Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Posting in real time from Granada - some actual day-of material!

Today at La Alhambra I was moved to tears. This has happened numerous times - first, while viewing Sorolla en el Museo del Prado, then while standing in El Catedral de Segovia, at other times I cannot currently recall, and now while walking the walls of La Alhambra.

I woke at 6.15 this morning and began my trek up the cardiovascular-challenging hill to La Alhambra, then I waited in line with a friendly Australian couple for over an hour before finally getting a day-of ticket (this is by far the most sought-after destination I have visited in Spain so obtaining a ticket was a Big Deal - the Nasrid Palaces sold out about 20 minutes before I got in but I regret nothing). The sleep-deprivation, sore legs, and panicking heart were worth it.

Fast-forward to Córdoba: 5/27 and 5/28 - La Mezquita, Carmen Gastroflamenco

At last, I learned something of flamenco - both educationally and experientially. Now I know that to say I saw a flamenco show is like saying I saw a rock music show [edit 2017/06/12 to clarify: because there are many, many styles of flamenco!].

Córdoba is home to a small, yet extremely fun and informative multimedia flamenco museum, Centro Flamenco Fosforito. It is also home, as are all the southern Spanish cities I am visiting, to a hell of a lot of flamenco venues. On the recommendation of my host there, I attended a show at Carmen Gastroflamenco which, in my ignorant yet impressed opinion, was well worth every euro.

Regarding the evening of 5/25 - breathing deep with Sevillans

A young actress, originally from Sevilla, returned to study here. A local flamenco singer. Juevos con chorizo y pimientos, también con vino blanco.

Now here is what I have been wanting more of, amidst all of my sightseeing. First a long, fun and educational conversation with one of my hosts in Madrid, then smart, flirty banter with my tour guide Concepción, and now on this evening of the 25th going out for a riverside walk and late dinner with some new friends.

Okay, the night did not turn out precisely how I expected or, dare I say, hoped, but it was very nice all the same. For an hour it was just the friendly woman and I, taking our time, trading smiles and broken phrases of one another’s languages, then we were joined by her flamenco friend and passed several more pleasant hours - if slightly disorienting, due to the density of Spanish being spoken.


In the course of the evening I learned that Sevillans touch a lot (I need to befriend more Sevillans), and that when I really like something I should use encantar, rather than amar. It caused quite a bit of laughter when I “amo”-ed something. Good to know!

Regarding the day of 5/25, en Sevilla: Digging in my heels and imagination

If one can claim to know a city by the sheer number of steps one has taken along its streets, then I am well on my way with Sevilla. As has become my habit, I ambulated quite a bit, first on my own and then on a delightful walking tour with a smart, witty woman named Concepción.

Puenta de la Barqueta looking north along Calle Rey Juan Carlos

Friday, May 26, 2017

On adversity and entropy [reflections during a train trip from Madrid to Sevilla, taken 5/24]

Many times, I have attempted to discern the “purpose” of adversity. I´ve taken in others’ thoughts on the matter, and spun my own theories. My latest interpretation begins with the idea that a teleological approach is incorrect.

What if suffering is simply a by-product of phenomena like ignorance, power differences, inexperience, entropy, strong will, etc.? What if it is a mechanical function, a sort of experiential chemical reaction? As well as a result, suffering can certainly be a catalyst, the way a wave on the sea could buoy you, topple a boat, or simply shimmer in the sunlight and subside before an audience of wind, seabirds and fish.

"Ïn fact, never play that scene again" [thoughts on 5/23, Madrid]

I have a bit of an addiction to masochistic play-by-plays of bad times. How much use is that, really, other than to vent? I got it out of my system in another way. Let us simply say, for the record, that I overestimated my prowess with Spain’s complex mass transit system, and move on.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Back to the Future - Time for a little time-disordered catch-up [5/21 review]

Ok, let’s do some catch-up. My life this week has been a comedy in the truest sense - mishaps minor and grand, but everyone is laughing, in love, or at worst harmlessly inept in the end.

[Note: please observe that the previous blog, with “Three-pio” in the title, will be / is about 5/22, while this post you are reading now is about the previous day, 5/21. Eventually we will get into a chronological order, unless I decide that’s boring, in which case, in the sage words of Samuel L Jackson aka Ray Arnold from Jurassic Park, “hold onto your butts.”]

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Three-pio! Where could he be? [UPDATE: Now includes 5/22 Segovia blog]

Today started out great but did, in fact, end up feeling a bit like being in a trash compactor.

Of course today is not the only day I haven't written about. I haven't had time, for good and bad reasons. I hope to catch up soon!

Meanwhile, here are some pictures of Segovia that I will soon discuss in more detail.


“Arriba, arriba!” the mustached train station clerk urged me. For the second time, I was attempting to travel from Madrid to Segovia, and for the second time it was not going smoothly. With just minutes to spare, I ran up the escalator, beat tracks down the length of the terminal (of course my train was leaving from platform 18, not 1 or even 6), and hustled out the door to the line of people (thank goodness) waiting to board.

The morning still wanted to give my heart one more chance to stop: I presented my pdf ticket using my phone, but the woman checking passes stared, then called over a supervisor. She spoke to me in a combination of Spanish and English. “I need to have a paper ticket?” I asked as my stomach fell out and flopped off the platform onto the tracks, where I was sure it would momentarily be flattened by a me-less train. “No, no, you are okay. Just bring the ticket back when you return.” I didn’t understand where they wanted me to bring the ticket, but I sure did understand okay, so I continued forward, bathed in a cool breeze of relief, and climbed aboard.

Friday, May 19, 2017

First Day in Madrid - I am off (and so is my body clock)

Well, it is 7.15 am and I have been awake since 4am (after getting only 2 hours of sleep), so I will try to use this time another way.


I woke up at 6am Friday after just 6 hours of sleep, thinking I had eluded jet lag (I’m not exactly fatigued now, I’m not quite sure what I am or when it will catch up with me). No matter what it was, I was raring to go, so go I did. Never mind buses and subways (however cool and thorough they are here - veritable catacombs of frequent, fast people-missiles), when in a new place I am a walker. And damned if I did not walk the heck out of Madrid today - 11 miles all told.


Madrid’s hands are overflowing with beauty and bustle. This city is a walker’s paradise. As opposed to American cities, which are designed for vehicles, Madrid was clearly designed for...well, not vehicles. There are roads of course, but the ways are serpentine, and much space is devoted to simple ambulation (and, to a limited extent, motocicletas). Getting lost is supremely easy...as much as I have poo-pooed technology and its flattening of mystery, I have to say I am grateful for mapping apps in such a labyrinthine place as this.

From Los Estados Unidos a Copenhagen a Madrid, in brief

Rapid impressions:

  • Holy cow, I am on a plane to Europe!
  • Spending most of 2 traveling days awake with only broken sleep is not very pleasant but surprisingly doable, even at 40
  • The Copenhagen Airport is really impressive, even to zombie eyes. So fancy!
  • I loved when the airport information clerk smiled when I asked her how to pronounce “tak.”
  • So many blond people!
  • I am in Madrid!


  • I am on a subway in Madrid! Everything is exciting with exclamation points!
  • I am standing on a street speaking in broken Spanish to people in Madrid!
  • I am a bit terrified because it’s almost midnight and I am having trouble connecting with my hosts. There are a few moments where my imagination is in overdrive, imagining they don’t exist...
  • My eternal thanks to the friendly servers and bartender who helped this gringo contact my hosts at midnight when my phone was almost dead. Muchas gracias, gente maravillosa!

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The trip before the trip

Then: I stalk through a narrow and endless ribbon of chambers, shrouded and stumbling. I clamber over one threshold after another, dragging my bandaged hands along the floorboards, feeling how thickly the dust curls up in waves against my muffled fingertips. Through door after door I squint into the shadows ahead and I watch, but wind does not flap the darkness, light does not tear its dense, hanging banner. My steps fall dead. I strike my forehead on one lintel after another, I push aside endless, identical curtains of cobwebs, I trip over a perfectly-composed, momentum-staggering heap of debris over and over and as I pause to ponder how to compensate for this obstacle, I wonder as well how much farther I must travel to reach the gate.