Week 3: 4/4/2022 - 11/4/2022¶
This week we are going to Zaragoza at the end of the week. From a teaching perspective I want to try and prep the students for discussions about the solar panels and wind farms we hope to see and possibly the moon if the weather cooperates. I’m still sorting out my approach to the MUS 101 class but some thoughts from the Museo de la Musica last week are helping it come into focus.
4/4/2022 Monday¶
Finally the weather has cleared although the high today is below 15 C which the Barcelonians clearly see as pretty cold. Everybody is very bundled up with scarves and hats and hoods.
Physics today we prepped ideas about electricity production from the sun and how payback times work. We also discussed the basics of wind turbines and introduced the concept of NIMBY. Good discussion.
Went out and had some sandwiches to eat with Elizabeth and the boys before walking over to Expanish for class. Apparently last week we had short classes (2 hrs) due to a scheduling conflict and going forward we’ll be having 2.5 hrs of class. It’s a lot and everyone’s brains felt pretty fried by the end. 10 folks in a small room with limited ventilation probably reduces the availability of oxygen as well. Tired folks but everyone is learning.
On the way home we hopped off the metro at Sagrada Familia so Dawn to walk around the building. She was impressed but did not find it attractive. We walked home watching for a panaderia for bread since we were running low. Got a loaf of raisin bread (turned out to be very yummy) and some beer bread. Then we passed a household supply store where Dawn hoped to find tape and glue sticks. One thing led to another and we got the tape and glue stick but also a tape measure for physics class, clothespins for laundry, a smaller notebook for spanish that will fit in my man purse, and containers for leftovers. Loaded with bags we wandered home. Bruce stayed up a little late trying to figure out how he understood the 7 elements (or 8 or 4 or 13 depending on who you look at) of music and how to clarify them for the students. No point in getting to far ahead eh?
5/4/2022 Tuesday¶
I feel good about how the students responded to my version of the 7 elements of music. We had a good discussion with lots of questions which meant we only made it through the element of timbre. We’ll pick up the thread in Zaragoza and in the weeks afterwards.
After music class Dawn had kettlebell so I went for a little walkabout as I am begining to do, First thing I saw was a dog walker with a raft of dogs, the most I’ve seen yet. Most amusingly one of the dogs appears to be a Eurasier which is the same breed as one of my daughter’s dogs. As the dog walker wrangled the mob of dogs down the sidewalk the Eurasier deigned to follow along at a leisurely pace. He seemed only just barely willing to lollygag along behind the other dogs. This is sort how Kody is so maybe its a breed thing.
Well organized dog walker…a little underexposed due to bright background, sorry.
Maybe Eurasiers are always trailing behind….
After class Dawn had a good chat with Leo who owns the kettlebell gym about how he got into being a kettlebell gym and all. Lovely story of gently managed growth to provide an opportunity that no one else in Barcelona seemed to want to pick up. While he was talking to Dawn he quickly introduced us to Daniel - friendly American from Phoenix who has been living and working in Spain for 18 years. Mostly in Madrid and recently in Barcelona. We talked a little bit about how to get out of the city and see a little more of the countryside and how folks live outside of Barcelona. He said that he sometimes takes a train as far out as possible and then gets off at one small town and walks 10-20 km to the next train stop. This way he always has a way to get back but gets to see a very different slice of life. Seems like a great idea.
I did some looking at some the FGC lines that go out towards the Mont Senny Natural Park area and the idea seemed plausible. It’s also apparent that from most of the small towns around any of the natural areas there are trails that go off into the parks. These trails are accessible from the train station and run between 10 km and 40 km long. This might be a really interesting way to explore outside of Barcelona. Could be day trips or overnight trips. More on this later…this week is the Zaragoza trip so we’re already busy.
Walked home to take a short siesta. Around 5:30 we headed out to the Museo del Desseny down at Plaça Glories. Modest entrance fee and we started with the design history of the last 60 years or so of consumer goods. Some very intriguing stuff that got you thinking. Very enjoyable. That collection is on the ground floor. There are 3 other collections on the upper floors that we went to visit. The is a interesting overview of graphic design in Barcelona since the 70’s. The basic thesis is that after the Franco years there was an enormous desire to rejoin the rest of the world that led to an explosion of interest in design and design culture. This rapid and passionate growth and engagement with design has become a characteristic of the Catalan culture and it’s view of itself. Some really fascinating examples of poster, brand, book, and event design across the 50 years including a wonderful set of materials from the 1992 Olympics. Cool display. The upper two floors are a collection of Catalan household objects across 6 centuries which is historically interesting but hard to stick with all the pots and fabrics and wooden boxes. The last couple of rooms about the 20th century were easier to engage with for me partly due to the fascination with Gaudi. The last collection on the top floor is dedicated to the form and design of fashion across roughly the last 200 years. It is presented in a intriguing way but using mannequins that have been distorted to illustrate what aspects of the silhouette were being enhanced or minimized. Interesting way to organize the history. Given our relative lack of interest in fashion it was a quick walk through but nonetheless well done.
Home to eat and try to get HW done for spanish class.
6/4/2022 Wednesday¶
Mornings are starting to feel a little comfortably routine. Got to the classroom a little early which turned out to be a good thing since one of the cables that connects the monitor had gone missing. Jordi saved the day but everybody on the SAE team were cheerfully helpful. Jordi even found me some baby wipes for the whiteboard which has not been happy about being erased.
Today’s discussion about the moon and it’s phases was facilitated with a sun (the orange), the earth (a Granny Smith apple - green of course), and a tomatoe for the moon since i didn’t have a piece of cheese that was big enough. Students did a great job of thinking about the model and where all the objects were relative to each other at different phases. Also had a number of science practices discussions along the way. Excellent group of students! Even got a sense of the eclipses and why we have such different perceptions even when lunar and solar eclipses occur with essentially the same frequency.
Finished up going to the Arc de Triomf and working out the angular size of their fists for the first time. Also did a quick conversion to radians and did a little estinating of the height of the Arc de Triomf. We’ll circle around to this topic again when we are in La Muela looking at the wind turbines.
Dawn and I headed back to Dues Sicilies for calzone’s and rollo’s which we knew would be tasty and inexpensive. We then walked up whatever street we were on at that point which turned out to be Carrer de Girona. We just kept walking uphill knowing that as long as we didn’t cross Diagonal we weren’t totally lost. Just before we got to Diagonal we passed lovely luthier’s shop, Luthier Vidal Barcelona, which was very beautiful and they were quite welcoming. I particularly loved the open frame violins in the front display case. I wonder if they have open frame cellos? I hope Emma gets to visit this place. Amusingly they sell silk pajamas for cellos and violins which I had never heard of. Silly me I guess.
Luthier Vidal Barcelona
We arrived at Expanish a little early so we went down the alley just before the building that houses the school and found a lovely courtyard where we could sit on a bench in the shade or the sun that was quiet and away from the bustle of the street. Very relaxing.
Our Spanish classes were good as always and someone worked to keep the spaces a little cooler so everyone wasn’t falling asleep. Elena leads a good class and has great technique for keeping us talking about regular things that we are doing or are happening in our lives. It provides a great venue for asking questions about things we’re not sure we understand about how life works in Barcelona or how Spanish is used in context. Note to self: Elena felt that a single rail pass to a town would not permit you to get on and off the FCG at will. For that you needed a Zone 4 or 5 pass. It seems possible that you could get an open pass that works out to Zoe 5 for just a day or two which might work for hiking/walking trips to the more rural areas outside Barcelona – check it.
Odd Fact: For some reason we were talking about how we spell things in English and how it relates to Spanish. I asked, who knows why, whether were spelling bees in Spain and how to say that. Elena said that there are no spelling bees in Spain because if you can say it you can spell it. There are no hidden or silent letters in Spanish. There would be no point in having a spelling bee. What?
After Spanish we walked all the way back to el Born where we had lunch. Going downhill at an easy pace seemed very comfortable. Dawn was pining for something sweet and cream filled and none of the shops we passed had what she wanted. Eventually we got down el Born along Via Laietana and turned towards the Mercat de Santa Caterina she saw a refrigerator in the back of a pastisserie that had what she wanted. We stopped for coffee and two of these cream puff looking things that the server wasn’t sure what they were called. He found them on the computer menu and claims they are massini but we’re not convinced. These looked like flakey round puffs that were split in half and filled with a frozen cream. Absolutely delicious but I can’t find a picture of what we had.
From there we headed down to find The Pan Club which is a quiche spot that we highly recommended to us. Turns out they are open from 12 - 6 and we arrived at 5:55. No deal this time but we do know which alley to go down behind the Mercat de Santa Caterina to find this place. Roughly the same place we got totally turned around hunting for the Museo de Picasso. Obviously a change of plans for dinner.
We wandered up near Plaça de Sant Pere looking at menus that mostly seemed too expensive for what we wanted. Since we were close we stopped in at UP Headware which is one of the markers for where to turn for Dawn’s drawing class. Sort of amazingly the service person remembered me from the previous week and could exactly remember the hats we had looked at. I’m amused that I can’t find the particular one I bought to keep the sun off my head but I think is some version of a Tribly. This one is 100% wool felt, water repellant, and crushable. I fit a large (L) or 7 3/8. Feels very nice on but it does make me even taller.
Bruce’s hat.
While I was going all shopping therapy with the hat Dawn found a really lovely sun hat that was in a light burgundy color that matches almost everything she wears. Also crushable and made from some sort of cording. The hat is made in South Africa.
Dawn’s sun hat.
I feel like we’re ready for a sunny weekend in Zaragoza where we will be spending quite a bit of time outside. Weather report says sunny and warm.
Then we wandered off along C de Sant Pere Més Alt to the Plaça de Sant Pere looking for a reasonbale place to eat. We ended up at a bistro on the Plaça called En Apárté Bistro. Dawn had a bean salad that was fabulous and I had very tasty risotto and an IPA from Barcelona. Everything was delicious. Following a hunch I searched again for the MOB (Makers of Barcelona) Co-Working space. Turned out to be a coupple of hundred meters away just outside el Born. We had 40 minutes so we see if we could find it. Indeed we did and Dawn waved at someone who let us into the space. I explained that I like to visit makerspaces as I travel and was interested in the co-working space that included 3D printing and some other fabrication tools as part of the benefits of the co-working space. She noted that they makerspace folks are there earlier in the day and perhaps if I came back I could talk to them. She was very friendly and didn’t seem to mind that we had interupted her work time. As we were leaving another member of the space came out to chat next to the 3D printers and reaffirmed that the fabrication tech was there from 10-3 each day. He noted that the space immediately next door was also associated in some way that I didn’t quite understand. I will have to go back next week when I have time and see if I can figure it out. Typical of the very friendly and sharing folks I usually find in this sub-culture.
MOB (Makers of Barcelona Co-Working) street view
From there we walked back to life drawing and dropped Dawn off 15 min early so she could get a good spot to draw from. Along the way we noticed that the Canela Fina was hosting an event where everyone one was participating in the cooking and later when we passed they were having dinner. Looked like a great experience but not sure if there is a way to join a group or if it’s only for a private group or contracted experience. Their array of options looks fabulous but I’ll have to write them and see if I can ask clearly enough.
After dropping Dawn off I took the hats and went home for an hour – her class is 2 hours long but it takes me about 30 min door to door so I get an hour of work done before I go back to pick her up. Makes sense to me and helps Dawn not be anxious about getting home safely.
Because we have a Sagrada Familia entrance at 9:00 tomorrow we pretty much went to bed when we got home at 22:30 (drawing class is 20:00 - 22:00 on Wednesdays).
7/4/2022 Thursday¶
This morning we started a trifle earlier than usual so we could be at the Sagrada Familia for the first entrance time. Dawn had got us tickets with the audio guide. We were among the first 10 or so to go in today. Took a bit of fussing to sort out how to get the audio guide on our Spanish phones when the tickets were on Dawn’s iPhone. Download the app, enter reservation number and email address, and then boom – you have the audio guide. We just put our phones on speaker, turned the volume down, and held them close to our ear as we have seen locals do sometimes.
Baseline response is WOW!. The exterior of the building feels incredibly ornate and busy. I found it intruiging but Dawn had a less positive experience when we walked around it the other day. Today, when we went inside, was a completely different feel. Inside is all open volumes, clean lines, and scale. I didn’t really take pictures because others have done it better and images can’t really capture the stunning feel of the space. We walked through with the audio guide and then went back on our own to moving around in the space. I could write for days I think about small details or impressions. The joy in the stain glass windows and the intentional flow of the colors through the space is stunning. The forms of the columns that make the space so open and airy are overwhelming. The creativity and quality of the art pieces whether they are the bronze doors or the cubist figures are just amazing. The following images are just things that caught my attention and are not meant to convey much about the experience. We almost missed seeing the museum because it is around a corner and down below as you are tempted to leave the basilica. Go to the museum – lots of fascinating insights into the development of this stunning project which has been going on now for 140 years (almost exactly).
This image is from the Passion Facade and just shows the enormous structure and some of the figures carved onto and into the face.
This is the schoolhouse that Gaudi built for the kids of the workers and others in the neighborhood.
These are engineering strain monitors on one of the columns of the Passion Facade. Probably watching for small changes in the behavior of the column
This is an example of the style of the artist who designed and created most of the imagery on the Passion Facade (just where I happened to be when I took out my camera). This is a cast bronze relief.
Gaudi designed an entire carillon for the basilica using this form for the individual bells. 7 dang octaves – a whole piano!
A replica of the inverted model for the church in Guell that preceeded the Sagrada Familia. The hanging strings form caternary curves that minimize strain on the string. When the shape is inverted it minimizes compression on the columns that replace the strings.
We spent about 3 hours at the basilica. Walked home stopping for café and pan. Did a little work and then went shopping to be sure we had food in the house when we return Sunday night. All the stores will be closed so if we don’t have it we won’t be able to get it!
After we put away the groceries we took the metro down to Plaça Urquinoana and walked down to the Pan Club that we had visited yesterday just as it was closing. This ‘quicheria’ was recommended to us by Anne – a friend in Bend - as one of her favorite places to eat in Barcelona. About 9€ gets you a good hunk of one of the 12 or so different quiches they have made that day and two sides of salad. Everything looked and tasted great. Really yummy. Surprisingly they don’t serve wine as an option which seems unusual for Barcelona but hey, it’s a differnt sort of place. To find it go to the south corner of the Mercat de Santa Caterina (in the back and follow that narrow alley (Carrer de les Semoleres) towards the sea which will drop you into the Plaça de la Llana. The Pan Club will be at the right hand (towards Montjuić) end of the Plaça. Bon apetite!
After that delicious meal we wandered up towards Carrer de Sant Pere Mez Alt to see if the perfumery was open. It wasn’t so we gently walked home as has become our custom when the weather is nice and we’re not too tired.
Got home and checked in with Tegan, talked to our dog, chatted about this and that, and then got busy trying to pack lightly but appropriately for 3 days in Zaragoza. No telling if we got it right but we’ll know soon enough and we can always get what we need. Out of concern for staying caught up on my journaling I will be bringing my laptop or I will be screwed for weeks when we get back. See you in Zaragoza!
8/4/2022 Friday: Zaragoza Day 1!¶
Outline for later since I need to go to bed…. Everybody arrived a little early and the bus driver was a little late. Drove out through the steadily drying countryside vineyards near barca moving to fruit trees mixed with grapes further out transitioning to fruit and grains with olives then mostly grains no sign of irrigation until closer to Zaragosa where started to see some center pivots very dry and looking a little like John Day area Toured Belchite – very somber place that makes you think always of Ucrania Had lunch with the whole crowd at the Bar Galvilán (Hawk Bar) lots of joy and good conversation headed of towards what turned out to be the base of a 2.5 MW wind turbine to have a discussion of wind energy Then started towards Segeda for some celtic astronomy lessons. Turned out we were later than expected the roads were very slow. Chose to redirect and head into Zaragoza – arrived after 6:00 (even so) Got our rooms in the Exec Boston Hotel (very swank 4stars) Since none of the restaurants open unti 8:00 and it was only 7 we walked over to the EMOZ Origani museum – totally awesome – highly recommended and inexpensive. Weekend classes are still cancelled. Wandered about until we found a cafe to have some dinner. Different than Barca – less dense with food joints. Found Cafe Selenia and had a simple small dinner with wine and beer. Back to hotel to rest and get ready for lots of walking tomorrow.
9/4/2022 Saturday: Zaragoza Day 2¶
Up for breakfast. Started out by going to the wrong room with a private tour party (crashed it essentially) – when staff noticed they just directed us to the other room and told us not to worry. Nice to be able to just get a cup of coffee when you want.
Headed off to meet our guide at the main square. I was initially confused since I thought Iria might be heading away from the old town. Figured I was just turned around. As it happens I wasn’t and it took us a couple of blocks to sort it out. Got turned around correctly and made it to the square pretty much on time. Met E and Emma there. Great to see Emma. Started a history tour of the main churches and Basilicas (clearly there are many more than the 2 or 3 we saw). It was a fascinating contrast between the clarity and simplicity of Gaudi’s vision and the ornate and class driven ornamentation of the Gothic and Renaissance churches. Lots of complicated feelings surfaced for us about the power imbalance between the people and the church. Iria reminded me that the Church was indistinguishable from the State in those times which puts it a helpfully different perspective.
Benoit - our guide in Zaragoza in front of the Foro Museum
The Bacilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar was intriguing on several levels. Not the least of which is the veneration of this pilar (narrow column of stone about 2 m long) from which someone long ago heard the voice of the Virgin Mary. Only those younger than 7 may approach it from the front since they are still innocent. The rest of the great unwashed may approach it from the rear to ask it’s blessings.
The Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar from the other side of the river.
The more interesting things to note are that one of the chapels has not been restored yet (several actually) and it was still incredibly dark with candle soot. Give you a sense of how dark these places were in the 19th century before modern restoration work brought them back to life. Our guide noted that when the Cathedral was restored the people were stunned to see what it actually looked like without all the soot.
Another thing was the giant heating grate as we walked in. It was a little cool this morning and some of us were a tad chilled. Standing of this 4 m wide octagonal grate with hot air rising out of it was lovely for those who were chilled. Lastly there was a display of the two bombs which penetrated the roof during the civil war and didn’t explode and destroy the place. They are now mounted on a wall in the space at the basic shape of the holes in the roof remain though the roof has been repaired to keep the elements out of course.
In the Cathedral I was impressed with the enormous music books on a stand in then middle of the choir ‘loft’ in the middle of the sanctuary. They were probably nearly 100 cm tall and 50 cm wide. One was open in the Basilica and it doesn’t appear to using Gregorian chant style notation (apparently called neumes) but was certainly more basic than current notation.
After visiting the Cathedral and the Basicila we took a break for coffee at the Mercat do Zaragoza which just off one end of the main square sort of behind the fountain at the western end. The fountain wasn’t running at this time but the image shows it in action on Sunday. Dawn and I got some dried fruit and vegetable chips to nibble through the weekend. They were quite tasty. After coffee (for some) and snacks we made our way to another church which had replicas of the same statues that we admired on the top of the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. These were close to the ground and we could get a good look.
Fountain in main square in Zaragoza
Then we passed through the old town via a number of alleys called Tubos (tubes) where most of the tapas joints and local drinking spots are. Very narrow streets with standing tables along the edge of buildings. Generally very cosy. Benoit took us to the local restaurant (El Fuelle - name means The Bellows) where we collectively had lunch. We arrived at 1:00 and the restaurant was practically empty. Around 2:00 more people started coming in and by 3:00 when we left you could barely move for all the folks filling this pretty large restaurant. The meal started with salads (everything family style) and local standard dish called migas. The base is breadcrumbs sáuteed with with garlic and sausage. The variation we had included red grapes as well and was delicious. Main course was rabbit (conejo), fish (dorado – a species of fish), and a flat steak. As we have found typical of food here there were plenty of bones in what we were served . This is where we discovered that we talk about bones in fish and poultry equally in English but in Spanish what is in a fish are spines (espina) not bones. Yes.k, we all know they are all bones but the idioma for fish bones is spines. Dessert was a choice of flan, sauteed peach in wine, or a pudding. Many of us tried the peach which was tasty (like a peach steeped in mulled wine) but it was definitely dangerous to try and eat since there was plenty of wine in the bowl and the peach tended to scoot around when you tried to cut pieces off the pit. Lots of wine splashes at this point.
El Fuelle restaurant
Given the name of the restaurant its not surprising that this restaurant had a farm implement theme (regionally traditional food). As we were looking at the implements Dawn noticed a conical object with many long iron spikes (like thin nails about 30 cm long) all converging towards their tips. We couldn’t figure out what is was for so we asked. Should have thought of it, it was a wool pick for carding the wool before spinning into thread. Dawn also noticed the sundial shown below located high on the wall.
Sundial in El Fuelle restaurant
After lunch we had some free time until a planned visit to both the Roman Forum (Foro) and the Roman amphitheater. Dawn and I wanted to see the Goya museum and do a rubbing of his quote that was on a wall in the main square. We managed to find the Goya museum but it was closed until 4:00. We wandered back to the place with the statues of the horses and sat and basked in the sun in a nearby park. A moment of respite. Wandered through the main square and back to the Goya Museum for a quick visit. We spent all of our time looking at the fabulous collection of engravings they had. In Goya’s time the French and the Spanish were at war and his engravings document and comment on the atrocities and mistreatment of humans by each other during conflict. Much to close to home when thinking about Ukraine today. He also offered cynical commentary in the etchings on the power dynamics between the people and the elites. You get the clear sense he would have been a left wing radical in other times. Something you wouldn’t notice so much in his paintings where are largely more traditional or church driven though there are some subtle hints of his irritation at the power structure.
We headed back to the main square for our visit to the forum and noticed Iria basking in the sun as we took a rubbing of Goya’s quote. The full quote is shown below but what is carved on the wall is somewhat abbreviated. The full quote is much more understandable for me.
Fantasía, abandonada por la razón, produce monstruos imposibles; unida con ella, ella es la madre de las artes y el origen de las maravillas.
Goya’s quote…
We then toured the foundations of the Roman forum which were found underneath the main square during a building project. It is very impressive to see the evidence of all the work below the scenes to raise the level of the city above the flood level of the Ebro river. The explanatory video told the story of the ancient city of Zaragoza (evolved from the early name CeasarAugustus) from the perspective of the river watching human development on the banks. Very cool! What is displayed is the substructure of the ancient marketplace which is interesting but it’s hard to remember that actual forum was at the level of the current main square above us. Similar mental jumps at the Roman theater where semicircular theater with 8-10 rows of seats actually only represents the lowest level of the structure which ascended 5 levels and help 5000 folks (nearly 20% of the population at that time). All the finished work (smooth slabs for sitting and walking about) has been taken over time to create other buildings so all that is left is the roman concrete that forms the core of the building. Really amazing.
As we made our way back to the hotel to rest for a bit we found a river of people headed for the main square. We were definitely headed against the flow. Later we found they were all headed for the procession like the one we saw on Sunday. Clearly an important event in the life of the city given the sea of humanity going to watch. We rested for an hour or so at the hotel and then went out to meet Iria in one of the tubos. As we were walking back into town the sea of humanity was moving against us again and everyone was leaving the procession headed for home. We passed Nellie and Kiandra on the way and then managed to find our way into the tubos and eventually found Iria. We had a lovely chat and drinks. Emma found us as well and Iria ordered a selection of tapas which were really helpful in getting to understand how much variety there can be in selection and style. We particularly liked the halved tomatoes with soft farm cheese (like a soft mozzarella) smothered in pesto) as well as the deviled eggs with a meat based filling. The anchovies weren’t bad but anchovies are never on my personal gotta have it list.
Tubo in Zaragoza
At around 11:00 we made our way back across town again to our room and fell into bed. Sandra noted the next day that her step counter was at 20,000 steps yesterday and we made an extra trip back to the hotel compared to her. Yikes – no wonder my knees were a little tired.
10/4/2022 Sunday: Zaragoza Day 3¶
We started this last day with a tour with Benoit at the Palacio de Aljaferia. Parts of this palace were built less than 100 years after the Muslims entered the Iberian peninsula in the 9th century. It is still the active seat of the Aragonese government. Historically it was a repository and seat of Islamic learning during al Andalus and I suppose I hoped that there would be some remnant sense of that past.
Exterior view of the Aljaferia
The crew in Zaragoza
Beyond the architectural design elements that part of it’s history is no longer evident. The most salient design feature that reminds us of the mudejar style is the wonderful interior garden within the palace. In a hot desert it must have been an oasis of tranquility and relative coolness shaded within the walls with plants and orange trees (apparently the oranges are not sweet- here and here - but perhaps are more like cider apples in the historical us - the apples that Johnny Appleseed planted were not sweet apples as we think of them today but more bitter and tart varieties that make reasonable cider.) with water flowing from the feed pond in channels like a mosaic before dropping into the final pool creating a continuous sound of falling water. Must be beautiful in operation. It appears that they no longer run the water in it’s original form which is slightly sad.
The garden in the Aljaferia
Mudejar style elements in Aljaferia
The well within the palace walls is revealed in a way which allows you to look down it to the bottom which is maybe 15-20 m deep. The walls are beautifully laid with projecting stones that form a precarious set of steps for maintenance work (one presumes). Most of the ornate carved stone decorations are alabaster which is a fairly soft stone. What was surprising to me was the depth of the relief carved into the stone. I would estimate it to be 5 cm (2”) which is well beyond superficial relief. It is lovely to see the arabic script still on the walls in many places (surprisingly not Quranic!). There was also some ancient spanish script in the throne room that is hard to read in the same way that old english is hard to read. I was also struck by the part of the throne room with the original tile floor which seemed to be in nearly identical condition to the newer parts of the floor. Very impressive – ceramic lasts I guess.
On the way out we took a quick swing through the Aragonese parliment chamber (this is why we went through a airport style bag check to enter the palace since it is still an active government building) which has that feel of formal important space. I wonder if anyone has done a coffee table book of all the government spaces around the world. Like churches they have a certain feel but maybe that’s just because I’ve only been in western European spaces. I’d be curious.
I have been impressed throughout this trip with the care an attention that Spain gives to it historical biuldings and spaces. I asked Benoit about this because he had mentioned a couple of times that some of these spaces were partially abandoned during the Franco years. He said that all of this attention to their history and honoring it with thoughtful signage and preservation is only since the 1980’s. That’s why so much is lost even though it seems like much was saved. Must have been interesting to visit these sites in the 60’s when Dawn was here before.
After the Aljaferia we walked back into town. Several of the group had gotten a look at the traditional Holy Week processions that are typical of Spain broadly during this part of the year. Many of us only heard about the procession which had people pouring into the old part of Zaragosa as we walked back to the hotel yesterday afternoon. When we got to the square where the procession orginated it was packed 10 deep on all sides. We decided to go around the block to the other end of the procession to see if we could get closer. Eventually we found a place where the crowds were only 4-5 deep because the sidewalks were narrower. Because I’m tall I stayed back on the corner while Dawn went forward along the street a few steps to be able to see with a group of our students.
The regalia that the marchers wear is totally reminiscent of KKK ‘regalia’ in the US. Benoit checked this out overnight and reported this morning that it appears that the KKK dress code appears to original with these Catholic ritual garments. Who knew? Explains why that’s exactly what they look like. The image I include here only gives you a sense of the crowd and some visuals on the regalia. Like Mardi Gras clubs in New Orleans apparently each procession team has it’s own unique rhythmic signature. This one was built around a 6/8 pattern that moved back and forth between 2 beat and 3 beat rhythms. All the drums of different sizes up to a robust bass drum and the rachets played the same rhythm in unison (as long as nobody forgot it) and every now and then a very odd horm part was added. I couldn’t understand what the horn part was meant to do and normally I would think it was an appallingly poor brass sound. Not sure whethere that’s intentional or just because they don’t practice their tiny part much. As soon as the marchers passed (30 min or so) the crowds began to stream away.
Crowds and regalia of the procession
Note: Someplace in this melee we think that Dawn’s iPhone was stolen out of her small purse. It’s very hard to understand how since she was very aware of the crowds and was holding it in front of her the whole time. More about the later.
We walked back down to the square where we listened to a protest group singing with guitar, drum, and ukelele. I think it was an antiwar protest. Then we headed up to the end of the plaza where the foundtain was running. It’s a nice fountain form though perhaps not as cool as I was hoping. From there we walked across the pedestrian bridge to get away from the crowds and sat down to have a glass of wine/beer and some ensalado ruso (russian salad) which has consistently been a potatoe salad with different amendments. Here they added some solid tuna and roasted red peppers and onions. Very tasty and gave a nice break as we sat next to a table with a daschund for Dawn to watch.
After ‘lunch’ we walked back towards the pick up location for the bus and stopped to get some gelato. I had no idea what to call a cone (turns out to be cucurucha which is remarkably like cucuracha as the vendors helped clarify my pronunciation). As we were there the rest of the group descended on us and had gelato as well. At this point my undertanding of the meeting place was the opposite direction from the group and we went a couple of blocks in the wrong direction (my lead) before the smarter ones in the group got it straight and we walked back towards the river. Made Iria feel better about having headed in the wrong direction yesterday.
On the ride home we talked in the bus a little about the rhythms we had heard as well as why the big drums resonated in our chests. After that we had an impromptu discussion of Shrodinger’s cat which Roy was curious about. A few hours later we were all home.
As we unpacked Dawn couldn’t find her iphone and was feeling more and more anxious. After searching through everything and not finding it we wondered if it had gotten left on the bus in spite of all the checks to make sure we didn’t leave anything behind. It occured to me to try to find the phone using the FindMy app on our computers. The app showed Dawn’s phone somewhere about 20 miles out of Zaragoza where we never were. This is when we first realized that she had been pickpocketed (probably at the procession). It’s such a sick feeling when something like this happens. Using the app we locked the phone and set it to erase itself if it ever connects to the web. Most disheartening was the possible loss of all the images that Dawn had taken over the last days and her pictures of Lena. Later we found that they had been synchronized with the iCloud and they weren’t lost. We changed our major financial and security passwords before going to bed. What a bummer.