A New Hope

The Force in Madrid? Yes... today I let my full nerd come out and went to the Star Wars Exhibition in Madrid. It has been traveling to major cities around the world, and it just happened to be in the same city I am at this very moment. For this reason I had to go. That and many others I would say, like the fact I grew up on Star Wars. I felt like I had prepared my whole life for this one museum visit. It was full with over 240 original props that I had seen many many times before, so seeing in them in person really made me feel just a little more complete. The fact that we spent over 2 hours there, when I only spent about 2.5 hours in el Museo Prado did worry me a bit. Especially since it was only about a quarter of the size. And although most of it was in English as well in Spanish, there were some great translations, such as La Estrella de la Muerta

Experiencing that was a great way to start my week, coming off a great weekend. Friday-Sunday were spent in Granada, about a 4.5 hour bus ride to the south of Madrid. This trip really highlighted several cultural facts about Spain to me. I always knew that Spain was kind of the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and some degree the Middle East. As we got closer to Granada, many of the signs began to have Arabic on them in addition to Spanish.

Throughout the city the architecture was heavily Middle Eastern influenced, and several streets were inhabited my Moroccan markets. I tried my first Moroccan food in a restaurant where most of the people were smoking hookah instead of eating. Nothing too exciting happened there. One of the craziest things I saw was two piegons killing another one. I couldn't decided if it was a public excution or simply a mob hit. I'm pretty sure if any type of bird has a Mafia it is the piegons. It was both frightful and nerveracking as the murder took place as an oncoming street cleaner came onto the scene. We simply watched it happen and didn't step in to help. But could we do anything against the piegon hitman? My inaction is something I will always have to live with, but the fear of being next was too great.

Other than that visiting the Alhambra was pretty memorable. The tours were all in Spanish, so it was hard to understand a lot about the architecture, but I was able to understand a good part of it. Also, we got to watch a flamenco dance one night. Expecting to go into a theater, I was very happily surprised by the authentically of it when instead we walked into this long, small room, with all the chairs against the wall, while the dancers performed right in front of us.

And did I mention that this is a very special episode? Because I failed to take any good flamenco pictures I'm going to post my video! It is the only way to get the experience, even if it is just a taste. Unfortunately I had a little trouble in the middle, so a few seconds is spent looking at my lap. Also it is sideways. I know these should be easy fixes, but I'm no video editor, so this will be shown in it's raw, unedited form. So tilt your head and enjoy.