Saturday, December 22, 2012
Spain, December 2012
We did get here. Hurrah! and surprise!
The afternoon we arrived, Bob and I went to the Prado to look at paintings. I don't like museums. They're full of pictures by dead guys. It's just that it's hard to be in spain and not go to the Prado. And I did want to see paintings by Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. I didn't realize that they had some very cool Bosch also. There's one called the Garden of Earthly Delights which is part of a tryptych, a foldover with a big center. The left is paradise, and busy but not exciting. The middle is the G of ED, which is famous. The right side was incredibly cool, it was Hell and full of amazing stuff that I can no longer even recall (senility having set in). And, if you did fold the two edges in, he'd painted more stuff on the "cover". It was great!
Goya and the rest were not so interesting to me. but I really liked El Greco! I have NOT liked him in books, the people are too tall and thin, like the folks in the planet Father whatshisname went to in The Sparrow. But the colors were fantastic - i think he must have painted them in the greys and blacks first, and then washed the color over the top. The colors were too rich to have lived through the muting required if you put grey or black into your paint. But then, I'm probably wrong.
The next day, we walked around a cool part of town, old fashioned, balconies, tall, marble, grilled windows, it looked pretty "spanish". And we found a market that Cait loved, and in which she got some cheese. This picture is of the Plaza Mayor, not the favorite place, but very spanish and has this cool building.
THEN we went to the Palais Real (palace of the king), and i just wanted to go in, even though i wasn't sure I'd like it, but I did want to, and I have wantd to, and so I broke down and decided to go. Cait was supremely uninterested, but Bob was willing to come too.
And it was as good as I had hoped! There were painted ceilings, gilt, velvet with gold embroidery, a throne room, embroidered wall papers. One room had porcelain figures on the wall, instead of embroidered tapestry wall paper! I did notice that not so many of the pictures were religious. In the Prada, most were religious. In the Castle, there were lots of greek legends and heroes instead. And the rooms were HUGE. I walked around staring at the ceiling. Bob had to keep me from bumping into people and falling down. Fantastico!
And, Bob said le'ts go to the armory. So we did - and it had amazing armour. I had never seen a real broadsword - they're taller than I am - and they look like they weigh a ton. And I saw an arquebus. And muskets. and the pistoles were LONG, I had thought maybe 12 inches top, but they were over 15 inches.
We saw horse armor and KID armor - for maybe an 8 year old. They don't belong in battle.
At the end of all that, we went to the Templo Debod - which is an egyptian temple what was going to be flooded with the Aswan Dam. Spain helped Egypt a lot with the project, so Egypt gave Spain this temple in recognition of their work. It's got real hieroglyphics inside - you can actually see the stone carved words! Very cool. And in a lovely park. With Bob in front.
Then, on day 3, we got to Mallorca. Our house is outside of Soller, in hte beautiful mountains. It's a lovely house. We are incredibly grateful to Christopher Toyne for letting us rent his house. It is in a fantastic village, with a fantastic view, and i'm using fantastic a lot but what else can I say? Old, beautifully preserved, full of antique furniture and modern paintings, classy tile, refinished wood eams and white stucco, modern stove and old fashioned shutters, melding the old and the new. (But parking and driving here was not so much fun, says Bob). Anyway, more tomorrow.
The afternoon we arrived, Bob and I went to the Prado to look at paintings. I don't like museums. They're full of pictures by dead guys. It's just that it's hard to be in spain and not go to the Prado. And I did want to see paintings by Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. I didn't realize that they had some very cool Bosch also. There's one called the Garden of Earthly Delights which is part of a tryptych, a foldover with a big center. The left is paradise, and busy but not exciting. The middle is the G of ED, which is famous. The right side was incredibly cool, it was Hell and full of amazing stuff that I can no longer even recall (senility having set in). And, if you did fold the two edges in, he'd painted more stuff on the "cover". It was great!
Goya and the rest were not so interesting to me. but I really liked El Greco! I have NOT liked him in books, the people are too tall and thin, like the folks in the planet Father whatshisname went to in The Sparrow. But the colors were fantastic - i think he must have painted them in the greys and blacks first, and then washed the color over the top. The colors were too rich to have lived through the muting required if you put grey or black into your paint. But then, I'm probably wrong.
The next day, we walked around a cool part of town, old fashioned, balconies, tall, marble, grilled windows, it looked pretty "spanish". And we found a market that Cait loved, and in which she got some cheese. This picture is of the Plaza Mayor, not the favorite place, but very spanish and has this cool building. THEN we went to the Palais Real (palace of the king), and i just wanted to go in, even though i wasn't sure I'd like it, but I did want to, and I have wantd to, and so I broke down and decided to go. Cait was supremely uninterested, but Bob was willing to come too.
And it was as good as I had hoped! There were painted ceilings, gilt, velvet with gold embroidery, a throne room, embroidered wall papers. One room had porcelain figures on the wall, instead of embroidered tapestry wall paper! I did notice that not so many of the pictures were religious. In the Prada, most were religious. In the Castle, there were lots of greek legends and heroes instead. And the rooms were HUGE. I walked around staring at the ceiling. Bob had to keep me from bumping into people and falling down. Fantastico!And, Bob said le'ts go to the armory. So we did - and it had amazing armour. I had never seen a real broadsword - they're taller than I am - and they look like they weigh a ton. And I saw an arquebus. And muskets. and the pistoles were LONG, I had thought maybe 12 inches top, but they were over 15 inches.
We saw horse armor and KID armor - for maybe an 8 year old. They don't belong in battle.
At the end of all that, we went to the Templo Debod - which is an egyptian temple what was going to be flooded with the Aswan Dam. Spain helped Egypt a lot with the project, so Egypt gave Spain this temple in recognition of their work. It's got real hieroglyphics inside - you can actually see the stone carved words! Very cool. And in a lovely park. With Bob in front.
Then, on day 3, we got to Mallorca. Our house is outside of Soller, in hte beautiful mountains. It's a lovely house. We are incredibly grateful to Christopher Toyne for letting us rent his house. It is in a fantastic village, with a fantastic view, and i'm using fantastic a lot but what else can I say? Old, beautifully preserved, full of antique furniture and modern paintings, classy tile, refinished wood eams and white stucco, modern stove and old fashioned shutters, melding the old and the new. (But parking and driving here was not so much fun, says Bob). Anyway, more tomorrow. 
