Endgame

Right well I didn't have as much internet access as I thought I would (or maybe I did) but the trip is now at an end. I find myself in Athens again and we leave in the morning back home. So for now I post this one picture from Oia in Santorini for everyone to enjoy. Toodles!

After many days in Greece

Ok so I haven't had many internet available days, well none since the last post. But now I'm back in Athens after several stops all over the country. The first two pictures are from Delphi, you can see the temple of Apollo in one where the Oracle used to sit. And the face is Hadrian's boyfriend (that was cool back in the day, women just weren't good enough for a real emotional relationship). The other is a monastary in Meteora (Kambalaka), several of them and some nunneries were perched on these rocks where the monks and nuns live in relative solitude (except for all the tourists!). And tommorow off to the greek isles!

It's all greek to me

We're in Greece!! And my sister couldn't wait so we got a little internet at the hotel. So... here is the Acropolis as seen from where I was , and the other is Lord Byron's (yes the poet, but also humanitarian) graffiti on Poseidon's Temple (also an acropolis). Oh man and how I love that everything is spelled using math symbols ;)

George Clinton & the Parliament/Funkadelic in Madrid

"Weeee want the funk, give us the funk!" -And we want it in pampers and colored dreads. Need I say more, indeed I think not. The Parliament and I celebrate a most happy birthday, awww skeet skeet skeet skeet god damn!

Blast from the Music Past

Ummm no I didn't take that picture. However I did go to see Mamma Mia tonight and it was awesome!! It was a rocking good time in fact. They have such cool songs, despite their clothing choices (though it was the times) that the theater was simply jumpin' with their sounds. So here's to ABBA, you guys rocked!

Evening in Madrid

Random pretty sunset pictures I took at El Retiro park.

Real Academia

La Real Academia de España - the place where my sister studied and worked

El Rastro

Today we woke up to the ruckus of "El Rastro". A huge outdoor market that occurs Sundays right under my sister's window. Pictured are some colorful shoes, a brazilian man playing the Berimbau (a typical capoeira instrument) and Bartolo. Bartolo was this crazy old man who kept playing with this puppet (we bought one afterward) making him sing and dance to the silliest songs he could come up with. "Por ahi viene Bartolo, el que siempre mea solo!"

Life in Madrid

So yesterday I stumbled upon some protest in the Plaza del Callao, "Rompamos el Silencio" which had the group Repercusion which was giving up quite a show. The people were of course of unique character and quite photographable. They were of course very passionate about their cause, which were concerning various issues in Spain, such as the lack of [affordable] housing.

On another note we did a city walk/tour of the great writers of spain, such as Cervantes (whose deathplace is pictured above). Finally at night we hit up La Soleá which gave us live flamenco singing and playing and it was amazing. The energy of the music and the power of the singer were a powerful combination (think Gipsy Kings).

In Spain!

So I just got to Spain on way too many hours of airplane riding. I absolutely love it here though, everyone is awesome, most people drive TDIs and no one understands my spanish. Take as an example the lunch picture there, where I ordered a regular coke and got told that my options were "normal or light, we don't have regular", which is made particularly funny by the fact that they use the words 'normal' and 'light', phonetically translated to spanish. The big building is the Cathedral of the Almodena (next to the Royal Palace). It's sometime after midnight, we just got home from dinner (tapas at the public plaza), it's sometime after midnight and I haven't slept for several days... how fun!