Fun in Finland

So far, this image really captures for me what Finland feels like (taken from inside the car, as the sun sets at 2pm). There is that peculiar lilac shade in the sky, and some snow, but you're warm and maybe you can hear some music playing; it's really beautiful.


Of course, my title could have been 'Freezing in Finland', but I actually didn't feel that until about week into the trip, when I went for a walk in -20 and my hair turned grey from ice particles formed from my breath. It's not always -20, mostly it's about -10...Anh the Michelin Eskimo!

We stayed the first few days with Klaus' brother in Naantali, about 15 minutes from Turku.

Anh, enjoying the company of Elsa and Aino who look like her, and whom will lie down unexpectantly demanding a bellyrub (dogs, that is...)

Sweet Turku church with little windows:

Anh, momentarily distracted:


Yes, it really did say 'Supreme quality you-know-what on the mountain top'.

Ada, the professional rice paper roll roller:

Speaking of food, I made an expensive phonecall to Australia on Christmas Eve and Linh picked up, the few precious moments we spent talking about...well, food of course. For you, sis:

Yep, I don't think we've been eating very typically on account of a vegan in the house, I mean, I guess we're lacking at least one pig and a reindeer.

Klaus taking the piss (yes, it's porridge, but the homemade apple jam is DELISH!! I had maybe a ratio of 3:1 jam:porridge...):

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas; Lordi certainly did at the Santa Village...

And a happy new year!

What Lord Byron said about Sintra

He said 'I must just observe that the village of Cintra in Estremadura is the most beautiful in the world.' He called in Paradise on Earth.

Of course, it's hard to be convinced after a 45 minute train ride of surburban drabbery - but after you round the corner and start walking up hill, the scenery changes and you'll find yourself agreeing with Lord Byron. Apparently King Ferdinand brought back hundreds of exotic flora to populate his paradise with, even eucalyptus trees, whose nuts we saw on the way up to the Moorish castle.

A beautiful palace can be seen from the castle, simple and elegant:

The town:

Anh enjoying sweet treats from Piriquita, the famous pastry store:

We also went to Cascais that day, and never quite figured how to pronounce it correctly, so refered to it as 'couscous', like real plebs. 'We' is Christina from Eppso, and 3 young Americans on exchange in Granada, whose names I've forgotten but will always remember as how I normally think of young Americans – naïve and polite, and 'nice as pie' (except the ones who listen to heavy metal music, dress in black and carry guns, naturally).

Bye Portugal, like a Pacman with sharp teeth who releases a bird to say I hope to see you soon...

Running like a bull around Barcelona

Yeah ok, I know they don't run bulls in Barcelona, but I liked the semi alliteration.
You could spend all day taking pictures of the buildings in this city, and Anh did!

Church wall with green tiles and best living statue I've seen:

Sunny days:

Enough said...

One of my favourite moments was discovering whimsy in an otherwise busy and nondescript Metro station.

In my first post, I said that Barcelona represented all my heroes (well, not all, but they do make up a large percentage) – Dali, Picasso, Miro, Gaudi.

People are really mad for Gaudi, including me. In his life, he died alone, which makes me sad. I will do a separate entry because of the volume of pictures I want to share...

Dali always appealed because his work is unapologetically crazy. When you leave the museum, you think again, 'Geez, Dali really was crazy'. He will also have a seperate entry, because this kind of craziness also inspires many photographs.

Miro's art (well, the happy art) is like a sweet calligraphic dream, where all the right things are in the right place – birds, stars, happy figures, shapes. Photos were not allowed within the gallery.

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of cubism at the Picasso musuem, but thought it was a really nice collection overall. There was also an exhibit on Japanese erotica (and very interesting to see its influence on Picasso's more rudey art), and well, some of it was a bit weird. A friend mentioned the other day in a completely different conversation that Japanese hentai was not (is not?) allowed to depict genitalia (that is, male) or actual sex, which is why you have various other phallic representation. Such as giant squids. Which is weird.

Sorry to end it on this note, but I'm going to see Santa Claus now. That's right! He does exist, mum! (If you're wondering, I'm now in Lappland.)

The girls of Navalcarnero

The crazy weekend in Madrid also explained why I couldn't find any reasonably priced accommodation; I stayed in a little town called Navalcarnero, about 45 minutes away by bus. I had a fun time there actually - the first night I arrived, I got very lost and had to ask some teenage girls hanging out in the local square for directions. They walked me to the hostel and we had very limited but lively conversations, then they came back about 1 hour later and asked if they could take me out the next night (it took at least half an hour before I understood). 'Porqua?' I asked, and there was a pause until one of them said, 'Because...you are very nice!!' Awhh. So I went to pizza with them, enjoyed a stroll around the town, and took snaps in varying quality of light...









Representing Navalcarnero: Ainhoa, Jeni, Alice, Hanna, Helen, Marta

Thanks!

Madness in Madrid

Madrid was, for me, definitely mad. Wikipedia says it's the 3rd largest city in the EU after London and Berlin, but it felt much much crazier. I didn't know upon arriving that it was a 4-day long weekend, which brought everyone else in Spain to Madrid, whilst everyone in Madrid apparently fled elsewhere (good idea).



I don't have many pictures of Madrid because I didn't feel very inspired. The buildings seemed to me excessively big but not necessarily that interesting. The whole city began to feel like a Christmas party that goes on too long with people you don't like that much - screaming children, screaming parents, stupid Christmas head adornments, even more stupid random shit things that make annoying noises and flash incessantly, can't leave but can't go anywhere else either etc.

However, the Reina Sofia did have a fab exhibit on Russian artists Rodchenko & Popova (and Guernica), and the Thyssen-Bornemisza had the 'Tears of Eros' exhibit (which I went to grudgingly since I'd wanted to see their permanent collection) which was also excellent. The English audio guide was good, and they even had a Rousseau as part of it!

And I liked this a lot, but lost my notes (detective work soon):

Between Sofia and Prado, there was the Caixa Forum with vertical garden by Patrick Blanc...



and inside, lovely edges...



Until next post!

P.S. There appeared to be a jungle within the main train station, with baby turtles hanging out with mum...