It is good to be back in Barcelona after spending the last 6 months in the U.S. Everything looks the same and yet different. Stepping on to my boat once again felt like home. I really missed living on the water. Looks like everything survived just fine without me. That is pretty remarkable since while I was gone, Barcelona had two of the biggest storms in the last 30 years. I have heard from other people that were here during the destruction this storm caused. The big yacht that is moored next to me tore the cleats right out of the dock. They had to throw lines around the piers to keep the boat from crashing into things. The captain told me that I tied my boat up so good it barely moved. That is a nice compliment to hear from a guy that has spent his life at sea. He also told me that there was such destruction going on that everyone was looking for any extra lines they could find to tie their boats up better. Not all boats fared so well. One boat sank and out where the really huge yachts are, the pier totally broke apart and sunk. One of the big yachts headed out to weather the storm in the open sea. They figured there would be fewer things to bang in to. Around the marina there are covered areas for shade. The wind was so strong that it blew one of the heavy metal roofs off of the structure and it sheared two sailboat masts in half. I saw my friend Roland from C dock a couple days later. He told me he was keeping an eye on my boat and it looked like it fared better than most. A couple of days later they had a little welcome back party for me. His wife Mar fixed a bunch of Catalin dishes and some of the people around the marina joined us. We enjoyed catching up on things since I was gone. One of the fun things about living in a marina is people are from all over the place. There were people from Belgium Scotland, England, New Zealand, France and yeah, Spain.
Because of the width of my boat, yachts that are much bigger than me surround me. The one next to me is quite huge. I have gotten friends with Marsella who for the first couple of weeks back was by herself. We traded DVD’s and she gave me a huge bowl of shrimp. She had a famous Spanish pop singer and her boyfriend staying on the boat. Marcella planned a big dinner for them, but they changed their minds and went into town to eat. A couple of days later, I gave her back the bowl filled with chocolate yum yum’s I made for her. After about a week, the captain returned from England. He had been recertifying. Then a couple of days later, the rest of the crew returned. The boat has about 5 people on it most of the time, cleaning, cooking and maintaining the boat. That thing must cost a fortune to maintain. They told me it has a 25,000 liter fuel tank. The irony of it all is the crew enjoys the boat way more than the owner who is only on the boat a couple of weeks a year.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Kingdom of Thailand
My friend Mike Crowell calls me up and tells me he wants to go to Thailand in a week. I guess I was the one friend he knew that would always be up for a little adventure. And he was right. We booked our flight and off we went, to explore another part of the world.
Bangkok
It is a big city choked with traffic and pollution. Cars buses scooters and tutus all crowding the city streets. There is a crescendo of horns honking and police yelling out directions. The people on the streets trip over the constant street vendors selling everything from live eels to temple offerings. It is hard to separate the saturation of color and noise from the waffling of smells that permeate this beautiful city. The fragrances are like individual links of a chain that come one right after another. There is no part of the city that does not have a smell. Frying fish, fragrant flowers, barbeque chicken pungent smells from who knows what are all linked together and mixed with whiffs of incense. Temples dot the city and you first come across them from the smell of incense before you lay eyes on their golden roofs of delicately carved wood. Buddhism is the predominate religion with a sprinkling of Hinduism and just a smidgen of Christianity. The dominance of Buddhism makes the city glimmer in gold. Every temple shimmers in the sunlight. The attendants of these ancient shrines are young boys with shaved heads and wrapped in saffron robes. Every young man is expected to serve the church for a period of time. Most serve 18 months. But if you have a good job and are supporting your family, that time can be cut down to 7 days. Offerings are made with carefully arranged flowers and fruit. Devout worshipers carefully take off their shoes and enter with reverence and bow before the huge golden Buddha statues that dominate each temple. The priest blesses the people with holy water and ties a string on their wrist to bring them luck. It is a very inclusive religion. I was standing back watching the priest bless the followers when he looks at me and motions for me to come over to him. I too receive the holy water and the string around my wrist. The parallels with Christianity are not lost on me. They too have commandments that include no lying, no murder, and no adultery, honor your parents and no alcohol. The last commandment seems to be routinely ignored by at least part of the believers. While they don’t have weekly services they go to temple when they feel the need to connect with Buddha. Scripture study is more an individual thing.
The Magical Kingdom Here On Earth
We went to visit the royal palace and center of religion for the country. Now I have been to some pretty spectacular royal settings: The commanding grounds and palace of Versailles, the royal palaces of Vienna, the Vatican, temples of Bali, the forbidden city of China etc. But nothing is like the magic of Thailand. Its royal grounds literally glitter in the sunlight. Everything is gold and silver. Buildings are covered in mosaic mirrors and porcelain tiles. The wealth is displayed in 24 karat gold leafing. The statues are monumental. The architecture is fanciful and beautifully carved in detail. It is like a movie set for Shangri-La. An image of heaven could not be much different from what was created. To be the king of Thailand meant to be surrounded with opulence and luxury. I almost expected this section of the city to be lifted up to the heavens. It is a site to behold,
There are hundreds if not thousands of statues of Buddha all over the city: the reclining Buddha, the standing Buddha, the emerald Buddha the sitting Buddha. But maybe one of the most amazing is the solid gold Buddha cast in the 13 century. When the Burmese were threatening to invade, they covered it in plaster and there it remained forgotten for centuries. It was thought to be old but of little value. Then in 1957 this statue was moved to a new temple. When they were lowering it in place, one of the ropes broke and as it crashed to the floor, part of the plaster fell off revealing what was hidden for all this time, a solid gold statue of the sitting Buddah. It is the single most valuable piece of religious art in the world at least price on its actual raw worth.
Way Up North to Chiang Mai
After spending several days in Bangkok, we took an overnight bus north to the city of Chiang Mai. It is a very large city with about a million people. The roots of the city go back centuries when it used to be on the trade route that brought silver, handmade goods and jewelry. Remnants of the ancient city walls still wander through the city. Scattered throughout the city is over 300 Buddhist temples. The most famous is Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Perched up on the hill overlooking the city. It is another island of glittering gold. We rented scooters for the day and headed up there. Once there you have to climb another 309 steps to the top. On our way up, we took a little detour off the main path and came across our first elephant. It was chained at the foot but immediately started dancing back and forth. A big smile on his face and glint in his eye gave every impression that he was glad to see us. Just like a dog greeting a stranger, this elephant was reacting to us being there. If they weren’t so big, I would love to take one home.
In the afternoon, we rode to the other side of the town where they were having an umbrella festival. Thousands of handmade umbrellas were on display. We visited the factory where women were taking raw bamboo and literally carving each spoke in the umbrella. Each piece was amazingly exactly like the others. They were then all assembled together interlocking each piece with precision until the piece was finished. Then they were all hand painted and laid out to dry in the sun. This factory that produces thousands of umbrellas had absolutely no machinery. All were handcrafted by women who devote their life’s work to producing one part of the whole.
One of the amazing things about Thailand is how cheap everything is. You could get a hotel room for as little as $10 a night and a real nice one for $24. Our cheapest meal was Phat Thai for only 3 cents. And that included the paper plate and fork. Most of the tourist things were free. An hour massage was typically $6.00. You could rent a taxi for the afternoon for a dollar. The only problem is they want to take you to their “special shops” where they get vouchers for gas by bringing in customers. We were not really shopping so asked that they just charge us more.
While we were up north we went on a trek up into the mountains. There are hundreds of mountain tribes that have remained virtually the same for centuries. Some still don’t even have running water. Or trek began with an elephant ride through the jungle. It was really a fun experience riding these mammoth beasts. The one thing that we quickly learned about elephants is that they are constantly eating. They literally never stop, consuming about a quarter ton of food a day. Everywhere we went, they were reaching out with their trunks grabbing half of a bush. It is a good thing things grow quickly in the jungle. From there we hiked up hill for the rest of the afternoon. We finally arrived at a very isolated village that seemed to tolerate tourists like the elephant tolerated the flies that buzz around them, a little annoying, but nothing to get upset about. Our guides fixed us a nice Thai meal and then had us sleep in a one room thatched hut. We slept right on the wood floors with absolutely no padding. That was difficult but the hardest thing was to keep from freezing to death. The sleeping bags were so thin you could see through them. Temperatures dropped to around zero that night. I was curled up in fetal position under my sleeping bag just waiting for morning. Mike finally got up around 3 in the morning and spent the rest of the time waiting for the sun to rise next to the campfire. It was a far different climate from the 80-degree weather in Bangkok.
We took a plane down to Phuket, which is at the south end of Thailand. This town was clearly built for the American GI’s who had their R&R in Thailand during the Vietnam War. There was one bar right after another. And standing in front of each bar were beautiful Thai girls literally trying to drag you into the bar to buy them a drink. When you go to a bar in Thailand, you are customarily given a woman who is your companion for the night. Her job is to try and get you to drink as much as she can and to supply her with as many drinks as you will buy for her though I doubt her drinks have much alcohol. I felt like Pinocchio when he is on the Island of Lost Boys. So much alcohol and so much sex steaming through the streets. It all didn’t do much for me, but there were plenty of guys who loved the attention and who knows what else. We didn’t stay long in Phuket. Instead we headed to one of the hundreds of resort island, Phi Phi.
By this time in our trip, we had seen enough temples and done enough shopping. We were ready to kick back and enjoy a nice week of resort living. Our bungalow was just steps from the beach. We ate our meals with the sound of the surf slapping against the white sand. During the day we would lay around the pool reading books and soaking in the sun. In the evenings there were plenty of fire dances and disco dances to entertain us. It was really just a very relaxing part of the trip. We took day trips on long tail boats, which mean they were regular boats with a car engine mounted on the back. Where the drive shaft is was a very long pole that attached to a propeller. They were fast and cheap and took us to some of the other islands where we fed the monkeys and dove into the crystal clear water. This was one of the islands that got wiped out by the tsunami a couple of years ago. It was a bit unnerving to see tsunami signs scattered throughout the island keeping you always aware of where the highest point of refuge would be in the event of an emergency.
Spending time in the kingdom of Thailand only made me want to come back and spend even more time. I want to explore the surrounding countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It is an amazing part of the world that has a history and culture going back for centuries.
Bangkok
It is a big city choked with traffic and pollution. Cars buses scooters and tutus all crowding the city streets. There is a crescendo of horns honking and police yelling out directions. The people on the streets trip over the constant street vendors selling everything from live eels to temple offerings. It is hard to separate the saturation of color and noise from the waffling of smells that permeate this beautiful city. The fragrances are like individual links of a chain that come one right after another. There is no part of the city that does not have a smell. Frying fish, fragrant flowers, barbeque chicken pungent smells from who knows what are all linked together and mixed with whiffs of incense. Temples dot the city and you first come across them from the smell of incense before you lay eyes on their golden roofs of delicately carved wood. Buddhism is the predominate religion with a sprinkling of Hinduism and just a smidgen of Christianity. The dominance of Buddhism makes the city glimmer in gold. Every temple shimmers in the sunlight. The attendants of these ancient shrines are young boys with shaved heads and wrapped in saffron robes. Every young man is expected to serve the church for a period of time. Most serve 18 months. But if you have a good job and are supporting your family, that time can be cut down to 7 days. Offerings are made with carefully arranged flowers and fruit. Devout worshipers carefully take off their shoes and enter with reverence and bow before the huge golden Buddha statues that dominate each temple. The priest blesses the people with holy water and ties a string on their wrist to bring them luck. It is a very inclusive religion. I was standing back watching the priest bless the followers when he looks at me and motions for me to come over to him. I too receive the holy water and the string around my wrist. The parallels with Christianity are not lost on me. They too have commandments that include no lying, no murder, and no adultery, honor your parents and no alcohol. The last commandment seems to be routinely ignored by at least part of the believers. While they don’t have weekly services they go to temple when they feel the need to connect with Buddha. Scripture study is more an individual thing.
The Magical Kingdom Here On Earth
We went to visit the royal palace and center of religion for the country. Now I have been to some pretty spectacular royal settings: The commanding grounds and palace of Versailles, the royal palaces of Vienna, the Vatican, temples of Bali, the forbidden city of China etc. But nothing is like the magic of Thailand. Its royal grounds literally glitter in the sunlight. Everything is gold and silver. Buildings are covered in mosaic mirrors and porcelain tiles. The wealth is displayed in 24 karat gold leafing. The statues are monumental. The architecture is fanciful and beautifully carved in detail. It is like a movie set for Shangri-La. An image of heaven could not be much different from what was created. To be the king of Thailand meant to be surrounded with opulence and luxury. I almost expected this section of the city to be lifted up to the heavens. It is a site to behold,
There are hundreds if not thousands of statues of Buddha all over the city: the reclining Buddha, the standing Buddha, the emerald Buddha the sitting Buddha. But maybe one of the most amazing is the solid gold Buddha cast in the 13 century. When the Burmese were threatening to invade, they covered it in plaster and there it remained forgotten for centuries. It was thought to be old but of little value. Then in 1957 this statue was moved to a new temple. When they were lowering it in place, one of the ropes broke and as it crashed to the floor, part of the plaster fell off revealing what was hidden for all this time, a solid gold statue of the sitting Buddah. It is the single most valuable piece of religious art in the world at least price on its actual raw worth.
Way Up North to Chiang Mai
After spending several days in Bangkok, we took an overnight bus north to the city of Chiang Mai. It is a very large city with about a million people. The roots of the city go back centuries when it used to be on the trade route that brought silver, handmade goods and jewelry. Remnants of the ancient city walls still wander through the city. Scattered throughout the city is over 300 Buddhist temples. The most famous is Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Perched up on the hill overlooking the city. It is another island of glittering gold. We rented scooters for the day and headed up there. Once there you have to climb another 309 steps to the top. On our way up, we took a little detour off the main path and came across our first elephant. It was chained at the foot but immediately started dancing back and forth. A big smile on his face and glint in his eye gave every impression that he was glad to see us. Just like a dog greeting a stranger, this elephant was reacting to us being there. If they weren’t so big, I would love to take one home.
In the afternoon, we rode to the other side of the town where they were having an umbrella festival. Thousands of handmade umbrellas were on display. We visited the factory where women were taking raw bamboo and literally carving each spoke in the umbrella. Each piece was amazingly exactly like the others. They were then all assembled together interlocking each piece with precision until the piece was finished. Then they were all hand painted and laid out to dry in the sun. This factory that produces thousands of umbrellas had absolutely no machinery. All were handcrafted by women who devote their life’s work to producing one part of the whole.
One of the amazing things about Thailand is how cheap everything is. You could get a hotel room for as little as $10 a night and a real nice one for $24. Our cheapest meal was Phat Thai for only 3 cents. And that included the paper plate and fork. Most of the tourist things were free. An hour massage was typically $6.00. You could rent a taxi for the afternoon for a dollar. The only problem is they want to take you to their “special shops” where they get vouchers for gas by bringing in customers. We were not really shopping so asked that they just charge us more.
While we were up north we went on a trek up into the mountains. There are hundreds of mountain tribes that have remained virtually the same for centuries. Some still don’t even have running water. Or trek began with an elephant ride through the jungle. It was really a fun experience riding these mammoth beasts. The one thing that we quickly learned about elephants is that they are constantly eating. They literally never stop, consuming about a quarter ton of food a day. Everywhere we went, they were reaching out with their trunks grabbing half of a bush. It is a good thing things grow quickly in the jungle. From there we hiked up hill for the rest of the afternoon. We finally arrived at a very isolated village that seemed to tolerate tourists like the elephant tolerated the flies that buzz around them, a little annoying, but nothing to get upset about. Our guides fixed us a nice Thai meal and then had us sleep in a one room thatched hut. We slept right on the wood floors with absolutely no padding. That was difficult but the hardest thing was to keep from freezing to death. The sleeping bags were so thin you could see through them. Temperatures dropped to around zero that night. I was curled up in fetal position under my sleeping bag just waiting for morning. Mike finally got up around 3 in the morning and spent the rest of the time waiting for the sun to rise next to the campfire. It was a far different climate from the 80-degree weather in Bangkok.
We took a plane down to Phuket, which is at the south end of Thailand. This town was clearly built for the American GI’s who had their R&R in Thailand during the Vietnam War. There was one bar right after another. And standing in front of each bar were beautiful Thai girls literally trying to drag you into the bar to buy them a drink. When you go to a bar in Thailand, you are customarily given a woman who is your companion for the night. Her job is to try and get you to drink as much as she can and to supply her with as many drinks as you will buy for her though I doubt her drinks have much alcohol. I felt like Pinocchio when he is on the Island of Lost Boys. So much alcohol and so much sex steaming through the streets. It all didn’t do much for me, but there were plenty of guys who loved the attention and who knows what else. We didn’t stay long in Phuket. Instead we headed to one of the hundreds of resort island, Phi Phi.
By this time in our trip, we had seen enough temples and done enough shopping. We were ready to kick back and enjoy a nice week of resort living. Our bungalow was just steps from the beach. We ate our meals with the sound of the surf slapping against the white sand. During the day we would lay around the pool reading books and soaking in the sun. In the evenings there were plenty of fire dances and disco dances to entertain us. It was really just a very relaxing part of the trip. We took day trips on long tail boats, which mean they were regular boats with a car engine mounted on the back. Where the drive shaft is was a very long pole that attached to a propeller. They were fast and cheap and took us to some of the other islands where we fed the monkeys and dove into the crystal clear water. This was one of the islands that got wiped out by the tsunami a couple of years ago. It was a bit unnerving to see tsunami signs scattered throughout the island keeping you always aware of where the highest point of refuge would be in the event of an emergency.
Spending time in the kingdom of Thailand only made me want to come back and spend even more time. I want to explore the surrounding countries of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. It is an amazing part of the world that has a history and culture going back for centuries.
A Night in Venice With Elton John
We took a little trip to Venice with Mike, Jose and David. It is the magic of those cheap air flights from Barcelona. I always thought Venice had a web of cannels running like streets everywhere throughout the city. In reality there is one main cannel running through the middle of the city with some waterways connecting to it. When we took the water taxi to where we were staying, I was amazed at how familiar the buildings looked along the shore. It is because virtually every movie, every documentary, every travel journal I have seen on Venice has been shot along the one Grand Cannel. The other waterways are much more narrow and more like alleys than waterfronts.
We stayed at a nice hotel right near the Rialto Bridge. This city that started simply as a large market expanded its wealth into a thriving center of commerce that used its revenue to embrace art and architecture. The merchants built ornate homes to show off their success and social standing. The church built opulent churches to show off its divinity. And the government built monumental offices to show off its power. At the center of the city is San Marcos Piazza where the most important government buildings and churches all come together in carved marble and gold leafing.
We took in the sights and sounds of the city, explored the churches and the great works of art and listened to string quartets and Venetian operas. We heard rumors that Elton John was going to give a concert at the Piazza de San Marcos. Of course we did not have tickets. But we decided to choose a nice restaurant on the plaza and have dinner. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. While we dined on seafood and pasta, at the other end of the piazza Elton John sang the songs that all the world knows and loves. The waiter brought us more courses and Elton John brought us more memories of his great music under the stars of this magical city.
We stayed at a nice hotel right near the Rialto Bridge. This city that started simply as a large market expanded its wealth into a thriving center of commerce that used its revenue to embrace art and architecture. The merchants built ornate homes to show off their success and social standing. The church built opulent churches to show off its divinity. And the government built monumental offices to show off its power. At the center of the city is San Marcos Piazza where the most important government buildings and churches all come together in carved marble and gold leafing.
We took in the sights and sounds of the city, explored the churches and the great works of art and listened to string quartets and Venetian operas. We heard rumors that Elton John was going to give a concert at the Piazza de San Marcos. Of course we did not have tickets. But we decided to choose a nice restaurant on the plaza and have dinner. It turned out to be a wonderful evening. While we dined on seafood and pasta, at the other end of the piazza Elton John sang the songs that all the world knows and loves. The waiter brought us more courses and Elton John brought us more memories of his great music under the stars of this magical city.
Friday, May 9, 2008
The Hills Are Alive
The Hills Are Alive
The next day we took a 3-hour train ride to Vienna. This beautiful capital ranks as one of the best in Europe. Strewn with castles and palaces, impressive museums, gold leafed monuments and spotless streets make it inviting to anyone who loves history and great architecture. It is a city that reminds me of a chocolate box, filled with both surprises and treasures to be savored. Shops filled with the most delightful gifts. It is clear that this was once a very wealthy and prosperous city. It still very prosperous bustling with lots of shopping at upscale stores.
The Habsburgs have ruled over the Austrian empire since the early 1300’s. And for the most part, they were loved and supported by their subjects. Their palaces rival Versailles in Paris with its damask walls, inlaid lacquered walls, gilded rococo designs and masterly painted ceilings. An endless line of rooms for every conceivable use follow one right after the other each one more opulent than the last. After a while you run out of new ideas on how to decorate these big palaces. We toured the collection of royal place settings stacks of both silver and gold plates. The royalty never ate on anything but silver and gold for centuries. Eventually they introduced fine bone porcelain and of course there is an endless collection of royal patterned porcelain. Much of it was given to the royal family by other royal monarchs as wedding gifts, good will gifts or just for the heck of it gifts. They had more gold candelabras and mirrored centerpieces than they knew what to do with. Just storing all this loot was a major task. We also checked out the furniture museum. It housed all the back up finely crafted royal pieces that was enough to supply the “Antique Road Show” into the next century. I have no idea how one family could possibly use so many inlaid desks and gilded chairs.
The Buda and the Pest
My friend Jun is visiting me for 3 weeks. He sailed with me last fall from Marseille to Barcelona. Since he will be here for 3 weeks, we decided to do a ClickAir trip to Budapest and Vienna. So with the click of a mouse as magical as any ruby slippers, we were off to check out the capital of Hungry.
It is a beautiful city split down the middle by the aggressive flow of the Danube River. On one side is the ancient city of Buda and the other side the ancient city of Pest. The two combine together to make up modern day Budapest. Many call Budapest the Paris of the east, and for good reason. There is a similarity with strong stone buildings and magnificent bridges knitting the two sides of the city together much like the bridges of Paris crossing Sienna. There are no Eiffel towers but there are plenty of colossal monuments of military victories. Budapest seems to favor wild horses and heroic men over monumental arches however.
We spent a day exploring the extensive collection of art in the museums and the afternoon soaking in the big Turkish baths. The baths are a huge structure with multiple soaking areas. At the heart of the baths is one expansive soaking area covered by a dome ceiling with colored windows mimicking colored stars filtering rainbow streaks of light into the main soaking area.
One of the most impressive structures in Budapest is the huge neogothic parliament building. The second largest parliament building in the world only surpassed by England’s is built right on the banks of the Danube River. This structure has more points and spires than a sea urchin.
The next morning we visited the huge synagogue in Budapest. With its large domed ceiling and onion-topped turrets, it is the second largest in the world. Beautifully restored after World War II devastating bombing and munitions attacks. The ceilings are designed with intricate gold leafing and bright colors. It seats 1500 men on the main floor and another 1500 women in the balconies. (Men and women are not allowed to sit together) We learned that it was part of the Jewish ghetto where Jews were rounded up and virtually starved to death. Of the 6 million Jews that were killed in the holocaust, 10% came from Hungary. Back behind the synagogue is a holocaust memorial in the form of a stainless steel willow tree donated by Tony Curtis. His family is from Budapest. The leaves list the names of all those from Hungary killed in the holocaust. There is also a holocaust museum on the church grounds. The docent made it quite clear that the Germans could not have been able to do what they did without the willing participation of the Hungarian military and government. It is a very heart-wrenching story that always brings me deep sorrow.
It is a beautiful city split down the middle by the aggressive flow of the Danube River. On one side is the ancient city of Buda and the other side the ancient city of Pest. The two combine together to make up modern day Budapest. Many call Budapest the Paris of the east, and for good reason. There is a similarity with strong stone buildings and magnificent bridges knitting the two sides of the city together much like the bridges of Paris crossing Sienna. There are no Eiffel towers but there are plenty of colossal monuments of military victories. Budapest seems to favor wild horses and heroic men over monumental arches however.
We spent a day exploring the extensive collection of art in the museums and the afternoon soaking in the big Turkish baths. The baths are a huge structure with multiple soaking areas. At the heart of the baths is one expansive soaking area covered by a dome ceiling with colored windows mimicking colored stars filtering rainbow streaks of light into the main soaking area.
One of the most impressive structures in Budapest is the huge neogothic parliament building. The second largest parliament building in the world only surpassed by England’s is built right on the banks of the Danube River. This structure has more points and spires than a sea urchin.
The next morning we visited the huge synagogue in Budapest. With its large domed ceiling and onion-topped turrets, it is the second largest in the world. Beautifully restored after World War II devastating bombing and munitions attacks. The ceilings are designed with intricate gold leafing and bright colors. It seats 1500 men on the main floor and another 1500 women in the balconies. (Men and women are not allowed to sit together) We learned that it was part of the Jewish ghetto where Jews were rounded up and virtually starved to death. Of the 6 million Jews that were killed in the holocaust, 10% came from Hungary. Back behind the synagogue is a holocaust memorial in the form of a stainless steel willow tree donated by Tony Curtis. His family is from Budapest. The leaves list the names of all those from Hungary killed in the holocaust. There is also a holocaust museum on the church grounds. The docent made it quite clear that the Germans could not have been able to do what they did without the willing participation of the Hungarian military and government. It is a very heart-wrenching story that always brings me deep sorrow.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Palm Sunday and Easter
I haven’t written much on this blog because not much new is going on. I have settled into a routine of going to the gym, taking care of business, working on my consulting project, riding my bike, working on my Spanish and hanging out with friends. Last week however was Palm Sunday. I started seeing these palm fauns in the stores. At first I did not recognize what they were. They aren’t green, but rather an ivory color. I think they are put in some kind of preservative. They take the leaves and weave designs into them. Sometimes they weave flowers into them. So when the fauns are complete, they look more like a vertical flower arrangement. The people in Spain buy them and put them in their homes. I was talking to someone about their significants and he told me that often the family will keep the fauns up all year. It is a sign of devotion and you get blessings from it. I guess you better choose one you really like.
For Easter, a friend brought over to the boat a traditional Spanish dish to share with me. It was similar to french toast. The bread is soaked in an egg batter and then deep-fried. Then you are supposed to sprinkle brown sugar on it and dip it in a very creamy vanilla sauce. The bread was a little oily for me and very sweet, but I did like the sauce. I asked him to send the recipe. I have to learn a little Catalonian cooking while I am here.
The Friday before Easter was a holiday, of course Easter, and the Monday after. A lot of the people left the city and took the whole week off. When there is a holiday here, everything is closed. You would starve to death looking for even a grocery store to be open. It is so different from the states where most stores would use it as an opportunity for a big blowout sale. Since it is actually illegal to have a sale this time of year, nothing special takes place. Something about sales causing unfair competition between businesses. Sales are only allowed in January and July. I think more than any other difference I see over here in Spain and Europe in general is how the economy is run. The government also makes it extremely difficult to open your own business. There are huge licensing fees to pay before you can begin which are out of reach for most people in Spain. A lot of the fees have to do with prepaying for the national health insurance and just the government red tape. You also are required to take government sponsored courses related to the kind of business you want to establish which you are required to pay for. The courses are only offered during certain times of year. So in the end, most people just take the easy way out and end up working for some company.
For Easter, a friend brought over to the boat a traditional Spanish dish to share with me. It was similar to french toast. The bread is soaked in an egg batter and then deep-fried. Then you are supposed to sprinkle brown sugar on it and dip it in a very creamy vanilla sauce. The bread was a little oily for me and very sweet, but I did like the sauce. I asked him to send the recipe. I have to learn a little Catalonian cooking while I am here.
The Friday before Easter was a holiday, of course Easter, and the Monday after. A lot of the people left the city and took the whole week off. When there is a holiday here, everything is closed. You would starve to death looking for even a grocery store to be open. It is so different from the states where most stores would use it as an opportunity for a big blowout sale. Since it is actually illegal to have a sale this time of year, nothing special takes place. Something about sales causing unfair competition between businesses. Sales are only allowed in January and July. I think more than any other difference I see over here in Spain and Europe in general is how the economy is run. The government also makes it extremely difficult to open your own business. There are huge licensing fees to pay before you can begin which are out of reach for most people in Spain. A lot of the fees have to do with prepaying for the national health insurance and just the government red tape. You also are required to take government sponsored courses related to the kind of business you want to establish which you are required to pay for. The courses are only offered during certain times of year. So in the end, most people just take the easy way out and end up working for some company.
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