Has Anybody Seen the Bridge?

Last weekend, my housemate and I took a day trip to Cuenca, which is famous mainly for two things: the Bridge of Saint Paul and the Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses).  Why are they called the "Hanging Houses"?  This:

Saves a lot of time mowing the yard.

Basically, Cuenca is divided into two parts: Lower Cuenca, which is the area of town where most people live, and Upper Cuenca, which is the more historic area.  And they obviously picked those names for a reason (I'll give you a hint: it's not just because one of them is farther north).  Compare the following two pictures, both taken from the aforementioned bridge:

Lower

Upper

I was basically standing in the same spot for both pictures; the only thing I had to do was make an about face.  The division between the two districts is pretty striking, is it not?

Walking around the city, I got the impression that they took the "city on a hill" idea from Matthew 5 and ran wild with it.  Speaking of running, that is exactly the thing that I would not like to do in this city (not that I'd like to run anywhere else either, but that's beside the point).  For instance, check out the following hill/sidewalk/set of steps(?).  It still doesn't make any sense to me, and that's after having looked at it for quite a while.

A "stare-case", if you will.

We visited a couple of modern art museums (one of which was actually inside the Hanging Houses!) and did some general meandering.  After trekking about town for a bit, we traveled north, outside the city, to hike the surrounding countryside.  Accompanying us on our little nature walk was a cold, windy drizzle, which (it could be said) put a damper on the experience.  However, the clouds rolling in over the hills also led to some truly sublime panoramic views.

(...words fail me)

And we also happened to stumble across this little oddity:

The hills have eyes?

Well, there you have it: the main sights of Cuenca.  If you were paying attention at the beginning, however, you may be thinking, "Yes, but where is that confounded bridge?"

Right here.

To put things in perspective for you, here's another picture of the same bridge that I took from inside one of the Hanging Houses:

Mind the gap...

Oh, by the way...

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! (for those of you who know what I'm talking about)

Having a Ball

I have finally managed to go to a genuine, Real Madrid soccer game.  And yes, it was pretty awesome, although the weather that afternoon (mid-30s and very windy with light drizzle of rain on top) did not look promising.  However, this didn't end up making much of a difference for us because Santiago Bernabéu is heated, in spite of the fact that it's an open-air stadium.  Well, it is partially covered, but still, I was quite surprised to find that I was actually too warm under all the various layers and the thick rain coat I was wearing.  Definitely a pleasant surprise.

As for the game itself, what can I say?  There's no soccer like good soccer, and this was some good soccer.  Madrid ended up beating Español 1-0; it was a fun experience, even though I kind of wanted Español to win.  Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that I was hoping Madrid would lose (I'm a Barcelona fan).  After a while, it became clear that Madrid was definitely playing a cut above Español.  Madrid got their goal early on and then they were able to slow down the pace a little bit.  Español, on the other hand, was just unable to put together a coherent attack, and Madrid was perfectly fine with playing defense.

All in all, a rather enjoyable outing.  Unfortunately, tickets for FC Real Madrid (the soccer team) are a little more expensive than tickets for FC Real Madrid (the basketball team).  Fortunately, Vanderbilt decided that buying our class tickets to a professional soccer game counts as a valuable and enriching cultural experience.  Naturally, I'm not one to disagree.

Street Smart

It occurs to me that I haven't really included a whole lot of pictures of Madrid.  So how about we go for a stroll and I'll point out some of the interesting things that I've seen around town.  (Warning: actually walking to all of these places might take a little while.)

First stop: the house of an early 1900s painter, Joaquín Sorolla.

Yep, that's him all right.

After Sorolla's death, the house was converted into a museum and, like most of the museums I've visited so far, they were particularly persnickety about photography, so I don't have any pictures inside the house.  However, I did get a couple good shots of his front yard:

It's like The Secret Garden...

...except way more awesome.

Having worked as a landscaper in the past, I can authoritatively state that this is a pretty sweet setup.

Anyhow, speaking of sweet things, here's an entirely unrelated picture from a gourmet chocolate shop:

The chocolates are those little guys under the glass display case.

This store, Cacao Sampaka, was one of the places we had to find for a scavenger hunt in our Conversation Intensive.  The point of the game, presumably, was to teach us how to wander about the city at night talking to strangers (don't worry Mom, we were in teams).  I can state with confidence that no fewer than fifty percent of the people we asked ended up giving us correct directions.

Around the same neighborhood, I also encountered a row of rather peculiar penguins:

Marching: I guess it's just what penguins do.

Here's a close up:

What better way to chill your drink?

Yes, these penguins have a can of beer in one wing and a keg under the other.  The building used to be a brewery for a brand whose mascot was, you guessed it, a penguin.  But then the brewery business was either bought or became bankrupt and the bevy of beer-loving birds have been biding on the balcony with their beverages ever since.

One last little point of interest before we go:

When I say "little", it's in a very figurative sense.

This formidable building houses the General Society of Authors and Editors.

Right, that's what I just said.

It's kind of like a cross between a literary society and a copyright office.  It's the kind of place that you go to if you write a very good book and they want to give you a prize.  It's also the kind of place that you go to if you write a very mediocre book, and want to make sure that no one else makes money off it.  Unfortunately, it's not the kind of place where you just drop in to say hi and take some photos.  Guess I'd better get started on that book...

...And We Are Merely Players

It's been a while, no?  A funny thing happened to me last week: my real classes started and somehow my life seems to have gotten a bit more busy (go figure).  Honestly, it feels like I'm accumulating interesting experiences faster than I can write about them.  But now I've got a bit of time to catch my breath and catch y'all up on what I've been doing lately.  So here goes...

One of said interesting experiences is something called "microtheater."  My class went as a group a couple weeks ago and a couple of us decided to go again last night.  Basically, it's a drama studio run by a group of actors who put on a handful of short sketches.  Each sketch gets it's own room and you can get a ticket to whichever sketch you want to see; the rooms are really small, making it a very up-close-and-personal affair.  Throw in a stylish waiting lobby with a bar and small restaurant and there you have it.  I don't know if they already have these in the States, but I could see it being popular in Bloomington or Nashville (especially Nashville).  If any of you decide to start one up, I'm totally calling dibs on a cut of the profits :^)

I think one of my favorite plays was one we saw with the rest of the class.  It was a dark comedy about a Spanish girl who goes to New York to study English, but ends up getting distracted and becomes a contestant in the annual hot dog eating competition; the whole thing comes off as a satire against American gluttony.  Needless to say, our Spanish teacher was a bit embarrassed that she had brought a bunch of American students to such a play.  I, however, thought it was quite good.  One of the amusing parts was the Spanish actor who played an American; I complimented him on his American accent after the sketch was over.  I must say, if he spent a little more time around our group, I'm sure his accent would be flawless.