Suttons Go To London

Saturday morning got here WAY too early. Our flight left London at 6:15am, and since we flew on RyanAir (which only allows EU citizens to check in online) we had to be at the airport by 5am. The earliest train to the airport left the city at about 4:15am, and we were on it! We left the apartment at 3:30 or so we were tired before we started! It was actually kind of surreal to be walking in dark and quiet in a city that is always so busy. We arrived in sunny Palermo a few hours later. When we disembarked from the plane, we had to get on a little bus which was supposed to drive us to the airport building. So we waited for the whole plane to get onto 2 busses. When everyone was finally on board, the buses began their long and treacherous journey to the building, which took literally 30 seconds. I think we might have driven 20 feet!

We had a great day wandering around Palermo. First, a couple of downsides… we somehow ended up in a single room with a tiny bed, good for cozying, not good for getting ready in the morning. Also, the city is really dirty and polluted - there are piles of garbage all around, and just unbelievable noise from all the scooters and general traffic. When we first arrived it was hot and sticky, we were tired and hungry, and we had to make the 1 mile trek from the train station to the hotel with our packs. After a nice little nap, we set out to see the town. There is some really beautiful architecture - there is a strong Moorish influence in a lot of the buildings, which I thought was cool.

For me, the highlight of the trip was day 2, when this pretty German Shepherd decided to be our stand in dog for the day. There are stray dogs everywhere In Palermo, and if you even make eye contact with them they decide to be your friend. I was trying to illustrate the strays and just how much garbage is in the city when I took this photo:

I think the dog thought my photo-interest meant I was going to feed her because she followed us around for a good hour or two. We started to get really scared that she was going to get hit by a car because she would just follow us everywhere, but she seemed pretty street savvy. Most of the strays are… in fact, we saw one old dog laying on the sidewalk waiting for the light to change - as soon as the walk sign lit up, she got up and crossed with the light! I suppose you live on the street long enough and you get to know the rules really well.

We finished the afternoon with our first of many gelatos at  the Liberty Bar. As you can see, Michael is working on the skill of magically producing gelato:

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(tip of the cap to Melanie)

Jen and I and the Pope. That’s right. We took on the country of 900 people and so much artwork that they put it on the ceiling…

First, I’d like to say that the Sistine Chapel was all that it was cracked up to be. Anybody who would paint standing up, looking up 18 hours a day for 4 years gets major props, but then to see it was pretty spectacular. There were no pictures allowed in the Chapel (although it didn’t stop some ding dongs) because Nippon has exclusive rights to all photos of it (they paid 5m+ for restoration) so I can’t show you anything I took of it. Instead I will use this guy’s…

As you can see, this photo is a collage/panorama of photos that show not only the ceiling but the front wall which is also done by Michelangelo and called “The Final Judgment” (the bottom of the photo with the blue background). I could write a paper on all the cool things, but I will leave it at this, who ever thinks old art is boring, should read up. A few nuggets:

All of Michelangelo’s women have male bodies because he only used men as models.

As he painted, he realized how hard it was to see details from the floor which led to his simplification of images (as you move down the photo, the images get simpler).

Michelangelo had enemies, and he painted one of them in “The Final Judgment” with a snake latched onto his crotch; in addition he is stroking the snake.

“The Final Judgment” is painted in the outline of a skull.

The most famous part of the ceiling is the creation of Adam which we’ve all seen before. The reason it was such a big deal is because it is the first representation ever of God creating Adam.

Michelangelo’s self portrait in “The Final Judgment” is as flayed skin.

Vatican City is defended by the Swiss Guard. They are pretty much show as they are armed with swords only and dressed like the Trix Bunny got hold of them. Either way, everyone seems to feel the need to photograph them, and, when in Rome…

Something stunning about the Vatican was that while it has so much art work in it that if you spent 15 seconds looking at every piece you would be there for 12 years, as you near the end (and the entrance of the Sistine Chapel) there is a collection of exceptional modern art. We didn’t have the luxury of time to look at all of it, but there were some fantastic pieces there. Even the stained glass pieces had a bit of edge to them. This piece signals the start of the real modern work.

As we’ve traveled through Europe, we’ve entered many a church and basilica. Some of them have been quite ornate or sizable or expansive, but they all paled to St. Peter’s Basilica. I think Jen summed it up best, “Good Lord!” The place is huge and it has some amazing statues in it.

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Just another reason to love Jennifer.

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When we were in Barcelona we went to Guell Parc. Outside the park there was a Gaudi inspired turtle person taking pictures with people. When it was my turn, I walked up and the turtle person put a bike helmet on my head and held out her hand. I thought she wanted to shake my hand until she said, “The coin please?!?”  At this point I had to stop everything and rummage to find a coin for her… I swear I was really going to give her  acoin when the whole thing was done, but I think I held up the whole line and looked like a dummy… the worst thing is Michael caught the whole thing on tape….

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I realize that it is a little sad that i am just finishing up my Barcelona posts 7 days before we leave for Italy, but some of us are super busy (aka watching 6 Feet Under episodes after work when I should be blogging).

Tuesday we met up with John and Joanne again and decided to take another crack at the Picasso museum.

John learns the museum is open!

It was pretty fantastic; everything divided up into phases and periods of his life. I personally was also quite glad to be in out of the rain because for the 2nd day in a row sunny Barcelona was almost a rain out! After the museum, we decided to head over to a lovely vegetarian restaurant I had chosen for us only to discover that, of course, it was closed. I swear I have a special talent for finding great places and going to them the one day they are closed… We found our way to an Italian restaurant and had another 2 hours chat session. We used to go to John and Joanne’s almost every weekend for dinner and Pinochle or other games, so just hanging out talking was a great flashback to those times.

I think we wore the old guys out, because we decided to part ways for the afternoon - Michael and I wanted to see the museum of contemporary art and they want to do a hop on tour. We headed to the museum only to find that it was, well… you know the routine…. So I begged Michael to take me back to La Boqueria for more juices. To our pure delight, all the juices were half off!!! Between the two of us, we had 5 juices, and made plans to come back the next day to try even more. As you can probably guess, the market was closed the next day.

We spent the evening on Las Ramblas, window  shopping and people watching, and we were still so full from the juice  that we skipped dinner, had we tried to go out the resturant would have been closed anyway, so really we were just cutting out steps.

We did manage to see the Contemporary Art museum on Wednesday (which was free due to the fact that it was the end of summer national holiday). They had a special area set up for kids to make their own art.

I wanted to make  macaroni dog house picture, but Michael said I am too old.

We wrapped up the day with a walk to the port, then headed out to the airport for the short trip home.

Goodbye Barcelona….

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It is about a 45 minute water show in Montjuïc, specifically the Plaça d’Espanya at the foot of the hill to the south of all the museums and the Olympic Stadium.

The magic fountain of Montjuïc’s first performance was on May 19, 1929 during the Great Universal Exhibition. The designer Carles Buigas submitted his plans one year before the exhibition and many thought that the project was too ambitious to be created, let alone completed on time. Over 3000 workers were commissioned to work on the project and less than 1 year later the magic fountain was born.

Now I’ve taken the light and water show and condensed it down for you to about three minutes. You’re welcome!

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For your enjoyment…

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As the US economy spirals through free fall into chaos, and our stock portfolios waste away. (WaMu we hardly knew ye) allow me to sidebar you with an artistic tangent. Antoni Gaudí is one of those architects who you just know was scoffed at when he was initially designing. His architectural style is such a radical departure from most anything else, that his early ridicule is expected. (Much like my own pastel experiment on Cannon Dr.)

All throughout Barcelona you can find the architecture of Gaudi, but two places seem to stand above the rest. The Passeig de Gracia has a few buildings among the old mansions that are impressive and distinctly Gaudi. The curves and organic forms really stand apart from even the most showy of the other buildings (and no, the word gaudy is not a derivative of Gaudi, just happenstance folks).

Sagrada Familia is Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece. It is the original mashup. The various styles and materials used throughout seem like they would never make sense all in one piece, but some how they do. In what is mostly a stark marble colored structure you find unexpected elements of color and texture. For instance, the tops of the spires are capped with organic color representing nature.

Inside you see Gaudi, who was a devout Catholic, has a deep reverence for nature as he models not only the columns after trees, but the leaves of palms interlocking above to create support. In addition, you will begin to notice details like the stacking of support column blocks in a manner similar to the way leaves grow on certain plants.

What really set this place apart for me though was the work of Josep Maria Subirachs. His work alone deserves its own post, but it was an amazing rendition of the Passion and quite a departure from Gaudi’s original plan. There has been a lot of debate about whether this building should be completed and open to the interpretations of other artists, but Gaudi himself wanted it that way and it is a good thing in my humble opinion. Seeing this style did make me wonder if Bruce Timm, an artist from Batman:The Animated Series didn’t incorporate this into his work…

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Well there aren’t any Cinnabons here in Europe, but we did manage to find some tasty treats near Prague on our day trip to the 14th century Karlstejn Castle. The treats are called trdelnik, a dry sweetbread covered with cinnamon, nuts and sugar. They are available all along the path to for sale by street vendors.

The castle is very majestically set on the top of the area looking down to the small village which is now filled with touristy shops and restaurants. The castle is a short and mildly steep hike up, but there are cars and horse drawn carriage for hire if you are so inclined. We toured the castle and while it was nice, it was unfortunate that the only other castle we had to compare it with was the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, because the Alhambra is much more impressive. Regardless, the castle is worth visiting and had a really nice view. Most of it was accessible, and the surrounding town is friendly and not overcrowded which is nice.


Personally, I would guess Jen’s favorite part of this trip was the discovery of trdelnik. Although they are available in Prague, we didn’t find them as enjoyable there. As you can see, eating trdelnik makes for a happy Jennifer. These pastries are hollow and without frosting, so they are a lot healthier than a Cinnabon (what isn’t?), but still damn good. They wrap the dough around a metal tube and they spin around over a fire as you can see below.

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I’ll bet when Jen reads this she gets hungry for one. I know I am writing it.

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The Czech people are very protective of their change. Literally every time you pay for something with anything less than exact change, the “customer service clerk” gives you an exasperated look, a dramatic sigh and a slow shake of the head. They look all through their drawer, on the floor, in the safe, everywhere to find the elusive 22 crowns. And they always demand, “CHANGE?” And it is not like the coins are made out of gold or even tin! But the Czechs love their coins. Then finally, magically, just when you’re ready to walk away from the transaction, the change appears. I think it might all be a test of wills…

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