zosianicola's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Espana We have been in Spain. Since May 25. That's why no postings. We went to Benicassim, on the coast, a third of the way between Valencia and Barcelona. We flew in and out of Madrid, so Madrid is the only big city we went to. P-dog went to meetings and I sat on the beach or went on excursions that were arranged for the spouses. They called us "accompanying persons". THe meeting was more esoteric than others we go to, on the use of isotopes in biochemistry, so that's why I didn't attend the talks. The Spanish Riviera was not on my list of places to see before I die. This is one of the wonderful things about travel that centers around scientific meetings instead of tourist destinations----you go to fantastic places you weren't aware of. Like Egmond on Zee two years ago and Benicassim this year. The beach was simply fantastic. The cost of food and drink was low. The people were perfectly happy to help you correct your Spanish mistakes, without sounding snotty and superior. well, except for one bus driver the day i went to Catellon by myself. He didn't like the senora americana one bit. The excursions were to places I'd not dreamed of. THere is a castle on a peninsula, where the Avignon Pope escaped to at some point, named Peniscola. We went there for the tour and for dinner on the beach. There is a little village somewhat inland called Vilafarmes, where we saw 30,000-year-old cave drawings. And we went to a little monastery outside Benicassim---monastery itself no big deal but breathtaking views of Benicassim from the mountains above. We had very little time in Madrid so we opted to go see Guernica instead of the Prado. Not having seen the Prado I can't know for sure if that was the right choice but it was a good one. No matter that Picasso was a misogynist, his work cannot be ignored (Joan Miro's work on the other hand can be ignored--in my steadfast opinion). All the studies for teh Guernica mural are at the same museum, plus Dora marr's photos of the painting being made, so it is a complete experience. As for the famous Madrid nightlife, well, we are old farts who cannot stay up until 5, but we stayed up as long as we could both nights were we there, given that one next morning we had to be at the train station for an 8:00 train and the other next morning we had to be at the airport for 8:30 check-in. One night we went out in search of a great tapas experience, and found it, in a little tapas bar on the farther side of the Plaza Mayor. The other night we went out to a flamenco bar. THAT WAS FANTASTIC!!!!! the guitars, the singing, the dancing, it was all overwhelmingly fabulous. I had been reading Hemingway the whole week, by coincidence---I just discovered him because our little library has all of Hemingway on CD, so I listened to Farewell to Arms, then Sun Also Rises, then started reading For Whom the Bell Tolls just before leaving. The SUn Also Rises, with its bull-fight metaphor for the struggle between men and woman, set me up for understanding the flamenco phenomenon. And the story of the civil war guerillas fit right into the trip as well. Everyone at the meeting to whom I spoke about what i was reading intends to go back home and read Hemingway again. I'd not read him before because I thought he was too big a woman-hater. Like Picasso, that doesn't matter. he still has ideas, brilliant ideas to offer 5:52 a.m. - 2007-06-03 ---------------------------------------------------------
a substitute activity - 2007-07-17 |
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