Amsterdam and Coming Home

Have so little time in this town of over 1200 bridges and oddly shaped buildings and bicycles and tolerance and coffee and pancakes and . . . You know the scene in Disney's 101 Dalmations? The opening scene with the impossibly skinny crooked little buildings and a light showing a piano playing in an open window on a top floor? Exactly.

Sat in front of Rembrandt's Marriage of a Jewish Bride (though the Jewish Museum here has a display that seems to seriously doubt the claims that Rembrandt was so tight with the Jewish community and to doubt whether this is actually a Jewish Bride, but that's another museum) . . . anyway, sat in front of this piece for 45 minutes. It is alive.

And then, hello, this piece. My favorite Van Gogh painting. And two other floors of Van Gogh. I mean . . . really.
Then went to Ann Frank's house. On a beautiful street in a beautiful town. So hard to believe that human beings were such a good idea in evolution . . .

This is the bookcase that hid one of the secret passages up to the two floors the 8 lived in for those two years . . . Saw one of the actual diaries . . . A quote there that I can't remember fully but that basically talked about the fact that millions of people know and have felt the pain of the Frank family, the pain of one little girl that died in Bergen-Belsen just weeks before the end of the war while so many go unremembered. He comments that perhaps that is because it is simply not possible for a human body to contain the pain suffered by so many . . .

So many more things to see in Amsterdam . . . Will definitely be back.

See you all tomorrow. Especially you Sergei, right?? At about 3??? Our plane is scheduled to arrive 2 ish . . . We'll call with more details . . .

Alhambra (out of order)

Below, these are glass skylights built into the roof. Advanced for the year 800. And above, this is the Alhambra at night, visible above our apartment (which is where we´re standing).




Some shots of the Alhambra. A few notes: The Islamic Moors built their palaces on the ruins of the Romans old town. They ruled for Granada for over 700 years. Then Charles the V (or Carlos the I as the Spanish call him) kicked them out and built a palace on top of theirs, only he thought their work was so beautiful that he left much of it there. So it is one of the few places in Europe to see a standing palace or mosque from the time of the Moorish rule (700 to 1492). That´s right, 1492. Anyway, you´ll notice no human images in Islam (not allowing it religiously) and amazing water structures. Ooohhh, la.

La.

Madrid

Well, can´t find a place that will read our camera so here are some shots from our trip to Madrid. The first is a picture of the Plaza Cibeles on Buena Noche in Madrid. Over 50,000 people showed up and watched this hour long amazing light and choir and fireworks and video and who knows . . . There were people rapelling down this old cathedral while fires lit the entire thing from inside with choirs singing and fireworks going off and Aviathar and I sitting there open-ñmouthed . . . V says it wasn´t a cathedral. True, since each city only has one cathedral and we were there last night . . . Maybe a palace. Anyway, Madrid is full of reminders of Franco´s rule. Signs showing where he murdered this many political prisoners and shot thousands of liberal teachers and . . . Cannot believe he is only dead 30 years. What a world.

Madrileños love the fiesta and people everywhere were wearing mardi gras like wigs and blowing horns and buying dulces and celebrating loudly. The second picture is in Plaza Mayor and shows some of the wigs people were wearing around town. V and I bought a set.

Final two shots are my favorite paintings from the Prado. Rubens ¨The Three Graces¨and Poussin´s ¨Parnassus¨which doesn´t look like much here but in person is so unbelievable . . . The Prado deserves it´s reputation, the Roman statues, the Titian, the many rooms dedicated to Velasquez (including his massive and most famous painting ¨Las Meninas¨ (pictured here, but the painting is massive). It´s Velasquez painting himself painting the King and Queen (seen in the reflection in the mirror) . . . Well, trust me . . .

We are back in Barcelona for a few days then off to Amsterdam.

Merry Christmas to our families, we miss you all!!!

Teresa and Aviathar

Sacromonte (Caves in Granada)

These are photos of Sacromonte (the Sacred Mountain) in Granada. Many people, throughout the centuries, including up to today, live in caves here. The first were possibly the Moors that were kicked out after Ferdinand and Isabel christianized Granada. Many Gypsies over the years. These are some of the homes (people still living in caves throughout Sacramonte). Legend has it that when the Moors returned to Morocco they left their slaves here. The slaves knew the Moors had buried their treasures somewhere and were digging for the gold when they decided the holes looked good enough to live in, so they did. Anyway, the top three pictures are inside some of the homes and the last one is a more modern, upscale cave with a nice entrance. But still leads to a cave home. Sacramonte is also the home of Flamenco, created by the Gypsies living here in the caves. We are on our way to see some Flamenco right now. It is only a 10 minute walk. (We´ll be taking a cab though, since the walk is straight up).

Teresa and Aviathar

Hamsters (for my class)

Just to answer the new questions:

Any new pickpockets, yet? Yes, my friend from school (she´s Dutch) told me how she lost her purse. She and some friends were around a very small table and she had her purse on the ground in front of her, between her feet. Anyway, what they do is hook purses with a cord and pull them out slowly without people noticing. That way you think everything is fine because no one comes close to your table. She lost everything!!! Any cheese factories over there? What is the cheese like? Jessica (she's been praying for you) Lots of good cheese here. They have cow, goat and sheep cheese, with factories everywhere. Taylor is wondering how the Spanish lessons are going. Ah yes, school. Well, the first week in Barcelona was wonderful. I learned so much and loved the style of teaching. This week, though, in Granada, is more like a bad high school language class. I was placed in a much higher level. My teacher introduced 6, count ém, six new ¨tiempos¨ with very complicated rules. If the subordinate clause is anterior to the first very and the first verb is in the compuesto, not simple, conditional tense then the second verb must be the pluscuaperfect (hubiera hecho) . . . Nightmare!!! Roland is wondering if the toilet flushes clockwise or counter clockwise? Good question about the toilets Roland. You have to go below the equator for water to flush in the other direction. But, the toilets are different here. They don´t have levers for flushing but buttons to push on the top in the middle and of course there are bidets. Nice . . . I need one . . . Do people eat French toast? Do they call it French toast? What about Swedish pancakes? This is Christmastime so there are sweets everywhere. Almonds are in everything. These special sweets made by some local nuns in San Gregorios plaza are especially delicious. And in Granada lots of kebabs and not as much jamon. Hurry home, Roland and Peter are annoying Jeffery. Are there gigantic spiders and flies? Are you turning into a giant cockroach? metamorphasis?Rebecca wonders how hot it is and if you are sunburnt. Jeffery, Roland and Peter are your karma you know. Actually, we haven´t seen many bugs at all here. It´s too cold. I am not yet a giant cockroach, but you never know.
Rebecca, it is very cold here ¨hace muchisimo frio¨so no sun burns.

Ta.

The Alhambra and the Cathedral

This is the second of two blogs we´re posting today. The pictures. The first is the Cathedral in Granada, sideways (sorry about that). The second is the street leading to our apartment and part of my morning walk on the way to school. The third is our favorite restaurant in Granada, the Casbah in the Albaicin. And the final is part of the Sultan´s garden next to the Alhambra (his get away from it all spot near the main palace) in the Generalife. The Moors built many such palaces in Europe during their rule (12th to 15th centuries around here), but most were torn down when the Catholics took over in 1492. The Alhambra still stands because Chuck the Fifth (Charles V) built his palace in and round the old Islamic palaces and chose not to tear most of it down. The Koran forbids images of any humans so the palace is decorated geometric tiles and many poems and other words from the Koran. It is phenomenally beautiful and detailed and linear (which I love). And their focus on beauty and science and art! Love it . . . At last, a respite from tortured saints and decapitated bodies . . .

Hey Lincoln! Have a great winter holiday. Check in with the blog from home if you want and I´ll see you all in January. Jeffery, Francesca, Molly and Cameron- I hope you four are ready to move. I am soooo excited about this play especially after my visit to Granada. Lucas, I was thinking about using the images and ideas from the Alhambra for our set. What do you think??? I bought a book with photos to show you when I get back. I think you´ll love it.

Cynthia and Mark, got an email from your friend in Barcelona! We emailed back and will hopefully hook up next week.

Lots of love to everyone!!!!

Teresa and Aviathar

Our first few days in Granada

Hello to all! Here are some new photos. The top one is from the balcony of our place on the Mediterranean (the good one, not the old folks home). It wasn´t super warm (70´s) but here in Granada it is only in the 40´s!! Cold. The second picture is just another door shot along the coast. The bottom two pictures are in our Granada neighborhood. The top one is the view from our apartment. Anyway, we visited the Alhambra today. No words. Such an interesting mix of Islam and Christianity.

Hello to a few new people checking our blog: Confidence and Devotion and clan, how exciting to get your comment. We have thought so much about you Confidence, because we look around and see your genetic strain lingering everywhere. Not really lingering, but alive and strong. We aren´t in the Basque region of course . . . but close enough. And hello to Jack and Gail and family!! The Catholic culture here is, obviously, wildly strong. We visited the Cathedral in Granada yesterday, the second largest in Spain. It is painted white inside with lime because of some disease that swept through here, but it makes it soooo different and clean and huge. I´ll try to post some pictures of it in the next blog. Anyway, it is the place where Ferdinand and Isabel are buried, we saw their crypts. I tell you, the Catholics sure are into their blood and gore. If I see one more sculpture of the decapitated body of John the Baptist, complete with gushing aortas and severed spine bits . . . Enough already. Anyone else out there???

Teresa

Oh yes, the hamster questions . . . Can´t remember them right now. Next blog.

Life on the road to Granada

Well, we are ever more committed to using guide books and to Rick Steves. We decided to drive down the coast of Spain along the Mediterranean and just explore cities and towns and find hotels as we went, without a guidebook!! Boy were we sorry. Our first day found us only in depressing little Spanish towns that felt like Franco was alive and well. And our 4 star hotel was basically a poorly run old folks home. The smell, the no-words-to-describe-and-I-use-the-next-term-so-very-loosely "food", the bad karaoke entertainment in a brightly lit flourescent cafeteria where nonegenarians boogied until 10 (in Barcelona, most dance places do not even open until midnight, people definitely do not go out on the town before 10 or 11 AT THE VERY EARLIEST). And it was the most expensive place we´ve stayed. Then last night, we found a gorgeous hotel on the Mediterrean. We slept to the sounds of the waves . . . So that part worked out, but we spent most of the day looking for a place . . . . Anyway, we are back to using our guides!!!

For some reason, this computer won´t let me post pictures, so more later.

Oh, one more thing before I forget. Eric, the Soccer team from Madrid (I didn´t catch their team name, but the wear navy blue if that means anything) are staying at this hotel too. They wander everywhere together, eat soooo much food at the buffet and don´t dance. But they are all gorgeous and sweet. Thought you would like to know.

We´re off to Granada!!!

We are leaving Barcelona. Que lastima! We have many photos, but here are a few last shots around Barcelona. Two statues, the ventilation system at the top of Le Pedrera (in the form of statues) and V and I roaming the streets last night. We are heading for Valencia then on the Granada. Can´t wait.

Hamster Questions

Falon, the statues take a break like anybody else. It is very disconcerting to see the Roman emperor smoking a cig or the statue drinking a coca cola, but they do!!! Shaina, no there are no elevators. We walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to our hotel. That´s pretty normal around here. Everything is built up. Let me tell you, there are very few fat people in Barcelona. We should make a note of this for the Healthy School committee!! Eric, about the futball teams. Barcelona hosted the largest futball game ever in recorded history. 110,000 people at the one game. So yes, this is the big leagues. Madrid and Barcelona have football rivalries that go back over 100 years to when they were at war with each other!! Dedrick, nahhh . . we didn´t make it to the chocolate museum yet. Too bad. And the time difference. It is almost midnight right now on Thursday, and you are just getting out of school (we are 9 hours later here).

Elissa, I bought a new wallet today that is connected to my body. I am taking no chances. We are trying to scope out fun places for you when you move here. We bought a fun to use here, you can have it when you go (it is a prepaid phone).

Still in Barcelona

We are getting ready to leave Barcelona and move on down the coast to Granada (where I will continue to study Spanish). The shot here of V in a doorwary is looking out onto the street from our hotel. Then there is the birds´eye view looking down at Porto Ferrisima (our street) from the room. We also took a shot of the me at Parc Guell (the last time I had my purple hat! I left it there somewhere.) And then there is a shot of one of the many fountains here (this one is at the Parc Ciutadella).

We have also enjoyed much of the Catalan style of cooking here, with eggplant and peppers roasted on bread, incredibly thin slices of tuna or bull meat (very salty) and salted roasted potatoes dipped in paprika-laden olive oil.

A few personal notes: Hello Dayna Rowan Sumrall!!! I hear you are reading our blog. I miss you terribly. Give Hannon and your mom and dad a big kiss for me okay?? And hey Mom, are you out there?? Post a comment below so I know . . . (just click on the comment button). And hello cast!! Are you learning your lines???? I want you off-book when I return. DJ, I am indebted to you for wrapping up the Lucy project!! Good job.

Las Ramblas

Just a few more shots from the past few days. The living statues I talked about in the last blog are at the top. Then there´s me in Sitges. And finally, Quan dancing at a discoteque at maybe 4 in the morning?? Aviathar was being a good papa and was out with him. Me??? I was sound asleep!!!

Responding to my Class

How exciting to get your comments class!! Shaina, yes there is a person inside. They´re called "Cabezas Grandes" or "Big heads" and they just wander around the streets here. This guy is only around during Christmas, he spits out candy and children run after to get it. Children and Aviathar that is. There are many street performers here. Statues that are really people and only move if you give them money; excellent, amazing guitar players just busking on the streets; and oh, so much more. There is a woman here selling sweet potatoes and chestnuts literally roasting over an open fire (no condiments, just the potatoe). Eric is right about the sports teams though, everyone here is crazy about their favorite football (soccer) players, you see it everywhere. The soccer museum is the most visited museum in this city. A city with over 40 museums, including one that takes up five palaces and is dedicated to Picasso. Anyway, the door in our picture was huge. At least twice as tall as we are!! That appears to be fairly common in the cathedrals and palaces around here. This was to let the horses with a rider on top get through. Dedrick, here is a picture of my classroom and some of my teachers. There are only 5 students in my class. A woman named Lies from Holland, a gorgeous German guy named Ollie, a Bostonian named Desi and a French Canadian named Janet. Jorge, thanks for asking how I am doing. I am wonderful. I am walking at least 10 miles a day and exploring the city. I am learning a new language, I couldn´t be better. Adam, our favorite part of the trip so far is La Sagrada Familia. It is awe-inspiring. It was started over 100 years ago, won´t be finished for another 30!!! Well, the hot chocolate you drink with a spoon was pretty good as well. Hmmm . . . Hard to pick. The meat in the picture, yeah, people buy it just like that. To buy an entire leg would cost about 240 euros (over $300). The pig was fed only acorns for the best ones. WE have eated much jamon, as it is called, and it is fantastico! I´m so glad you´re learning to draw, lucky!!! And oatmeal finally came, Ms. Quall must be thrilled.

No, it is not all that hot here. In fact, I am a bit cold. It´s probably in the 60´s during the day, but colder at night. Much warmer than when we left. Aviathar doesn´t agree with me, though. He says it´s colder than that. But, thanks Andrea for asking about Aviathar. He reports that he now feels great, but probably doesn´t want any more paella or any fish for a few days. He is exploring the city all day. He´s been on a tour of the Opera House (200 years old), the Picasso Museum, a Maritime Museum the size of 2 football fields (there was a full-size ship inside), and many others . . .

And yes, somebody did try to pick Aviathar´s pocket. Just an hour ago. He was lucky though because when Quan, his son, was here last weekend, he was pickpocketed by someone using the same technique. Two guys pretend to be playing soccer and jokingly come up and say "Hey you want to play soccer" They bump into you, they kick against your leg to distract you as they are pulling your wallet out of your pocket. Well, Quan didn´t notice at first when they stole his wallet, they are that good, but then a second guy tried to take stuff out of his other pocket and he noticed it moving. Then he realized what had happened and chased the guys down a back alley saying "Amigo, por favor" and believe it or not, they returned his wallet!!! Anyway, Aviathar knew what they were doing right away and pushed them away!!! Yeah!! Finally. (But just in case, I am still holding the money!).

Maura, thanks for taking care of my class!! You rock!

Wandering around the Gothic Quarter (Barcelona)

Here are some shots of the Gothic Quarter. The street scene is our street, Portoferrisima. We are staying on the fifth floor up on the left. You can´t see our balcony, but it´s there. Also, here´s a shot of some cured hams at one of the many meat shops around town. Almost one on every corner (they definitely have Starbucks beat). We buy our fruit and veggies every day at the Boquateria (spelled wrong here, sorry). A local, huge and amazing farmer´s market (open every day). And of course, V insisted on including the street musicians. He says he´s heard the best guitar players ever hanging out on the streets of Barcelona.

Sitges (a beautiful town on the Mediterranean)

We spent yesterday in Sitges, a small town on the Mediterranean. Bee yoo ti ful. We had an expensive-for-us-but-cheap-for-Sitges lunch. Duck and goat cheese and incredibly strong coffee . . . Aviathar is still feeling the bad paella, so he sat there and watched us all eat. He feels better today though.

We are beginning a series of photos of the two of us in front of doors. Sure to be a best seller.

I started school today. I have so much to learn!!! But I was put in a fairly high class so I guess I know more than I think I do.

Love to all.

Gaudi

We spent the day visiting several of the amazing buildings designed by Gaudi. No way to show them in a picture or a painting, but here they are. The Sagrada Familia (a Catholic church) is due to be finished in 25 years. It was started in the late 1800´s. 8 of the 14 spires are finished. Those pictured here are for 8 of the 12 apostles. The four that wrote gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) get taller spires. Mary gets the next tallest and finally Jesus himself gets one twice as tall as those here. The inside posts are made to look like trees, all out of a different stone and with a different symbolism for the stone chosen. The east side of the cross (Catholic churches being built in the shape of a cross) shows the beginning of the life of Christ and is much perkier than the west side which shows the Passion, the end of his life. As you can imagine, the west side is very dark and violent. The whole thing was phenomenally beautiful. No way to do it justice. The other building here pictured here is whimsical and colorful and so different from most architecture. Am loving it all. Haven´t made it to Parc Guell yet, but I can´t wait.