Week Thirteen: London and Spain

Monday 23 November 2010
 
Today classes started with Jane Austen so that we could go to the London Central Mosque in lieu of regular religion class. All the girls had to wear scarves on their heads, and can I just say that I look dang good in a head scarf! Julie let me borrow her light blue one for the occasion (I haven't purchased my pashminas yet). I have never been in a Mosque before and it was so interesting, and so beautiful! I love Islamic architecture. The coolest bit was that we happened to be there for afternoon prayer and our tour guide (a young teacher at the Mosque, but not the Imam...anyway) let us stay in the prayer hall.  It was so amazing to watch them pray. That is something that Aunt Jo Ann said that we would probably never see again, particularly the girls.

After the Mosque I finally went to Leicester Square, to see where the Harry Potter premiere was. It is a large grass square surrounded by movie theatres. The largest one (Odion) has only Harry Potter Seven playing on all of its screens. From Leicester Square I walked on Charing Cross Road into Soho. This is not exactly my kind of place. I just wanted to walk on Old Compton Road because it was the heart of 1960s Soho and youth culture. Now Soho is just kind of freaky and so I hurried out of there. I also caught glimpses of China Town, which runs parallel to Soho.

Coming out of Soho I walked up Charing Cross to Oxford Street and then down Regent's Street (a lovely walk) to get to Liberty department store. This place is cool because it has a fake Tudor facade, pretty window displays, and is priced like Harrod's. To be honest, I didn't care for it all that much. Walking past Liberty I moved down Carnaby Road, which is where men's fashion is reputed to have been invented. It had many classy shops for guys. Finally, back on Regent's Street I went into Hamley's Toy Shop. The FAO Schwartz of London all decked out for the Christmas season. Five floors of awesome. Unfortunately, the prices are ridiculous, but I had a great time walking around.

Tuesday 24 November 2010

After classes, Julie and I made a quick stop at King's Cross Station to take pictures at Platform 9 3/4 (which is situated between platforms 8 and 9. Who planned that one?). From there we met Katy at the British Library (where the English class had been) and headed to the Foundling Museum. Sister Bird (English class teacher) and some other students were having churros and chocolate outside the Library and we tried some. A good precursor to Spain.

A Foundling is an orphan or abandoned child (parents cannot afford it) that is taken in by the Foundling hospital. We learned about how these children lived and grew up, and how William Hogarth the painter and Handel the composer played a key part in ensuring the hospital survived. It was actually a fascinating museum and got me very excited to hear the Messiah next week. I had no idea Handel was such a kind person. I have always thought of composers as self-obsessed (Mozart) or slightly crazy (Beethoven).

Wednesday 25 November 2010

Today after classes Julie, Kaitlyn, and I rushed to do the Wasteland walk for Great War class before we left for Spain. We walked across London Bridge from the South bank, passed Monument, went inside Magnus Martyr church (beautiful Wren interior with a little model of the original London Bridge--before it burned down), and ended up near the Bank of England and the Royal Stock Exchange. Then we returned home to pack.

To get to Stanstead Airport we had to take the Central Line tube from one end of Zone One to the other (Liverpool Street) and then take a 45 minute train. We then got there two hours early and had to wait for the plane. Crazy stuff. Then they spent the whole flight trying to sell us sandwiches, magazines, and raffle tickets (that's what you get for a cheap airline).

After touching down in Madrid, Spain (!!!!) we took the Metro to the centre of the city. It was so big, and nice, and clean. I liked it a lot. As much as I like the tube (versus really hating the Metro in Paris). When we got out of the station, luckily Kaitlyn and Mandy are excellent navigators so we got to the hostel okay. It was just dark and we tried to be super aware of our bags so that no one would try to steal from us. We had two rooms in the hostel--which was really more like a hotel. Four in one room: me, Julie, Kaitlyn, and Mandy and three in another: Lisa, Olivia, and Annie. Kim was supposed to come to Spain with us, but she got sick at the last minute. Our rooms had their own bathroom and everything was so clean and the beds were big and comfy and there was free internet. What a great hostel! The night guy there only spoke Spanish, but luckily Kaitlyn is basically fluent. This was such an asset over the next couple of days. It was 11 at night so we hit the hay and prepared for our first full day in Spain.

Thursday 26 November 2010

This morning we woke up, went to Madrid train station, bought train tickets to Toledo and then ran to the platform in order to make our train. The train ride is 30 minutes and I did homework most of the way, but I did spend some of that time looking out at the Spanish countryside. Mandy says it reminds her of Southern Idaho. It reminded me of California. Yellow, brown, a little red, dry, etc. After getting off the train we took a bus from the station into the heart of Toledo and I loved being able to look out of the window and take in the city. There is so much Moorish (Islamic) architecture! I love it!

Our first order of business in Toledo was simply to walk around and enjoy the city. It still has the feel of a Medieval town with Christian, Jewish, and Islamic influences. Pre-Ferdinand and Isabella this was a city where all three cultures/religions lived in harmony. and the architecture and feel of the city certainly benefited from that and you can still feel it now.

After getting situated we first walked through Toledo's main plaza to get breakfast. I had churros and chocolate (the first of many!). I can never drink hot chocolate in the States again. I have been spoiled rotten. I swear they melted a chocolate bar, added a little milk, and served it with some of the best churros I have ever had. As we headed out we passed a shop that sells Lladro. These porcelain figures are highly popular with Mormons (like that one of the Mom in the long blue dress holding up the baby and spinning around) and Toledo (and Spain in general) is famous for them. We were looking in the shop window, when we saw a Llardo of two clean-cut young men in suits with name-tags. Missionaries!! We went inside the store, and they also had one of the Christus statue from Temple Square. Apparently the Mission President sends missionaries there all the time, so Mormons get a 25% discount. Awesome. Annie ended up buying a piece for her nativity.

Our first real stop in Toledo was the Cathedral. This place was drop dead gorgeous. This was a full-blown Spanish Catholic cathedral. There were different colors of marble, enormous pictures (El Greco, Goya...), and the most incredible work on the back of the High Altar. A combination of painting, sculpture, and natural light. Remarkable. This was definitely one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have been in on this trip.

In the plaza outside of the Cathedral, while we were taking pictures, a man approached Kaitlyn (due to her flawless Spanish I'm sure) and explained about an Artisan shop just a few houses down where they make Damascus by hand. This decorative art is some sort of black stone with gold leaf (24 karat) over the top. So beautiful. So hard to do. There are two styles: Renaissance with birds and flowers and Islamic with intricate geometric designs. I'm such a sucker for Islamic art and architecture--I thought it was beautiful. we decided to go see the shop and watched the workers hand pound the gold tread into the black background before it's carefully fired in the kiln. They got us. Most of us bought a piece of Damascus from the shop. I got a small necklace pendant--Islamic style thought it's slightly more expensive. You can tell it's handmade, but hey--I got it in Toledo, Spain.

We walked through more beautiful tiny streets and winding alleys to reach a sword shop where they still make swords by hand. Unfortunately, we arrived at the shop just as they were closing down for siesta. However, the head of the workshop took us around the shop and showed us how they make the swords. I thought of Hyrum, he would have enjoyed the explanation of various metals, forging, etc. Did you know that the handles of most swords are wood with metal wrapped around the outside? Pure metal would have such excellent vibrations that when you clash with another sword your arm could vibrate so badly that it will break.

From here we walked to the famous (no longer practicing) synagogue. Since we were in Toledo, we wanted to see a Christian church, a synagogue, and a mosque. Seemed appropriate. On our way there we saw more of this beautiful medieval city. I honestly could not get enough of it. This was definitely my absolute favorite day of the trip! The synagogue was very pretty, even though the paint was fading after hundreds of years. On our way there we noticed that we were walking along the path of Don Quixote. Rad. I make it a point to follow fictional literary characters around (note earlier visits to Baker Street, and passing by Grovsenor Square and Gracechurch Street).

The next place we visited was San Juan de los Reyes. This church had chains displayed all over the outside. When the Moors controlled this area of Spain they would hang Christians from the walls and ceilings by these chains. After the Christians took power they hung the chains here as a symbolism of their religious faith and piety. The inside of this place, once a monastic church, was stunning. There was a beautiful chapel and an unbelievable cloister--with actual orange trees. With oranges on them! There was also a balcony surrounding the cloister that had loose tiles. So, of course, I pulled one up and touched the dust beneath. Clearly it's ancient.

Just outside of this church was a Marzipan shop. Naturally we stopped and had some. I really like Marzipan. Almondy and sticky and sweet.

Just past here was the church of El Santo Tome, with the most famous El Greco ever. The church itself wasn't all that special. But Burial of Count Ornas was put exactly where it is today by the artist, and has never been moved. I'm not a huge El Greco fan, but it certainly looked like one of his works. I was glad I got to see it.
Next we stopped at the mosque. We didn't actually go inside, but we could see the open air prayer hall. To get here we did a lot of street wandering and I became more and more impressed with Kaitlyn's Spanish every time she opened her mouth.

Lunch was taken at the illustrious institution of McDonalds. Nothing to be said there.

We then took a nice walk down through Toledo to the train station. We passed over a beautiful bridge and river and took some lovely pictures. We also experienced our first cat calls. I have never been cat called or whistled at so much in my life as I was in Spain.

After returning to Madrid we went to the Prado Museum--which is free every night from 6 to 8pm. Some of the best Spanish works of art, ever! Velasquez, Zurburan, El Greco, etc.

As we were walking around Madrid (between 8 and 9 restaurants actually begin to open) I found out that Olivia lived until 6th grade in the house owned by the Bank at the end of Kempner Road. She moved out the year before we got there! I cannot believe it. This is such a small world.

For dinner we ate at a slightly upscale restaurant called Bazaar. And that is just what it was--bizarre. I ordered mushroom soup with potatoes. When I got my plate it was a smooth brown soup with croutons in the center. Seems pretty normal. Then I had one of the croutons. It was not a crunchy bread crouton. I'm not sure how they did it but the croutons were the potatoes! They melted in my mouth. It was crazy. Everyone's food was good (mine as well) it was just not what we were expecting. Julie's lazagna was black. And we couldn't find any meat in it. But it tasted alright. The food wasn't bad, but Mandy called it the worst Thanksgiving Dinner ever because it was so opposite of what you want on Thanksgiving. There was no turkey, no desire to eat way more than I should. Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to sufficiently stuff my face over Christmas.

We went to a McDonalds down the road for ice cream. Something American seemed appropriate for Thanksgiving.

Around 11 we finally arrived back at the Hostel and I went quickly to bed. I was so super tired.

Friday 27 November 2010

Feeling very original this morning, we ate breakfast at McDonalds. I was really excited at first because I love love love love McDonads breakfast. But, it turns out its very different in Spain. No hashbrowns. So, I had wedge potatoes. Good, but by no means a substitute.

Our first stop today was the Royal Palace of Spain. After Franco died he chose a man from the Royal family as his successor. Goodness knows why. This man reestablished a constitutional monarchy. He is now the king. Complicated. It was a really beautiful palace with armor from Philip II and Charles V, two very famous Spanish monarchs. There was also a spectacular suite of royal rooms (reception hall, smoking room, tea room, etc.) and a royal pharmacy. Big ancient jars of congealed remedies.

Directly next to the palace is the Madrid Cathedral. Recently remodeled, it had a very modern feel. We climbed to the roof and looked out over the city of Madrid. We also went inside it. Very spacious with multi-colored light shining all around. As we walked out we realized--this is our last cathedral for this trip. Sad.
Next we walked through the Plaza Mayor. This big square had Christmas shops all over it. However, it was absolutely freezing, so we didn't spend to long here. For lunch we went into a small pub and I ordered a squid sandwich. I've had squid before, so I knew what to expect, and in light of that it was pretty good. Crispy rings of squid in a crusty bun. Yummy. After lunch we walked more in the Plaza Mayor and ended up in a food market. It was big and really cool to walk around in and see all the Spanish delicacies.

Our next stop was the Piazza del Sol. This is the main square of Madrid. Here there were beautiful fountains, an enormous Christmas tree, and the symbol of the city. A bear eating from a bush. Don't ask me why, but this means Madrid. We also stood in the exact center of Spain in this Piazza. There's a plaque and everything.
Next we walked to the Renia Sophia Modern Art Museum. We lucked out and it turned out to be free (everything in Spain costs) and so we went in. The elevators are on the outside of the building and clear, so that was cool. Generally modern art is pretty weird, but I recognized a lot of artist names. The best work here is the massive Guernica by Picasso. Franco allowed Hitler to bomb a rebellious town (practicing Blitzkrieg before WWII) and people were shocked and outraged. This painting portrays that.

We next walked in a large park above the Prado museum. It was beautiful, with the sun setting, and big sculptures and a lake. In fact, there was a model photo shoot we saw, so it must have been beautiful. There were also cats everywhere. Not really sure why. We played in the park until 6pm and then we headed back to the Prado.

In the around 4 hours we had in the Prado (2 hours each day) we did essentially the whole museum. We missed only a few rooms on a weird floor in one corner of the museum. I am very proud of Katilyn, Mandy, Julie, and I.

Afterward we went back to the Piazza del Sol and saw all the lights, including the large Christmas tree, lit up. It was bitingly cold, but very fun all the same. After walking around for a while we found a pizza place for dinner. They do the tomato sauce sweet here. I really liked it.

As we were heading back to the hostel we stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash. Julie went first, completed her transaction, and the machine just kept on thinking and thinking, without spitting out her cash. It said an error occurred and froze. We began to panic. The bank it was attached to was closed (it being around 10:30 at night) but we documented the situation as much as we could. Over the next few days, the charge did not appear on her account and so we decided that the ATM had simply run out of money. When we passed it on Saturday morning, it still had the error screen. It was a stressful night.

Saturday 28 November 2010

This morning we packed up our stuff, stored it at the hostel and checked out. We then took the Metro out to the Madrid Temple. It was so beautiful, right in the middle of the city, and it looked Spanish. We walked around the temple complex (MTC, rooms for people to stay) as well. It was very beautiful and I'm so glad we got to go out there.

Coming back to the city center, we first stopped for brunch. More churros and chocolate and I had a tortilla, which is actually a potato and cheese omelet. It was good. We next stopped off at the Archeology museum. It was quite small, but also surprisingly free, so we spent a while here. There was an absolutely beautiful ivory carving of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden.

We then took the time for some much needed souvenir shopping. I got a t-shirt. Oh yes. Walking back to the hostel, we decided the time had come for paella. This is a rice dish generally done with seafood, but we had it with chicken. It was very good. Overall, I'd say we had a good food experience (when it wasn't being bazaar--little play on words there).

We returned to the hostel, paid for the rooms in cash (talk about a large amount of money), collected our bags, and headed to the metro. Metro to the airport. Plane back to London. My last time returning home from a trip to London. Sad.

Tube ride back to the Centre, and then there was some chocolate pie left over from Thanksgiving dinner. Of course I had some. And homemade root beer.

Sunday 29 November 2010

Church today was the Primary Presentation (not Program--that's American). Two hours in Primary of practicing and the leaders were incredibly stressed. Of course, all the kids chose today to go crazy. While leaders were trying to get ready, the Primary president had the kids play Simon Says with each other. For a while I hovered on the fence, should I help? Should I let the other leaders handle it? Finally I took over Simon Says and I got them to sit quietly in their chairs just before it was time for Sacrament Meeting. The primary president was shocked, and she told me so in her wonderful Scottish accent.

Sacrament Meeting was good, I played most of the Primary songs with just my right hand, but it all worked out okay.

After church I finally got over to the Tate Modern. Oy. MODERN art. Most of it was pretty weird, but I saw a few pieces I recognized. My favorite was Continuity of Unique Forms in Space by Bocionni. One of the best sculptures ever. Funniest works: a large red canvas with three lines down it called Adam, and a large red-orange canvas with a purple line at the far right-hand side called Eve. How biblical... Julie and I were planning to meet here and return home together, but her watch was still on Spain time. She waited for a 1/2 hour and finally went home without me, only to realize her watch was an hour earlier. I ended up waiting for her, than coming home on my own. By this time, she had taken Mandy back with her to look for me. Finally we all ended up at home and had dinner. Complicated!

Fireside tonight was singing Christmas hymns. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!