My Art Teacher

So I can't find much online about my art professor Alfredo Ramón who is the painter. Both him and his manager Linda, who teaches the Prado part of the class, are older and don't do much with computers, much less have emails. However, the other day in class Linda told us that Alfredo has paintings in the Smithsonian, The Reina Sophia in Madrid, a few paintings in a museum in San Sebastian and a few other places that I didn't have time to write down. I looked online to find out more information on him and only found this article (in Spanish) that I put through google translator:

Ramon Alfredo exposed from his last morning nostalgic paintings of Madrid

MADRID, 14 (EUROPA PRESS)

The painter Ramón Alfredo has an exposition from tomorrow until 19 November, a selection of his latest paintings at the Cultural Center Despernada Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid). Ramon was born in La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia), is considered one of Madrid's most popular artists, their old stands and facades of their shops, taverns and corners.

Disciple of Vázquez Díaz, Chicarro, Joaquin Valverde, Ramón Stolz and Lafuente Ferrari, Alfredo Ramón reflected in his paintings an atmosphere full of nostalgia, if it is something of demands, which helps you understand your particular vision of this city.

Experienced artist, has traveled worldwide and taught students from various universities of America, the essence of classic and modern Spain through her paintings, which are admired in private collections and exhibitions throughout his very long career professional.

When he himself describes as "portraits" of the paintings that makes an old facade or carpentry is extinct because it is seeing in them the spirit of everyday life, of beauty, of the anonymous and, ultimately, endearing than having Madrid.

"I pine Real Madrid is a 'vulgar', does not interest me or the monumental and emphatic visions of a big city. I am interested in the landscape of the street," says the artist.

*and an update- when we went out for tapas with Linda we asked her how much Alfredo's art costs and she said that it starts at 880 euros and goes up from there but if students buy something they can do it in an installment program. With the exchange rate how it is right now that is over $1,200. Wow.

Cádiz to visit Theresa! nov 5-6

This past weekend I went to Cadiz to visit Theresa. She is a really really good friend from high school and we have known each other since 5th grade when we started orchestra together. We have definitely been orchestra buddies throughout the years. We had talked about visiting each other because we would both be studying in Spain at the same time and I'm so glad that we made it work!

I decided to take the 8 hour bus there and back instead of the 5 hour train because it was a lot cheaper. 32 euros instead of 150. They have busses that leave at midnight and get in at 8 am so that is what I decided to do and luckily was able to sleep the whole way on both. There were some stops before Cadiz and I accidentally got off in Jerez because I couldn't understand the accent of the guy next to me (it is a lot stronger in southern Spain) but asked the bus driver right before he left and luckily got back on just in time.

Cadiz is sort of just a point that sicks out really far into the water and the town is on the bulb on the tip. The hostel wasn't ready for me when I got there that early and Theresa had class until 2, so I found a really pretty park and sat there doing homework for many hours. That was really good though because I had a lot of reading to do for my anthropology class and had to read it a lot more closely because it is my turn to present in class next time.

I wandered around in small city just a little bit to take a break and ate my lunch while waiting for Theresa. It is a very cute place and quite small. Almost all of the streets are pedestrian only because it is so old and the few streets (except for the main ones that only go through parts on the sides) that can have cars are only wide enough for one and don't have many. I can easily see why Theresa loves it so much and doesn't want to leave, it just feels so comfortable and welcoming with an old world charm.

There are lights in Christmas shapes hanging above most of the streets now too but I've only seen them turned on during the night on one street. When I finally met up with Theresa around 4 (she had to go home for lunch) after checking into my hostel we just wandered around in the streets talking and catching up. We stopped by the giant cathedral in the middle of the old part and saw some other very pretty churches. There are a lot of them here. She says about 30. We saw some of her friends from the UW program and then headed to the beach. Cadiz is definitely a vacation place for people in Spain and Europe because it is so far south and stays warm a lot longer.

We just hung out there talking for a long time and watched the sun set over the ocean. This may be the first time that I've seen the sun set over the Atlantic and it took me a while to realize that since I've always seen it over the Pacific.

Then it was starting to get cold so we headed back into town and got churros and chocolate. Theresa has been here for almost as long as I have, but hadn't had them yet! Well, I've only had them twice and they were both at the very beginning of my time here. They were delicious, and one thing I really like about Spain is that you can sit at a cafe for as long as you want if you order something and no one is going to think twice about it, bring you the check, or ask you to leave. Because they don't invite people over to their houses to socialize, going out is how they do it here. We definitely took advantage of that staying there a long time just chatting about everything and catching up.

Then Theresa headed back to her house to take a shower before we went out for the night and I headed back to my hostel. The hostel is really cool. Great location right in the middle of the old town with very clean and bright rooms and a terrace and bar on the top floor with 2 computers and free wifi. I ended up hanging out with people on the terrace. Two guys from England, one guy from Scotland and one guy from Germany who was mostly on his laptop. It was a lot of fun and we talked about traveling, the different education systems and a bunch of other stuff. Theresa came and hung out there with us too when she got back. We shared some wine and then all of us headed out for the night.

According to the people from the UW program Cadiz is known for its beach and nightlife. We were hanging out with people from the hostel for a while. The group had grown by quite a bit with other people from other parts of Europe, and then we ran into a group of people from Theresa's program and ended up hanging out with them for the rest of the night. It was very chill and a lot more low key than in Madrid. We went to a few bars then clubs and it was a lot of fun. I ended up heading back early to my hostel at 3:30 and got a text from Theresa at 5 in the morning asking if we could meet up a bit later because she needed more sleep.

In the morning I had the free breakfast of white bread (toast) with margarine and jam then checked out. Then I headed back to the terrace to do some more work while I waited. I got tired of doing that so left my bag behind the desk and headed out to explore. I ended up at the market which had a lot of sea food. I love being in a place so close to the ocean where the sea food is so fresh and plentiful! That will be one of the sad things about going back to Reed where we don't have fish very often and if we do it is bland and dry.

I met up with Theresa there and we wandered around some more. She showed me where her school is, right next to the park where I was studying the day before and then she showed me her favorite bakery next to the school where she got a piece of cake. A German bakery in Spain but I don't think that she knew that. We pretty much saw the rest of the city going to different plazas and around the edge. Cadiz is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the Iberian Peninsula and possibly the oldest in all of southwestern Europe. It was one of the most fortified, and being surrounded on 3 sides by ocean and a narrow bit of land going back to the mainland it still has quite a bit of its original walls and towers.

Later in the day we walked out on this really long walkway out to a little fortress that was unfortunately closed to the public because they are fixing it up. It was a really warm day getting up to 75 degrees so it was really nice to sit in the sun with a light breeze looking back at the city hanging out watching an old man fishing and people jumping off the wall into the water. If I hadn't checked out of the hostel and left my bag we probably would have gone to the beach.

Another part of the day we were hanging out in a little plaza and it was just full of locals at cafes and I think a little kid birthday party going on. There were kids playing soccer and running around and having tons of fun and it was the cutest thing! Theresa took a video on her camera. All the little kids seemed so dressed up and cute to me.

After that she showed me La Punta, which means the point, which is an area out on a point where all the clubs are. It is the only place where people can drink legally outside because it is more on a dock and not actually on land. There was a whole row of clubs next to each other and she told me that they don't open until 3 in the morning. People start going out about midnight and don't head to the clubs until 3 or later. Cadiz is definitely a party city. We sat there and watched the sunset over the city before taking pictures on the giant square rocks put there to break up the waves and heading back to the city.

We saw some of her UW friends back in the new part of town where we wandered around for a while and in one plaza watched a band play on a stage set up. I think it is part of a youth program going on right now in the city where they sponsor different youth bands from Cadiz to play or different activities for younger people.

After that we headed to Cerveceria 100 Montaditos. I have a lot of friends in Madrid who really love this place but I hadn't been before. They have a list of montaditos (little sandwiches) that range in price from 1 euro to 2. If you buy a montatido then you get a jarra (mug) of beer for only 1 euro. They have tinto de verano (wine with lemonade), wine and some other drinks too. I was surprised but the little sandwiches were absolutely delicious! I expected them to be cheap bar food that people have to buy but they weren't at all.

I caught the number 1 bus to get back to the bus station to catch the bus to Madrid without a problem. I got on the bus, blew up my neck pillow, leaned my seat back, fell asleep, and woke up in Madrid in the morning. It was a really fun trip and so great to get to see Theresa while I was here!

San Sebastian, oct 3-nov 1

(the second half of the Bilbao post has been updated)

The bus was a little late leaving Bilbao so we got in around 4 after lunch time and had a hard time finding somewhere to eat. We slowly made our way from the new town into the old, and ended up at a restaurant that was really good. We both wanted fish, specifically cod, and specialties from the region so we ended up sharing baby squid cooked in its own ink, cod stuffed peppers and another cod dish. All very delicious especially the squid ink.

Then we headed to our hostel. We got there and rang the doorbell but it didn't ring and no one answered. We tried a couple other times, and tried calling the number we had but it didn't work. We asked the guy at the bar across the street if he knew the owner and he said yes but hadn't seen her in a week. Uh oh. We were about to go and try to find another hostel but Emma called one more time and the lady answered and we were let in. We had signed up for a group room with 5 beds but were lucky and got a private room with a full bed instead. It is pretty much this lady's apartment with her husband where they live there too but have changed all the other rooms to rooms with a bunch of bunk beds.

(the street of our hostel in the middle of the day when everyone is taking a siesta)

After that we headed out and walked over the river to explore the east side of town known as Gros where there is the Zurrida Beach which is smaller and always has a lot of surfers. We walked along the promenade which was very pretty as watched as the sky dimmed and lights turned on. Then we wandered back through the town and the streets there. It is a very beautiful town and many people say that it is either the best looking or at least up there.

Around 10 we met up with Sarah (from our program in Madrid) and her friend Emily from high school who has been living in Vienna for 3 years and is going to a music conservatory there. Our hostel is located right in the middle of the old town on the street with the most bars. There aren't really any bars that are just for drinks here, they all have pinxos and then the drinks go along with them. So we met up with them and went pinxos hopping staying a while at one place enjoying a pinxo and a small glass of wine and then heading to the next place. I don't remember how many different places we went to because I'm writing this a while after but it was a lot of fun. I have a class with Sarah but we don't really see each other that much and they are both really cool people and fun to hang out with.

(those glasses aren't all from us- we took over the table when other people left)

Sunday was Halloween but there wasn't really much going on here for it. In the morning we got breakfast at a little cafe and then met up with Sarah and Emily again. San Sebastian has a large crescent shaped beach that it is known for with a large hill on each side of it. The west side hill is a little bit larger with a venicular that takes people up to the top, then the other hill has a fort and a giant Jesus statue at the top. To the east of that hill is the beach we explored yesterday and then the town stops when it runs into some other large hills.

This morning we stared by meeting up in the more modern area and then heading to the Jesus hill. There weren't any paths that went straight up so we meandered around going this way and that until we reached the fort at the top. There was a battery of cannons half way up and great views of the city from all over. San Sebastian is definitely a beautiful city.

After that we followed the promenade along the long and beautiful beach heading toward the other hill. Half way there we stopped to check out the outside of a giant mansion just a little bit up and then continued. This would definitely be an amazing place to be when it is a little bit warmer and you can just relax on the beach and go swimming in the water. Probably why it is the off season now.

When we made it to the other side of the beach we took the venicular up the hill which was short but still a lot of fun. Half way up we passed another tram going down using the same track except for a little bit where it separated for them to pass. It was very steep and venicular trams are ones that use gears to bring them up the mountains/hills.

The view from the top was absolutely amazing! The hill didn't look that much higher than the other one from sea level but we could see a lot more. In the picture below you can see an island in the middle, the beach, town and other hill with the Jesus statue. Just on the other side of it is the surfing beach. One of the things that is so beautiful about San Sebastian is the mix of ocean, beach, town and mountains all so close to each other and running into each other.

At the top of the hill there was also this little theme park with a ride with a little boat that goes along a fake river getting different views from the top of the hill. We walked down a beautiful winding road instead of taking the venicular down and then headed back along the beach. Emma and I sat with Sarah and Emily as they ate lunch on the beach, and then headed back to our hostel where the lady who runs it made us free paella for lunch. Not the most authentic because of the use of sticky rice but still very flavorful and delicious. And it saved us 10-15 euros for lunch because it is the largest and most important meal of the day.

So by midday Sunday we had already done most of what there is to do in San Sebastian and since it was a Sunday everything was closed. Except for places to eat, but I mean everything else. Emma and I decided to just wander around and see the town a little bit more. We wandered to the cathedral and saw the outside of that which was very grand and beautiful and ran into Kevin and his parents in a cafe where we went in to get a coffee for Emma. I had no idea that he was going to be there and so we chatted with them for a bit.

We were going to head to a really cool sculpture museum a 20 minute bus ride out of town that my parents said would be cool if we had time, which we had, but when we went to the tourist office to figure out how to get there they told us that it closes at 2:30 on Sundays. Bummer.

There was a really interesting looking building next to the surfing beach that we had seen before that is sort of like giant legos and is illuminated from the inside at night. I looked it up in my guide book and found out that it is a conference center and has art exhibitions. We headed there with nothing else much to do and saw an exhibition about a tradition sport from the area which is kind of like racquetball but one form just uses hands and the other form used curved wicker baskets type things on peoples hands to catch and throw the ball. There was one room with paintings and another had old artifacts and 2 10 minute videos about it.

We ran into Sarah and Emily there, its a small place, and went around with them and then went across the street and each had a glass of wine with some olives since it was still too early for dinner being only 8 pm. After that we went pinxo hopping once again but with more specific places in mind based on recommendations from Kevin and his parents, my guide book, and a handout Emma got from the information office.

We saw Kevin and his parents at the first place. All of the food I ate all night was absolutely delicious, and one of the good things about going from place to place is getting to try the one thing that looks best at that bar. Only a few times two pinxos if the first is incredible and there is something else that looks just as good. I don't remember how many different places we went but Emma and I went to two more places after Sarah and Emily were done because it was out last night there and we just wanted to try a few more since it will probably be our only time there and they are famous for their food. I didn't get a drink at all of the places which isn't how you're supposed to do it, but I'm a student wanting to not spend too much money and still be able to enjoy the food. All night it was raining really hard so we almost ran from place to place in our rain jackets and it was a lot of fun.

Our bus left Monday at 1 pm to head back to Madrid. We were able to be there until Monday because it was a holiday so we didn't have school, but that also meant that everything was closed yet again because it was a holiday. With our bags on our backs after checking out we wandered around the new part of town again going a bit farther out than we had before, and wandering along the river some. In the end we ended up killing time doing homework in a cafe before getting bocadillos for lunch and then heading to the bus.

It is a very beautiful town, it just would have been nice to be able to do more there during the day. The best time to visit San Sebastian would be during warmer weather. They have amazing food during lunch and at night, but there isn't a whole lot to do during the rest of the day so it would be perfect to be there when things are open and be able to do some of that but also be able to relax on the beach and in the water and just hang out. But I'm not complaining. It was a very wonderful trip and I'm so happy that we went. Everything that I've done in Spain so far has just been so amazing and wonderful and I'm so happy and thankful that I'm able to be here and do all of this.

Bilbao, 10/29 and 30

So this weekend I traveled with my friend Emma to Bilbao and San Sebastian. We caught the bus up there, a 5-6 hour ride early in the morning and got in a little after lunch time. Half way there we stopped for 25 minutes in Burgos for a break. Emma's travel guide said that the only thing to see here is the cathedral, but that it is worth the trip. We used our time to head over and it ended up being really cool and huge.

When we got there we then hopped on a train to go two stops out of town to get to our hostel. It was in more of an industrial area outside of town, but was the only option available when looking for hostels and it ended up being just fine. We each had our own bed in a private room with a sink and the train only took 5 minutes or so to get there.

Then we headed into town. We found a nice little restaurant with a menu of the day (3 courses bread and wine) for lunch and had fish from the area for the main course, something both of us were really wanting. After that we headed over to the Guggenheim. It is a really cool building and the architecture is just amazing. Bilbao was pretty much nothing and just an industrial town before the Guggenheim and now it is about half cultural and museums and half industrial depending on the area.

The museum had lots of different random shapes and different materials and was really fun to see. There were some statues around it too including El Poop (a giant puppy made of flowers) and another one that I think was called flowers or something similar that is made from metal but looks like metalic balloons used to make balloon animals.

Inside one 2 of the 3 floors were open. One of the permanent exhibitions is La Materia Del Tiempo which is giant sheets of metal in swirls or waves angled at different parts that we walked through. Each part is a little different in size and light that comes in and it was really cool to be part of the art.

Another exhibition was a room with columns with words running up and down it in different languages lighting up the walls in different ways and that was also really cool. The third floor had a temporary exhibition of flamenco art from Holland, and another temporary room had more modern art from people like Yves Klein, Andy Warhol and Basque artists like Jorge Oteiza. Lots of really big and more modern stuff.

It was starting to rain lightly as we got done, so we headed just one block down to the Museo de Bellas Artes which is said to have much better content and is a really great museum. There were a lot of really good paintings there ranging from the twelfth century to modern day especially in the temporary expositions. It included artists like El Greco, Rivera, Goya, Sorolla, Cassat, Zuloaga, Bacon, Chillida and Barceló.

After that we decided to go find pinxos for dinner. It is pronounced "pinchos" and are the form of tapas here. The difference is that in the rest of Spain a plate of tapas has a few on a small plate (2-4) but here there is just one that is a little bit bigger but also cheaper. The first place we went was in the old town area and the favorite from the Rick Steves book for having really good pinxos but also being cheap. They were 1,65 euoros each and a glass of wine cost the same. San Sebastian and this region are most famous for their food, and San Sebastian actually has more Michelin stars than Paris.

We got there a little on the early side so it wasn't too crowded, but it was really hard to choose what we wanted to try because they all looked so good! They consisted of a little slice of a baguette with at least 3 different things stacked on top and most of them with some sort of sauce too. There was a lot of sea food which I was really happy about since it is so local and fresh and then combinations of different vegetables meats and cheese too. My plate is the one on the right in the picture, with one tapa having cheese salmon and baby eel, and the other with octopus or somthing similar, a sweet and delicious sauce, and something else below that I don't remember. Both were absolutely delicious! And everything here was done so artfully and beautifully too. Of all the places we went this one might have been my favorite. We took our time eating our pinxos and sipping our wine just enjoying the night and where we were.

The true way to do pinxos is to have one or two at one place with a glass of wine (they are closer to half glasses or less making them cheaper and making people be able to last longer) and then go on to the next place. We wanted to try what looked best at different bars so we headed out. We headed for the main square in the old town. It is a small square plaza with coverings over the walkway around the outer edge. Pretty much every store front was a different pinxo place with people filling up every one and spilling out into the walkway. Instead of just going in the first place, we took a lap around going in to look at each place because we wanted only the best. We finally ended up at a place with two layers of pinxos on plates making up 3/4 of a circle and people all around. I started out with just one, but then decided after that one to try another because it was just so delicious! I felt silly and extremely touristy taking pictures, but it was worth it. We stayed here for a while and then headed out.

We weren't hungry any more but it was still a bit early and we were wondering what to do. As we walked around the plaza a bit more we saw a band setting up so decided to get a glass of wine at the bar right next to them and then hang out to listen. Something that was really cool was that they had 3 bikes set up, and when people rode them a little light lit up. People thought this was cool so started riding them, but they actually had them hooked up to their speakers and instruments so actually had the crowd powering them which everyone thought was a lot of fun. I couldn't get a picture of all of them, but it included an old guy on a saxaphone, a guy on a guitar and base guitar, a guy on the drums, a guy that switched between singing the flute and the trumpet, and then a guy on the cello but standing up with a long strap.

They were from California so all their songs were in English and I think Emma and I were some of the only people there who knew what they were saying. They did speak a couple sentences in Spanish between the songs and that was actually a lot of fun for us because it was very choppy and basic and sounded like the way you make fun of people when they speak a language not very well. But they were having a lot of fun with it and the crowd really appreciated the Spanish. At the end the guy with the cello and the guy on the flute had a couple duets. Except it was a mix of hip hop and classical. He had some sort of recording device set up so first he did some hip-hop beats into the microphone for about 30 seconds and then he clicked a button and the speakers kept on doing that on repeat. To this he added playing the cello and singing and the other guy did a combination of the flute and singing. That was really cool. After that was over we headed back to our hostel on a quick train ride after a very full and fun day.

For our second day we had the first half of the day in Bilbao before we caught a bus to San Sebastian. We were able to sleep in just a bit and then took the train 2 stops back into town. We headed from the train station, walked through their pretty little park, then headed back over to the old town area that we hadn't really had time to explore yet. There there are the seven streets, which are the seven original streets in the city. They are narrow very pretty pedestrian streets and were fun to walk around it and see the sights. The entire old area was actually pedestrian only and I really like that in these cities in Europe.

In part of the old town we also went to the market which was in a big old building and very crowded. The bottome floor had meat, the next floor had fish, and the top floor had a mix of fruits, veggies, bread, olives and similar foods, and one flower stand. Emma got a little sandwich that had a pickle as the outside and then a tuna filling in it. After we left I tried the traditional torta from the area (I don't remember the name right now) in the miniature version and that was delicious. It was a little pastry cup with a sweet custard filling. I really like how they have minitature versions of a lot of the things in pastry shops because I really enjoy trying the traditional foods from the area.

After that we wandered through the rest of town and along the river back toward the bus station getting a view of the Guggenheim for a bit farther away being able to see all of it at the same time. It is a very beautiful city but I can definitely tell that there are different areas that are still quite industrial feeling and others that are much nicer and more cultural and classy.

Prado, Retiro and Bull fight, 10/24

We are in the middle of midterms right now. Last Thursday we had our anthropology midterm, and this coming Tuesday I have my art history midterm. Therefore, I am in the middle of doing a lot of studying. This morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and then got to work. For art history we will get three slides from each part of the class, slides in class and the Prado, and will have 10 minutes to identify each slide and write as much as we possibly can about it. Thankfully in the slide part from class the professor narrowed it down to only 35, but we have quite a list of paintings we have to know from the Prado.

I met up with Laura and Julia at 1 to study the paintings in person at the Prado which I found really helpful especially in differentiating the different time periods. Then after that we went to the Parque de Bien Retiro which I have run in a lot, but haven't had my camera with me before. It is amazing. Really large with lots of different walking areas and gardens along with cafes and a lake in the middle where people can rent a boat and row around.

Then I went with Laura to the bull fight. The season is March to October, and this is the last bull fight while we are here. There are 3 matadors and each has 2 bulls. It starts with the bull entering the ring, and there are banderilleros who have bright pink and yellow and wave the capes making the bull charge at them and then they run behind little wood walls. The matador also joins in making the bull do a series of passes. A lot of this was done very artfully and with style.

The next stage involves the picadores on horseback who use long lances to stab the bull behind the mass of muscles on its back cause the first loss of blood. It is a combination of stabbing the bull, staying on the horse and directing the horse so it doesn't get trapped between the bull and the wall. It didn't seem good for the horses at all even though they had a lot of padding, and I didn't like that they appeared to be blind folded.

After that the banderilleros take turns each trying to stick two sharp barbed sticks just behind the head of the bull. They are doing this without capes to distract the bull so have to make it charge at them and then stick them in as they jump out of the way. There are a lot of other banderilleros around to distract the bull and make him go in another direction after this happens though.

Then finally it is time for the matador. He first comes in with his red cape and makes the bull do a lot of passes. This is where it gets really tricky and skillful with the matador trying to stay still and have the bull pass as close as possible to him.

Finally after a certain amount of time he switches to a real sword and goes in for the kill. I thought it would be a faster process, but after he sticks the sword all the way in and it stays there, the banderilleros tire out the bull very rapidly by surrounding him and making him very confused trying to charge in all the directions at the same time. After a while he falls over on his side, and one of the banderilleros comes up with a sharp dagger and stabs him just behind the scull three times to finish him off and make sure he is completely dead. Many times the bull will try to respond after the first one, but it is the best way they have to make the rest of the death as fast and a clean as possible.

The first and last bulls of the six weren't as aggressive and not as interesting. The second bull was a lot more aggressive and at one point got the matador on the ground trapped under his head but the banderilleros were there quickly to distract the bull. The third bull was the most exciting and the bull fighter the best. He was very skilled and artful in what he did and the audience really liked it. At one point he ended up on the back of the bull but other than that did a great job. The audience really liked him, and after he killed his bull people from all over the stadium were standing up cheering and waving white handkerchiefs or white pieces of paper in the air. This signaled to the judge (or whoever his is) that the people thought that he did a really good job, and he was awarded the ear of the bull, which is a valuable prize for bull fighters.

Classical Spanish Theatre, 10/24

Two Fridays ago I won tickets to see any play of my choosing in Madrid for up to 20 euros for having one of the best group presentations in the tour of Lavapies. Tonight I met up with Lauren and Ebryonna and we went to see El alcalde de Zalamea at Teatro Pavón that we visited during our tour.

The little information booklet that they gave us when we entered says in the first line that El alcalde de Zalamea is, along with La vida es sueño, the play most universally known in Spanish classic theatre. So I guess that it is a famous one.

The theatre felt more intimate than others I've been to in Seattle or other places. Row 13, seat 15, and only 2 rows behind us. I really enjoyed the play a lot and am glad that we saw classic theatre. The actors were really good and the whole thing overall was really interesting and intriguing. A lot of it was difficult to understand word for word exactly because it was in Spanish, but I got the general idea using a lot of context. Below is a brief summary (translated from Spanish to English using google translator):

A group of soldiers, which has been many days without rest and passes Zalamea (municipality in the province of Badajoz) when they go to Portugal. The soldiers are housed in Zalamea. The sergeant makes the allocation of houses, and the captain chooses a rich villain who has a beautiful daughter, Isabel. The captain believes that the villain will always be a villain and that therefore no interest, but is staying in the house of Pedro Crespo villain.

When the captain will be staying at Peter's house, is that the villain has hidden his daughter Isabel. The captain, attracted because Isabel is hiding, Rebolledo fakes a fight with this deception enters the room where it was hidden Isabel. The captain falls in love with Isabel. Peter and his son John was unaware that the master has come into the room by the way, and start a discussion where they are very clear ideas of the villains opposite to the general. Don Lope comes Meanwhile, the general, and to know the reason for the discussion decided that instead of being the captain, who was staying there, be it.

At night, the captain, making fortunes, manages to kidnap Elizabeth and takes it up the mountain to rape her. But there is John that hurts the Captain. Then, in the village, the captain wound healing and is subject to trial by the new Mayor of Zalamea (Pedro Crespo). The captain is executed and Isabel will be taken to a convent. Soon comes the King, is interested in the case and decides that an execution has been entirely fair and makes perpetual mayor Pedro, he has done justice prevail.

3rd day in Barcelona, 10/17

Today was our last day in Barcelona and we saw a little bit of what didn’t fit in with old or new Barcelona in the earlier days. We started our walking tour at 11 am walking though more of the city making out way to la Iglesia Santa María del Mar, the second cathedral in Barcelona with the one we saw the first day in the Gothic neighborhood being the first one and la Sagrada Familia being the third. We only saw the outside because it was Sunday and there were services going on and we didn’t have a lot of time.

On one side of that we saw a monument to the massacre on September 11, 1714 of Catalan patriots by the Bourbon king ruling from Madrid. From that day the king outlawed Catalan culture and its institutions. Then we finished our tour in the Paseo de Born, which is a cute little square that used to be a jousting square but now has many nice restaurants in the evening and is a popular place for younger people during the nights.

Most of us headed to the Picasso Museum after that having to wait in a bit of a line to get in. It was really cool and I’m really glad that we went. There weren’t a lot of his most famous pieces, but the rooms evolved along with his years as an artist and it was really interesting to see his progression and the different types of art that he studied. Some of it seemed very realistic, but the parts I liked the best weren’t the beginning or the end, but the part before his signature style where the figures were a little off from normal but you could still easily tell what they were. The gift shop was also had a lot of really good stuff and I was thinking about getting a poster, but none of them really spoke to me.

Lunch after with Laura Rachel and Kevin led us to an udon noodle place nearby. It was good which was nice because ethnic food isn’t usually good in Spain. We took the metro back to closer to our hotel since we had walked a ways that morning. Where you put the tickets in is opposite to in Madrid, so when Kevin tried to go through and it didn’t work we then pointed out to him that it was the other side. He switched to the other side but it still wouldn’t let him through. He thought he had run out of time, and since we had paid, he ducked under the turnstile.

The security guard only saw this last part and started yelling at him. Thankfully there was a man from Barcelona that saw the whole thing and quickly explained to the guard what had happened. We all thought he was going to get arrested or something like that. After that Kevin got an embarrassing lesson from the security guard about how to use the metro. Evidentially you have to remove the ticket before the turnstile will let you through which was the whole problem in the first place.

Then we walked along some of the more modern and larger streets on our way back to the hotel where we then got our bags, took the bus back to the train station and took the train back to Madrid. A very fun weekend trip, and I’m glad that we went here with the program because of everything we got to experience because of it and having informative guides to explain a lot more of the city to us.