Woo-hoo! I am DONE!! Entered my grades at noon, packed up a box of books to mail back to Boston, and returned my office key. And boy, do I need a vacation! Teaching for 10 months is no fun. Well, it is some fun, but I'm looking forward to the time off.

As you may well know, Spain lost to France on Wednesday night. The whole city felt down on Thursday. On the local broadcast channel, La Sexta, they aired a montage within minutes after the game ended with the sad faces of players, coaches and fans, head in hands, some crying, and set to the Cyndi Lauper tune, Time After Time! It was heartbreaking. Much like my beloved Red Sox (until 2004), Spain always makes the World Cup quarter finals, but never progresses.

So dear friends, this will be my last blog until I arrive in Boston Sunday evening. I'm off Friday morning to have a weekend fling with London before I return. The agenda is modest, but fitting for my last few days in Europe. I have an early evening appointment with the London Eye on Friday (yes it is touristy, but what the hell), curry for dinner, Tate Modern Saturday morning and the museum cafe for lunch, Notting Hill shopping in the afternoon, maybe 1/2 price theater tix or some music Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon tea at The Dorchester if I can get a reservation this late. I'm excited to come home and see you all. Have a lovely weekend.

My trip may be coming to an end, but the excitement just doesn't stop. On Sunday Lynn and I went to Segovia for the day. We arrived after a short bus ride at 10:00am to church bells ringing throughout the city. When you enter Segovia, it doesn't appear to be or have much, but if you follow the rest of the tourists, you soon come upon one of the city's most well-known landmarks, a giant Roman aqueduct. Constructed around 50 AD, the stone structure is over 100 feet tall with 166 arches, supported by 120 pillars, and NO mortar or clamps. It was used until about 60 years ago!


One end of the aqueduct leading up to town.
Segovia's second major tourist draw is an Alcazar castle, inhabited by Visigoths and Muslims, but like everything in Spain, eventually home to Christian kings and queens. Queen Isabel who paid the bill for Columbus' vacation to the New World, was crowned here. But who cares for history! Most people know the Alcazar of Segovia as Cinderella's castle! Yep, that's right. Disney modeled the home of the princess with glass slippers after this structure. As a result, you can buy very unfortunate Mickey Mouse souveneirs all over town.


Waiting for prince charming to bring me my missing glass shoe.
The best part of our day was spent outside of the city walls. We found a path leading from Segovia down to a valley that surrounds one side of the city, and back up a hill where we guessed photographers took the stunning views of Segovia we saw on all the postcards. I was feeling fabulous after a week of stomach badness, so we bought some bottled water and headed down the trail. What an unexpected treat! The path itself was obviously ancient. We walked by old walls, mini-aqueducts, and through still standing stone gates. The path was well-marked, but we hardly saw a soul. Tourists who chose not to explore the road less traveled were missing the best part of Segovia, but that was our gain! A lovely nature walk to a peak overlooking the city.


Segovia Cathedral
After a short rest at the top, we continued on the path and stumbled (literally) upon what appeared to be manmade caves. The openings were no more than 2 or 3 feet square. I had to peak in, despite the dark, damp and rotting smell coming from inside. Most just had water pooled on the floor, some with graffiti, and no discernable marks explaining their significance. Lynn and I speculated that perhaps Segovians kept food storage or artillery in these caves. As we walked around the bend I saw the stone formation pictured below. It was then I realized what we had found, the Jewish cemetery. Back in town I went inside a very small museum that explained the history of the Jewish population of Segovia. It is a very similar story throughout Spain:

For centuries, during Muslim rule of the land, Jews lived relatively harmoniously with Muslims, with thriving tradecrafts like metal work, leather making, etc. Then along came the Spanish Inquisition, which drove both Muslims and Jews out. Apparently this Jewish cemetery was used (obviously) to bury the relatives of Jewish families. In the early 1400s, the Segovian Jews were forced into a ghetto area and had to turn over most of their wealth to the Christian king after being falsely accused of trying to kill the local bishop. For a time, this seemed to satisfy those in power. But by mid-century, the Inquisition was in full swing, and all Jews and Muslims in Spain had to leave the country, convert or be killed. In 1492, as Columbus was discovering the New World financed by a queen crowned not a quarter a mile away from the Jewish ghetto, the Jews of Segovia fled to their cemetery, hiding in the tomb/caves of their ancestors, hoping to reason with the local inquisitor. To say the least, it didn't work and many died in those very caves where Lynn and I walked on Sunday. Both of us were disturbed as we realized what we were standing on, and equally upset that NOTHING marked the area or protected the rock coffins. As best I could remember, I said the Jewish Kaddish and we walked on.

I read online that in 1886 several full skeletons were found in rock grottoes like this one.
Lynn's Let's Go guide led us to a cute, out-of-the-way wine cellar/restaurant for dinner. I was thrilled to be able to eat, so I tried a local dish, sopa castellana — soup mixed with eggs, ham, garlic, and bread. It was yummy and no complaints from my tummy! After dinner we headed back to the bus station for our 7pm ride home.

For dinner last night Lynn and I decided to picnic in Retiro Park, Madrid's much smaller version of Central Park. With wine, cheese, bread and fruit we had quite a lovely spread for a late evening meal. All was well and peaceful until Lynn noticed a guy oddly hanging around nearby. He came closer and she said, "Oh my god, don't look up!" So I didn't, until he got too close to my safety zone (about 5 feet). I did look up and what did I see? A very short man wearing a pink and peach t-shirt and running shorts, with his willie swaying in the wind. He looked directly at me while swinging his thing, and calmly asked Que hora es?, Que hora es? (What time is it?). I shouted back, Get the fuck out of here. He did.

Soon after the peep show we picked up our park picnic, left the peeking pecker to his perversion and headed to Let's Go recommendation number two, a jazz bar. Another happy find! The bar was decorated with old instruments and pictures of the jazz greats. At 11pm the free live jazz show began; a quintet of sax, horn, keyboard, upright bass and trap set. They were unbelievable! No standards here, just fantastic Miles Davis and Charles Mingus style improv over tight arrangements. I could not believe we were hearing these talents for free. (Well, my tonic water did cost 4,50 euro.) Although the place was nearly empty when we arrived just before 11, by the end of the first set, the bar was packed.

Tonight's plans? Spain vs. France! That should be a good game. Go Espana!

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAL ESPANA! Howdy folks from World Cup land. I'm feeling a little better today. Ate a full meal finally (salad) after three days of apple juice, and my local Madrid colleagues took me to the pharmacy for magic syrup (Primperan) which makes a hurt'n tummy feel better. Yesterday my friend Lynn flew in from Northampton (by way of Indiana!) for a week here before she starts a month-long trek across Europe. Go Lynn! Today we joined the throngs of young people at Plaza de Colon (a tribute to Christopher Columbus) to watch the Spain vs. Saudi Arabia game on the big screen, in 95F heat. It was a crazy, packed, hot, drunk affair, so TONS of fun! Spain scored just one goal, against a wicked good Saudi defense and goalie. The most amount of San Miguel beer sprayed our way in celebration of the first half goal. Below are pictures of adolescent national pride on display and one shot of Lynn (hand shielding eyes) stretched on her tippy-toes to see the big screen. Good times.


This is a *fraction* of the crowd at the plaza. I couldn't get high enough to take a full shot. Imagine Kenmore square, after a Red Sox game.

Lynn in Madrid watching futbol!
In other news, I'm coming home early. Classes end and grades are due next Friday, which will be 5 weeks since I left Boston. For various reasons, I've decided to make my way back to the States via a last weekend getaway in London. I'll be home in time to celebrate July 4th, leaving our former colonial ruler behind me! I'll probably post again before I leave. Looking forward to some hot and humid New Enlgand weather. YES!

Granada was absolutely magical. My weekend away seems almost impossible, but I swear to you dear friends, it is all true. About the only thing that wasn't perfect about the trip was the flu (or something) I must have picked up along the way. I have been ill for the past 24 hours (fever, soar muscles, upset tummy), but starting to feel better after sleeping most of the day.

After class on Friday I got on the train to Granada from Madrid. The ride was serene. No cities or roads in sight. Just endless hills with cyprus trees and row upon row of olive groves. As we approached the Sierra Nevada mountains, the train curved through rocks and over canyons. It was a beautiful trip. I felt calm, with no where to be, just letting the train and time carry me.

The train arrived in Granada at 11pm. I grabbed a cab (so cheap) to my hotel, which was near the famous Alhambra palaces. We climbed up and up a narrow road to my hotel, which was so-so. The room wasn't particularly nice and I had no view, but I just needed to sleep. I went down to the bar and had a beer while watching a little World Cup soccer with the bartender and her boyfriend, then headed to bed around midnight.

In the morning I was picked up at my hotel for a guided tour of the Alhambra. The Alhambra (Arabic for red castle) was a fortress from the 9th century, turned into a palace from the 13-14th centuries by Nasrid emirs. After the Christian conquest in 1492, the palace and all the buildings were occupied by Charles V. In the 18th century the Alhambra was abandoned and left to fall to ruins until the mid 1800s, when it was slowly restored and is now visited by 8,000 people a day! It is truly magnificent, and reminds visitors that during the dark ages of Europe, Moorish culture thrived. I took well over 100 pictures. Here are the highlights:


The Alhambra fortress

The Palacio Nazaries

Detail from the Palacio Nazaries
While on the Alhambra tour I met a very sweet family from Bangor, Maine. A rabbi, his wife and two sons. Turns out the youngest son is starting college at Northeastern in the fall in media studies! The five of us ended up hanging out together during the tour and eating falafel for lunch in the "gypsy" quarter of the city. The rabbi also mentioned that they own a cabin on Bar Harbor available for rent...


A view from the Alhambra towards the gypsy quarter

One of the many Alhambra gates
After the tour and lunch, I went back to the hotel for my bags. For my second night I booked a hotel closer to the center of town. It was MUCH nicer than the first, with a sweet courtyard, terra cotta tile floors, big comfy bed and free Internet! I headed out to explore the city, which was walkable in about 40 minutes. A couple of highlights: free tapas with a beer purchase, lots of flowers everywhere, Turkish tea houses and very friendly people. At one point I stopped at a small square to listen to some young people playing and singing music. While there I was volunteered by two adorable girls, 4 and 8, to play hide-n-seek. We couldn't really say much to each other except my name is and I am __ years old, but some games are universal and I do know how to count to 10 in Spanish!


Music and hide-n-seek in Plaza San Gregorio
Saturday night I found a restaurant that actually served vegetables and had a TV outdoors showing with World Cup. I got a Ensalada Alhambra, which doesn't really mean anything, but was full of fresh fruits and veggies! I'd been starving for nonbread, nonmeat substance. This salad was strange - tuna, hard-boiled egg, kiwi, bananas on a bed of iceberg (of course) lettuce. But boy did it hit the spot!
After dinner I followed the sounds of live music to a square full of people - young and old - dancing! Everyone was dressed up, some with flamenco-style dresses, dancing in the street. It was so uplifting to see kids in strollers as well as senior citizens out on a Saturday night. Our fear of growing old is so depressing, we hide our old people away in America, which is inhumane. God forbid we should have to acknowledge the elderly.
After dancing, my hotel concierge recommended a jazz bar for cafe and a late night snack. The Bohemia Jazz Cafe was a small dessert, coffee and cocktail bar in the club area of Granada. The walls were decorated with all sorts of Americana, mostly pictures of Hollywood stars from the 1940s, and the jukebox played jazz standards. Having eaten all those vegtables for dinner, I splurged on a coffee ice cream sunday with hot fudge and whip cream. YUM!


Ensalada Alhambra!

Dancing in the streets!
I spent Sunday walking around, reading a book in the Federico Garcia Lorca park, giftshopping and eating breakfast with three Kansas State University students studying Spanish in Granada. The train ride back was just as beautiful, and I returned to Madrid relaxed and happy. I didn't feel sick until Monday afternoon. Only 10 more days left here, then on to Eastern Europe. I'm getting restless and am ready to move on.


Pretty Granada street

Hello friends! Sorry for the long delay. I've been busy. Teaching is getting in the way of my vacation! This will be a long blog, with a week's worth of stories for you. I'm writing this while watching the first USA-Czech Republic soccer game - we are down 0-2. As you may well imagine, Spain is soccer crazy right now, and the team hasn't even played a game yet.

Last Tuesday Gloria and I took our two classes to a national television production company, Grupo Arbol. It also happens to be the channel with World Cup broadcast rights in Spain. It was a real treat to get access to one of the largest media companies in Spain. As it turns out, the owner is a Suffolk grad! But the best part of the trip was seeing Angel get star-struck during a rehearsal for one of the top-rated sit-coms, Aida, which looks a lot like Roseanne. Angel is a big fan of the show and lead star. We, of course, had no idea who this person was and most of us couldn't understand the dialogue. We also watched a rehearsal for a Spanish version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which was a UK show before the Drew Carey US version. Pictures below:


Aida rehearsal

Whose Line Is It Anyway stage

Our adorable students
Funny story of the week: This may defy blogging, but I have to try. We have a washer in our apartment, thankfully, but no dryer. Spaniards are very careful about energy conservation it would seem - no big SUVs here! As such, you hang your clothes out to dry. Every city apartment has a laundry line outside of a window. Ours is on the fourth floor, over the roof of an adjacent building. Perhaps you see where this is going...One of us (not me! Thanks for the confidence :-) decided to dry a pair of shoes on the line. Of course one of the shoes dropped onto the roof. The hilarious part is (and maybe you had to be there) was the 40+ minutes it took to explain what happened and recover the shoe. After looking up the Spanish words for shoe, drop, roof, next door, etc...we spoke to well over a dozen people in the neighborhood. Most thought we wanted to buy shoes. Some thought we need a laundry mat. Finally, a kind, English-speaking woman understood our quest and translated, between laughter, to a building supervisor what we required. He had to get a different super with keys to the roof. Super #2 went to the roof, came back and said he saw no T-shirt! Ugh. No no, zapato (shoe). Ah yes, there was a shoe! Hallelujah.

World Cup update: 0-3. OUCH!

This past weekend Suffolk took a weekend trip to Valencia, the third largest city in Spain on the Mediterranean Sea. The weather wasn't great, overcast and light rain, which is the first rain I've seen since arriving in Spain (sorry Boston). We had to be on the bus by 7:30am, which was hard enough for those of us who actually sleep at night. Our students, still thrilled with the legal drinking age of 18, decided why go to bed when they get home from the bars at 5am anyway? At least the 4 hour ride was very quiet. That's far more than I can say for where we slept that night, a hostel. As many of you know, I trekked across Europe two years ago with the lovely Tracy O. and we stayed in hostels at least 6 days a night of the 6 week trip. I, at age 33, was a real trooper! Well, something has happened since then. I turned 35? I cherish sleep all the more? I finally realized I've worked really hard to afford myself the "finer" things in life, like a bed with real sheets and a lock on the door? My first night was absolutely awful. I may have slept about one hour despite ear plugs and an eye mask. The next morning, the day of our beach trip, my head had that fuzzy reception feeling, my body was stiff and it was raining.

Valencia is an odd city. It doesn't quite know if it is Spanish or Italian. It is clearly both, with a mishmash of gothic, baroque, Arabic and Roman styles often in the same building! The most surprising, and disappointing aspect of Valencia is the coast. I expected the shoreline to be either built-up like most boardwalk areas on the Mediterranean or preserved. Instead, it looks abandoned. The Americas Cup is here in 2007, so there was some obvious construction, but not much considering. As a result, the beach wasn't a fun place to be on an overcast day. Not much to do. I had to leave and find a bed!

A park featuring Valencia oranges! Yes, the fresh squeezed was the best ever.

My favorite photo - tops of buildings!

The evil ones who kept me up all night!
But this story does have a brighter cloud ahead. Once I was moved along with the rest of the Suffolk Madrid staff to a hotel that afternoon (ah, the privileges of a PhD), I took a long nap, hot shower, watched some English-language news (I was so happy to hear Christiane Amanpour on CNN) and found a fabulous restaurant for paella! I have never eaten so much saffron in one sitting. Mmm, good! On my way to the restaurant, I stumbled upon an outdoor art exhibit by Igor Mitoraj. It consisted of 22 large bronze sculptures placed between the north and south bound lanes on The Gran Via Marques del Turia, a major road in the city that looks like Commonwealth Ave. with grass and trees down the middle.


Eros Bendato Screpolato by Igor Mitoraj
Sunday was the best day of the trip. We went to the oceanographic park, which makes the New England Aquarium look like a mud puddle. The park has 10 buildings, each with a different climate. I took so many pictures of fish! Don't worry, I spare you most. Just a few really special ones below.


Tunnel of Fish

Silhouette of me with the fish

This picture captures my own restful sleep the night before.
The oceanographic park is part of a futuristic development designed by Santiago Calatrava, built in a river bed. For 10 months a year, Valencia's Turia river is completely dry. In September-October it rains so much, the river floods. Valencia has re-routed the water under the existing river bed, out to sea, and built Calatrava's Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences). These building are really neat!




I forgot to mention: Friday afternoon we visited a large newspaper chain in Spain, Levante. It wasn't all that thrilling, but they did take a picture of us and apparently we will be in the newspaper Monday. Oh boy! That's all for now. I give a midterm exam on Wednesday, which means my time in Madrid is nearly half over. Wow! Today I booked a weekend trip solo (Nina needs some alone time!) to Granada! Can't wait.

Yesterday may have been one of the best days of my life, so far at least. Gloria's local friend, Diego, picked us up at 10:00am and drove us to Toledo, an ancient city about 44 miles south of Madrid. It was once the capital of Spain, and today is a beautiful medieval, walled city with many of the original castles, walls, and religious buildings intact. Diego has two friends in Toledo who met us for the day. We got a private tour of the town and went to a local favorite restaurant and bar. What a special visit! Nothing beats having friendly, native tour guides.

For lunch we ate at a bar/restaurant where the Toledo couple (Maria and Pepe) are friends with the owner. We had yummy tapas like deer sandwiches, potatoes stuffed with wild boar and carcamusas (veal served with tomato and peas). Honestly, it was all so good. My favorite meal in Spain thus far.

Toledo is known for its food (from hunting), marzipan and steal. In fact, some sci-fi fantasy fans might like to know that many of the swords made for the Lord of the Rings movies came from Toledo, such as Aragorn's blade. Predictably, the tourist shops were FILLED with LOTR junk, armor and tons of swords. Hard to get that back on a plane. We also saw several El Greco paintings in the main Catedral.

I had such a hard time decided which of the 50+ pictures I took to put in my blog. Here are a handful with descriptions and commentary:

Welcome to Toledo!

The city is surrounded on three-sides by a river with only two bridges to cross over. The terrain around is very rocky - a perfect place for natural protection. But just to be extra safe, a wall was built to encompass the city.

Our first stop was the Museo Sefardi. Now a Museum of Jewish culture, it was the Synagogue of El Transito, built in the 14th century.

When we entered this building, Sinagoga Santa Maria La Blanca, my first thought was, "I have never seen a white Synagogue." Well, like many buildings in Spain, what once was a synagogue or a mosque often became a Catholic church. Santa Maria was built at the end of the 12th century (with a different name, no doubt!), and became a church in 1550.

After lunch we went to yet another religious building, but this one had quite a twist! After years of disrepair, it was bought by the same Spaniard who owned the restaurant where we had lunch. Now it is a cafe during the day and dance club/bar at night. The picture above shows the bar in what was probably one of the chapel areas. In another chapel - the DJ booth! Here we got the best damn cold coffee drinks I've ever had. Mine was served in a martini glass. Cold espresso on the bottom, with something between whipped cream and cold steamed milk floating on top, with a dash of cocoa. Unbelievable! And it kept me going for the rest of the day!

A long day of sight-seeing just outside Madrid. We had to be at the school at 9:15am, and I overheard students saying they got one or two hours of sleep. Of course, many of them are getting sick...

Our first stop was Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen Soldiers) which is a large basilica on top of a hill with two tombs inside, one of which contains Francisco Franco, the fascist ruler of Spain from 1939 to 1975. It is one of the creepiest places I've ever seen. Of all the basilica's in Italy I saw two years ago (and I saw MANY), I never had a creepy feeling. Just awe, feeling small and recognizing the power of the Catholic Church. The Valle de los Caidos felt evil. The architecture, fascist style, reminded me of images from the Nazi propaganda film, Triumph of the Will. It is not an attractive building, and all the angels had menacing looks, giant swords and hoods over their heads. VERY dark. Every time I tried to take a picture of Franco's tombstone, it came out too dark. Figures.

One of the Dark Angel Statues

Inside the basilica

Outside the basilica
Once leaving Franco to rot in his tomb, we went to Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (The Royal Monastery of Saint Lawrence), which is located in a quaint town with small, cobblestone streets. Our esteemed tour guide, Angel, told us several stories about the Monastery. My favorite is this: It was built by King Philip II as a summer house for the royal court when Madrid got too hot. The huge building, which is shaped like a grill, was dedicated to Saint Lawrence. Why a grill? Well, legend says that when Lawrence was tortured by burning by the Roman Empire, he refused to denounce his faith and said something like, "turn me over, I'm done on this side"! Now he is the patron saint of BBQ chefs. I found the grill symbol on an obelisk and all the town trash cans!

Arsty picture of the Royal Monastary

A flight of escaleras in El Escorial

San Lorenzo symbol on a trash can

The Royal Monastery through the trees
The day trip ended at a wildlife preserve, Canada Real (Royal Canyon), which is in the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. We saw lots of animals that had been wounded in some way by man or man-made things, and brought to Canada Real to be nurtured back to health. Many of the animals are not again set free because they become accustom to humans and unable to defend themselves in the wild. The best part of the LONG hike and tour was howling with the wolves. We actually made the wolves howl by howling ourselves for a minute. It was pretty cool. Tomorrow, day trip to Toledo, an ancient medieval city!

The Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range

Our guide, guiding us in the howling

The alpha male wolf, Luc, joining us in a bit of howling