Christmas, and this year Christmas also means seeing my much missed family and friends … so these lights cheered me more than annoyed me by their earliness. We walked around for a while but all the restaurants we found were closed or not yet open (it was only 7 and still early for dinner). However, we were starving and finally found a place that boasted “Traditional Portuguese Cuisine”. We glanced and the menu and it looked passable so we went in … it was, well, not as we expected. We were seated and realized that we were the only ones in the restaurant. Now, I am not trying to stereotype by any means, but after meeting our wait staff, we realized that we were in an Indian Portuguese restaurant. Now I love Indian food with a passion … but Indian Portuguese food turned out to be, well, not that good. My tangerine orange soup veggie soup was ok, but the fried calamari was reminiscent of rubber and John’s salmon looked like it’d been too long out of the water. The chocolate mousse we ate for dessert was at least ok. And we were really hungry so any nourishment was good. But, I felt like we didn’t fully experience Portuguese cuisine after our first day. We returned to our hotel and slept well though that night after all the walking we did.

Day two, we got up early with lofty sightseeing goals. We began out day at the Monasterio de los Jerónimos. Near the monestary, we first grabbed breakfast. Ann Marie (a friend from the Morocco trip) had spent the summer in Portugal and recommended Pasteles de Belem – a kind of Portuguese pastry. I am never one to turn down a pastery recommendation so we stopped into the Pasteles de Belem Bakery (the one most famous for these, although we saw them everywhere) and got half a dozen to split. Oh MY! They were so good. They had a flak crust with a sweet warm cream cheesy interior. Plus, you got packets of sugar and cimmamon to sprinkle the with! Best breakfast ever!

So after this we made it to the monestary itself. It was really a beautiful site to visit. The cloister had all these carved columns - every one unique. The spires and arches were all intricately carved and designed. Then, in the sanctuary we got to see the buriel site of the fames Vasco de Gama. We heard a lot about this Portuguese explorer who made it to India. I think he is the biggest Portuguese name on the history books so seeing his tomb was a pretty big deal. Plus the sanctuary was also really pretty - with carved wooden columns and beautiful stained glass windows. As a side note - our decision to come here early was a good one because the monestary was closing at 1 that day for a "special event."

Next stop, the bay near the monestary to see the other 2 big monuments in Lisbon: the Discoverer´s monument and the Belem tower. The monument again emphasized Portugal in it´s golden time of discovery. The tower was an old prison. Now, it´s another thing to climb. And, while in Europe, climb towers! So we did. Again, both are beautifully carved out of this white stone (marble?) that was so pretty and intricate. We also got great views of the harbor and the bridge. There were TONS of sailboats on the water (Thought of you Daddy). They even had baby sailboats that you could rent and I think they were easy to control/sail with little to no experience. I overheard a guy telling his friends that he used one of those when he learned to sail. Anyway, next out touring took us to the Bernardo Modern Art museum. It was free and weird. The exhibits were all super modern (even more than what I'd seen in Reina Sofia). We saw a neat exhibit about Andy Warhol's dabbeling in television which was cool. I didn't know he did tv. The other stuff was strange and sometimes wildly weird, but it was neat. Next we headed to the Portuguese ancient art museum, which really just meant older art (This was the one we tried to make it to the first day before it closed). It was awesome with lots of Portuguese/European painting, Japanese art, and Decorative arts. We saw another Bosch there. He his paintings both fascinate me and creep me out. They remind me of Where´s Waldo paintings only I'd Waldo probably wouldn't want to hand out in the with the fiendish characters in Bosch's hellish paintings. Still - neat to see. Also, I felt proud of my Spanish art knowledge as I recognized the styles of Murillio, Jose de Ribera and Zuberan before reading the plaques.

Finally, with time to spare in our day, we headed over to the Lisbon Aquarium - one of the largestin Europe. It was neat. The aquarium is located in a big cube building suspended over the water of the bay. You have to cross a footbridge over the bay to enter it. We saw tons of cool fishes. In the center of the cube is one big tank that you constantly circle as you walk down around the museum and see the other tanks. Among the highlights: Penguins (including a Surf's Up Robin Williams Penguin, a gigantic octopus, baracuda, sharks, rays, and a sunfish). If you don't know what a sunfish looks like, google it. It is a really strange fish - and the Lisbon aquarium is one of the few aquariums to keep one. It was a great end to a super full day! I love aquariums and this was only John's second one!

For our final day in Lisbon, we had the morning to explore before our later afternoon flight. We decided to explore the castel on the hill - Sant George's Castle. It took us a Long climp up and up and up until we finally reached the castel. (The climb felt longer because we had our backpacks having checked out of the hotel already). It was pretty cool. The castel was build long ago (like more fortresses in Eurpoe) and was eventually taken over by the Portuguese kings as Portugal became a country. Also, the views from castels are always great because they are so high (for defensive purposes) so we got some great shots of the rooftops of Lisbon. After seeing the castel we took a cab back to the airport and flew back to Madrid (on my first non-delayed flight since being in Europe!) It was a wonderful weekend ;)

Lovin' Madrid, between travels

So this week was shorter class wise for me (classes only Wednesday and Thursday), but I had to pop on and tell you about a few things before my plane leaves for Lisbon this afternoon ...

Tuesday, Elena and I went over to her brother's house for dinner - which was great! Her brother seems like a really good guy (he's her closest sibling). I'd only met him briefly before so it was fun to spend more time with him. He and his wife also have an American student staying with them. Paul is 23 and from Chicago ... and he said his biggest struggle with Spanish is that the Japanese he learned is getting in the way. I was impressed. We had pizza for dinner (BBQ and white pizza) and Elena brought microwavable chocolate claiente for dessert. Yum! It was neat to meet more of her family. He sister-in-law is chatty and loves House and True Blood which was funny. He brother was a perfect gentleman and I can see why he and Elena get along so well. Also, during dinner they Elena and her sister-in-law kept having the "my American kid is better than your American kid" joke argument ... which was cute (Paul and I decided to declare it a draw). It was a really fun dinner.

Thursday, I had 2 neat arts experiences. In the afternoon with my art class I went to the Sorollo museum. Sorollo was a Spanish painter who was influenced by Impressionism and actually developed his own sort of style: Illuminism. His paintings were awesome to see in real life because the brushwork is so neat. Also, the museum is actually located in the rooms of his old house. It's neat to see the paintings displayed and then see the studio from whence they came. I've decided I really like his style. I was a little surprised not to have heard of him before but now that I have I'll be sure to look for his works when I visit museums. I always like impressionist-like painters. There's something about the construction of a image out of solid (un-smoothed) brushtrokes of color that intrigues me. I'm a new fan of Sorollo's work - playful yet elegant.

Then Thursday night I went to see El alcalde de Zalamea (The Mayor of Zalamea) with John for my Golden Age Lit class. It was a bit of a language challenge (as it was written in verse) but I read the summary before and after so I think I've got it now. The performance was excellent. It was at a theatre here in Madrid that only puts up classical works (similar in many ways to a Shakespeare theatre back home). The Golden Age was a shining era for Spanish theatre - playwrights with the likes of Calderon de la Barca and Lope de Vega. I was excited enough to be studying this (because I love to study theatre) but seeing a staged show was wonderful. It's been a while since I've seen a play and I miss it. So glad I could go!

Madrid is a wonderful city to come back to. I always feel a little sense of "being home" when I return after traveling. I'm going to miss it when I leave in December. Sidenote: 4 weeks 2 days left in Europe. The time is truly racing!