Cuenca very much.

The view from the river.

A few weekends ago my friends and I decided to make a day trip to Cuenca (About 2-3~ hours away by train). We got up fairly early and met at the train station and then took the subway to a satellite station (Unfortunately not actually in space). We arrived in time and settled in on the train as the sun started to rise. It was mighty fine to get out of the city a bit and see the countryside. There were tons of little pueblos and one stop was a single house in the middle of the mountains and only one guy got off the train (Talk about service).

Casas colgadas

As we got near Cuenca, the train started to shake quite heavily from side to side. It made it pretty tough to sleep as my head smacked into the wall (a lot). When we rolled into the city, we got a map from the help desk and walked towards the older part of Cuenca. We immediately noticed the smaller town vibe compared to Valencia (80k vs. 1 million). We walked up to a small river and headed up a hill towards the "hanging houses" which the city is known for. There are only about 3 or so that are truly built on the edge of a cliff and share a wall with the rock face. It was pretty crazy to see them in person and to imagine living in one of them (Constant fear of houseslides?)

Upside down nose rock.

Nearby was a giant bridge that crossed the valley to a monastery. I took a pretty intense amount of fotos here and eventually we wandered up near the hanging houses and saw that one was a restaurant. However, it was about €30 for a meal (Totally within my budget). So we moved on and walked through the narrow and hilly streets until we found the main plaza and the cathedral. Inside there was some pretty sweet stained glass that cast colors all over the walls. It is interesting to see all the cathedrals here which are hundreds of years old and then compare them to the churches and cathedrals in America (Such history).

Cuenca was a bit colder due to its inland location.

 Next we continued up the hill to a lookout at the top that gave some wonderful views. We ate lunch at a nice and cheap restaurant and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around. Later, we chilled at a park and eventually caught the train back. It was a lot of fun to take a side trip, but we started to run out of things to do after seeing the sights (We were avoiding things you have to pay for).

My host mom told me she doesn't like this bridge. Too high up.

Last Saturday night, MTV España put on their annual enormous free concert in Valencia. This year the headliner was the Arctic Monkeys who are from the U.K. There were also some local bands that we didn't arrive in time to catch. It was a pretty cool experience being there and seeing thousands of Spaniards hanging out at the edge of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias while the policia patrolled on horses, dirt bikes, and 4-wheelers (But never stopped any illegal behavior). The weather wasn't great that day, but it had stopped drizzling in time for the show and so there were at least 10,000 people there. They drained one of the giant wading pools in the CAC and so the stage was set up where it is normally watery. The music was excellent and although we were separated at the beginning, somehow by the end my friend Tanner and I had found everyone we came with and a bunch of other ISA people. It was pretty ridiculous.

There were creepy guys walking around offering to take pictures for people (I think for a price).

One of the most interesting changes with regards to Spanish culture is that interrupting others while speaking is not considered rude and is constant. If I don't interrupt at the dinner table, I won't get to say anything at all. At first it was hard to try to catch the Spanish when they were all speaking at once, or knowing who to follow. Now I am used to it and my friends and I interrupt each other all the time. I am sure I will accidentally interrupt someone and appear rude when I return to the States. Multiple conversations going on at the table are completely normal as well.

At the base of the hanging houses.

In other news, I have started watching a television show in my free time that is called Aguila Roja (Red Eagle) which is about a school teacher who moonlights as a Samurai-Robin Hood in Medieval Spain. It is pretty ridiculous (evil men plotting to kill the king and all that jazz), but a good way to keep working on my listening comprehension skillz. The main character is kind of like Zorro and has a Sancho Panza-like sidekick.

I enjoy Spanish architecture.

Random thought: We never drink milk here. The only time I have it is in my coffee every morning. It is also kept in non-refrigerated parts of stores and sold in 1 liter boxes (Weird). My family does refrigerate it once it is opened at home, though. At meals, however, we drink water 99% of the time. I wonder if there is an osteoporosis problem here. I worry for the structural integrity of Spaniards.

Bonus Photos:

Haphazard.

This tiny tunnel was choice.

The sky was mega blue.

Proof I didn't steal the pictures from Google Images.

No Spain, No Gain.

VLC from the top of Miguelete (Tower on the Catedral)

Hola everybody, I apologize for not blogging much lately and my new goal is to start doing shorter blogs with greater frequency. It is harder to find time/motivation with 60 degree weather outside and a city to explore. However, I will try my best to shape up.
I really love it here and have yet to experience any of the culture shock or stages of adjustment that I had to read about 20 times during the process of applying to come here. I honestly think that returning to the U.S. will be much harder (Except paying in USD's will seem awesomely cheap). However, there is one thing that has gotten on my nerves to some extent. In Spain, everyone wears their shoes all the time in the house. We usually chill out in our room for a bit before meals and so we take off our shoes to give our feet some freedom. However, when we head down to a meal, we have to put our shoes back on and then when we come back upstairs, take them off again. In reality, it doesn't really bother me that much, I actually find it pretty funny. Fun fact: I have never seen my host family in socks.

This is mi casa. I will try to get a better picture and a picture of my street another day.

I noticed how quickly terrain changes in Spain on the day we left Toledo and drove to Valencia. Near Madrid, the soil is red and it is fairly steppe-y, but once we were within 40 minutes of Valencia, we started seeing mountains filled with green trees. There was one specific spot where a series of mountains were hanging out with a big lake between them. It was so scenic it was almost unfair.
When we arrived in Valencia, we drove along what was previously the Turia river. It was diverted south of the city after a terrible flood and the old river basin is now a huge park that runs through the city (It is extremely useful for navigating when you don't know the city well). It was fairly odd to see a park filled with green plants and palm trees in January.
 Next we drove past la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias which is a crazy futuristic complex filled with buildings designed by a Valencian architect named Santiago Calatrava. I am planning to take absurd amounts of pictures there and will hopefully be able to soon (It was built with nighttime reflection shots in mind). It is essentially like being in the future (The buildings were actually featured in a spaceship on the show "V").

El Mercado de Colón.

We finally parked next to the Mestalla stadium where Valencia Club de Fútbol plays. I haven't gotten to a game yet, but I plan to go to the next home game. We met up with our host dad, César. We threw our bags in his car and set off driving through the city. It is funny to think back on how driving through a roundabout seemed so weird to me. Now, I don't even have to think about when the little green walking guy will appear. Call me a communist, but I think they are much more efficient (plus they provide a green area for sweet statues).
We walked into our house (which I had creepily viewed through Google Maps Street View) and met our host mom, Matilde and host sister, Marta. Marta had some friends over and so we sat at the dinner table and were immediately offered pastries (The Spanish stereotypes of continuous food offering are so true). We tossed our bags in our room and headed out with Marta and her friends to a beach on the Mediterranean slightly south of Valencia. It was pretty crazy to think about how I would be living on the coast for the next few months (I am stoked for swimming weather).

La Plaza de Ayuntamiento

Then we went to the Albufera which is a giant lake near the ocean that is magically filtered underground through science to make it freshwater (Sort of like the Everglades in appearance but minus the alligators) Sometime in the near future, we get to come back with ISA and do a boat tour, which should be excellent. The view was pretty sweet with mountains in the distance and we got to practice Spanish during the drive (or Castellano here, as Spanish could be any language spoken in Spain such as Catalan or Valenciano). Initially, conversations were like intense brain workouts, but have significantly improved. We came back and unpacked and then hung out with our family and watched Spanish TV. The shows here are fairly ridiculous and basically anything goes in terms of making fun of people.

La Lonja is where the silk trade went down back in the day. (The pillars are designed to look like palm trees when they go into the ceiling)

Our family is great and I am super grateful to be with them. César is a very kind man who is working on his English which helps a lot in conversations. Matilde is also super warm and loves to laugh. They are both very fun to talk to, especially about current events. I have three siblings, but only one who still lives in the house. César is 32 and mostly visits for meals but speaks English fairly well. Marta is 29 and recently got her own apartment and Miguel is 28 and still a student. They are all really nice and happy to help with our Spanish. My roommate Chris is from Colorado and is a good guy. I am glad that I got a roommate who is interested in working at Spanish and that we get along well.

Dynamic lighting.

Our house has two stories and is super nice. There is a little porch thing that starts on the ground floor and on the second floor has a spiral staircase to a terrace on the roof. We have our own bathroom and the house has heating, which isn't very common here. We also have 3 fish, 3 turtles (They live in a little pool thing in the terrace) and a cat named Trasto. Overall I give it two thumbs way up.

The floor was an optical illusion.

The next day we had an orientation of sorts at the ISA office and the University of Valencia. I am taking Spanish Grammar, Mediterranean Society: Past and Present, Panorama of Spanish Literature, and Spanish Culture. My schedule isn't too bad. I have class at 8:45 2 days a week, but to counter that, I have no class on Thursdays. Our Culture prof is hilarious. He is the most scatterbrained person I have met. When he hands out papers, he doesn't give out a stack to pass out. He gives out random numbers of papers to certain people and it takes about 20 minutes for everyone to get papers. It is quite excellent.
Our house is about a 35 minute walk from the University and instead of spending money on the bus, we walk everyday.This 70 minutes a day plus walking whenever we go anywhere in the city has been a great way to counter the sheer amount of food consumed here.

Valencia is slightly larger than Decorah and New Ulm.

The meals here are quite different from in the States. Breakfast is a cup of coffee (Soooooo good here) and a little muffin thing or two. La Comida is at 2:30~ and is a feast of epic proportions. It usually consists of 2 large main courses followed by dessert and fruit. La Cena is at 8-9pm and is smaller and usually has soup or vegetables with a small portion of meat. We eat fruit every meal for dessert and the mandarin oranges here are incredible. Also, we have fresh baguette style bread every day for comida and cena. It is sooooo good.

The Basilica and Cathedral

Our host mom is an amazing cook and I am hoping to learn a dish or two from her. We eat a lot of seafood and vegetables here and I know I am probably eating more healthily than I ever have. Mom, I know you will be surprised, but one of my favorite meals here is peas with little pieces of chorizo and a pepper based sauce. Crazy, right? Our ISA group went out for horchata one night, which is a mega sweet drink. You dip bread things called fartons in it and it's nearly too sugary to handle. (at least farton presented many pun opportunities) (P.S. I am mature). We also had the wonderful experience of chocolate con churros. It is a cup of melted fondue-like chocolate and delicious sugary churros that you dip in the cup. You feel like a sinner just looking at it.

The cranes in the top right look like giraffes if you click on the picture.

In other news, my relatively new shoes have developed a penchant for squeaking upon every step. I am too cheap to buy new ones and am currently opening an investigation into the source of the noise. I may just become a clown for a new source of income.
This entry seems more scatterbrained than previous ones, but such is life. I am going to try to do one entry per week. Even if that means without fotos or maybe it will force me to go on more photo expeditions.

Mis amigos Max, Tanner, y yo at the top of Miguelete.

Posdata: I recently was informed that I have been selected to go to Oslo, Norway for 6 weeks this summer as a part of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum program at the University of Oslo International Summer School. I am fairly enthused. Quadruple bonus: The flights, housing, food, and classes are... Free. ¡Super guay!

Lucy, you got some ex-Spaining to do.

Toledo. Click on it for gigante sized.

Day 13 - Jan. 14
My last day in London was spent primarily in the airport (awesome). I left the hostel at 6 and rode the subway for about 45~ minutes to the London City Airport (3 line changes and one with a daring long distance fast walk + jump between closing doors combo). When I got to the Light Rail, I noticed it was snowing fairly significantly and I started getting nervous.

Downtown Madrid

As I sat in the lounge of the airport, it felt like I was in gym class. I kept watching my teammates (flights) getting smacked in the face (cancelled) by speeding dodgeballs (the weather). Fortunately, my flight ended up being delayed for 4.5 hours instead of being cancelled (Odd to call that fortunate). I passed the time trying to not look suspicious to the men walking around with MP5 Machine guns and watching On the Road Again. It is a show where Gwyneth Paltrow and 3 friends travel around Spain exploring the gastronomic culture. It was crazy to watch it and realize that within a few hours I would finally be arriving in Spain.

Catedral de la Almudena

When I landed in Madrid, it was very rainy but warmer than England by quite a bit. I snagged a jamón y queso sandwich and took the metro to the hostel. It was a really nice and cozy place. I spent the first part of the night on my computer in the lobby, since it was rainy and already dark (Not great conditions for exploration).

El Palacio Real (big).

Later on,  I went to a grocery store for a snack and It finally felt like I was in a foreign country. Ireland and the U.K. were definitely different, but a change in language really emphasizes that you are no longer in Kansas. I meandered about the grocery store and looked at the totally different selection of food (abundance of ham products). Also, the carts are similar to wheeled luggage and you pull it behind you. I bought shaving cream and a razor and shaved off my sketchy facial hair and became quite a bit younger looking.

An epic plaza by the Palacio.

I spent the rest of the night chatting with some Italians, Brazilians, a Brit, and one guy from New Jersey (Unfortunately not DJ Pauly D). I hit the hay fairly early and prepared to finally meet up with the ISA group the next day.

Day 14 - Jan. 15
After a quick breakfast I took the metro to the hotel to meet my group. It was quite a change from 16 bed dorms in hostels to a 2 bed room in a 4 star hotel. Although, oddly enough, our hotels charged for internet, whereas nearly every hostel had free wifi (humorously pronounced weefee in Spain). It seems a bit backwards considering the difference in price.
I had a while to wait before our group arrived, so I wandered down the street until I found a plaza that had an excellent Don Quixote and Sancho statue. I almost accidentally walked into a live TV shot of a reporter at a food bank event and narrowly avoided Spanish TV stardom.

I wish nice places let you take pictures inside.

When I got back to the hotel, there were about 30 ISA kids with absurd amounts of luggage sitting outside waiting to check in. It made me pretty glad to have been limited by Ryanair's strict weight limits. Some people had two enormous wheeled luggage things and I had a messenger bag and a backpack. Let's just say, should a baggage-carrying foot race have occurred, I would have definitely been the champion.
I went upstairs and settled in and met my roommate for the semester (Chris) and a few others joined us at a cafe nearby for lunch. We went for a stroll through a large park and wandered a bit. On the way back, we stopped in a super small bar for refreshments and the owner brought us a free plate of paella (Stellar).

Toledo and the old castle.

That night we had a guided bus tour of the Madrid which included the biggest Spanish flag in Spain (Think Perkins in America big) and a Egyptian building from 200~ BC that was brought to Spain and reassembled. Next was an awesome meeting about safety and an opportunity to buy a prepaid cellphone (which still hasn't worked and I am currently using one a previous student left at my house). After the meeting we went out for tapas where I had some patatas bravas (literally courageous potatoes… and I must say, they were quite valiant).

Day 15- Jan 16.
This was the day of sightseeing in Madrid. We started out with a bus ride to the Prado art museum. However, our bus broke down halfway there, so we moved like a gigantic herd of cattle through the crowded streets of Madrid. Fortunately, it wasn't very far and the weather was great. We only had time to go through the Goya, Greco, and Velázquez exhibits, but they were awesome and a half. Plus we had a guide to throw out fun facts (I love fun facts).

Ayuntamiento is basically the city council/hall.

Afterwords we traversed the town on foot to the Palacio Real, which used to be the stomping ground of the kings and queens back in the day. It was absurd. I felt like I gained net worth just standing in it. In my long and luxurious life I have never seen such fanciness (Midwest, we got to up the ante). There was a room entirely lined with porcelain and another that took 27 years to make that had crazy intricate designs sewn into the walls. Every room had beautiful frescos on the ceilings and we only saw 27~ rooms out of the, wait for it… 3,418 rooms. It is the biggest palace in Europe and I wanted to sell everything in it to try to save the world economy.

Scenic, no?

Afterwords we were free to do as we pleased and so we headed back across town (couldn't get enough walking). We ate "la comida" (enormous Spanish lunch) at a restaurant and then went to the Reina Sofia museum. It is primarily modern art and the first room we went into was essentially a sensory deprivation chamber with repetitive noise and strange lighting. It was weirdness to the nth degree.

Apparently cars drive through streets like these.

We crossed a purposefully empty exhibit (modern art is a bit over my head sometimes) and eventually found the cubism exhibit and Picasso's Guernica. It was huge and amazing to see in person. There were also photos of the progression and evolution of the painting and a good amount of art from the era of the Spanish Civil War. We finished up by visiting the Surrealist exhibit which contained Dalí and a movie which was fantastically ridiculous.

This is the old Jewish quarter, before they were kicked out of Spain by los Reyes Católicos

At this point we were all way tuckered out and grabbed the metro back to the hotel. We hung out the rest of the night in the hotel and had cheap dinner from the Corte Inglés (imagine a bigger and less evil Spanish Walmart).

Day 16 - Jan 17.
After a feast of a breakfast at the hotel (I was used to toast and coffee from hostels), we hopped on the bus and left Madrid. Toledo is an incredibly beautiful city. It is surrounded on 3 sides by a river and used to be the capital of Spain. It is also a Unesco World Heritage site and is filled with crazy skinny streets. We started out with a panoramic view of the city from the opposite side of the river which had craggy hills (Craggy is a sweet word).

A cloister in Iglesia de San Juan de los Reyes

Next, we took at 2.5 hour walking tour and got to see huge churches, the oldest synagogue in Spain, and Greco's The Burial of the Count of Orgaz (Very very cool). Our tour guide was hilarious, knew tons of people around the city (population is only 80,000~), and kept making jokes (Everybody come closer…wait…  just the ladies). Seems slightly creepier typed out, but it made the tour more fun.

Toledo, Ohio probably doesn't look quite this good.

After our tour we grabbed some hamburgers at a restaurant near the plaza and it turned out that they were actually burgers of ham. Very strange but decent tasting. Fun Fact: Coca Cola is super awesome here (small glass bottles and real sugar). I fear I may develop a coke habit (rimshot). Sorry, bad joke, I know.
 Next, we all got on the bus and rode to the newer part of the city to our hotel. We chilled out on our balcony and watched the Barcelona ISA group arrive. The hotel was another 4 star and was pretty sweet (yet unnecessary).

As you can see, the city is neatly organized.

We had a 2.5 hour meeting and then set off in search of a restaurant. We found a cerveceria (bar and grill of sorts) and had tasty sandwiches. After a while,  I noticed a beer can display on the wall and low and behold… A Schell's beer can. I wish I had brought my camera with.

View from the main plaza.

Afterwords, we went back to the hotel bar and watched a Real Madrid v. Atlético football game on a huge projected screen. Unfortunately, the guys from the Barcalona ISA group were really living up to the loud annoying American stereotype. They even wanted to ask the bartender to change the Madrid football match to a NFL football game (Luckily, they lacked the Spanish speaking capabilities). It was sad to see it in real life and I was embarrassed.

Some folks from my ISA group. We have about 52 in total.

The next day we headed to Valencia, but I will save that for my next blog post. I will try to keep updating this as much as I can, but it is harder when I actually have stuff going on now. However, I will give it a valiant effort (like my potatoes).

Bonus foto:

This is a borrowed picture of the dining room in the Palacio Real. The table is twice what you can see here. Ritzy.

Londone.

For Aslan!

Day 7 - Jan 8:

National Gallery and Merwoman - Trafalgar Square

Our last day in Edinburgh was spent in a relaxing fashion. We ate breakfast and read the paper and then went to a Starbucks to wait for our train. We had two train changes and even though one of our trains was 20 minutes late, we got to Nottingham safely.

The entrance to the mall.

Taking a train along the Scottish coastline was incredible. There was one point where Hannah and I interrupted our movie (In Bruges) on my computer just to see what city we had arrived in. The view from our bridge was of other bridges and the river weaving through the buildings to the sea (I wish I had gotten my camera out). There was free wifi and electricity on the train which felt like the future (I am still not entirely sure how the internet worked). We made it back to the flat and chilled out until some of Hannah's flatmates arrived and then we went to the Program Director's house for tea and cake (British much?)

Awesome dancing rabbits in the mall.

Day 8 - Jan 9:

Statues outside Buckingham Palace

We basically hung out in the flat the whole next day. It was great talking to everyone about their experiences during their month long travels and seeing their pictures. In the evening, Hannah, Lauren, and I went to the Lion and sampled a few local brews that were written on a chalkboard (They change quite often). It was a lot of fun and I almost felt like a non-tourist for the first time in a while.

Poor guy didn't feel well.

Day 9 - Jan 10:
I woke up and had some scrambled eggs and walked to the tram to the train station. Having met Hannah as soon as I arrived in Dublin, it was immediately weird to be alone. The train ended up being way more expensive than I expected because I didn't buy my ticket ahead of time. I am not sure why this happened, as it hasn't happened to the Nottingham folks.

Buckingham Palace

When I arrived in London, I decided to walk to my hostel to save some money. However, I accidentally thought it was in Euston Square instead of Russell Square (At least the mistake didn't cost me money and was only a few blocks off). It wasn't too far of a walk and I found the street quite quickly. Unfortunately, the outside of the hostel is not very clearly marked. This meant that I walked about 5~ blocks down and back the length of the street with 50~ pounds of weight in my bags (multiple times). I resorted to asking a bigger hotel where it was and they told me it was a few minutes walk down and on the left. So I went down and back one more time without success. I returned to the hotel and asked to use the internet (Google Maps is the best) and he told me it was about 100 meters from the hotel (which isn't a few minutes walk by my standards). I discovered the hidden hostel and checked in. It felt amazing to take the weight off of my shoulders (mentally as well).

I love Goooold.

I grabbed pizza at a cafe for lunch and bought a 48hr. pass to a Big Bus tour. It was a double decker with an open top (somewhat chilly) and I rode the whole tour which was about 2.5-3 hours (Bus tours are a great way to see more of the city while learning sweet history tidbits). However, the tour didn't do a complete circle from where I got on and so I had to take a different bus back to the hostel. I grabbed groceries (PB&J's for the win), made dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the night.

There was a stone unicorn on another section of this wall.

Day 10 - Jan 11:
The next morning I took the same bus to get downtown (My pass got me to Trafalgar Square each morning for free). The entire day ended up being a gigantic photo expedition through London. Unfortunately it was incredibly overcast and dreary, which led to entirely white skies (bummer). I started out by wandering around Trafalgar Square (excellent statues and mermen/maids in the fountains) and then headed through an enormous gate to the mall which led to Buckingham Palace. I discovered a pair of guards with ridiculously big machine guns that had hunting knives attached to the barrels. They kept yelling and stomping a lot while I chuckled and took pictures (I'm mature). Sometimes I forget that I am in a different country with traditions and customs connected to a unique history. The plaza in front of Buckingham was packed with other tourists and had shiny golden fences. The statues were pretty sweet and a procession of soldiers with swords on horseback came through (I wonder how skilled at sword fighting they actually were).

It's all about the Big Benjamins.

Next, I strolled through St. James Park along the mall and encountered squirrels that were as friendly as the ones at Luther. I would have taken pictures of them, (They came within a foot of me) but my battery was already halfway gone and wanted it to last (it was only 10am). Westminster Palace (Big Ben and Parliament) was gorgeous and I took many many pictures.

Hey remember that time when I would only smoke Parliaments?

I headed to Westminster Abbey and spent the rest of the late morning there (Student discounts are awesome and add up quickly). The interior blew my mind. It was so incredibly beautiful and filled with so much history. It is where English kings and queens are crowned and contains the tombs of royalty and many others. I felt myself flashing back to my European History class as I looked at the tombs of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Interestingly, Charles Darwin and Sir Issac Newton are both buried there as well (In a science corner of sorts). It was surreal to stand near the graves of two minds that have had such an influence in the world of academics.

Westminster Abbey.

Afterwords I walked along the Thames and avoided two scammers who were trying to put things on me and then make me pay for them (I politely declined the leaf and "friendship" bracelet). Otherwise, the walk was great and after lunch I ended up at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was also magnificent and a bit cheaper due to upper level viewing areas being closed (due to weather). My budget didn't mind the lower price and I got to see the tomb of Admiral Nelson and the Duke of Wellington along with the Dome's beautiful artwork. The Millennium Bridge was close by and has a pretty neat design (It was featured in the beginning flying scene of Harry Potter 6).

It's named after Sir Benjamin Hall who oversaw its construction and was most likely big.

Next, I headed to Tower Bridge, which is iconic and used to require about 90 men to function (Now it is primary operated by computer). My tour bus pass included a boat ride on the Thames from the Tower of London (which is actually a castle), so I grabbed that and enjoyed the view as I headed back to Westminster. Fun Fact: The city of London is primarily the economic area by St. Paul's whereas Big Ben and Parliament are actually in the city of Westminster. I went over to the Parliament building, where a bobby (which are named after Sir Robert Peel who started Scotland Yard) told me that I could sit in on a debate in the House of Commons. I headed through security and got to listen to a discussion over the creation of a mandatory registry for home schooled students. It was really interesting to read the pamphlet and compare their system to our government (particularly the role of royal assent which has unelected control over bills passed). I also learned that there are two red lines that run through the chamber on each side which the members are not allowed to cross. These originated as an attempt to stop rivals from cutting each other down with their swords during debate. Interestingly, powdered wigs are still worn by officials in certain positions in government. Afterwords, I headed outside and took some night pictures and rode the bus back to the hostel.

St. Paul's Cathedral

Day 11 - Jan 12:

It is fairly large.

My last day in London, I grabbed my favorite "free" bus ride to Trafalgar and started out by visiting the National Portrait Gallery. It begins with paintings of royalty and progressed to photography exhibits which were pretty awesome. There were some photographs that were crazy beautiful and emotion-evoking. It made me wish that I had more subjects for practicing portraiture.

The color choice surprised me at first.

Next I ate lunch and headed to the much bigger National Gallery (Both are free). I spent the better part of my day in there and saw an amazing amount of paintings (I couldn't help thinking about their combined worth). I have found that I am a bigger fan of artwork from the more recent centuries when it becomes less than 100% religious (exaggeration). I particularly loved Van Gogh's Sunflowers and A Wheatfield, with Cypresses. They both have incredible textures from the paint and the Wheatfield was particularly eye-catching. I also happened upon a 35 minute presentation on Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres. It is a huge beautiful painting and was basically his first big work (Before his invention of pointillism). It was interesting to learn that the painting was essentially a flop until much later. I really enjoyed learning more about it's symbolism and connection to his A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (It is the other side of the same river, where more bourgeois people hung out).

It still opens up for ships, but I didn't get to see.

After my brain was filled to the brim with paintings, I walked up to Piccadilly Circus where I found far fewer elephants and tightrope walkers than I expected. It is actually London's version of Times Square and has huge electronic billboards and theatres everywhere. I took the bus back a bit earlier and am currently sitting in the hostel and planning for my flight to Madrid tomorrow. London was pretty awesome, especially in terms of history and I would enjoy visiting when it is a bit warmer. However, I cannot wait to get to Spain and to start using Spanish and experiencing their culture.

One more of Benny and the Jets... for good measure.