We danced...
...then I fell and I think I broke something in my posterior. The dance cave of choice was Jamboree in Placa Reial on a Monday night. It definitely wasn´t hopping but that clearly didn´t stop me from attempting something that required more balancing than I was able to do.
The Spanish hipsters have not yet moved on to a new hairdo from the mullet. They have tried to combine it with a mohawk and a Bart Simpson style spiked haircut right on the crown of their skulls. No dreadlock combination sighting yet. It is mucho horrifico to encounter these hipsters. They do have more style than the Parisians though. Surprisingly so. Although in Paris some of the young dudes looked like Bob Dylan in the 70s stylewise.
It is also quite a surprise to see so much smoking here and not in Paris (where as of January you can no longer light up indoors). Smoking does make the population here look more macho and diva like (depending on who´s sucking on the stick).
Barcelona was cool. Where else do you see a church that has been under construction for the last few decades while a mother yells at her 8 year old daughter that she is an absolute bitch and wants to kill her because she spilled the McDonald´s fries she just bought her for lunch and then storms off to leave her daughter and husband? I tell you where: across the street from Sagrada Familia on the McDonald´s patio. Also, I don´t know that Gaudi would much approve of the cash grab the Spaniards enforce at the church and the apartment buildings he built. The man got hit by a tram and taken to a poor man´s hospital because he was dressed in rags in 1926. Once the recognized who he was they offered to take him to a much better hospital. He refused and died at the hospital 3 days later at 74. They then buried his body at the Sagrada Familia.
We arrived in Madrid to be whisked away to an English exchange tomorrow. Most of the other Anglos on the program are retired people. One of them speaks "American" and not English. He said it twice just for emphasis. Another told him he was sorry for him. I thought I was going to see a seniors fist fight for sure but no such luck today. We were then informed that we are not to speak about the Spanish civil war with more than one Spaniard in the room as it can create a HUGE problem. We are also not to talk American politics with more than one Spaniard in the room for the same reason.
And that segways nicely into a joke Chris told me earlier today: A man goes into the washroom. He´s an American when he goes in and an American when he comes out. What is he while he´s in the bathroom? ... European.
Get it? Ur-o-pee-an.
Aside from hanging out with some seniors for lunch we went to see the Plaza Mayor where we watched some great flamenco performers. First it was musicians only and then two girls in sweats joined them to demonstrate how one would dance to such passionate singing. They soon had a very appreciative contingent of middle aged Asian males park themselves at one of the patio tables across from the musicians. I really thought that the one girl could have attempted to at least wear a clean sweat suit if she was going to show off her moves and the other one I thought was going to loose her pants right then and there which I´m sure would have distracted the guitar player a little. Again no such luck. At least the Guernica painting by Picasso at the Reina Sofia National Museum was great and lived up to my expectations. Earlier though we saw an Egyptian temple that was much smaller than I anticipated. Templo de Debod was given to Spain by Egypt for its role in saving another temple in Nubia in the 60s. The Egyptians were so grateful for their help they took this smaller temple apart, boxed it and sent it without instructions on how to put the thing back together. It took the Spanish 2 years.
I´m trying to keep warm by breathing hard. Time to go back to sleep. Pictures here.
The Spanish hipsters have not yet moved on to a new hairdo from the mullet. They have tried to combine it with a mohawk and a Bart Simpson style spiked haircut right on the crown of their skulls. No dreadlock combination sighting yet. It is mucho horrifico to encounter these hipsters. They do have more style than the Parisians though. Surprisingly so. Although in Paris some of the young dudes looked like Bob Dylan in the 70s stylewise.
It is also quite a surprise to see so much smoking here and not in Paris (where as of January you can no longer light up indoors). Smoking does make the population here look more macho and diva like (depending on who´s sucking on the stick).
Barcelona was cool. Where else do you see a church that has been under construction for the last few decades while a mother yells at her 8 year old daughter that she is an absolute bitch and wants to kill her because she spilled the McDonald´s fries she just bought her for lunch and then storms off to leave her daughter and husband? I tell you where: across the street from Sagrada Familia on the McDonald´s patio. Also, I don´t know that Gaudi would much approve of the cash grab the Spaniards enforce at the church and the apartment buildings he built. The man got hit by a tram and taken to a poor man´s hospital because he was dressed in rags in 1926. Once the recognized who he was they offered to take him to a much better hospital. He refused and died at the hospital 3 days later at 74. They then buried his body at the Sagrada Familia.
We arrived in Madrid to be whisked away to an English exchange tomorrow. Most of the other Anglos on the program are retired people. One of them speaks "American" and not English. He said it twice just for emphasis. Another told him he was sorry for him. I thought I was going to see a seniors fist fight for sure but no such luck today. We were then informed that we are not to speak about the Spanish civil war with more than one Spaniard in the room as it can create a HUGE problem. We are also not to talk American politics with more than one Spaniard in the room for the same reason.
And that segways nicely into a joke Chris told me earlier today: A man goes into the washroom. He´s an American when he goes in and an American when he comes out. What is he while he´s in the bathroom? ... European.
Get it? Ur-o-pee-an.
Aside from hanging out with some seniors for lunch we went to see the Plaza Mayor where we watched some great flamenco performers. First it was musicians only and then two girls in sweats joined them to demonstrate how one would dance to such passionate singing. They soon had a very appreciative contingent of middle aged Asian males park themselves at one of the patio tables across from the musicians. I really thought that the one girl could have attempted to at least wear a clean sweat suit if she was going to show off her moves and the other one I thought was going to loose her pants right then and there which I´m sure would have distracted the guitar player a little. Again no such luck. At least the Guernica painting by Picasso at the Reina Sofia National Museum was great and lived up to my expectations. Earlier though we saw an Egyptian temple that was much smaller than I anticipated. Templo de Debod was given to Spain by Egypt for its role in saving another temple in Nubia in the 60s. The Egyptians were so grateful for their help they took this smaller temple apart, boxed it and sent it without instructions on how to put the thing back together. It took the Spanish 2 years.
I´m trying to keep warm by breathing hard. Time to go back to sleep. Pictures here.
posted by LOTC at 4:51 PM
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