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Looking for the Math246 (Differential Equations) website? It's here. Random Thoughts 6/28/07 My description of / meditation on the last four days of our Spain trip are below. I hope these journal entries are fun to read. Here are the corresponding photos: Day 11, Day 12, Day 13. Day 11 Granada is huge. Not quite as huge as Madrid, but very, very big. We spent the first day getting our bearings on the city - looking through tourist shops, checking out old buildings, and planning trips to various cites. The architecture of the city is very different, with a lot of Islamic influence: lots of stone carvings, and arches all over the place - especially "horseshoe" arches. The language is markedly different: Granadans drop the ends of their words, especially the s's; and if you do pronounce the final s, they look at you in confusion. The habit seems to have been around for a while: a Latin inscription on the Cathedral has apostrophes that indicate dropped endings. Granada is full of "teterias," or moorish tea shops. We wandered up to the appropriate district for tea and found that they all open at around 3 o'clock. Apparently tea is not a breakfast drink. There was one shop open, though, so we had breakfast there, along with some really good tea. We then stopped by a random ancient-looking church accross the street and then wandered around the city, ending up on the Gipsy mountain Sacromonte, and going past some really old walls. In the evening, there was a classical concert outside the cathedral, so we stopped by for that. The area around the cathedral is also full of restaurants and shops, so we had a few drinks and tapas there, and grabbed some real European ice cream on the way back home. By the way, what seems to be the main square in Granada, called the Bib-Rambla, seems to have existed for hundreds of years. Today, people gather there all day long to hang out and enjoy themselves. But in the past it has hosted book burnings, inquisitions, theatrical performances: every sort of public entertainment imaginable. Speaking of the Inquisition, when we were on our way to Madrid, Segovia (back on Day 4), we spoke to a Spanish history teacher, and I asked him why we hadn't seen too many mentions of the Inquisition. He responded by saying that there wasn't all that much to remember: sure there were executions and inquisitions, but it's all been blown out of proportion and wasn't as bad as people say. Over two weeks, we barely saw anything about the Inquisition (maybe one book on its history and a mention about the Bib-Rambla square in a travel guide). So it seems like the Spaniards are basically trying to forget the Inquisition ever happened. Day 12 We considered going to the beach since it's only about 40 miles from Granada, but it turned out to be a hastle - expensive and time-consuming. So we decided to return to the Mediterranean another time and instead go to the market scheduled for that morning somewhere in Granada. We got general instructions from the front desk and headed off. On the way, we grabbed some pastries, then some coffee at another shop, and eventually realized we didn't know where we were. Having asked people for directions about 5 times and walked past many, many fountains, we finally ended up at the market at around noon. The market went on forever. Tents upon tents of shoes, shirts, pants, more shoes, skirts. "D'ye euro d'ye euro d'ye euro..!" "Sei euro sei euro sei euro..!" All the merchants chanting out their prices, attracting attention, everyone looking through all the shoes and shirts, tent after tent. It was quite a sight. There were also a couple of fruit shops set up, with the most amazing fruit we've ever had. Cindy claimed the strawberries were as good as the ones her parents grew in the back yard back in the day (those must have been really good). Having wandered through the whole market, we went back to a fruit shop and waited for a while in line. I asked for two apples (manzanas), two oranges (naranjas) and two apricots (... hmm... in English it's apricot, in Russian it's abrikos... I'll go with apricota). I confirmed that I wanted two apricots, not two kilos, and noticed the shopkeeper very carefully picking out two cherries. Oops... no wonder I got a weird look. Anyway, having corrected the error by pointing, I got my goods, and we went off (also having gotten Cindy a skirt and some shoes). We wandered back through the city, taking a different route and wandering by the Cervantez region that includes streets like "Calle Don Quixote" and "Calle Sancho Panza". Having returned to the hotel, we ate the fruit we just bought, as well as some cheese and ham we bought a couple of days prior. The next stop was the cathedral. Now, I've been ranting about Catholic cathedrals, but in this case my complaints are negligible. In Segovia we got to feel the Templar religion, in Toledo we ran into the powerful feeling of the ancient synagogue. Granada's cathedral, unlike any other church or cathedral I have ever been in, let me feel the Christian God. Let me feel. Unlike the huge, dark, overdressed and overdecorated gothic cathedrals that force "Christianity" into your mind, Granada's cathedral felt nearly empty. Huge, inconceivably huge white marble walls. They're so far away they're almost not there. And, strangely enough, no central object of worship. The center of the floor plan's cross is simply an open space. Certainly surrounded with decorations and paintings, but there is nothing there: no cross, no crucified Jesus who's either suffering or already dead, not even an icon to meditate upon. Just a huge space for God to be in. And yet there was something pervading it all: something vast, white, beautiful, though none of those of course. Again, why did this huge building feel like a House of God? No idea. In Master and Margarita Bulgakov talks about "peace" and "light" being two rewards one could get at the end of life, "light" being awarded by God. A lot of churches are just peaceful - meditative, yet somehow only peaceful, grey. The cathedral was filled with light, and it took it in and it was there. And I thought to myself that the cathedral wasn't really necessary: it simply set aside enough space for God to fill and gave him pretty walls to live in. But God is there just as well without the walls. Always. Filling everything. It's just that we feel like we need to enclose God in a church in order to see him, or perhaps to confine him to inside those walls - that way we don't have to deal with him when we're not in there. So, we left God back at the amazing cathedral, had some dinner, and went off to see some flamenco. We had bought tickets at the big theater right in the middle of the city, and, at the last moment had to catch a cab to Sacromonte since it turned out that the show was actually at a theatre there, at (I think) the Institute for Gypsy Studies. The singing was amazing. It was one guy singing (unlike what you might imagine from listening to the Gispy Kings), and with such passion and intensity that it was quite amazing to liste to. The closest thing I can compare it to is opera, though the singing style is quite different, as is the content of the songs (I think). He was accompanied by a guitarist and a percutionist. After a while of singing, the guy switched to background-music mode and a woman stepped forth, dancing like crazy for at least 10 minutes straight. She was tapping out rhythms with her shoes, jumping all over the place, and otherwise being as far from still as possible, all with encouraging yells from the guys and to the music of the guitar. Anyway, the show was very very cool. Eventually everyone but the guitarist showed off their dancing skill, and there was a bit more singing, all with what seemed like a mostly improvised programme. Day 13 The following day we went to the Alhambra. Now, it's a good idea to buy tickets ahead of time online since they only let around 600 people in every hour and tickets sell out every single day. We showed up before 9am and got tickets after about half an hour of waiting in line (at which time only 1300 tickets or so were left unsold). This place is popular. There are several parts to the Alhambra: the gardens known as the Generalife, the moorish palace, the castle, and the palace of Charles V. All these are really cool, but hard to describe: the pictures are a lot better, and we took a lot of them (we filled out the camera with 300 photos, of which Cindy carefully selected 60 to post online). In short, the whole place is carvings upon carvings. Every wall is absolutely covered with intricate geometric patterns, every arch has a beautiful, delicate ceiling. And there are birds everywhere. A lot of the arches are hollow, so birds get in through the carvings and live inside; and swallows race around every courtyard: hundreds of them just flying laps. Crazy Spanish birds. But, yeah, from the outside, the Alhambra looks pretty silly: just square blocks. But inside it's amazingly delicate and ornate. The castle part, on the other hand, looks absolutely impregnable, with a huge cliff leading up to it and layers of walls protecting its center. And the view from the top is amazing: the Cierra Nevada on one side, the blue sky above, the huge city below. Really pretty. Having wandered around for hours at the Alhambra, we stopped by home for a late lunch and then spent the rest of the day enjoying the city: looking through more tourist shops, and eventually settling down outside a restaurant. We were told by a friend that the best thing to do in Granada is to just chill. So we did. We had no more to do in Spain: we had seen everything we planned to, and it was a very relieving feeling that we no longer had to make crazy plans to visit (and really enjoy!) every single thing there was in the cities we went to. So we just sat outside the restaurant having a couple of drinks for at least two or three hours, eventually had some really good deer stew and headed back to the hotel. By the way, an electronic dictionary is absolutely essential to going to Spain. Otherwise, you have no way to figure out what the menu is saying. Day 14 In the morning we got our things together and took the bus to the airport, having said goodbye to a city full of orange trees, roses, and pomegranites (which were flowering at the time). The flight back to Madrid was nice, and it was comforting to return to the hotel where we stayed the first few nights. Madrid was no longer a stranger, but a good friend. Towards the evening we went downtown, stopping once again by the monument to Cervantez and stocking up on Iberian ham. We then met up with Josh (our new friend) and chatted for a while about our travels and modern art. After he headed out, we spent some more time wandering around, having dinner, and taking a photo with Federico Garcia Lorca. The following morning we had some churros at the Chocolateria San Andres and flew back to the States. 6/24/07 We're now back in the states, and I took a bit of a break from writing about Spain. Here's some more. I'll stick to mostly my impressions since Cindy is looking up factual information and posting it along with the fotos. New photos:Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10. Day 8 We had two full days in Toledo, and we started the first by going to the nearby monastery called San Juan de los Reyes, constructed in 1476 by the "Catholic Monarchs" Ferdinand and Isabella. It's a beautiful monastery, decorated in the Mudejar style (which is a Spanish variation on the Islamic pattern style). Like many things we came by, it was under construction, but apparently it's quite impressive from the outside as well. By the way, everything in Spain is under construction. It's annoying because you don't get to see some things as well, but at the same time it's really cool: they are still interested in their historical sites and in keeping them in good condition. It really makes the place feel alive. We next went to two ancient Jewish synagogues. The first was called "Synagoga Santa Maria la Blanca", "Synagogue of Saint Mary the White". Quite a strange name for a synagogue. Apparently, it had been used as a synagogue, mosque, and Christian church at different times in its history, so it mixed a bunch of styles. It was even stormed by a Christian mob in the 15th century and converted into a church. We next visited the Synagoga del Transito, which is another ancient synagogue, built in 1336-1357 Moorish stronghold), the synagogue became a church and later served as everything from a hospital to a barracks. Anyway, that's not too important. What really struck me was the feeling the synagogue conveyed. The synagogue is now a museum showing off Sephardic Jewish culture. The main room is apparently decorated in the same way it was back in the day. While there are, of course, no pictures or images in the large main room, the geometrical decorations somehow managed to convey a quite powerful feeling. I don't know whether the recreated room really conveys the Jewish God, but it certainly gave me a feeling of a tremendous, powerful being, a being that one could follow around in the desert for 50 years, or in whose name one could wage wars in search of the Promised Land - or crusades in search of reconquering the Holy Land. Quite powerful. It made me think of Mozart's Requiem. Not the kind, almost weak parts, but the "Rex tremendae magestatis" (`king of tremendous magesty') and "Dies irae" (`day of anger') parts. Having listened to them since, even those pieces seem to tied down to the benevolence of the New Testament God, though they were close to that feeling. Perhaps Verdi's Requiem comes closer with its thundrous, all-poweful God. So, yeah, it was a very, very interesting encounter. Do try listening to those pieces or talk to me if you want to hear more about it. I was kinda worn out after running into what felt awesome enough to be the Jewish God. Oh, and I have no idea what it is that brought on the feeling, but just standing there in the middle of the huge room and looking at the fancily decorated walls and ceiling seemed to be enough.... So, we proceeded to walk through the museum and then headed out. We spent a while looking through some nearby stores (all full of weapons and gilded plates), and had some paella for lunch. We then went on to a store we had been in the day before, and spent a while looking at the hand-made jewelry and steel plates inlaid with fancy gold designs. We bought a few things, including some gifts and a really cool plate. It is made of black steel, and inlaid (by hand) with a geometric design, which is also outlined with silver for special effect. We decided that this plate will be a wedding gift from all the people who gave us money. If you want to take a look at it, drop by for tea - just let us know when you're coming. We then wandered back to the hotel, looking at other shops and random things along the way. Day 9 In the morning, we went, as always, to a coffee shop, and then went on to the museum of El Greco. The museum is usually located in El Greco's house, but this, also, was under construction, so the paintings are temporarily located in a different museum. The most interesting paintings, as far as I found, were the Apostolates that his workshop produced. These are depictions of Christ and 12 apostles (though Paul is substituted for Judas in this one). While the apostles look really interesting, the Jesus still perplexes me because of his strange expression. It's not clear what he's come to do, or what he wants from us that are looking at him and have heard of him. I spent quite a while sitting there and looking at the painting. Surprisingly, I thought of him responding "I don't want anything. Just draw me a sheep." Though that somehow clashes with the whole eternal damnation worldview he preached and just leaves the happiness and kindness. And it certainly leaves no room for the powerful, jealous god I caught a glimpse of the day before in the synagogue. What did he come for?... Then we went to the church where the Count of Orgaz was buried, and where El Greco's painting of the burial resides. While it was a really, really fancy painting, it didn't strike me too much, except for the two monks "conversing" with their hands. The two saints in the painting felt a bit overdressed and way too fancy-looking to be real saints. So we weren't to impressed by "El Greco's masterpiece". The cathedral was the next destination. This place is HUGE. Apparently there was a huge mosque on the site before the cathedral was constructed, and the architect made a point of covering just as much ground with the church. Again, the church itself wasn't too exciting, however. There were again huge, scary iron gates in front of the altar and in front of the chorus. The decoration of the cathedral wasn't too inspiring either. But the church also contained a museum with a large number of paintings, as well as holy relics and fancy clerical outfits. Now, all the stuff they had was very golden and expensive and stuff, but quite boring next to the El Greco paintings in the collection. There was again an apostolate, and a painting of Jesus being disrobed right before the crucifixion (ordered for the room where the priests changed before the service). It was funny to compare the paintings with some painting of Apostle Andrew being crucified upside down. That provoked nothing but fear and pity, while El Greco has more to say... Having looked through the cathedral and taken lots of photos, we wandered off to the Archeological Museum (Museo de Santa Cruz), which contained everything from Roman and Vizgoth artefacts to a whole array of books and paintings on the topic of Saint Ildephonsus, a 7th century Toledan Archbishop who was awesome enough that Mary herself gave him a "priestly vestiment". We also discovered the Spanish era. Apparently until the 14th century Spaniards used 38BC as their Year 1. It was kinda funny - we got half the museum worked up looking for the plaque that had two different dates on it and then trying to explain it. We also found Don Quixote in the museum. 2005 was the 400th anniversary of its publication, so the Spaniards had a big celebration and made a 1-euro edition of the book. Cindy and I had been reading a bilingual copy my mom gave us, so we were really happy to also get a copy of the full edition, which I'm now going through at the speed of 3 pages/hour. We then wandered outside the walls to look at a nearby castle, which is now a hostel, took lots of cool pictures of the river, and headed back to the hotel. On the way, we scouted out a way to get back to Madrid, wandered by a bull-fighting ring. As we were walking up to the hotel, I saw Greg Bard. That was very strange, since he is a math student at Maryland, and we were in Spain. A bit surprised by the encounter, we chatted for a bit, and then Cindy and I went on to the hotel. After a break, we ventured out for dinner and then got ready to head on to Granada the following day. Day 10 This day is quick to write up. In the morning we took a taxi to the bus station (taxis in Spain are cheap, honest, and efficient, unlike some other places I've heard about). The bus took us to Madrid, where we took the metro to the airport. Unfortunately, we only got there about an hour before our flight, and only got to the check-in counter half an hour before the flight, when check-in had closed. So we were scheduled for the next flight - about 5 hours later. I took the time to write up a few more days of the trip, and then we flew off. The area around Granada is very different from that around Madrid. Near Madrid everything is green and either pretty flat our pretty mountainous. Granada was dry and flat, except for the Sierra Nevada mountains off on the horizons and occasional cliffs. And the whole landscape was dotted with olive trees. Everywhere. And everywhere else there were planted rows of unknown trees that looked like they were wind-breakers. The airport was a ways off from the city, but there's a convenient bus that took us right up to our hotel. I guess I've been writing a bit about each city... Granda has also been around for ever. Objects dating back from thousands of years BC are found there, and it was important for Greeks in the 5th century BC, then in succession to Romans, Vizgoths, Jews, Muslims, and eventually Christians, who took it in 1492. There is also a region called Sacromonte (Sacred Mountain) where the gypsies have lived there since the 17th century. The buildings are located in caves dug into the rock, and many of them are now used for flamenco performances. A huge Moorish castle called the Alhambra looks over the city, and is the focus of a huge campaign to make it one of the new 10 wonders of the world. There is also a great cathedral, of which I will write later. 6/1/07 Hey everyone! We're in Granada, which is a really cool city. Unfortunately, there's no free internet at the hotel, so we won't be posting too much. I did, however, write several days' worth of stuff during the trip, so check it out below. -Anton (and Cindy) 5/31/07 Today is a travel day, and we got stuck in the Madrid airport for (hopefully no more than) 5 hours, so I used it as a time to catch up on the writing. Day 5 On Friday (Day 4) we had gone around the historical part of the city within the walls. On Saturday, we first went to the Alcazar (which seems to mean Palace-Castle), and then went around the city by a path outside its walls. To give a bit of an overview of Segovia, it has been an important location for ever. The Romans had control of the area back in the day and built an aqueduct to supply the city with water. Apparently, this is one of the most intact aqueducts anywhere in the world, and recently became adorned by a statue of Romulus and Remus, sent from Rome. In more recent history, the city became important during the unification of Spain. When her father died, Isabella retreated to Segovia, and was crowned queen of Castile and Leon there. Her marriage with Ferdinand took place in Segovia soon thereafter. Later on, [Charles III?] ordered an improvement of the Alcazar and moved to Segovia. For a while, the castle functioned as the main artillery academy of Spain, with an extensive library of books on math, physics, and military strategy. In the [19th century] it burned down, and then was restored to its current look. The city also had quite a bit of religious importance, with the gigantic gothic temple, a number of smaller churches (one on the site of Isabelle's coronation), and monasteries. There is also an ancient Templar church, built in the 11th century and now owned by the Knights of Malta. Now, all that history is a bit elusive, and at first glance Segovia seems to be a bit bland. We were therefore amazed when we walked into the Alcazar, for it is quite ornate and interesting. No one really knows when it was first built. The Romans had an outpost on the hill back in antiquity, and it was gradually improved into a huge stone castle over the centuries. Inside, it's not too large, with only three or four rooms for the king and queen, and as many for the artillery academy (plus a large Royal Chemistry building outside). However, add to this towers, battlements, a huge moat dug in the solid rock the castle sits on, and a huge tower added in the [18th century], and the place looks quite amazing. Indoors, the throne room is rather intimidating. While the palace in Madrid is laid back and luxurious, the castle gives off a feel of a battle station, and it's easy to imagine a strong warrior king on its throne. The altar in the mini-chapel gives off the same feel and is hardly Christian, with images of Spanish heroes battling the Moors and their severed heads prominently pictured on the altar. There is also a "Hall of Kings" that used to function as a library, lined along the top with sculptures of several dozen Spanish monarchs. Cindy and I spent a long time looking at these, as there was an interesting trend in their coats of arms: The Castiles (castles) and Leones (lions) first alternated, and then merged into a single coat of arms with both. Then, the two-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire appeared, holding the earlier image on his chest. At the end sat Isabella with the Castile-Leon sign, Ferdinand with the black bird of Aragon, and their daughter, who combined both images, as well as those of her husband. The academy wing was also interesting, with Newton's [Principiae Naturalis], as well as others on castle planning and artillery, as well as multiple displays of artillery equipment. Lastly, we went up to the top of the biggest tower, which gave us an amazing view of the city (see the photos). Having left the Alcazar, we went outside the walls of the city and found a path around the city that the Spaniard had told us about. It turned out that there was a very pleasant park around the castle walls, and we walked for a couple of hours, enjoying the weather (it was a bit cloudy but very pleasant) and taking photos of the city. We also dropped by a couple of churches north of the city, but they all had weddings going on (even the Templar temple, where a wedding is hard to imagine); while the monastery was closed for the night. So we headed back to the city, relaxed for a little bit and then found a bar to have some wine a long with a very generous amount of free food (if you're ever in Segovia, find the bar on the Plaza Mayor where the bartenders are in blue). We then planned out the following day and went to bed. Day 6 First thing on Sunday (after getting some breakfast), we went to the local cathedral, which was pretty much next door to us. This is a huge gothic building, with at least one organ and lots of cool statues and such. For some reason the altar was separated from the main cathedral by a huge iron gate, and so was the choir area. It doesn't look like these open up during service, except for a relatively small doorway. We couldn't figure out why they were there. Cool as the church was, it didn't leave much of a religious impression, and we went on to the monastery that is just outside of the city walls. A monk showed us around one of the cloisters, which had a great view of Segovia and a very nice garden with a fountain equipped with cast copper cups. Then the monk's cell phone rang, and he pulled it out of his habit talked on the phone for about 5 minutes, telling whomever that he was showing tourists around and couldn't talk right now. That was kinda weird as it somehow didn't fit in with the image of secluded life away from worldly pleasures such as cell phones. The inner cloister, into which we weren't allowed to go, looked pretty cool, but very ornate and again clashed with the "holy, secluded monk" idea, as did the large, beautiful chapel in which the mass was about to start. So, confused about the nature of monkhood we went on to the Templar temple, called the "Iglesia de la Vera Cruz". Templar churches are round; this one also had a tower that was added after the original construction. Furthermore, the inside was not open. A lot of it was taken up by a stone construction in the middle - sort of a stone loft underneath which you could walk and which added a "second floor" to the temple. While the tourist entrance is on the side of the temple, you would originally walk through the main door and (I imagine) walk straight under the loft through the arches that support it, and to the other side of the temple, where the altar is. In front of the altar are three seats, facing the person who enters, and more seats along the side. Walking under the "loft" like that was pretty interesting, as I imagined participating in a Templar ceremony, with the "Grand Master" sitting there on the chair in front of the altar. Do you pray at the altar or at him?... It felt like a very strange place, and the slightly grotesque and asymmetric shape of the temple and the images in there added to the feeling. In the loft, which you reached by worn stone stairs, there was a large stone table, apparently used during the services, and two icons: one of Mary, and the other of St. John the Baptist. I was surprised by the icon of Mary, very distorted, with one huge eye and the other smaller and closer to the side of the icon. The crucifix in the church was made in the 13th century, the church itself in 1208, and continuously owned by knight orders up to this day, after passing to the Knights of Malta in 1531. A very, very strange place, with a feel of ancient magical ceremonies, like a place where guys from Highlander (a movie) would gather to hang out. Pagan rather than Christian. Contemplating the weird "church", we went on to the bus station, where we took a bus to La Granja, a nearby palace and garden. Unfortunately, the palace was closed and the fountains turned off because it was elections day. We nonetheless wandered around the garden, which was pretty cool. I do wish it was warmer, not drizzling, and that the fountains were working, but it was interesting either way. Perhaps on a bright summer day it might come close to the fountain-filled garden "Petergof" in St. Petersburg. After a couple of hours, we headed back to Segovia (only 10km away). Back in Segovia, we dropped by the aqueduct, which we had seen briefly before. It's a quite impressive construction, especially when you consider how amazingly straight it is and how the rocks simply support each other - no mortar is there to make them stick. The arches composed of enormous rocks are very impressive. It's also entertaining to see Mary in the niche in the middle of the aqueduct. I imagine a Roman emperor or god was placed there originally. In the evening, we went looking for another bar that would be as nice and generous with its tapas, but found nothing better than the restaurant with blue-suited waiters. Having eaten, we wandered back to the hotel, and took a few night-time photos of the cathedral. Day 7 Once again, it was time to travel. Unfortunately, there is no route directly from Segovia to Toledo, so, as expected, we had to go through Madrid. This time we took a bus, as this was faster and more convenient, and then another bus to Toledo. By the way, the central bus station in Madrid is huge: it looks like a train station, and has around 60 "platforms" where busses can pick up and drop off passengers. It's quite a sight. Toledo is really crazy. It's been inhabited for ever. The Romans took it from the local tribe in 192 AD, called it Toletum, and used it as a metal-producing town. It has kept the trade, and every single shop in the city is packed with swords, katanas and other such weapons, as well as "Damascinated" objects: plates, vases, and jewelry decorated with intricate gold and silver designs. Pretty much all of this is made right in Toledo, and a lot shops sell objects made by hand right in the store (you can watch them working on the decorations). Furthermore, the city was the capital of Spain for a while, and pretty much every other building either is or has been a church (a lot have been converted to museums, schools, etc.). And I guess the city was pretty big by the time the Romans got there since the standard Roman straight-street design is completely absent: every street curves around and doesn't stay straight for more than 20 meters. But the coolest thing about the city is that El Greco used to live there, and a lot of his paintings are still in the city, either in the El Greco house-museum, in the HUGE cathedral, the archeological museum, or the church where "The Burrial of the Count of Orgaz" is located. So, having checked into the hotel (which was really cool), we went out to wander around the city. As I mentioned, the streets are very, very curvy, so we got lost every 10 minutes or so, even with a pretty accurate map. We gazed at a lot of shops, played with lots of swords (Cindy points out that only I did so), and found a store where a very nice but salesmanly old man showed us around, displaying all the intricate decorations on his plates and jewelry, as well as showing off his own personal collection of objects that were "old, but my things are of equal quality". We promised to come back the following day (which we did), and wandered on, having lunch at around 7pm. A little before sunset, which was at around 9:30 we went out for a glass of wine and some snacks, and found that the streets were mostly empty and most of the stores closed - because it was Monday. Apparenlty EVERYTHING is closed on Mondays, after party nights on Friday and Saturday and a down day on Sundy. So we had some wine, as well as really tasty cold Spanish tomato soup called "gazpacho", and went back to the hotel for the night. 5/29/07 Day 5 Photos 5/28/07 Day 4 After three nights in Madrid, it was time to head on to Segovia. Before heading out, though, we visited the Madrid University, which is up the street from the hotel. On the way there, we passed by yet another arch. As it turns out, this one was built rather recently by Franco to commemorate his victory in the Civil War. It's really cool how Spaniards continue to build arches and use really elaborate buildings for governmental purposes. It's too bad that doesn't happen that much in the US. Anyway, the university was kinda strange. Cindy said she was impressed that it was a single campus, as opposed to the Italian loose conglomerations of departamental buildings. However, the place was rather dirty and huge (kilometers accross), so we couldn't make it to the math department. There were lots of students around, however, and they looked completely different from American ones, perhaps due to the general trend of slacking off for most of the semester and studying 24/7 for the finals at the end. So, while I was vaguely considering applying to the university for grad school (I think the math department is good), that's probably not happening at this point. Having checked out of the hotel, we made our way to the main train station and bought a ticket for the next train to Segovia. On the train, we ended up talking to a history teacher for almost two hours (all in Spanish, which was really cool). It ended up being an interesting conversation, and he even recognized the name of the painting I really liked at the Prado ( San Andres y San Francisco). I pointed out that a lot of the saints were portrayed in very saintly poses but without much holiness otherwise, while El Greco's saints weren't doing much in the picture but looked far more saintly and interesting. The spaniard's reply was that the painting was made before the Protestant Reformation. After the reformation the Catholic Church decided to start advertizing to bring back the people's interest, and all the paintings became extremely melodramatic and emotional, while El Greco didn't have to face that requirement. Furthermore, he said that the combination of saints is likely to be based on the patron's choice. For example, if your name is Andrew and your wife's name is Francisca, you might like the corresponding saints and ask for a painting that includes both of them. So the meeting of the two saints may have been arranged in a quite earthly way. I found the extra history pretty interesting, and it certainly doesn't take away from the painting itself, even if the saints weren't chosen for any truly interesting reason. As we approached Segovia, the spaniard (who had grown up in Segovia) showed us a few places we especially needed to visit and told us about a nearby palace with a huge park, called La Granja. He helped us find the way to the hotel, and we parted. Having checked in, we spent several hours walking around Segovia. The historical part of town, located within the 11th century walls, is pretty small, about an hour in circumference. However, there are quite many churches and old buildings within the walls, and the views from the top of the hill are amazing. By the way, the city is located slightly north of a mountain ridge that separates it from Madrid, and sits on top of a large hill. The area around Madrid is pretty flat, while Segovia is in a really hilly area. Having looked around, we came back to the hotel, rested up for a bit, and went out for dinner at around 10, which is the normal Spanish dinner time. And then we came home and slept. 5/27/07 Cindy has spent a lot of time annotating the photos. They are now available for days One, Two, Three, and Four. Today is Day 6, by the way. Here's my description of what happened. Please take a look at both. Day 3 "Chocolate con churros" is the traditional Spanish breakfast. Josh and Cathy pointed us to the best place in Madrid for this, so on Thursday morning we had breakfast at the "Chocolateria San Gines", right in the middle of Madrid. The hot chocolate was amazing. I believe the recipe is as follows: fill a cup to the brim with chocolate truffles, add some milk to fill in the gaps and heat up. Quite amazing. The richest American hot chocolate tastes like slightly flavored water in comparison. From there, we went to the San Gines Cathedral next door, and then wandered towards the metro station, visiting a couple of church stores on the way (which sold all sorts of church equipment from priest clothing to crucifixes). Now, for all that the churches in Spain are really cool and amazing, I must say I don't get Catholicism (rant follows). First off, Mary is all over the place, on every altar, and the center of a lot of worship. I don't get it. Worshiping God I can understand, worshiping Jesus (especially if you think he's God the Son) I can understand, but worshiping the mother of the person who told us about God? That's strange. You're no longer worshiping the abstract God, nor God incarnate, but the extremely human person who gave birth to the incarnation of God. Furthermore, continuing the ancient Roman tradition of having a different version of your god for every temple is sketchy. Why is there an "Our Lady of [fill in your city or church name]" for every church? Very, very strange. Especially since the different Maries almost become separate dieties, so it seems. Anyway, the other thing I don't get is the use of statues. When I look at a life-size statue in full color, that doesn't inspire any religious feelings. It just makes me wonder why I should be worshiping this person that's in front of me. Of course, the idea is that I don't worship the statue but rather use it as inspiration, but I don't feel like sculpture is all that susceptible to that use. Though I must admit that the Orthodox icons often don't produce the intended effect either - they're often just a picture of some guy that I should be praying to. So perhaps I'm exaggerating because I'm used to icons but not statues. Maybe I'll talk more about this later. That said, Spanish churches are really, really cool. The architecture is amazing, the work that went into the fabulous statues and general designs is incomprehensible. They're really interesting to look at. So, having had some churros and looked at San Gines, we took the metro to the big train station, figured out how to get to Segovia, and went on to the Reina Sofia art gallery, where the coolest modern art in Spain is collected. This I don't get either, at all, but I must admit that Picasso got really good at depicting pain and suffering. Having seen photos of the Guernica, I didn't expect too much, but it really is striking, and the chaos that is on the painting does provoke certain feelings. Close to the painting there was an exhibition of photos from the Civil War (which was right before WW2). It was really strange to look at photos of the streets we have been walking through - all bombed and devastated. It's amazing that someone would cause such destruction, especially to one's own people. It's rather depressing. From the Reina Sofia we went West through the city, initially through some residential areas and had lunch at a Sidreria (that serves cider), and eventually coming upon a lot of interesting churches and old buildings, which are better described in Cindy's photo comments. Eventually, we chanced upon the Royal Palace and the main cathedral. These were both quite amazing and huge. The palace contained a neat collection of armour and other knightly gear that used to be owned by the kings, and the rooms themselves were also pretty interesting. Having looked at these, we wandered South towards the Puerto del Toledo, a large arch on the road to Toledo. On the way, we stopped to look at a couple of other churches - all ancient and quite impressive. From Puerto del Toledo, we made our way up to the main plaza (Plaza Mayor), and had dinner there (eggplants in a really tasty almond sauce). And then we went home. It was another long, busy day with lots of walking (over 5 miles just on the streets) and lots of interesting things to see. Please do look at the pictures since I skipped over a lot of things that are better displayed there. 5/27/07 The photos for Day 2 are now up as well. Check them out. 5/26/07 Ok, we have a final version of Day 1 photos, with full comments. Take a look, and we'll start working on Day 2. 5/26/07 Cindy and I are now in Segovia. The first batch of photos from Day 1 (parts a and b) are now available. I'll post more later today. 5/24/07 Hey guys, no update today. We're alive and well, but still working on uploading photos. Tomorrow we're going to Segovia. We should have internet access there as well, so updates are forthcoming. 5/23/07 Hello everyone! Cindy and I are currently in Madrid, and it's been quite an intense (good) few days. I guess I'll stick with the day-by-day format. Pictures are forthcoming but, despite the wireless connection, it takes forever to upload them so I'll post them back in the US (or maybe in small, size-reduced batches). Day 0 So on Monday we flew to Spain. Adrienne was kind enough to drive us to the airport, whence we flew to New York. On the flight, we talked for a while to a guy who was also on his way to Madrid, though flying through England. Josh ended up giving us his contact info in Madrid, and we just got back from hanging out with him and his fiancee. He's a theatre management grad student and a lot of fun to talk to. It's quite nice to have met up with someone who knows Madrid (his fiancee lives here), speaks Spanish, and is cool. Anyway, we talked on the plane and during the layover and then Cindy and I flew off to Madrid. The flight was ok, and we ended up in Madrid at 8AM. Day 1 Day 1 is a continuation of Day 0 since there's almost no sleep to separate them. In Madrid, we got our bags and made it over to the hotel through the Metro system. ( 1) Adrienne: they just call it "Metro" in Spanish. 2) The metro machines accept credit cards, but only Spanish ones. Get cash in advance.) They didn't have a room this early, so we wandered around for a little bit having dropped off our bags. The area is pretty nice, with coffee shops full of pastries, and a Spanish public library (of course we checked it out), and this huge thing called "El Corte Ingles". It looks like a mall, but don't be deceived: it's a single store, usually composed of several buildings and encompassing everything you'd find on Amazon.com. Apparently it's the only department store in Spain and is partnered with the only real grocery store. Anyway, we wandered back to the hotel, where we were alloted a tiny little "apartment" (kitchen suite) with a bed that's hard by American standards. We contemplated the hardness of the bed, cleaned up and went wandering around. The downtown is within walking distance, so we just wandered off in the direction of the archeological museum. Oh, on the way downtown there's a "plaza de Espania" with a huge monument to Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (to Cervantez, really). The archeological museum is not too well-advertized but a history place looked like a good place to start. It turned out phenominal. They have stuff ranging from 2000 AC (ante Christo) to the 19th century (AD dates are just not labeled "AC"), and from obelisks from when Sahara was a lake to huge 20th century pressed-tea coins from China. And there was a bunch of Greek and Roman stuff, such as lead curse thingies the Romans would bury in the ground, of which I've only heard. At around 7, we made our way to the main food district and eventually had dinner. Two very helpful Toledans helped us out at a tapas bar, all in Spanish. They forced us to taste their food, ordered for us and even left their address and phone numbers in case we needed help with anything. This felt very nice as it highlighted the friendliness of the Spaniards (they seem to come in "stern" and "very friendly" varieties). To finish off the evening, we bought some cured ham, cheese and wine, and wandered back to the hotel. The bed felt sooo soft, it was amazing. We fell asleep immediately. Day 2 All of a sudden, Cindy said "oh my, it's 11:30". We jumped up, got things together and went downstairs for breakfast. It was too late for churros, but we got some overgrown variety thereof (churros are straight crispy donuts eaten for breakfast). We did get hot chocolate and coffee (both Spanish style: concentrated and no sugar) and some directions from the waitress. Then, we wandered towards the Prado. A few hours and detours later, we were at the Parque del Buen Retiro, right behind the Prado. This is a huge European-style park with a great lake and a monumental statue to Alfonzo 7. We had lunch in front of the lake (bread, cheese and cured ham, quite amazing), and then went off to the Prado. The Prado was awesome, especially because of San Andres y San Francisco by El Greco. This painting really struck me. I really wonder what the two of them could be talking about and how one could ever verbalize the exchange that's on the painting (San Francisco of Asissi was a 13th century monk. People following him around started the Franciscan order, hence "San Francisco" in California, and all the ornate cathedrals.) Anyway, the communication there is interesting, and the faces really look saintly, unlike many of the paintings we saw today of holy martyrs that look like they were ready to force true faith down your throat. The only thing that bothers me is the not-too-heavenly background. Really made me think of the ending scene in Master and Margarite, in case you've read it... Anyway, after we got kicked out of the Prado at closing time, we met up with Josh (see above) and his fiancee Cathy for dinner. We ended up in a really nice restaurant (Cindy is hypothesizing that it was a relatively standard one), and shared everything from Spanish tortillas (potato omelet essentially) to calamari and assorted smoked stuff sandwiches (salmon, ham, bacalao, etc.) and, as Cindy points out, grilled veggies. And then it was time to go back home, and here I am sitting on the medium-hard bed writing this post. Check in for the next issue of our travel experience some time soon. -Anton 5/20/07 It's all over! (As Gabe put it.) So now, with all A's this semester (I finally "mastered" algebra and managed another miracle in topology), I'm heading off to Spain with my beautiful wife. Assuming we have internet access, we'll try to post here every day with our adventures. Photos might also appear on the photos page (which links to Facebook). I hope everyone has a good two weeks, and congratulations to those of you who are graduating! And, we get back on the 5th in case you were wondering. 5/15/07 The semester is finally coming to an end. All I have left is two finals tomorrow, and I really don't want to think about the topology final... It won't be pretty. So I'll tell you about my trip to Spain. This coming Monday, Cindy and I are going off to Spain for two weeks, as a belated honeymoon. We're arriving in Madrid early on Tuesday. We're staying there for three nights (here), going to the Prado and all the parks, as well as the tapas bars in the evenings. Then, we're going up to Segovia, about an hour away from Madrid, also for three nights. This place is reeally old and supposedly has a really cool Roman aqueduct. We also seem to have a pretty nice hotel: La Casa Mudejar. By the way, I booked the hotels through Travel Spain, which has so far been a good company to work with. Segovia is said to be a nice town to wander around in, and has a lot of cathedrals, and hopefully a good history museum - I'm anxious to learn more about the Romans. We'll also take a daytrip to the Escorial, an ancient (Cindy objects to the term... she says it's not quite ancient) monastery-palace (originally built as a quiet monastery by King Philip II and then improved upon by later kings). The next destination is Toledo, for three nights as well, and we're staying at Hotel San Juan de los Reyes. The reason I'm mentioning the hotels is that they have cool websites and are pretty much all I've planned except for the major transportation. Toledo is the old Spanish capital and has also seen the Romans. Again, all the good old stuff: castle, cathedrals, etc. Should be fun. Then, we're flying down to Granada. This is the last place the Muslims left during the Reconquista when they got chased out of Spain. So it has a really cool castle, the Alhambra, with awesome lions statues, as well as a bunch of cool Muslim influence in the architecture, etc. It should also be fun to compare it to the Madrid area: supposedly, not only the architectural style, but also the language, food, and everything else are very very different. We'll be staying at Hotel Dauro. Hopefully, we'll get a good taste of southern culture (and lots of seafood), and maybe make it down to the beach since the city is not too far from the Mediterranean. After four nights in Granada, we fly back to Madrid, spend a night there (probably go look at a few more things since we get to Madrid relatively early), and then fly back to the US. It really sounds like fun, even more so now that I've described it and looked at the hotel photos. Hopefully I'll get a chance to post more while I'm in Spain and perhaps even upload some photos. Meanwhile, good luck on finals if you still have some left. -Anton 5/14/07 I have cleaned up the website. Take a look around - I added a couple of things here and there. In particular, there's a link to my math research so you can see some neat animations I made over the past year (at the bottom of the math page). I will find something interesting to write here in the next week, and will hopefully post photos while Cindy and I are in Spain. By the way, the page can be accessed through "http://www.lukyanenko.net". I don't know if I'll UMD have webspace after I graduate, so please remember that link. Old wedding update If you're interested in gift ideas for the wedding, Cindy and I have listed some books we would like to have on this website. We also have registries at Macy's and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. 3/19/07 I'll be reorganizing the website in the near future, but wanted to let everyone know I have started a page called RealHuman that will hopefully become an extensive database of key combinations that let you talk to a real human when calling a company. This is primarily caused by Comcast's infuriating system, though it's a reaction to the general inhumane trend in customer service. 1/03/07 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Wow, I haven't posted in forever. The end of the semester was really difficult - I had several big papers to write, and my finals were really really difficult. So that's my excuse. Since then I've mostly been hanging out at home. I ended up reading Belaya Gvardiya by Bulgakov, which turned out (as expected) to be a really good book. I also came up with a cool idea about how objects, ideas, and words are related, in a manner that borrows from quantum mechanics. I'll have to think about that some more before I post it here, though. Wedding planning is going pretty well. Cindy and I signed a lease for a new apartment yesterday. We'll be living at Eastdale Apartments in Riverdale, the same complex where I've lived for half a year. We also have a wedding license, so we have the government's permission to get married. And, of course, we have mini-honeymoon plans. We'll take a real honeymoon after classes end in May, most likely going to Spain. For now, though, we'll hang out in a cabin for a few days - fireplace, hot tub, sattelite tv and all that - and then come back and set up the apartment while going to various performances in DC. Speaking of which, there's a Shakespeare Festival going on in DC, and if you are a student you can get really cheap tickets for performances at the Kennedy Center. It turns out other places also have really nice discounts, which is really cool. Anyway, I think that's it for now. The next update will probably be after the wedding. And, by the way, thanks a lot to the people that have been sending us gifts! 11/09/06 I wrote up instructions for getting an MP3 player to work in a Honda Accord. 11/07/06 Has anyone seen a depiction of the Last Judgement with God actually hesitant to punish? It seems (based on a quick google search) that the scene is usually Jesus presiding over the partitioning of people into heaven and hell, but not really expressing much emotion. Why is it that he's depicted as "blind justice"? Should he not be abysmally depressed? He went through all that suffering in order to save people from hell, and now here he is condemning so many to eternal damnation. Where did all the compassion go? If you know of an icon that depicts a caring Jesus presiding over the Last Judgement, can you let me know? That's all based on having just heard a live performance of Mozart's Requiem. Cindy and I met up with my family on Saturday and went down to the BSO for the performance. The music is amazing, and hearing it live really stirs up thoughts and emotions - even if it sounds like a secular performance rather than a religious mass. Other than that, I ended up putting the audio converter into my car, so now I can listen to MP3's by connecting my player directly to the car. It was pretty simple but somehow took almost two hours. I'll make a page with my photos and personal comments later this week - for the good of humanity. For now though, I'm going to watch X-Men in Spanish. I just spent an hour talking to a guy from Peru (who was the only student to show up for the English class today), and that makes me want to study Spanish. Older posts.