I am … unhindered by talent

Today we spent a wonderful, exhausting day at the Alhambra in Granada, and it’s every bit as cool as the books, etc., made out. Which is good, since that’s a key reason for this entire trip to Spain! I frankly don’t have any idea where to begin. I took over 800 photographs, plus there’s all those from WeatherGirl and Sub-Evil Boy).

It’s like several really cool forts and castles, some spectacular gardens, archeological digs, museums, (Christian) churches, and a complete course in Muslim architecture and culture (complete with some of the finest examples on the planet), all in one (big) place. I’m both physically and mentally exhausted (and exhilarated!).

This shot is from the justly famous "Patio of the Lions" (Patio de los Leones). The lions themselves (part of a fountain in the middle of the space) were missing as they’re undergoing extensive restoration at the moment. Still, the space, the columns, the carving, and the light were enough to take my breath away. And that was after already seeing room after space after room of exquisite work.

I’m going to go sleep now.

Later.

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We had a wonderful week in Toledo, and last night made the journey by train to Granada. J.J. Merelo has kindly invited us to join him and his friends for tapas lunch today, so we’ll get the local skinny right at the start of our time here!

As always, click on the photos to jump to Flickr, where there’s a little more info about them. WeatherGirl is posting lots of useful info on where we’ve been and what we’ve seen, so tracking our combined family stream might be your best bet.

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You should definitely check out the combined family blogstream at ThomasMcPhee.com as both WeatherGirl and Sub-Evil Boy are actually posting words and things that carry information :-). In the meantime I’ll annoy you with some more photos. Again, clicking on a photo will jump to Flickr, where there may be a little info on the image.

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Click on them to jump over to Flickr, where I have some (limited) notes.

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After many days of preparing to start to begin to get ready to go on vacation (e.g., packing and cleaning the apartment in Colchester, traveling to Preston, etc., etc.), we are finally here in Spain and can start Having Fun (TM). We first arrived in Madrid, where we had a few hours to kill, so we wandered out and found a restaurant where Sub-Evil got an excellent swordfish steak, and I had some cool aged local cheese of unknown name and description.

We then took a brilliant train to Toledo, checked into our hotel, and wandered the tiny cobbled streets of the old town some. We had a fine dinner outside, with my meal being a stew of sorts made from free range local rabbit. I was having real trouble getting any meat off of one piece until (after much poking about) I realized it was half of the head (split right down the middle, top to bottom when looking at it face one)! (I took photos, but I’ll let you sift through the full set on my “events account” to find those.)

The old town is a gorgeous medieval city with stone buildings crowding in on narrow cobbled streets that are quite something to drive on. Many are so narrow that pedestrians have to step into doorways to make room for the car to pass.

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Today we travel south from Preston to Birmingham, and tomorrow morning (early) we fly south to Spain for nearly 3 weeks of well deserved R&R!

We’re not likely to have much internet while we’re away, so there will likely be more of the same non-activity that you’ve come to know and love here in the last few months.

We still love you - we’re just not speaking to you :-).

Best wishes all!

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We’ve been lucky enough to have a very nice chippy up the road. Peggottys was a neat family operation, one of that dwindling pool of old-school independent shops. We’ve gone there roughly once a week all year and gotten to know the folks there, so we were sad to learn that they were selling up to a group that runs several chippies in Colchester.

The hand over occurred a few days ago, and tonight was our first chance to frequent the establishment under their new ownership. Sadly, it wasn’t nearly as good as before. They had definitely changed either their suppliers and/or their processes. The fish was hard and rubbery, and the chips were pale and greasy. All in all, not the win.

Very sad, really. Luckily there are other chippies within ready walking distance, and we’re only here another month, so this isn’t catastrophe it might have been. Still, we will miss the Peggottys folks, their hospitality, and their food. If I’d thought of it sooner, it would have been really cool to have taken a photo of them all at the shop, but that moment has passed.

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We just got back from a really fine week at Methwold Old Vicarage, a wonderful Landmark Trust property. The house dates to 1490-1510, and is quite beautiful inside and out. For an American like me, the idea of sleeping in a house constructed in the time of Columbus’s voyage is just too amazing.

The brick front is a veritable sampler of ornate brickwork from the period and remains a real show piece. There are gorgeous carved beams inside, and cool remnants of late 16th century wall paintings in the main bedroom upstairs that are museum quality. And we slept in that bedroom.

Wow.

We’re totally hooked, and definitely planning another Landmark Trust stay before we return to the States this summer!

I have an utter ton of photos. I’ll be posting some to my “main” Flickr account as I have time process them, and I’m also dumping a bunch of unedited shots to my events account. The shot above is a panorama constructed from six different photos of the house. The brick front faces almost due north, so it’s difficult to get any good light on it. This is in the late evening when the sun had almost swung far enough around.

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A mentioned earlier, our friend Jane stayed in Peake’s House, a wonderful old Landmark Trust property here in Colchester. This photo is Jane, Sub-Evil Boy and WeatherGirl as they walk towards Peake’s House (the half-timbered building on the left) in the evening.

We were so inspired by that great house, and the wonderful collection of properties being preserved (and made available) by the Landmark Trust that we promptly booked a stay in one during Sub-Evil Boy’s term break. So soon we’re off to Methwold Old Vicarage, which should be really fun. Between that and some looming deadlines, though, not much on-line time for a week or so. Just thought I’d warn you.

Back soon, though!

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We just finished two consecutive day trips to London (Friday and yesterday) and I’m thoroughly tired, and full of undigested photos. This fellow, one of the few I have processed, is from the Egyptian mummification exhibit at the British Museum (Rooms 62 and 63).

On Friday we started down in Greenwich. It was our first time through the Docklands on the DLR — it would be nice to walk those canals and take photos — and our first time to the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian. I wish we’d had more time there - it was a beautiful day and there was a ton of cool stuff one could see. Time was tight, though, so we zoomed off to the British Museum before rush hour hit, and spent the rest of the evening there.

While WeatherGirl wandered the museum, however, Sub-Evil and I snuck off and bought tickets for Avenue Q at the Noël Coward Theatre for the following night. He’s been keen to see that ever sense we got here, and it was nice to finally make that happen, but it did mean two consecutive days into London, which is frankly pretty tiring.

Yesterday Sub-Evil and I started at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology on the UCL campus. Sub-Evil is very into Egyptian history, writing, artifacts, etc., so he really wanted to see this. It’s a very cool collection, but pretty desperately in need of a new home, with the collection crammed into old victorian cabinets and spilling down an emergency exit staircase! Next was the British Library, which was just tremendous! The King’s Library alone was worth the (free) price of admission, and the display of the treasures (Magna Carta, illuminated manuscripts, handwritten scores, drafts, diaries, and letters by amazing folks) was really wonderful.

After all that we grabbed some dinner and then headed off to Avenue Q! We both had listened to the soundtrack about a zillion times, so there weren’t a lot of surprises. The production was tons of fun, however, and watching the puppet masters sing, dance, act, and run the puppets at the same time reminded me of the line about Ginger Rogers doing everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels :-).

Now we pack and organize, for tomorrow we’re off to Methwold Old Vicarage for our first stay in a Landmark Trust property!

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