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.