Prado

Dr Alvord from BYU came to visit us! Dr Alvord is the coordinator for our internship, as well as the professor who directed my study abroad last time I came to Spain. His visit coincided with the visit of Dr Rosenberg, another Spain expert from BYU as well.

Dr Rosenberg took us on a whirlwind tour of the Prado. The Prado is widely considered one of the greatest art museums in Europe, and is home to some of the most significant art works in the world, including the third of May, Las Meninas, The garden of earthly delights, The deposition of Christ, and many others. It was so cool hearing from an expert on the paintings there, as well as the historical context, so that we could get a better understanding of the beautiful art there.

My favorite painting is always Van der Weyden's Deposition of Christ. The massive painting is on machine size canvas, and the detail is exquisite. The fabric in the clothes of each figure is so fine, you can see individual threads. The emotion in the painting is raw, and perfectly painted tears are on most of the faces. Heavy gothic influence is in the S-curve figures and the stylized background. Adam's skull seems to gaze right into the eyes of Nicodemus. Mary, fainting, mirrors Christ's death in fulfillment of the scripture that a sword pierce her heart as well.

Interestingly, this painting was rather controversial because of that, since according to some catholic tradition, the virgin mother never fainted or fell unconscious. The painting was defended saying that perhaps Mary is merely closing her eyes for a moment.

I also love El Greco's Adoration of the Shepherds. My favorite part of the painting is how the light comes from the Christ child, and the people seem to warm their hands around him. El Greco painted himself and his son into the painting, and this was for many years the painting that hung over the family tomb in Toledo. 

Dr Rosenberg talked to us for a long time about the famous Las Meninas, one of the greatest paintings ever created. 

He identified each of the figures, described the significance of the painting, including breaking of the 4th wall (We stand where the King and Queen, reflected in the mirror, stand), the nobility of painting (not something widely accepted at the time), and the closeness of Velazquez with Philip the 4th. Velazquez is the greatest painter of Spain, and one of the greatest of all time. What amazes me is that he never drew before beginning to paint, but would have ideas then start throwing down paint. The paintings have none of the stylization of an El Greco, but a life like quality that isn't present in the Italian school either. 

After the museum, we all went out for pintxos together at a local basque restaurant. It was really fun learning from Dr Rosenberg!

Toulouse

This weekend we went to Toulouse! It was a really beautiful city.

We started with some delicious brunch

Then we wandered around the city. The river and canals running throughout the city added to the atmosphere.

Hopital de la Grave

Unfortunately, both of us were sick during the trip, so we spent a lot of time sleeping, but we still got to see the main sights in the city.

The Toulouse cathedral was beautiful. Right as we walked up, the bells started ringing. It was really awe-inspiring.

My favorite spot we visited was the Toulouse Capitol building (A city hall now). There was a huge square where people were sitting, eating lunch, taking pictures, and it all felt like we were in front of a royal palace.

We also visited the largest Romanesque church in Europe, according to one website, but to me the style appeared to be more of an early gothic (definitely a transition period church if anything). The supports were romanesque, so I think maybe it started as a romanesque church (complete with big half point arches), but was heavily remodeled, or finished in the Gothic period, especially since it seemed like the higher in the building, the more fancy the church was (Possibly the new technology of the gothic period allowed the "romanesque" church to become the largest in Europe). The church had spooky music playing on the speakers, which was unexpected and unusual, but exciting. 

Note that the supports are romanesque, but the pointed arches are hallmarks of Gothic architecture

If it is considered romanesque, it is certainly gargantuan for that period

My favorite room was the old quarters of the monks, a side chapel that was very echo-y.

There were beautiful murals on some of the walls. 

The city was awesome! I loved having my first taste of French culture (and food!). I'm excited to continue exploring French culture and seeing some of the similarities and differences with Spanish Culture.

Valencia

We went to Valencia a few weeks ago! It was awesome. I'm a little sad because due to technical difficulties, we don't have very many pictures from that trip. It was really cool though. We arrived for part of Carnaval and saw a big parade.

Then we went down to the beach. On our way down there were lots of fire crackers going off all around us, as it was also the beginning of Las Fallas, the largest festival in Valencia, a celebration full of floats, parades, and lots and lots of fire works. 

The view from our room was stunning

Below are some pictures of the beautiful city of Valencia! These are all things we saw, but not our own pictures.

The city of Arts and Sciences

There was a fun park running through the whole city. I thought it was a really cool design!

Crossing the park were all kinds of awesome stone bridges!

It was a really fun trip and I loved exploring a city the was very different from other places I've been in Spain. I was sad to not get more pictures, but the city really is amazing. 

Malaga

Malaga is a beautiful city! It's the largest city on the "costa del sol", and very mediterranean. It was a beautiful place to spend a weekend. It was founded around 800 BC by the Phoenicians, and is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Our AirBnB was right in the city center and perfectly situated for the restaurants, castles, and the beach!

The somewhat rocky beach was perfect for a full day of skipping rocks

Beautiful view

Wild Parrots! They were clipping branches to make their nests

 The Cathedral was pretty grand, with a nice baroque facade. It only had one tower, which you can barely see on the left side of the picture. The other tower was scrapped, and the money that was going to be spent building it was instead sent to American revolutionaries fighting the British. It somehow felt slightly patriotic seeing the missing tower.

The "American Tower" was never completed.

Old Roman theater

In one of the castles in Malaga

We also had some really great paella there. We got mixta with chicken wings and all kinds of scrumptious sea food in it. 

Mallorca

We went to Mallorca this past week and it was so fun! The water was so clear and we could see all kinds of critters--Sea urchins, Sea anemones, soft corals, fish, shrimp, barnacles, sea snails, hermit crabs, limpets, and some sort of small fishing bird (by the way, that's representatives from 5 of the 9 major animal phyla, which is pretty cool-- especially since we would be unlikely to see a nematode or a platyhelminthe free swimming without a microscope). It was awesome!

The first day we were there was pretty cold for getting in the water, but our AirBnB host had a two person kayak they let us take on the water. We're not completely sure, but we estimate where we were the water was about 25-30 feet deep, and we could still see the sand ripples at the bottom! I can't get over how clear the water was.

I don't think you can really see it, but we could see the bottom-- It was really deep too!

That night we went out for dinner. I was excited to try cuttle fish, so I got calamari and grilled cuttlefish. The calamari was great! The cuttlefish was disappointing. I think squid remains the only gastropod worth eating. I would put the cuttlefish below octopus, which is quite a ways after squid. 

The next day we went hiking and had a bit of a beach day! It was much warmer and really fun to be out in the water. The water was warm near the shore, and really fun to see all the sea critters, skip rocks, and jump around in the waves.

My favorite view

Avila

Ella and I went back to Avila. It was a really fun trip! We made a new friend on the bus, and got to spend the day with her. The walls are so magical. It was especially fun since much more of the walls were open this time than last time I came.

We liked wandering through the alley ways and exploring the city. The alleys are twisty and curvy,  and very narrow. 

Avila has some pretty cool history, as it is the birthplace of Catholic mysticism, a major movement within the religion, especially in Spain. We visited the Encarnación convent where St Teresa was visited by Christ.

Back in Spain

When I first met Ella, I had just come back from a study abroad in Spain that seriously changed my life. When I introduced myself to Ella for the first time, I said "Hi! My name's Robert. I'm a biology major, and I'm from Albuquerque, but I just got back from a study abroad in Spain." 

I'm sure I talked her ear off about Spain, and it only took a few months after we got married before we were applying to come back! So now we're both here teaching English. We live in the community of Madrid in Alcala de Henares again, and teach English in an elementary school in a nearby village. It's so much fun!

I'm just with the 4th grade, and Ella teaches grades 1-3. I help with science and english lessons, and have the best time.

It's really great to be back in Spain, especially now that I'm in a different spot in my life, and have already been here once. I love the culture, the history, the oil, the food, and the people. This really is the best time of my life, spending almost all of my time with my amazing wife Ella, going on trips, playing and working with kids, and getting immersed in a culture I love in a way I haven't before.

One of the funniest things about being back here is seeing how little my wardrobe has changed since the last time I was here. Living in the same city, going to many of the same places, has led to a couple of repeat pictures I didn't expect.

  

Granada!

Ella took me to Granada for my birthday. It was so much fun! We arrived late Thursday night, but still had time to go out for tapas and seafood. We went to a place called "Diamantes" right off of Plaza Nueva that was really tasty.

The next morning we went to the Alhambra first thing. The palaces were spectacular. Moorish Architecture is just incredible. One of my favorite things was the Myrtles Court with the beautiful reflecting pool.

I also learned that the exquisite ceiling of the Hall of the Ambassadors was made from jigsaw like pieces-- over 8000 of them.

The grounds were beautiful, the palace was amazing, and I'm blown away by this totally different style of building. It's incredible. My favorite spot was the Arabic baths with perfect acoustics in one spot. It sounded like I had a microphone and great speakers. Ella and I could whisper to each other from across the room.

After the Alhambra, we decided to go to the grocery store for lunch. We realized on our way, however, that the way to the grocery store was almost the same as Rick Steve's walking tour! So we did most of the walking tour on the way to the grocery store and had a lot of fun wandering the back alleys and streets of Granada.

The Cathedral was impressive. It towered over the rest of the buildings, with a relatively simple, triumphant baroque facade. There was a fun market just to the side of it that was the site of an ancient fortified market during the Moorish kingdom.

The next day (My birthday) we walked through the Albaycin, the moorish quarter. It was beautiful! We enjoyed a smoothie on our way to lunch. We got a big sampler platter that was very fancy.

After lunch we went to learn how to make arabic sweets. They were really tasty! While we worked on them, the host helped us see the difference between spices and ground and whole spices. It was a much bigger difference than I expected! The one that was the biggest deal was nutmeg. The whole nutmeg smelled so much better than ground nutmeg!


 That night we went to a flamenco show! It was so much fun. This was definitely a birthday for the books. Ella really out did herself again.