Normandy/Normandie/Normandía - Day 1

My long-awaited journey to Normandy was a success! Paris was a teensy pain, but it was not the disaster situation I had imagined (with a person refusing to sell me a train ticket because I don't speak French, or a cab driver that drove me around in circles because I am American, or anything like that). I took the trenhotel from Madrid to Paris on Thursday night/Friday morning, and got to translate between the other two women in the cabin (I paid the extra 20 bucks for a bed and it was totally worth it), one of whom was a South Korean backpacking through Europe, and the other was from Galicia. What can I say, I am a superstar Spanish speaker.

This photo (taken out the window) does not do justice to the neon-ness of Normandy

Our train was delayed getting into Paris, so I missed the 10:10 train to Caen (pronounced KON but without too much N sound). Therefore, I had plenty of time to take the Paris metro, buy my ticket at a leisurely pace, and wait around at Gare Saint Lazare for an hour and a half. The train to Caen gave me my first glimpse at the Norman countryside. I can't decide if it's more like New England (because of the tiny towns surrounded by fields) or the Willamette Valley viewed from I-5 (because of the endless fields of growing stuff, plus cows and sheep). Either way, it was like, neon green. So Sam met me at the train station and we went back to her apartment for lunch, a shower, and planning. Her apartment is super adorable, and squeaks like you'd expect an old french building to. The only downside is that its a fourth floor walk-up (and the second floor is really the first in Europe). I met her roommate, Meg, who is also teaching English in France and is from merry old England. That first night (it was about 4pm by the time we got around to doing something) we explored the Chateau of William the Conqueror. That's right, a building that's been there for like A THOUSAND YEARS. Impressive stuff. On the way home, we walked past some churches lit up at night. One, the Abbeye des Hommes (or something) we later found out was used as a shelter for the citizens of Caen during Allied bombing, and the French Resistance told the Allies, so they didn't bomb anywhere near it and it survived the war intact. And we went out for dinner, too, for crepes (like good French people). Delicious. My Normandy trip, although not yet WWII-tastic, was off to a good start.

Hello, Caen

Part of William the Conqueror's Chateau

The Abbeye des Hommes (probably spelled very differently in real life)

Field Trip to El Escorial

El Escorial is a pueblo in the mountains outside Madrid that happens to have a royal palace, and also happens to be where Menchi is from.

Look at that view
It was freezing (and I'm being studious)

The story is that Felipe II's army (circa late 1500s) won a battle against the French at San Quintin on the fiesta of San Lorenzo (his 'saint' day). So, to give thanks for victory, Felipe II decided to build a palace dedicated to San Lorenzo. In case you didn't know, San Lorenzo was basically barbequed - martyred on a grill, so the Monasterio Real de San Lorenzo de El Escorial pays tribute to that by incorporating the grill design in the architecture (hey, Jesus is symbolized by the thing on which he died too).

See? It's kind of grill shaped...

Basically, everything from the bars on the windows to the things that hold the ropes to keep you in line are reminiscent of the grill San Lorenzo died upon. Charming.

San Lorenzo with his grill

Grill shaped window bars. Sensing a theme?

Our visit was all about the history class, since it was required for us to incorporate aspects of El Escorial into our papers (not sure what aspects yet. I'll let you know when I finish the paper). So we booked it through the tapestry and painting and architecture exhibits to get to the good stuff: the palace itself. It was surprisingly simple for a royal palace, with little decoration and such. I really liked the Pantheon, which is basically the burial chamber for dead Spanish Kings and Queens (but only the mother of the next king gets to be buried there). Amalia told us a fun fact, though - there's basically a room off the pantheon for all the bodies to be stored so they can rot before they are put into the coffin designated for them. Obviously this is a genius idea, since it means the Pantheon won't smell of rotting flesh, but still, ick. There are only two more coffins open in the Pantheon, and they will be filled with the bodies of the mother and father of Juan Carlos (current king), which are currently passing the time in the rotting room. Charming.

My sneaky picture of going into the Pantheon

The Pantheon itself

Once again, we couldn't take photos inside, but there it is in all its glory. Guess its ok for dead kings to have nicely decorated rooms. There were several other rooms full of dead people, including infantes and infantas (sons and daughters of kings that did not go on to be king or queen) and Juan de Austria, an iligitimate son of Carlos I who turned out to be pretty legit after all, since he got a niche all to himself. There was also what Amalia described as a "cake" of dead infantes and infantas who died before puberty.

That is filled with dead children. Charming.

So what did I learn from our trip to El Escorial? That it is a cute pueblo with a nice view and a palace with a fixation on the macabre. Until next time...

El Loco de la Catedral

So today I went to my new favorite Cathedral in the whole world (Sorry, Sagrada Familia). It doesn't really have a name, but its in Mejorada del Campo, which is a pueblo just outside Madrid. It's being built (and has been under construction for almost 50 years) by Justo Gallego, a 90 year old former monk who has dedicated his life to this work to glorify God. In the pueblo (and in much of the rest of Spain), they call him El Loco de la Catedral (The Crazy Man of the Cathedral).

He's built the whole thing, from excavating the crypt to constructing the towers and cupolas, by hand with improvised tools (including a bicycle wheel as a pulley) with help from 2 or 3 other people. Using almost entirely recycled or excess materials donated from other building sites and without plans or any construction training, he works his own metal, pours his own concrete, and climbs improvised scaffolding to complete work high above the ground.

We found out about Justo thanks to Laura, Stacy's señora, who produced a documentary on him some years ago and is now his good friend. She invited us to accompany them on a "mystery adventure" to "el pueblo más feo de Madrid" (the ugliest village of Madrid). But the resulting exploration of the cathedral, with special commentary from Laura, was well worth it.

View of the unfinished cupolas from the tower

Wall decoration on the crypt

What all of the finished cupolas will look like?
Mosaic stairs"Stained glass" - broken colored glass sandwiched between two panes of clear glass

Laura and JustoThe biggest cupola, from inside the cathedral

Eventually, Laura tells us, the cathedral is supposed to be dedicated to the Virgen del Pilar, the patron saint of Spain and the saint to which Justo's mother was very devoted. The town ignores the cathedral for the most part, chalking it up to Justo's madness. They closed it down for a while to visitors because it is dangerous (it became popular after being featured in a commercial for a Pepsi drink). Justo builds without any permits, but it is on his own land and he has a sign disclaiming any responsibility for accidents, so they mostly leave him alone. The Catholic Church probably will never recognize his cathedral, if he ever finishes it, but that's fine with Justo. He doesn't even care if he finishes it or not. He's more focused on glorifying the Lord each day by offering his work to Him.

For further info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justo_Gallego_Mart%C3%ADnez
http://www.cathedraljusto.com/thestory.html - the documentary made by Stacy's Senora

4/7 done

My semester in Spain is more than halfway over: I only have six weeks left (of 14). Part of me can't believe I've already spend 8 weeks here in Madrid; the other can't wait to get back to the States. In honor of this

Things I miss from the US:

• Food related things: making my own meals, real salad dressing, ketchup
• Burt's Bees chapstick. Mine ran out two weeks ago and I miss it a lot.
  
• My hair straightener. I've been going natural the entire semester. Not even a hair dryer.
  
• Driving - nothing new, since I miss driving while I'm in Boston, too.
• Going to ten different stores for things/not being sure where to go to get what - can I buy my toothpaste in the supermarket? Should I go to a chino (a convenience store type thing)? Or perhaps the pharmacy? There is no such thing as a CVS here in which I can buy almost everything I need in one stop.
  

Things I never want to have to leave:

• Madrid's fantastic Metro. The T will never be the same
• Cervezas claras: Beer and lemonade, basically. Favorite drink ever.
  
• Spanish TV: I've gotten a teensy bit addicted to some Spanish shows, like Doctor Mateo and Aquí no hay quien viva. How will I survive not knowing what happens?
• The weather. Its November and temps in the 70s!
  
• Castañas asadas: Cold winter days (haha) are made so much better when you can smell the chestnuts being roasted on the streets. Why can't we import this for the endless Boston winter?
  

Barça

Barcelona was crazy. We spent last weekend there, soaking up the Gaudí and puzzling through how you speak Catalan, oh yeah, and celebrating Halloween. We didn't go out Sunday night because we had an early train Monday, but on our way to the station we did see the remnants of the night before going home to their beds, costumes and all.

We started our trip out right by choosing to go on a walking tour first thing (well, after we took a little siesta in our hostel, since our train left Madrid at 7am). In Europe, they have free walking tours given by people who live in the city and do their own research, and then at the end you tip them whatever you want and that is what they earn. So, to quote Paola's paper on the hospitality industry, the "economics of service" are at work (unlike in the rest of Spain, where no tipping = shitty service). Our guide was Australian, and we knew that it was going to be a good trip when he took a shot and drank a pint before we left, and then started taking swigs of brandy from a friend halfway through the tour. He took us all through the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), and we saw churches, the old synagogue, plazas, and where Picasso lost his virginity (more or less). It was highly entertaining, filled with snide comments about the Catalans (who want desperately not to be associated with the rest of Spain) and silly Barcelona laws, like how its legal to have up to 2 grams of almost any drug on your person as long as you are going home, and its legal to be naked in Barcelona as long as you are wearing shoes. This last law our guide demonstrated by dropping his pants at the end of the tour. Like I said, good way to start the day.

You, sir, are a weird gentleman/tour guide.

We also saw the giant Colom/Colon/Columbus statue near the port and hung around near the sea for a bit on Friday night, but we were so pooped we all ended up in bed by 11. Saturday was the day of Gaudí (after stopping by the beach). We went to Parc Guell, which he designed, toured la Sagrada Familia (which is so amazing and everyone should go), went into La Pedrera, one of the houses he designed, and saw the Casa Batlló. Friday night we went to a restaurant/tapas place that a friend of Anne's mom suggested, which was so classy and delicious, then we made our way to Chupitas (literally, shots) on the Carrer Aribau, which is just down the street from where the main character of one of the books we read for our lit class lived. 2 € shots with names like the Monica Lewinsky and the Harry Potter was well worth it. We did the Boy Scout, in which the bartender lights alcohol on fire on the bar and you roast a marshmallow. Chupitas was pretty crowded so we made our way (in the rain, no less) to a club that we picked up coupons for at the hostel (regular cover - 15 €. Ouch). We hung out there for a bit, dancing and whatnot, and left kind of early once again because we were pooped from being tourists.

Colom/Colon - Catalan has to be different

View from Parc Guell

Sagrada Familia is overwhelming

And the inside is beautiful

La Pedrera

Casa Batlló

Sunday, we tried to fit in all that was left. We went to the cathedral to watch the Sardanna, which is a Catalan folk dance that they perform every weekend. We went inside the cathedral, too, and on a tour of the Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music), which was not designed by Gaudí but very impressive nonetheless. We got some crepes to go and ended up waiting in a very long line to get into the Picasso Museum, because entrance was free. The Picasso museum was interesting because it had lots of his early works, and you could see how influenced he was by impressionism and the old masters and Toulouse-Latrec at various stages in his life. Finally, we made it back to the hostel for dinner and another early bedtime. I slept the entire ride back to Madrid, and then took a siesta that day, too. Being a tourist is exhausting.

Palau de la Música Catalana

All other photos are on Facebook!

Up next for me: Normandy! I am so excited to completely geek out and do all sorts of WWII stuff in France, even though I am not looking forward to going through Paris. I can't speak a word of French and have no idea how I'm going to buy regional train tickets, but I'm sure I'll manage. The French can't be all that bad, can they?

Que Barbaridad

So Sunday, we went to our first bullfight. Once again, I WAS NOT PREPARED. Do you have any idea about what goes on in a bullfight? Neither did I. However, I learned fast. I will let photos speak for themselves (mostly).

Before the trauma...

Plaza de Toros

Just like a little pageant

This is Bull # 193, our first bull. At this point I'm thinking, this isn't so bad. It's like what you see on TV. Then SUDDENLY:

I quickly learned that first they run the bull around a little, using pink capes (instead of the red you think of) to attract it, and then the guys hide behind this little protrusions along the wall when the bull they are trying to get to run at them runs at them. Then, two guys on horseback come out and SPEAR the bull in the back with a lance-looking thing. Sometimes, the bull gets pissed and tries to gore the horse, but don't worry, Spaniards actually care about horses so they get lots of protection from potential goring. Then, one brave soul trades his cape for these other spear-y things and the caped guys marshal the bull around so the guy can spear it with colorful lances, which stay in its back the whole time. It's bleeding pretty good by this point. Then the real matador comes out with his red cape (which Paola told me is not because red attracts bulls - they are colorblind - but that it hides the blood stains). He teases the bull and makes it pass like 10-20 times, presumably to a) show his skill and bravery and b) to tire it out and make it bleed more. For the climax, he gets his sword and stabs the bull, right through the back. Then the pink-cape guys have to come back out to run the bull around a little more until it falls down, at which point they sever the spinal cord with a smaller knife. How merciful. Then the cleanup crew comes out, sweeping the dirt to hide the blood and tying the bull to a team of horses, which drags it out of the arena. Repeat five more times, and that's a Corrida de Toros.

I was shocked and could barely watch the spearing and the bleeding, but it is amazing how quickly I became accustomed to it (all except the final sword stab, which continued to be hard to watch). The bulls looked huge, although that could have been because we were in the third row, even though they were little ones (to train the matadors). There were three matadors, each of whom went twice and who also acted as pink-cape dudes for the others. The third matador, whom we called Pink Pants because of his pink pants, was the favorite. We sat right in front of a family that came from the same pueblo, so they were loudly cheering for him. The rest of the spectators agreed, and he got the bull's ear (like a trophy) for a job well done, even though the bull got the better of him at one point.

Oh yeah, did I mention that the bull knocked down one of the matadores and the pink cape guys all ran out to rescue him like rodeo clowns. Pink Pants actually got thrown in the air by the bull's horns, and was covered in the bulls blood because he landed on the bull's back. We also saw matador failure. The 1st matador (4th bull) really could not get the sword into the bull, so he ended up stabbing it like 4 times, with the whole stadium booing and hissing. We pretty much saw the spectrum of bullfighting possibilities...lucky us.

More carnage:

Pink Pants, throwing it down.

Well-protected horses.

This one got knocked over and he ripped his traje de luces (pretty outfit)

Wussy pink-caped dudes

Pink Pants showing off his bull ear

As promised...

Midterms are halfway over! And by halfway, I mean 80%, because the first two were the stressful two. As promised, I went to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) on Thursday and to Toledo with BU on Friday.

Palacio Real:
Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside, which doesn't make much sense, because the lighting was shitty and photos would have been shitty, but I would have had something more interesting to post here than what I do have.

If you want to see what is on the inside, I guess you'll just have to do a Google Image Search.

Toledo:
Again, lots of sites that would not let us take pictures inside. What is the problem, here, people? No photos inside the cathedral, one of the most popular sights, nor in the Church of San Tomé, where one of el Greco's most famous works lies. So once again, I will direct the curious amongst you to a google search. Sorry.

On the bright side, Toledo was super cute. It sits on a hill and is surrounded by a wall, like all proper old cities do. Of course, it was surrounded by newer construction not on the hill, but who cares about that? There was an escalator that took you up the hill (it was a steep one), which I thought was the best idea ever. There were cars trying to drive through narrow streets (a common thread I have found in all the cities we seem to visit), tourists, and of course lots of mazapan (aka marzipan) which was delicious. We visited the cathedral, which we learned has a combination of gothic, mudejar (muslim-inspired), and baroque architecture, we saw some el Greco paintings, and we drank hot chocolate in a cafe that sells mazapan made by nuns (there were adorable dolls modeling it).

Inside one of the synagogues (converted of course into churches) with the best examples of mudejar (muslim-inspired) architecture
The mosque (also converted into a church)

Cool circular building, but I have no idea what it is

Garbage cans dressed up like presents

Baking Nuns

Me and the Cruzcampo man - US equivalent is Captain Morgan?