More Spain
Jul. 7th, 2007 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerPhotos & narrative of those highlights of our day in Madrid that was made particularly fun by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
desayunoencama available on his pages for July 5 et al. (You must go to his flickrstream to see the complete set, esp. this one! ) deliasherman's LJ will fill you in the travelogue. Suffice it to say that our morning at the Prado (Velasquez, Goya, and Bosch's Garden of *&% Earthly Delights - that enough for ya?! Oh, and a few others in there, too, in case you've got any brainspace left behind your eyes...) rendered us shopping creampuffs, defeated by a a mere 9 boutiques and some 96 degree weather - thank goodness he knows the best chocolaterias!
We are now in Gijon at Semana Negra, which is not so much indescribable as so exhausting & overstimulating as to deny description. I did want to tell you about the train from Barcelona to Madrid. We got to the station in plenty of time to buy tix, and after waiting in a long line were told that there were nothing left but First Class seats. I freaked out. Not because they were so much more expensive, as that I had done my *research* and this was not supposed to *happen*! the train was at a different time, too - later, because it was a closer station (oh, never mind - but ditto!)! I kept asking about the fine points of the schedule and begging not to be sold a First Class ticket, and he kept looking blandly at me and saying, "There are snacks." Yeah, sure - the railway equivalent of airline food, I'll bet. So we get on the train, and the seats are bigger and less close together, OK, and our seats are reserved . . . And then they start coming down the aisle with the Cava - local sparkling wine. Hmm. Snacks are Good. First Class is Good. I Like Snacks. (Ah - but later there were indeed little plastic-wrapped trays of food that made Delta & United look like the &^% Tour d'Argent. So there. Fortunately we had been to the market that morning & packed some pretty spectacular cheese & bread.)
I must say, I like the North the best. There are hills here, and it's cold. And we were piped through the streets of a small town, Mieda, by Asturian bagpipers. Also, there is cider - hard apple cider that I love. The train trip from Madrid to Gijon was spectacular, and we sat with fellow-guests Chip (Samuel R.) Delany, Susan & Peter Straub (who all live within 20 blocks of us in NYC, but of course we never have time to get together there), and shared the snacks we'd all packed. Someone is making a documentary about Chip, so every time he got on or off the train or bus or got a glass of cider the camera was there. There were other press & cameras all up & down the aisles, and every time the group moved they were all over the place. I've never experienced this before. Chip is by far the most photogenic, and since we were hanging out together, I got my photo in the paper along with him, ogling I mean watching the stunningly beautiful young man pouring the cider (which is a big skill around here) in Mieres.
Gotta go - there's a cider party ("espicha") tonight!
desayunoencama available on his pages for July 5 et al. (You must go to his flickrstream to see the complete set, esp. this one! ) deliasherman's LJ will fill you in the travelogue. Suffice it to say that our morning at the Prado (Velasquez, Goya, and Bosch's Garden of *&% Earthly Delights - that enough for ya?! Oh, and a few others in there, too, in case you've got any brainspace left behind your eyes...) rendered us shopping creampuffs, defeated by a a mere 9 boutiques and some 96 degree weather - thank goodness he knows the best chocolaterias!We are now in Gijon at Semana Negra, which is not so much indescribable as so exhausting & overstimulating as to deny description. I did want to tell you about the train from Barcelona to Madrid. We got to the station in plenty of time to buy tix, and after waiting in a long line were told that there were nothing left but First Class seats. I freaked out. Not because they were so much more expensive, as that I had done my *research* and this was not supposed to *happen*! the train was at a different time, too - later, because it was a closer station (oh, never mind - but ditto!)! I kept asking about the fine points of the schedule and begging not to be sold a First Class ticket, and he kept looking blandly at me and saying, "There are snacks." Yeah, sure - the railway equivalent of airline food, I'll bet. So we get on the train, and the seats are bigger and less close together, OK, and our seats are reserved . . . And then they start coming down the aisle with the Cava - local sparkling wine. Hmm. Snacks are Good. First Class is Good. I Like Snacks. (Ah - but later there were indeed little plastic-wrapped trays of food that made Delta & United look like the &^% Tour d'Argent. So there. Fortunately we had been to the market that morning & packed some pretty spectacular cheese & bread.)
I must say, I like the North the best. There are hills here, and it's cold. And we were piped through the streets of a small town, Mieda, by Asturian bagpipers. Also, there is cider - hard apple cider that I love. The train trip from Madrid to Gijon was spectacular, and we sat with fellow-guests Chip (Samuel R.) Delany, Susan & Peter Straub (who all live within 20 blocks of us in NYC, but of course we never have time to get together there), and shared the snacks we'd all packed. Someone is making a documentary about Chip, so every time he got on or off the train or bus or got a glass of cider the camera was there. There were other press & cameras all up & down the aisles, and every time the group moved they were all over the place. I've never experienced this before. Chip is by far the most photogenic, and since we were hanging out together, I got my photo in the paper along with him, ogling I mean watching the stunningly beautiful young man pouring the cider (which is a big skill around here) in Mieres.
Gotta go - there's a cider party ("espicha") tonight!