Beauty and the Beast

Well, here we are, our last day in Spain...we fly out tomorrow morning for Geneva, Switzerland (where we have yet to find a place to stay...I think it will be camping by Lake Geneva for us...places to stay there are ridiculously expensive!). We are in Malaga, the birthplace of Pablo Picasso...

Anyway, I´m not feeling very poetic right now, but I wanted to share a little bit about the Alhambra and our brief stay in Sevilla.

On Saturday morning, we arose, bright and early (7:00am...an ungodly hour in Spain). We wandered down the desolate streets, up the sharply graded hill to a ticket booth with sleepy people already lined up at least 50 deep...those sad saps who failed to reserve their tickets in advance. hahaha!! At promptly 8:30, the gates opened to a medieval paradise...we sauntered in (as some crazy tourists briskly brushed past us and sprinted down the walk) and made our way over to the Palacios Nazarios (i think i have that right). This is the coveted area to visit...the sultan´s private palace. It was, as my uncle Jack so rightly put it, one of the most beautiful places on earth. The intricate carvings, the amazing geometric architecture, the stunningly manicured gardens, the phenomenal use of water as decoration. It was a celebration of life, of faith, of Allah, of paradise. It was, as Nick likes to say, a wonderful, cleansing sorbet after the festival of death on friday night (a quick note...nick may not be a vegetarian, but I am finding it extremely hard to stomach meat now...the bullfight affected me much more than i realized--I am strong enough to admit that I actually cried--and if anyone would like to discuss my spiritual epiphanies when I return, i would be glad to gab your ear off). After the palace, we went on to the Generalife gardens...an enormous expanse of amazing beauty. Nick got plenty of ideas for our future backyard....

I could write novels (in fact I believe many novels have already been written) about our experience at the Alhambra, but i would start to sound redundant and you have more important things to do with your time.

After 8 hours (yes, that´s right, EIGHT HOURS) we finally peeled ourselves away and wandered back down the streets of Granada, plotting our overthrow of the Spanish government so that we, ourselves, could occupy the Alhambra.

Later that evening, Nick astutely spotted an unassuming poster advertising a Bonsai exhibition put on by La Asociacion de los Amigos de Bonsai de Granada. We found the small exhibition and wandered through the trees on display. On our way out, we asked if we could take a poster and Antonio stopped us and asked us where we were from. This prompted a 3o minute discussion (in spanish, mind you) on bonsai cultivation in spain and minnesota, our travels, the climate changes....you get the picture. Nick was in heaven. We got the email address of the association and left, elated.

Later that night we found a little tea shop that had live flamenco guitar music, had some crepes and hookah and went home, sad that we were leaving Granada.

I won´t bore you much more, but I wanted to share a little about Sevilla. Neither of us liked it at all...where as Granada was big, it retained the feel of a small town...it retained it´s identity. Sevilla had been overrun by the tourist industry. Every few meters we passed some tacky tourist shop where they were selling horrendously gross things (i cán´t post them online).

ON the plus side, we did get to go to a mass in the cavernous Cathedral and got to hear the amazing organ play. And we went to a breathtakingly fantastic flamenco presentation--a guitar player, a singer and two dancers. I was floored...apparently the lady dancer (carmen mesa) won an international flamenco competition...it has inspired me on a new career path...I will now be a flamenco dancer. forget grad school...On the whole, we were not sad to leave Sevilla the next day.

Well, i think that´s about all...if you want to see the most recent photos, click here. And post responses...we like to know people love us!!