Hello all! Well, I had written a letter previously but then sent it to the bin and started over. It wasa bit grim as I was not psyched when I wrote it. No big reason in particular except that I don't like Madrid as much as Barcelona and I'm alone here for too long to boot.. but asi es...
Anyway.. I have lots to say today as I haven't written in a while and like always, when alone, my brain has been on overdrive... I'll start with the end of Barcelona. It was great! We went to the beach all day on our last day there. The sun was bright and warm, the sky perfectly clear! Not a cloud in sight and then there was another air show.. This one was bonafide. They had killer planes, lots of them. At one point six flew together in formation and did the craziest shit including playing chicken.. and barely pulling out in different directions.. like in Footloose, except there was no crash. They also had colorful smokey stuff coming out and making designs in the air. They wrote 'y'all come back now, ya hear' It was cool. I knew it was for me... did you believe that? Good. So then that night we said goodbye.. me and Finland. She headed back to France to stay in Nice until her flight home to Finland and I went back to the hostel until my morning train. Bye beautiful Barcelona.
In Madrid, I have just been wandering aimlessly, sort of. I hit all the museums that I wanted to see. Well, let me back up. I went to the Prado and the Thyssens Museums the other day. They were very full! The Prado is full of a lot of stuff that I have already experienced in the Louvre and in Italy, somewhere.. it just seemed so familiar.. all these religious themes.. Mary Magdalene, St. Sebastian, the Crucifixion, the Anunciation, etc... but then there was also a healthy collection of Flemmish and Dutch work which based more of its themes on things like astrology or just random shit.. animals, wars, people I don't think I've ever met before. :) It was good, but at the end of this trip I WILL be museumed out! The next one, Thyssens, I think.. had a couple of Dali's! Oh, was I tickled! What a wonder for me to actually see his works in the flesh and know that he sat right in front of that very canvas.. ooohlahlah! I also saw in there some VanGogh, who I am a new big fan of.. Matisse, Monet, Manet and so many others that never made it to the headlines in my brain but who I am nonetheless impressed with. I spent the rest of myday trotting from cafe to cafe and home. And of course here to chat on this screen with chums... I also treated myself to a movie... Anyone seen.. Los Otros with Nicole Kidman.. Must be The Others or something.. It was Great and what an ending! Of course I had to watch it dubbed in Spanish but I understood! I always deciphered from lip reading that they had English accents.. am I right!?
Next stop -Toledo (in the picture). I went to Toledo on a recommendation from my new Paris friend, James Carson Daily McArthur III, from NY. He's an actor! ;) Toledo was well worth the visit! I pulled in at around 1pm and checked into my hostel, which is in a castle on top of a hill. The city is also atop another hill across the river from where I was. The town itself is a labrynth that weasles its way around synagogues, cathedrals and that big fortress thing.. The structures go back to the days when the area was run by Romans, Visigoths, Muslims.. I also went to the mueseum of El Greco. Just a small collection of random paintings of people.. Saints and popes mostly. San Pablo, San Juan, San Pedro..etc. I went home and changed as I was the only person in the town a) with blonde hair b) with shorts on. When I came back properly dressed, I went out to eat in a Pizzeria... I met the greatest folks. They were running the restaraunt, but as I was the only one there, we got into great discussions. The server was a girl of 28 years from Chile.. the pizza maker is a 21 year old youth of Sicily and the salad maker a mere 19 years from Toledo. We had the greatest time talking about culture, language, war, peace, food, travel and all in a combination of English, Italian and of course my mother-in-law tongue, Spanish! The opinion of the server with whom I spoke the most, is that we (the US) should tread lightly and move with our brains not our hearts.. not to kill so many more innocent people. She says more than ever now, she feels that the people of the US are her brothers and sisters.. We are all Americans she said. It broke her heart to hear about what happened, but she fears an ongoing, everlasting world war during our lives... We wrapped up our chat at the bar.. they bought me a beer and I got teary saying good bye!
On my way home, I ran into this bloke from NY city that I saw in a laundramat in Madrid. So, being as terrified as I was to be walking alone where I was, I said...hey! I saw you the other day in Madrid.. He was sooo nice and so excited to chat, so even though I had just come from town and was a mere minute from the hostel, I made an about face and went back to town with him. He, too, is an actor in the US, although, now at the ripe age of 38, still without kids and wife, he came to Europe to find himself. While here, his city, Manhattan, was bombed. It tore him up and he is still taking it very badly. None of his friends or family were hurt, but one close friend is a firefighter and has shared some heart wrenching stories with him. In light of all these recent events, he has finally come to the conclusion that when he goes home to NY, he is either going to become a firefighter or he is going to see if he can still enlist at his age! He is a really unique person. His take on the war is that we should plan a surgical attack and gradually take out all the terrorists, shedding as little blood as possible, but realizing that innocent blood will be shed! Anyway, at the end of our chat, we headed back up to the hostel and hit the hay... and other cliches.
In the morning, I went back to Madrid. I had seen enough of Toledo to be honest. I went to the station to find out about going to Lisbon, but the train for tonight was full so I had to book myself for tomorrow night and stay another two days and one night here! But, I am going to make the most of it... another movie, perhaps? I did go to yet another museum today. It was closed on my last day of museum tours and it is the one I most wanted to see! There were two, count 'em 1, 2! rooms of Dali art! How wonderful...The Great Masturbator was there as was The Monument to the Woman Child and something of Hitler.. It was great! The rest was good too. Picasso's Guernica was here and a bunch of Joan Miro.. that shit is nuts. I was walking through looking at the work of Miro, not being the best critic. I kept finding myself saying.. yeah, art my ass. I could do that.. That ain't no bird! Whatever.. I guess I didn't like that style much. With Picasso I would say, yeah, whatever Man with Guitar... pushaww... But, you know.. who am I!? :) I have been inspired though. If some of that can make it into the museum, then I can write the novel of the new century! and design the cover!! Irony of my life..
Well, I saw a couple of funny places here in Madrid as I was meandering about the town.. like, oh, El Museo de Jamon.. the ham museum..It's a damn ham store, but there is ham hanging all over the cieling like Christmas lights on the Grizzwald house. And across the street is a cafe with paintings of bullfights, matatdors, etc.. and between each painting is the head of a slaughtered bull. Twelve total! And the people just sit there eating like it's normal.. What's normal about that! I know, I know.... I know! It's a cultural thing, and I can appreciate that and for that reason I do not even wrinkle my nose when I walk by, I just walk by... yuk. Well, that's all for now..
Oh yeah. The exciting thing about Portugal. My uncle Louis, from Ireland is with my mom's aunt Nancy and her husband, Jimmy in the south of Portugal and that is where I am going.. to be with family!!! to drink and hopefully stay with them on the beach in sunny southern Portugal.. Hope you're all well and happpppy! We will survive!! luv, rai
Anyway.. I have lots to say today as I haven't written in a while and like always, when alone, my brain has been on overdrive... I'll start with the end of Barcelona. It was great! We went to the beach all day on our last day there. The sun was bright and warm, the sky perfectly clear! Not a cloud in sight and then there was another air show.. This one was bonafide. They had killer planes, lots of them. At one point six flew together in formation and did the craziest shit including playing chicken.. and barely pulling out in different directions.. like in Footloose, except there was no crash. They also had colorful smokey stuff coming out and making designs in the air. They wrote 'y'all come back now, ya hear' It was cool. I knew it was for me... did you believe that? Good. So then that night we said goodbye.. me and Finland. She headed back to France to stay in Nice until her flight home to Finland and I went back to the hostel until my morning train. Bye beautiful Barcelona.
In Madrid, I have just been wandering aimlessly, sort of. I hit all the museums that I wanted to see. Well, let me back up. I went to the Prado and the Thyssens Museums the other day. They were very full! The Prado is full of a lot of stuff that I have already experienced in the Louvre and in Italy, somewhere.. it just seemed so familiar.. all these religious themes.. Mary Magdalene, St. Sebastian, the Crucifixion, the Anunciation, etc... but then there was also a healthy collection of Flemmish and Dutch work which based more of its themes on things like astrology or just random shit.. animals, wars, people I don't think I've ever met before. :) It was good, but at the end of this trip I WILL be museumed out! The next one, Thyssens, I think.. had a couple of Dali's! Oh, was I tickled! What a wonder for me to actually see his works in the flesh and know that he sat right in front of that very canvas.. ooohlahlah! I also saw in there some VanGogh, who I am a new big fan of.. Matisse, Monet, Manet and so many others that never made it to the headlines in my brain but who I am nonetheless impressed with. I spent the rest of myday trotting from cafe to cafe and home. And of course here to chat on this screen with chums... I also treated myself to a movie... Anyone seen.. Los Otros with Nicole Kidman.. Must be The Others or something.. It was Great and what an ending! Of course I had to watch it dubbed in Spanish but I understood! I always deciphered from lip reading that they had English accents.. am I right!?
Next stop -Toledo (in the picture). I went to Toledo on a recommendation from my new Paris friend, James Carson Daily McArthur III, from NY. He's an actor! ;) Toledo was well worth the visit! I pulled in at around 1pm and checked into my hostel, which is in a castle on top of a hill. The city is also atop another hill across the river from where I was. The town itself is a labrynth that weasles its way around synagogues, cathedrals and that big fortress thing.. The structures go back to the days when the area was run by Romans, Visigoths, Muslims.. I also went to the mueseum of El Greco. Just a small collection of random paintings of people.. Saints and popes mostly. San Pablo, San Juan, San Pedro..etc. I went home and changed as I was the only person in the town a) with blonde hair b) with shorts on. When I came back properly dressed, I went out to eat in a Pizzeria... I met the greatest folks. They were running the restaraunt, but as I was the only one there, we got into great discussions. The server was a girl of 28 years from Chile.. the pizza maker is a 21 year old youth of Sicily and the salad maker a mere 19 years from Toledo. We had the greatest time talking about culture, language, war, peace, food, travel and all in a combination of English, Italian and of course my mother-in-law tongue, Spanish! The opinion of the server with whom I spoke the most, is that we (the US) should tread lightly and move with our brains not our hearts.. not to kill so many more innocent people. She says more than ever now, she feels that the people of the US are her brothers and sisters.. We are all Americans she said. It broke her heart to hear about what happened, but she fears an ongoing, everlasting world war during our lives... We wrapped up our chat at the bar.. they bought me a beer and I got teary saying good bye!
On my way home, I ran into this bloke from NY city that I saw in a laundramat in Madrid. So, being as terrified as I was to be walking alone where I was, I said...hey! I saw you the other day in Madrid.. He was sooo nice and so excited to chat, so even though I had just come from town and was a mere minute from the hostel, I made an about face and went back to town with him. He, too, is an actor in the US, although, now at the ripe age of 38, still without kids and wife, he came to Europe to find himself. While here, his city, Manhattan, was bombed. It tore him up and he is still taking it very badly. None of his friends or family were hurt, but one close friend is a firefighter and has shared some heart wrenching stories with him. In light of all these recent events, he has finally come to the conclusion that when he goes home to NY, he is either going to become a firefighter or he is going to see if he can still enlist at his age! He is a really unique person. His take on the war is that we should plan a surgical attack and gradually take out all the terrorists, shedding as little blood as possible, but realizing that innocent blood will be shed! Anyway, at the end of our chat, we headed back up to the hostel and hit the hay... and other cliches.
In the morning, I went back to Madrid. I had seen enough of Toledo to be honest. I went to the station to find out about going to Lisbon, but the train for tonight was full so I had to book myself for tomorrow night and stay another two days and one night here! But, I am going to make the most of it... another movie, perhaps? I did go to yet another museum today. It was closed on my last day of museum tours and it is the one I most wanted to see! There were two, count 'em 1, 2! rooms of Dali art! How wonderful...The Great Masturbator was there as was The Monument to the Woman Child and something of Hitler.. It was great! The rest was good too. Picasso's Guernica was here and a bunch of Joan Miro.. that shit is nuts. I was walking through looking at the work of Miro, not being the best critic. I kept finding myself saying.. yeah, art my ass. I could do that.. That ain't no bird! Whatever.. I guess I didn't like that style much. With Picasso I would say, yeah, whatever Man with Guitar... pushaww... But, you know.. who am I!? :) I have been inspired though. If some of that can make it into the museum, then I can write the novel of the new century! and design the cover!! Irony of my life..
Well, I saw a couple of funny places here in Madrid as I was meandering about the town.. like, oh, El Museo de Jamon.. the ham museum..It's a damn ham store, but there is ham hanging all over the cieling like Christmas lights on the Grizzwald house. And across the street is a cafe with paintings of bullfights, matatdors, etc.. and between each painting is the head of a slaughtered bull. Twelve total! And the people just sit there eating like it's normal.. What's normal about that! I know, I know.... I know! It's a cultural thing, and I can appreciate that and for that reason I do not even wrinkle my nose when I walk by, I just walk by... yuk. Well, that's all for now..
Oh yeah. The exciting thing about Portugal. My uncle Louis, from Ireland is with my mom's aunt Nancy and her husband, Jimmy in the south of Portugal and that is where I am going.. to be with family!!! to drink and hopefully stay with them on the beach in sunny southern Portugal.. Hope you're all well and happpppy! We will survive!! luv, rai
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