I'm presently in the Portuguese coast town of Salema. It's a small fishing/tourist town, that is fairly empty right now. The beach is magnificent, and we're going to explore some caves and some of the old Portuguese forts. Or I might just take a nap on the beach. Rough life.
Spent the day wondering the streets of Madrid. Last night we went to see La Boheme at the Real Teatro. Across the street from the opera house is the royal palace, seen in the background of this photo. From the opera we stopped at a couple of bars for some drinks and nibbles. Though we returned to the hotel at almost 2, the streets were still jumping.
Today, we went to the Museo de Prado, and saw some art. Everybody likes art. I was particularly enamored with Goya's Perro Semihundido. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the botanical gardens, the subject of another upcoming Six Pictures and the Parque De Buen Retiro, a 350 acre park with a rowboat pond. We spent about an hour listening to a group of people playing drums and people watching. Tonight: more tapas, wine, and music.
Amsterdam and Madrid are two very different cities. Amsterdam is quiet, and generally organized around the canals throughout the city. It´s quite pretty, and with bikes outnumbering cars, does not feel rushed. The Van Gogh museum was nice, and a beautiful building. The city is full of architectural contrast, just a block from the Van Gogh museum is the Reichstag museum, this glorious old building.
The Dutch take their botany very seriously, and the floating tulip market was fascinating. If I lived in Amsterdam, there would definitely be fresh flowers in my home at all times. Unfortunately, the cheese market doesn´t open until mid-April, though that provides just another reason to return. Next time I go to Amsterdam, it´ll be for more than 22 hours, only eight of which I spent in the city.
Now I´ve got a couple days in Madrid before heading for the Portugese coast. In my brief time here thus far, Madrid is a faster, louder city. Traffic is horrible, and it seems like there´s little order to the driving. Navigating would also be difficult, with the street signs on buildings. The signs are beautiful, as seen here. Forutnately, my Spanish is decent enough to conduct commercial transactions with ease. Portugal may be a different story.
Last week, because Dollar Rental Car didn't have any compact cars available, I was forced to drive a Jeep Liberty. Having spent a week with the vehicle, why people choose to drive SUVs completely mystifies me.
The Jeep was not as nimble as a car, demanding that I floor if I want any acceleration, and corners horribly. Flipping my vehicle is not a calculation I make when driving a car, but is paramount with the Jeep. Some SUV owners cite the elevated seating as a plus. But it just made it difficult to see red lights. Of course, it got about 17 mpg, and was by far the most expensive tank of gas I've purchased in Louisiana. Put simply, I'll never own one of these, and hope to avoid driving them going forward.
Now: to Europe!
I'm back in DC for a couple days before going to Europe. Since mid-October, this is only the fourth night I've spent in DC. I've got to dig through three months of mail and do my taxes, as well as get ready for my trip. But I'll post a car review tomorrow, as for the past week I have been driving an SUV. The horror!
Since my friends who live in Minneapolis are the primary readers of this blog, I want to remind and encourage them all to participate in Pro-Choice Resources annual Bowl-a-Thon. When I was in grad school my team raised over $1,000 for the organization at this event. If my friends put a team together, I'll match whatever they raise themselves. Otherwise, I'll match the highest fundraiser among my old team. Go Pro-Choice Bowlers!
I've been a very bad blogger lately, doing my best Andy impression. I'm making an effort to get something up every day until I leave for Europe in a week. We'll see how that goes.
Today, there's an amusing article in Slate where the author tries her hand a lobbying. She meets with a variety of hill staffers pitching her idea of a national law requiring animal shelters to spay or neuter all animals in their care. Not one to reminisce, the story did remind me of the dozens of meetings I took with causes from Personal Rapid Transit to a group trying to put an abridged version of the Constitution on the back of the $1 bill. What a glorious life hill staffers lead.
A couple of other random notes:
chabel.net loves his brother
