Verona

     In fair Verona...we felt bad for even going to the courtyard of that fake Capulet house. Fortunately, that's as far as we got before turning around to discover the foal friendly culinary town. Alex said that when in Italy, if you see a barrel outside of a restaurant, you can't go wrong. We found him to be right. We all ordered excellent pasta dishes, mine being pumpkin ravioli with meat (maybe horse, maybe not). It was delicious.

(Pumpkin ravioli)

     Turns out Verona has a remarkably well-preserved Roman amphitheater dating from around 30AD. I always find it interesting to see these structures of antiquity all out of place next to Versace and Gucci stores. 

(Roman amphitheater) 

In other news, Verona has unintentionally funny words engraved into and hammered on buildings. 

Verona also has a castle, Castelvecchio, dating to the 14th century. It crosses the Adige river and provides some nice views. 

     The day was cold and wet but that didn't stop us from having our fun and getting Alex in on the bike bell ringing. The narrow streets were very pleasant, and the lunch alone was worth the trip. 

Florence

     Florence is only a thirty minute train ride from Bologna. So after a short ride, we hopped off the train and into the morning Florentine air. It wasn't too long of a walk before we came upon the famous Duomo, a cathedral begun in the 13th century and finished in grand style in the 18th century with it famous white facade.

(Front facade of the Duomo)

     Opposite the cathedral is the baptistry, which is home to the famous "Gates of Paradise," bronze paneled doors constructed during the Renaissance which depict scenes from the Old Testament. Inside the baptistry itself, many famous figures, from Dante to the Medici family, were baptized. 

(The Gates of Paradise)

(In front of the Basilica of Santa Croce, built in the 13th century, marble facade added in the 19th)

     Afterwards, we went to the Uffizi Gallery, which houses many famous artworks, including several that I had been longing to see, such as Botticelli's The Birth of Venus and Primavera, two excellent Early Renaissance paintings. The da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, etc. wasn't bad either. Then we got some much needed gelato and crossed the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), which is the site of many jewelry stores. 

(Ponte Vecchio)

     We crossed the bridge to go to the Brancacci Chapel, which is home to Masaccio's famous fresco, The Tribute Money. Katie did a project on this work at university, so was very excited to see it.

(Fake person, real bird)

(Creative graffiti) 

     We arrived and I was impressed by the size of the fresco. I too had remembered studying it in one of our honors courses, but did not imagine it as being so large and integrated with the chapel. Painted in 1420, it depicts the scene in Matthew where Peter takes a coin out of the mouth of a fish to pay a tax. 

     In need for a brief break of art, we wandered up many steps for a nice view of the city. 

(Florence— Duomo to the left)

     Not far from there, still on a high hill, we went into the San Miniato Monastery, a recommendation from our college professor Dr. Byrne. The Romanesque church was begun in the 11th century.

(Inside the church)

(Outside the Monastery)

     Eventually we walked back down to town and went to see Michelangelo's David at the Accademia. It was, as one might expect, awesome. Though somehow it was smaller than I had imagined. Afterwards, we walked around the outside sculpture gallery in the Piazza della Signoria next to the Uffizi, which includes Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa, from 1545. It is sculpted out of bronze and how someone could have the skill to make something like that is beyond me. 

(Cellini's Perseus with the head of Medusa)

     On the way back to the train station, after some more gelato, Katie and I continued our (sort of) friendly game of bike bell ringing. Katie, as you can see, was overwhelmed. 

 

     It was a very nice day in Florence, we saw some incredible art and architecture, and the bikes were numerous. Back in Bologna, we prepared for our Sunday trip to Verona with Alex. 

Bologna

     Last week was Semana Santa in Spain, and we had a week of break from school. So Katie and I went to Italy! We flew into Bologna, where our friend Alex is living and studying. He was very kind to offer us a room in his apartment to stay for several days. We arrived at lunchtime and ate some pizza, which was awesome. Over the course of our vacation, we came to realize that the meals with Alex (who speaks Italian) were much better than the meals we had to find ourselves in the various cities we visited.
    After lunch we walked around the city center and ate some gelato. It is a compact city center with plenty of nice, old buildings.

     Bologna has been an important Italian city ever since Europe's first university was founded there in the 11th century. With the influx of students, the city center had to build more room for housing, and did so by adding onto existing buildings and forming porticos underneath. These porticos run throughout the city and are really great, because you don't have to use an umbrella when it rains. They look cool too. 

     Bologna is also known as the culinary capital of Italy. This is a good thing. What really made it good though was that Alex knows great places to eat. So we had the best pizza, pasta, and gelato with Alex. 

     It was also in Bologna where we discovered that there was an abnormal number of bikes in Italy, and that almost all of these bikes had bells on them. So, Katie decided to start ringing them, and, as I have a difficult time losing at any sort of game, I started ringing them too. Over the next eight days, we kept track of the number of bike bells rung, and Alex even got in on it too. It became pretty competitive, and we ended up with around 150 each. 

     Bologna was also the least touristy city that we visited. We didn't see any loud groups of Americans walking around, and heard more Italian that English. You would think that would be a given, but in some cities it's really difficult to hear Italian spoken. More on that later. Anyways, we stayed with Alex most nights, and took trips during the day. It was really nice to be able to go home to an apartment with a friend instead of being uncomfortable in various hostels. Overall, it was the most relaxing city and really added a good dimension to our trip. 

Manzanares El Real

     On Saturday, Jack, Katie and I took a bus to the small town of Manzanares El Real, 45 minutes north of Madrid by bus. Our main goal was to do some hiking, which was threatened by morning rain. But when we arrived, the rain was a drizzle, and after breakfast we headed for the rocks.

     On the way was an old hermitage built in the 14th century.

After stopping for some tapas at a bar on the road that dead-ended into the rocks, we started the real hike. The town is so named because the Manzanares river runs through it. This is the same river that runs through Madrid. Apparently once in Manzanares El Real one can hike a few hours to the source of the river, which we would like to do one day.

(The Manzanares River)

     The hiking path offered unexpected views of the snow-capped Guadarrama mountain range in the distance. 

     The main trail follows the river, and assumedly goes on for a long time. We were hiking in what is called La Pedriza, which is a part of the Cuenca Alta park. La Pedriza is famous for its eroded rock formations, some of which we saw, but many will have to wait until next time we visit. There are a ton of trails to hike. Rain was threatening all day, and since we had already walked a couple of miles to the trailhead, we decided not to walk too many more miles into the park. 

(Cover to future Rock album)

     After the hike, we walked around the "new" castle of Manzanares, which was begun in 1475. It is one of the best preserved castles around. 

(New Castle of Manzanares El Real)

     En fin, it was a very nice, low budget trip, easily reached on a city bus. We will definitely be returning to explore La Pedriza more extensively. 

(The hermitage— Photo by Katie)

   

Jane Goodall In Madrid

     Each week a teacher at school gives me magazines that contain weekly happenings in Madrid. So a couple of weeks ago, when I read that Jane Goodall would be speaking at the National Geographic store here in Madrid, I knew what Katie and I would be doing that Wednesday evening.
     Ms. Goodall was in Madrid to accept an award, and while she was here, she gave a talk at National Geographic, the first organization to fund her in the 1960s. During the talk, which lasted over an hour, she told the story of how she got started researching chimpanzees, her challenges and successes, and the importance of animal and environmental protection. She recounted how, with no professional experience or degree, she went to Tanzania to study chimpanzees, and quickly made discoveries that surprised experts in the field. She told of her awe the first time she saw a chimp de-leave a stick and use it as a tool by dipping it in an ant hole for a meal.
     Louis Leaky, the man who made it possible for Jane to study the chimps, also got her into Cambridge to pursue a doctorate in Ethology (the science of animal behavior). While there, her professors told her she was doing everything wrong, and were very doubtful of her observations. Upon her return to Tanzania, she did not change her methods, and one of the chimps began letting her follow him around. One day she followed him through the forest, lost him briefly, only to find him waiting for her to catch up. She then offered him a fruit, which he put down on the ground and then squeezed her hand. Jane had added a whole new dimension to science— compassion for the subject.
    Later in the talk she spoke about conservation efforts and some of her philanthropic organizations and projects. One of her programs, called Roots & Shoots, helps children in Africa and around the world by getting them involved in service projects and campaigns to help conserve the environment. Her overarching organization, the Jane Goodall Institute, is a non-profit organization designed to further conservation efforts of apes and animals.
     She ended by talking about why she was still hopeful that we could save the planet, even though so much damage has been done in recent years. Her biggest reasons were the ability of the human spirit to triumph in the face of adversity, and that it is not only for altruistic reasons that we should save the environment, but also because its destruction will have negative effects on humans as well as other animals. It was an engrossing talk, and time well spent. Here is a link to a short five minute video about her research with the chimps in Tanzania during the '60s, with some really cool footage of her interaction with the apes there. At almost 80 years old, she is still traveling around the world to further her cause, and along the way is helping not only animals and the environment, but children as well. She's all good.

Pedro Almodóvar — Los Amantes Pasajeros

     A couple of months ago I mentioned I had watched a Pedro Almodóvar movie. It was not the first one I had watched, but was the first I had watched without subtitles. It was a personal accomplishment, and a good movie. A few weeks ago I saw another one of his movies, that I didn't enjoy as much, but which was still worth my time. Others I had previously seen include Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown) and Volver. I recommend both of them. If you're American and you've seen only one of his movies, it's probably Volver (you know, with Penélope Cruz).
     Almodóvar, Spanish writer and director, is like the Woody Allen of Spain, but more famous here than Allen is in the States. He's sometimes funny, often strange, and always distinguishable. Half of Spain loves him, half couldn't care less. Or at least that's what my Spanish friends say. Anyways, I like him, so when I saw he was coming out with a new movie, I decided to go see it.
     Jack, my British friend who works at the same school as I do, is very into film and also likes Almodóvar, so we went to see it together last night. The new film is called Los amantes pasajeros (in English it's titled I'm So Excited, which is not a translation, just a different title, taken from a song in the movie.) Almodóvar has said that this is his last film, and that he is retiring. It is a comedy about passengers and crew on a flight from Madrid to Mexico (though the plane has problems so they just fly around in circles over Toledo, Spain while they wait for somewhere to land). The movie is in many ways an allegory about the economic crisis here in Spain.
     We arrived at the theatre a bit early to buy tickets. Most tickets were sold out, because it was the pre-release screening. As in, it was the first time any public audience had seen the film. We were just about to buy tickets for the 9:30 showing when two people asked us if we wanted two tickets for free, because they had extra. Um, yes, of course. So we went in, took our seats and waited. Jack noticed there were people crowded outside the doors of the theatre and wondered why. Then the doors opened and out came Almodóvar, along with most of cast of the film. It was a big surprise, and he proceeded to introduce the film and pass the microphone to the cast members, who hoped we would enjoy the film.
It was a very unexpected experience, and very unlike Hollywood screenings, where the list of guests is reserved for the rich and famous. And we weren't the only ones who were surprised. The whole thing was a secret, as the news reported later.

     It was really a treat, and the film was very entertaining as well. And needless to say, I will be watching more Almodóvar films in the near future.                                                        
     

(Almodóvar. Picture courtesy of Jack and his phone.)  

Published In Madrid

     When I write, I always write with the intention of producing something good. Now, I need to clarify a couple of things. By writing, I mean writing songs, poetry, and music. This blog, while I have every intention to make it a good read, does not undergo the same process as my songs, poetry, and music. And I realize that 'good' might very well be subjective. So by good, I mean something which passes my standards of good art, and if I can help it, pass the even higher standards of what Katie believes is good art. But always, I write for myself, in order to produce something of which I will approve.
     There are times when I not only write with this purpose, but also with an additional purpose which doesn't conflict with my main intention. That is to publicize and publish my work. This carries a third purpose, which I will get to later. But now, to the publishing bit. Over the past few weeks, I have had three poems published in a local online literary journal based here in Madrid. The journal, called Toast Madrid, was started by a Chicago native who also owns a café of the same name. He hosts poetry nights, and invited me to go last week to read a couple of my poems. It was a great time, and nice to meet some people with at least one common interest. I also told him I played music, and he told me to send him my music, and now wants me to play a show at the café later this month. This is good.
     So, the poems— the subject matter deals with Retiro park here in Madrid, which I frequent. In January, I was finding it difficult to write, and Katie suggested I do a study on something specific in order to set some boundaries for my writing, which sometimes helps with focusing and producing more frequent successes. Well, like usual, she was right. So the three poems published were inspired by the park, and I am continuing with my study. The three poems are called "Slices," "Creates The Air," and "Two Women Talking." You can find them all HERE, or click on the individual poems.
     But you don't get poems published unless you submit them. So there must be a reason why all of a sudden I submitted some poetry. And there is. And this reason also does not conflict with my foremost purpose of writing, but is designed to enable more writing. Oddly, if you want to go to school in the States, you have to apply darn near a year in advance. I am thinking about doing a Masters in poetry— not this Fall, but the next one, which means I will need to submit an application at the end of this year. These programs are highly competitive, and not too many offer full scholarships and stipends. The main criteria for being accepted (so I'm told) is the work you submit. But apart from that, they look at other things, including if you have been published, how many times, etc. And so I am doing my best not only to write a lot, but also to publish. Having these poems published is encouraging, and lets potential universities know that other people think your work is good enough for others to see. I am planning on submitting poems in the next week to many journals in hopes of more good news.
     Of course, I can't be sure I want to do an M.F.A. in poetry, but it seems pretty good to me. And I know some people will say I am avoiding "real" work, and maybe for some people I am, but the thing is, this is real work for me. Just because I don't want to work a 9 to 5 office job doesn't mean I don't want to work 9 to 5 on something (ex: writing). And so, I continue trying to make the most of my time here, and hopefully I will come away with much more than memories.

Cultural Differences, Part 1: Time

     Before arriving in Spain, I imagined it would be for the most part very similar to the United States. And it is, for the most part. It is a first world, western democratic-ish country. But as I began to settle in, I noticed more and more quirks that really make life here different than life in America. For my first installment of "Cultural Differences," I will focus on the peculiarities of Spain's perception of Time, at least from an American's viewpoint.

Eating: Spaniards eat nothing or very little for breakfast. They do this at the normal time of day, 7 or 8 o'clock on weekdays. Then they have a snack around 11:30, 12, or later, which they sometimes pass off as breakfast, but they aren't fooling me. But they don't get around to eating lunch until 2 or 3pm. This was a rude awakening for me, since I was accustomed to eating lunch before noon. I still haven't become accustomed to it. While I'm in the school cafeteria chowing down at 1:30, everyone else is sipping coffee or tea. Not only that, but if I want to have lunch in this city before 2pm, I have to eat at my house. The restaurants really don't open until then, and they close at 5pm. It really makes you conform, or starve, or buy groceries. Once closed at 5pm, they don't open up again until (at the very, very earliest) 8pm. And even then, the chef isn't there yet or the place is completely deserted. That's right, Spaniards don't mosey into a restaurant until at least 9pm, but mostly later, 11pm on weekends.
     But it isn't only the eating times that are different, it is the time spent eating as well. These people sit around for hours. I mean, three or four hours. The other week, my friends and I went to a restaurant at 2pm. Good job, a Spanish time to eat lunch. We stayed for over two hours. From the time we arrived there until the time we left, no one left the restaurant. And when we came in, there were people already eating their main courses. It was a valiant attempt on our part, but we just couldn't hang with the Spaniards. We left, too full to walk, and the table next to us (which had been there before our arrival) was still ordering food.
     Another thing, the waiter will not bring you your check until you ask for it. I mean, you can stay there for five hours and have finished eating four hours ago, but until you ask for the check, it will not be given to you.
     And are you used to being able to go to the grocery store whenever you want? Well, don't do it on a Sunday, because you'll be hard pressed to find one open (even the biggest ones are closed). And don't go on any sort of holiday (of which there are just way too many), because they'll be closed then too. And don't go after 9pm or before 9am, no way they'll be open, and unless you're going to the really big ones (of which there are few), don't go between 2pm and 5pm, because, well, they're closed then too.

Walking: Are you in a hurry? Good luck walking on the sidewalk, because not only will you be stuck behind slow walkers or people just standing in the middle of it, but it will actually seem like these people are trying to block you from passing them. Swerve to the right, they do too. Quick to the left, spin move, blocked. The only time they run is when they are trying to catch the subway or a train. Then it is an all out sprint to the finish line, they will knock you down without remorse. It's amazing to see these 75 year old women in fur coats, who you have been torturously stuck behind for two blocks and three flights of steps, break into a run when they see their train is about to pull away. Sure, they can take 10 minutes to walk a block, but they sure as heck can't wait 3 minutes for the next train.

Businesses: If you want to get anything done between the hours of 2 and 5pm, you are in the wrong country. It's not just the grocery closes that are closed. It's the phone companies, the clothing stores, the pharmacy, the everything. And then some places don't open back up after that, they just call it the quits for the day. Do you work and have to go to the bank— ever? Well, if you can't get there before 2pm Monday through Friday, good luck. I swear, with weekends and holidays, the banks are open like 5 days a month.

School: The school hours here are a little weird. Different classes and grades get out at different times on different days. Students also take nine classes and don't have the same schedule every day. But what is interesting is that there is no break in between classes. Well, at least not on paper. When one class ends, the other is supposed to start, and teachers change rooms while students stay in one room all day. There are a couple of fifteen minute breaks throughout the day, but otherwise the classes are supposed to be fluid. This doesn't work well, to say the least. Teachers dawdle in the teacher's lounge after the bell rings, and when they get to class, the students are all up out of their desks or in the hall, screaming, pushing, writing on the board...and when you get them settled down, you have to call the role (every hour) and then try to start class. On average, I'd say the first eight minutes of every class are wasted,
more when it's the class after a break.

Bureaucracy: I think I said most everything I needed to say about this in a previous post about Katie's  Odyssean adventure through the static sea that is Spanish bureaucracy.

Phone Calls: Okay, this is an isolated incident, but I'm sure it happens often. I called a guy (about the eighth attempt to reach him) and he answered. Then he said, 'Oh wait, can I call you back in two minutes?' Sure. After forty-five minutes, I gave him a call back. He answered, angrily, and said, 'I told you I would call you back in a minute!' Yes, you did. 'So, I'll call you back.' Okay. Half an hour later, he called me back. Yay.
     Oh, and everyone here, really, everyone, has one of two ring tones, and they're both annoying.

Punctuality: Now, this one defied my expectations. I think we've all heard the stereotype that hispanics are late to everything, by a lot. But really, I haven't found that to be true for social events. It's not that they're late, it's that everything just starts so late at night. If I'm meeting a Spaniard at 9pm, he will be there then, even a few minutes early. So maybe that's just for Spain, or just for Madrid, but it hasn't been a problem at all.

Vacation Time: They say Americans (and Northern Europeans) live to work, while Spaniards (and in general, Mediterranean countries) work to live. I have found that to be accurate. Spaniards spend no more time at their jobs that necessary, and (a lot of the time) do no more than necessary at their jobs (that is only a bad thing when it negatively affects me, and of course is a generalization and slightly hyperbolic). As I have mentioned, there are a lot of holidays here, and many are on, say, Thursdays. So there are these things called 'puentes,' or bridges, in which a day off on Thursday leads to a day taken off on Friday. This is good for recreation, and might be bad for productivity. Being on a school schedule, I think I experience even more of these holidays. For example, the day of the 'patron saint of teachers' (Thomas Aquinas), is cause for a day off from school. Sweet.
     Also, though I have yet to experience this, I have been assured that everyone takes at least a month off from work in the summer (July or August) and goes to his or her pueblo, or to the beach, or to anywhere but work. Not bad, and this attitude toward work is both appealing to the individual and (probably) debilitating to the national economy.

     Well, while there are certainly more differences between Spanish time and American time, I think an acceptable outline has been formed and you can now begin to envision how life here is a bit different from life in the States. But could you blame me if I wanted to stay for another year?

Salamanca

     A couple of weeks ago Katie and I visited Salamanca, home of the third oldest European university (founded in the 13th century). The city, northwest of Madrid, has a renowned Plaza Mayor and Cathedral, along with a monastery and nunnery, which makes famous sweets.

(Wall of the San Esteban Monastery) 

     Salamanca's plaza mayor is similar to Madrid's and is a popular meeting place for local residents and the city's many university students. Since university students usually go home or at least on vacation for New Year's, students have a tradition of gathering in the plaza a couple of weeks before the new year to have an early celebration. 

(Salamanca's Plaza Mayor)

     The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, has had many distinguished professors (such as philosopher and poet Miguel de Unamuno) and people such as Cervantes and Columbus visited the campus. 

(University of Salamanca Doors)

It also has a famous portico with a frog hidden among the ornate carvings, and incoming freshman search to find it for good luck. Unfortunately, the frog doesn't really look like a frog, but instead a bump on the top of a skull, which doesn't really look like a skull. 

     The Cathedral dominates the skyline of Salamanca, and is composed of a "new" and old cathedral, and was constructed from the 12th through the 18th century. 

(Salamanca's Cathedral)

     The vaulting in this cathedral is intricate and impressive. 

(Cathedral vaulting)

     Salamanca is full of great architecture— there is a building built in the 15th century called the Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells), the facade of which is decorated with hundreds of stone scallop shells. The scallop shell is the symbol of St. James (Santiago in Spanish), and is something each pilgrim wears when he walks the Way of St. James, a thousand year old pilgrimage through northern Spain which ends in the city of Santiago de Compostela. 

(Casa de las Conchas)

      Just like Toledo, Salamanca has a trademark sweet made by its nuns. They're called amarguillos, and are dense, almond-based sweets that are soft and chewy. Very good. 

     And of course, the best part of the trip was enjoying it with Katie!

New Year, Old Friends, Toledo

     This year started off right in Sol, the Times Square of Spain. Spaniards have a tradition of eating twelve grapes for good luck at the stroke of midnight. So I took part, though chewing twelve (unfortunately seed-filled) grapes at once was not the most pleasant thing to do.
     Alex (friend since third grade) and Derek (friend from college) flew in from their respective residences (Italy and Germany) to join me for five days in Madrid. Katie arrived the morning of the first, so we all were able to enjoy the beginning of the year here. The week was filled with good food, good art, and good sites. We ate at all of my favorite restaurants (Spanish, Chinese, Mexican, Italian) and I was able to cook a pretty good Spanish tortilla.
     One night we bought last minute tickets to see the Mark Morris Dance Group dance to Mozart pieces at the Teatro Royal. It was one of the only times I've been to a dance performance, and we all really enjoyed it. We had nose-bleed seats but that gave us a bird's eye view of the elaborate choreography.
     Then, we took a day trip to Toledo, the former capital of Spain (until 1561), situated less than an hour south of Madrid. In the past it was famous as a melting pot of cultures, with Christians, Jews, and Muslims living side by side in peace. There are still a couple of old synagogues standing, and we saw one of them.

(Synagogue in Toledo)

     We saw many things there, including an El Greco museum (famous Greek painter who moved to Toledo in the late 1500s) and the famous cathedral, and it was generally pleasing to walk through the narrow streets. We also sampled marzipan (almond-based sweet), which is famously made in Toledo, and is very tasty. 

(Can you see Katie?)

     We all had a great time, and the best part might have been the feeling of being in a new country with

old friends. It's pretty crazy to think that last summer we were all still in Nashville. So, what's next? A trip to Italy at the end of March to see Alex, of course.