retired from what?

At an art space supported by the Telephonica Foundation, we saw the amazing Strandbeests, the creation of the Dutch artist Theo Jansen. They walk powered by wind, and can even store energy in plastic bottles and thus amble without wind. Genius.  For video see his site  http://www.strandbeest.com/ .   He also has a TED talk. It was a nice building. Great looking stairwell. Also in the building, a history of the telephone museum that was quite fun, though at the end, I had to laugh over the fact that my exact model of phone is already a museum piece. At a different gallery, saw a retrospective of the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, Europe's Frank Lloyd Wright, a man who brought architecture into the modern age and also designed furniture, lamps, bricks, and many other things. His designs are still available, especially the glass ware. Went to the Madrid design center for an exhibit of Bakelite objects that was absolutely wonderful - hundreds of pieces, all in excellent condi...

So off we went to Toledo on a beautiful sunny day. Another cathedral and I'm bored to pieces with cathedrals so I've declared this one to be the last. Sure, it had its fine points, but it's easy to go into overload. Mira- We wound our way to an ancient synagogue which was built in the 1400s and lost to the Catholics after not many years. It was clearly designed by an Mudjaher architect, as were many buildings commissioned by non-Muslims simply because they were the best. For many years the synagogue was a church, it spent about a century as military barracks and then became a state memorial and is now known as the Synagogue of St. Mary.  As the sweet nun with a Star of David in her crucifix told us, there is no longer a Jewish community in Toledo, yet they will celebrate Hanuka and their love and gratitude for Israel.  In much of the city, embedded into the street, are tiles like these.   And many souvenir stores carry mezuzzahs of Spanish ceramics or Damascus steel. Afte...

All the negative things I've said about the Spanish churches were turned on their head today as I experienced one of the prettiest churches I've ever seen.  It is the Catedral of Madrid, the Cathedral of the Virgin of Almudena. We popped in just as the sun popped out and I was gobsmacked by the ceilings.  So richly painted and very reminiscent of Moorish design. Stunning and contemporary. Have never seen anything like it and the photos don't begin to do it justice, as always.  Later learned that the sanctuary looks so contemporary because it is. It was consecrated in 1996. I don't know anything about the Virgin of Almudena, but as our walking-tour guide explained, any Spanish word with "al" at the beginning came from Arabic; he said 4,000 Spanish words are rooted in Arabic, since they ruled Spain for 700 years. All over this country there are church bell towers built like minarets. Again, I think how very different it is to be in a place that esteems it's ...

I read a bit before this trip on Spain and especially the reign of Isabella. It was her desire to show the world that Spain was the most Catholic nation.  These are photos all taken in the cathedral at Jaen, the heart of Spain's olive country. It was an enormous church with at least a dozen side altars. The Spanish love of mannequins in clothing they never would have worn for real, escapes me, but the big picture is clear -- that suffering, pain, bleeding and creepy skeletons are the main imagery and that  opulence and treasures beyond the imagination of the masses belong to the church. Gold and silver chalices and candle sticks so valuable they are kept in a vault in modern times.  The point being this --- being Catholic is about suffering you can imagine because these manaquins look like people and  Point 2 - Look at how rich the church is! God loves us best!  The gospel of prosperity, as preached by Joel Osteen and many others, is simply the modern version of...

Spanish parents like to dress their kids in very traditional clothing, with smocking and such,  and they like to dress them alike. Saw 8 girls with 2 Moms and only two different outfits. Stores with dressy kids clothes are common.  Shops selling flamenco clothes are more common than I would have guessed. Who wears that and when? I have no idea.  Nail salons? None. Hair salons? Tons The bare legs look has not caught on. Women, even teens, wear hose not only with dresses, but often with shorts! (Have not seen any adults in shorts.) The thing about stores closing for several hours in the afternoon? Very true if you're not in a tourist area. Bakeries with amazing looking sweets abound, yet it is rare to see anyone seriously overweight.  Shoe stores are also everywhere and I expect that's because when you walk as much as they do, you go thru them fast.  The local pedestrians walk as though you are expected to get out of their way. No eye contact. No moving, unlike Ne...

Raining gatos y peros today and as the woman in the info center curtly said "All museums in Spain are closed on Mondays." So we got the car from the underground and hit the road. We wandered east toward Guadix and saw how the troglodytes live. Both in the past and present, people in these parts make homes in caves. It's interesting to see hill tops with chimneys and TV antennas. There was a cave home museum, but it was, of course, closed.  We drove past vast ceramics shops and up into the Sierra Nevada, so similar to much of the American west. (The sun came out briefly.) But there are differences. This is all much greener, plus I've never seen olive groves in Wyoming.  Furthermore, we have yet to see a police car on the highway or anyone anywhere pulled over.  Speaking of cars, this Renault Clio with GPS is a car that nags. It beeps when you exceed the speed limit, it tweets when you're on a road that has radar (or at least that's what we think) it shuts off w...