New Experiences

This is a bird of paradise. I had never seen one of these before, but apparently they are common in Jill and Ellen's world - San Diego.

Lets see. Last week, I went with my senora, Carmen and her friends to eat at a convent for lucnh. To be honest, I originally thought I was eating at a monestary because the word for nun in Spanish is monja...and it was a bit deceiving. Apparently monje is monk. But anyways, at the convent, I tried for the first and last time..pig's feet. I can't say it was my favorite thing. Lots of bones, lots of fat, and very little meat, but very, very chewy. But the rest of the food was great! Also, we got to drink wine and beer at the convent. Apparently, the nuns supply the beer, but you have to bring your own wine with a limit of 5 bottles. I was surprised because I thought this would be the other way around, wine being in the Bible and all, but I guess since it has less alcohol content, it trumps wine. After lunch, we had coffee while the nuns came around selling lottery tickets. And I'm not sure why, but it happened.

I also tried bull tail with two of my Spanish friends this last weekend. And I will admit, I liked it. It helped that the gravy that was on it was incredible, but it tasted a lot like really, really tender roast beef. Very good. That night, Melissa and I also tried porrones for the first time. I'm not sure how to explain it really except that its a special kind of glass that you drink out of, but it takes lots of practice to perfect the art of drinking out of a porron. In their words, "You have to be one with the porron!" "Believe in the porron!" Such wonderful words of wisdom. By the end of the night, I had it down. I was told by Antonio and Diego that now I am a true Spaniard.

Malaga

Beach Time!

This is the Alcazaba - mother of the Alhambra. They saw this place was built so strategically, it was also impenetrable. But the story goes that the sultan in Granda visited the Alcazaba and fell in love. He returned to Granada and construction on the Alhambra began. While the Alcazaba was beautiful, it doesn't hold a candle to the Alhambra.

This is a Roman theater...and I'll be honest, I don't know much else. I couldn't hear the tour guide.

This is the Cathedral of Malaga. Apparently, it was never finished because Spain gave money to the US to help them fight for freedom from Britian. They didn't think about their colonies in the americas that would soon follow our lead. Bummer.

p.s. It looks finished to me.

Let's see. The night we got into Malaga, we headed for the beach. So beautiful - I'll miss the ocean back in Nebraska. The next day we went on a tour around Malaga. This city has such an interesting history. There isn't a lot left of antique Malaga because during the Spanish Civil War, Republican Malaga was invaded by the sea by Franco's forces while Italian and German forces helped by the air. Much of the city was destroyed. Also, the entire ruins of the wall that used to exist in arab times were destroyed.

Ronda

Ronda is a quaint little town with a lot of history. It is older than Rome. It has this huge, extremely unique bridge connecting the two sides of the city across a huge gorge. It's the only bridge of its kind in the world, and it was handmade. Pretty impressive, huh? Apartment buildings and other buildings are situated right on the edges of cliffs, and the views in this city are fantastic. Ronda was also home to the first round bull ring in Spain although it's not standing anymore.

We also were able to visit ruins of old arab baths. Apparently, the idea of public bathing was orignally Greek; then the arabs adopted the idea, and then the Romans. Many times the baths were located right near the entrance of the city because travellers needed to cleanse themselves after a long journey. The designs of these baths and how they worked are genius. There are four rooms. You start in the luke warm bath room, then move to the hot bath room, then the cold bath, and then the sauna. How the circulated heat and water was incredible. Hot air from coals and hard-working donkeys did it all.

When we got back from Ronda, we decided to try the Arab baths for ourselves. Here in Granada they have a building that they reconstructed like the old arab baths that used to be here. It was the most relaxing day ever. We went through all the rooms and different baths and then got a massage. Totally worth it, and we plan to return when it's a little colder outside. By the way, I'm still alright here walking outside without a jacket. Love it.

Renaissance Fair

Lots of different breads and cheeses!
Cake, cake, and more cake.

This guy was making bread.

Lots and lots of candy!

Well, I am just about in love with all of the different celebrations and festivals they have here in Granada! This was a Renaissance Fair, and it was soo much fun! So many different foods, and lots of neat things to buy - jewelery, toys, candles, decorations, ect. I will admit, I was here three times over the weekend. One day, there were musicians and clowns and the works, but I didn't have my camera on me. When I came back, camera in tow, they were gone. Major bummer.

The Vatican

One of Rafael's paintings.

This is another of Rafael. It is a painting of when Peter was released from prison by an angel. (At least I think it was Peter, wasn't it?)

One of the many painted ceilings.

One of the many sculptures. This one had a neat story that I can't remember - I was on information overload by this time.

A whole hallway of sculptures.

The vatican was a marathon, to say the least. We waited in line for an hour, and the place was so packed I kind of wanted to scream. The vatican is wonderful, but sooo overwhelming. It's hard to know where to look, the roman floor, the ceiling, the walls, the sculptures, the tapestries? And after awhile...you can look no more. And you couldn't pick and choose which rooms you wanted to see. If you wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, you were going to see the rest of the museum too. We endured three hours of "The Sistine Chapel is just around the corner!" But no, I did enjoy it very much. I really like seeing the Rafael rooms, and all of the old maps. And I forgot to write about the really neat quote on Rafael's tomb. It went something like this: "While Rafael lived, nature feared she would be outdone, when he died, she feared that she herself would die." Pretty neat, huh?

Anyways, there are so many incredible things at the Vatican, but the Sistine Chapel blew me away. It wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but still magnificent, nonetheless. It's hard to fathom how much work and time Michelangelo put into this. It has soo much detail and the angles are perfect. He was incredibly talented. The painting of Adam and God reaching out to touch eachother was small but so powerful. And the entire front wall painted as Judgement day is just as powerful, but disturbing. I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the Vatican, but definitely look these two paintings up online. Absolutely beautiful. I still can't believe I have been the things I've seen.

Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain

This is Trevi Fountain. Legend says that if you throw a coin into Trevi fountain, you will one day return to Rome. Approximately 3000 euro is thrown into the fountain each day - they money is used for charity to help Rome's poor. The fountain was made as a monument at the end of a main aqueduct in Rome. It is very beautiful.

I don't really know much about the Spanish steps. They were absolutely packed when we got there, and we went at night! Many people were drinking on the steps (apparently its legal to drink in the street in Italy). Apparently, a Spanish ambassador used to live at the top of the steps, and the story is that if men got caught loitering on the steps, they were forced the join the Spanish army.

Pantheon

This is the dome in the pantheon - its huge. They say it is incredible that this dome was even built because we didn't know they had this kind of technology back then. Apparently, its almost impossible to build a dome of this size made out of bricks today, and we really don't know how they did it. Personally, I think we sell the people of the past short all the time.

Here's the story. A king of Italy had many people looking for the remains of Rafael, so he could be buried here. People looked and looked and looked, but to no avail - they couldn't find him (though how they knew whose bones were whose, I couldn't tell you). Finally, the king said that if they didn't find him by the next day, they were going to give up the search. That night, the king had a dream that the remains of Rafael were the only remains on top of this certain hill. They next day, they checked the hill, and lo and behold, they were the only bones on the hill. Coincedence or message from God? It doesn't really matter because whoever it is is now buried at the Pantheon under Rafael's name.

The Pantheon was built as a temple to the gods of ancient Rome - it was rebuilt in early 2nd century AD. In order to save the building from destruction, they converted it into a cathedral. Again, lots of marble, lots of paintings. At this site, they have the tombs of the first two Italian kings and Rafael - or so they say.

Colosseum

This is the inside. All of the stuff on the bottom is what used to be the basement. There are many rooms that were used to cage animals and hold sets. Before, all of this was covered by the arena. It is called an arena because the floor was covered by sand, which is latin is spelled arena.

The Colosseum may have been my favorite part of Rome. Absolutely incredible. It is the largest amphitheatre ever built in the Roman Empire. It was completed in 80 AD and is still standing today. There are some reinforcements but not a ton. It has deteriorated mostly because of a large earthquake in the 200's and because they took the good materials from the colosseum to make other monuments, like St. Peter's Basilica. It is set up so much like a stadium today that its crazy. It's been how many years, and we still can't invent a better system than the Romans. It was organized by social class, with the highest seats being the lowest class. See any similarity to today? Highest seats cost the least. It's estimated that anywhere from 50,000 - 60,000 people could fit in here.

The games that were held here had to make the Corrida look story hour at the library. There were trap doors and amazing sets. One time, they make a huge whale that opened his mouth and released 500 bears. They say christians may have been martyred here, but there isn't any written proof of that. Many people chose to be gladiators - either they wanted fame or they were slaves that wanted freedom. It was similar to joining the service - you served your time, and then you were released. Men joined when they were 17-18 and only fought 2 times a year - the rest of the year they were training. After awhile it became popular to throw prisoners in with wild beasts and no weapons. If they won, they were set free (kind of like the bull as the corrida de toros) - winning isn't very likely.

St, Peter's Basilica

Legend has it, this obelisk was very near where Peter was executed in Rome by Nero. There are many, many obelisks in this city.

The group outside of the Basilica.

A small part of the interior. I'm not really sure what this is to be honest; I just think its beautiful, and it gives a good example of what the entire design is like.

St. Peter's tomb is under this altar, or so they say. I guess the records show that he was buried fairly near where he was executed, so they dug up the remains there, somehow proved he was Peter, and then buried him here.

St. Peter's Basilica.

St. Peter's Square, right outside of the Basilica. This picture was taken on the top of the dome of the Basilica. We had to walk up over 500 flights of stairs to get to the top, but the view of the city was phenomenol.

Lets see, we checked into the hostel and ended up rooming with two guys from Finland and a guy from Colombia. They were all pretty cool, but they slept an ungodly amount of time. We went to bed, and the next day, slept in just a tiny bit.

The next day, we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, if that tells you anything. There has been a church on this site since the 4th century, but construction of this church began on 1506 and was done on 1626. Many, many different people helped to design this building through the years, most importantly Michelangelo and Rafael. There are tons of paintings, marble, and scupltures of Popes in here (also tons of Popes to be honest). St. Peter is also supposedly buried here although how they can prove that's him is beyond me. This place was incredible to see.

Rome

This really isn't a very Italianesque picture, but I thought you would like it, Mom! I took it at the Colosseum.

Well, this post is going to be in a series because we went to sooo many places. Rome was incredible; I couldn't really believe that I was actually in Rome, Italy. I am so grateful that I took this opportunity!

Lets see. Some of the culture differences.

1. The food here is not quite what I expected. The pizza is good, but very different. Its all very thin and has less toppings, but its soo good. The gelato is to die for, and one of the guys with us on the trip had to have it twice a day. Actually, we don't even know good ice cream in the US. Even Spain's ice cream is one hundred times better than ours.

2. Crosswalks are nonexistant. As in, there are no signals to tell pedestrians when to walk across the street, and no lines to dictate where to cross. So, people just walk....in front of oncoming traffic, and the traffic stops, without complaint. Pretty tough to get used to, and then tough to revert back to crosswalks in Spain!

3. I felt like many of the tourist sites were very unorganized. There are tons and tons of people everywhere and not a lot of signs to signal where to send them. Many times tourist attraction hours aren't posted, and nobody knows where to stand in line, or what they are standing in line for. The amount of people at tourist attractions is insane; it feels like being in a discoteca - everyday, all day. Even the metros are packed 99.9% of the time.

4. The city is beautiful. The architecture is amazing, and the buildings are a lot more colorful than in Spain. In Spain, buildings are mostly white; in Italy, there are many colors - yellow, oranges, blues, greens, etc.

Barcelona

Well, bear with me guys, this is a long one. Barcelona - what a unique city! It is a lot busier that Granada, but it is beautiful. Definately one of my favorite places so far. There are two things that make Barcelona what it is: Las Ramblas and the works of Gaudi.

Las Ramblas

Las Ramblas is a 1.2 km stretch of pedestrian road that reaches from Plaza Cataluna to the Harbor. Garcia Lorca (a very famous Spanish autor from Granada) is quote as saying that Las Ramblas is the only road that he wished would never end. It is one of the most famous streets in the world, and with good reason.

The walk is split up into four sections with many street preformers and outside cafes inbetween. First, you walk though an area full of little pets for sales - lots of birds, turtles, hamsters, bunnies, etc. It fun to watch the kids here. Then, there is the flower section. Que bonito! I loved this section, shop after shop full of all kinds of flowers. Next is the artists. They either draw pictures of you or of the city. Most of them are very, very talented, and I would have liked to buy some art, but the little drawing I liked was 50 euro, a bit too pricey for me. The last section is full of little shops selling mostly jewelery and scarfs. This was one of my favorites of the trip, just to relax and meander down last Ramblas.

Some of the street preformers costumes were unbelievable. These two guys were very fun, but a little intimidating.

This is the monument to Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) at the end of Las Ramblas. There are just as many monuments of Columbus here in Spain as there are in the US. Barcelona is where Fernando and Isabel met Colon after he returned from discovering America. Don't ask me why, I know its the wrong coast, but that's what they said. If anyone has info on why this is, let me know.

This is the artist section of the walk. I couldn't get a very good pic because my friend Randall (above) kept walking in front of the picture!

The flower sections. There were tons of these little shops lining the road.

More street preformers. All of them really get into it, and its fun to watch.

Gaudi

The works of Gaudi (and Las Ramblas, of course) pretty much makes Barcelona the unique city that it is. Gaudi was so talented and his ideas so creative. When he was a child, he was sick a lot, and couldn't attend primary school. Therefore, his mother took him for walks in the forest often. This is where he fell in love with nature. All of his designs are inspired by nature - forms, shapes, designs, colors found in nature. Here is the architecture by Gaudi that we visited.

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Famila is absolutely breathtaking. It towers over the entire city. I know I say this often, but this place is enormous and so, so, so intricate on the outside. Gaudi started working on this cathedral in 1883 and devoted his last 15 years of life to this project. Since his death, many different architects have worked on this church. These is recent controversy over the current architects designs. The cathedral is suppose to be finished in the year 2030. It was neat to think that this building is what people in the future will visit from our century, like we visit the Sistine Chapel or the Alhambra. History in the making.

This is the Passion facade designed mostly by the new architect. The controvery is that this architect is undermining Gaudi's original designs. If you look at the last picture, you will see the difference between Gaudi's facade, and this one.

This is the inside of the Sagrada familia, but it is still under construction. Gaudi meant for the congregation to feel like they were in a forest, which is why there are so many columns. The top of the columns branch out like trees, and the ceiling (which isn't pictured) is meant to look like a canopy of leaves. It is very peaceful in here. It will be ever more so when there aren't power tools in use. Soon, all of the windows in this picture will look like the one below.

Is this not the most beautiful stained-glass window you've ever seen? It was even more beautiful in person.

The Nativity facade designed by Gaudi. Very different from the other, right? It is amazing how detailed it is.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell is a park designed by Gaudi during the years 1900-1914. It was meant to be a high-income housing development, but that idea kind of flopped although it did turn out to be a pretty cool park. There are so many different designs in this park, and it is very big. Lots of trees, walkways, and not much grass - but thats pretty normal in all of Spain. This was one of my favorite sites in Barcelona although I have many.

This is a walkway both on the botton and the top, it spirals around until it reaches the top of a hill. The columns are suppose to look like trees - Gaudi's designs were very often inspired by nature.

The entrance to Parc Guell. In the columns at the top of the stairs there are many musicians. At the top of the columns there is a bench that is tiled like a mosaic and winds all the way around. Lots of musicians up here too.

The gingerbread houses. While I do not know for a fact that Hansel and Gretel were inspiration for these two houses, they certainly look like gingerbread houses, don't they?

These were my favorite musicians of they day. Turns out, I love street musicians and could easily give them all of my money. These guys were playing on top of the columns on the neat mosiac, tiled bench.

Another House...

This is another house designed by Gaudi. I don't know very much about it because we didn't visit it, but I wanted to add it to show the variety of his designs. You can't really tell in this picture but the house tiled to look like there are flowers on the outside all the way up the walls. It is very colorful, but the colors didn't transfer to photo very well.

La Casa Mila

La Casa Mila (or Pedrera) was built by Gaudi for a man and his wife with the last name Mila. The plan was to make the main floor a home for the couple, and the rest of the levels, apartments that they would rent out to high-income families. Gaudi built two blocks of apartment houses from 1906-1912. This building is very different now let alone in the time it was built. The apartments are very neat, with lots of character and light. I kind of wanted to live here.

The front door on the main floor. This entrance room was huge and on both sides are huge curving staircases that match the door design.

The rooftop terrace. The terrace swoops up and down and up and down and has many of these things (for lack of a better word) that stick out. The things that stick up are functional: they are either staircases, ventilation towers, or chimneys. Very interesting.

The front of this huge building. The front door (pictured above) is here, but you can't see the glass because it is too dark. Above are windows and the black is railing for the balconies. Pretty neat, huh?