Mon€y Problems, Part II

Well, I admittedly know next to nothing about economics but I'm pretty sure this isn't a good thing...

"RESCUE SPAIN" (homepage of newspaper El Pais)

Last stop: Vienna

I don't mean to start this post off on a bad note, but I've gotta say: Vienna is overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty city and there's a lot of interesting things to see there. But I heard from lots of people that it was amazing or the most beautiful city they'd been to or other things along those lines. So I had very high hopes. I guess to look at this in perspective, Vienna did have a couple things going against its favor. For one thing, it was the last of four cities on a ten-day-long trip. We were tired. A little sick of traveling. Longing for our own beds at home. Another problem was the weather. I can stand the cold. I don't like it, but I am from the northeast and we do get some relatively cold winters, so I'm used to the cold. What I don't like is constant cold, rain, and wind. That was day one in Vienna. Day two was freezing cold with a bit of snow. And lots of wind.

Okay, so not ideal. I told you this wasn't going to start out on a positive note. But I've gotta add one more thing to this list, something that kind of is Vienna's fault: the city, though not exactly huge, is overwhelming. Or at least it was for me. There are a lot of things to see there and they're all spread way the heck out. What also didn't help this situation was the fact that the only map we were given was this ridiculous, gigantic map of the city that wasn't really ideal for tourists. Sure, it had a blown-up map on the back of the city center, but that isn't much help when half of the things you're looking to see aren't in the city center. So basically I spent two days looking like a stupid little lost tourist, folding and unfolding my map and yelling at it as it tried to blow away from me in the wind while I was holding it with one hand and my umbrella in the other.

Brrr. I am cold. Don't let the smile deceive you.

All right, enough of that. Now the good stuff. There were some things that I really liked about Vienna, and actually, I think my favorite thing of the entire trip was a museum we went to there (more on that later). So as I said, there's a lot to see in the Austrian capital: many museums, a few palaces, lots of parks, lots of churches, one of the world's most famous opera houses...too much for just two days. So of course we had to narrow it down a bit, and in doing so we had to do a few solo tours of the city. Day one we started in the historic city center. We checked out the cathedral, another really beautiful church, and some of the main squares and streets. Then we went to the opera house for a tour. We briefly debated waiting in line for standing room opera tickets for that night, but then decided touring the place was enough. I do wish we'd had a chance to go (I've never been to the opera, and I think it would probably be an interesting experience), and I think if we'd had more than two days in Vienna, we may have done it. Oh well, next time.

After the tour, we split up to go to different places. I went to a small art museum called the Vienna Succession, which was opened around the turn of the 20th century. The museum space has the same name as a movement began by artists and architects, led by painter Gustav Klimt. The group held several exhibitions, the most famous of which (in 1902) was one dedicated to Beethoven and included a work that remains in the museum today: the Beethoven Frieze. The work, by Klimt, is basically three mural-sized paintings that cover three walls of the exhibition room. It's probably best for me to just quote the pamphlet that I got at the museum in regards to the work's meaning or purpose, since I know and understand very little about art: "The frieze takes its theme from Richard Wagner's interpretation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and depicts humankind's search for happiness." There's a lot to the work (which thankfully the pamphlet explains, otherwise I think I would have been pretty lost), but it's really only best seen in person. Since it's displayed on three walls, seeing an image online doesn't really give you the same experience. I thought it was pretty cool, though. The rest of the museum wasn't really my sort of thing (modern art, ew), but it was worth going to just for the Beethoven Frieze.

Anyway, after the Succession, I wandered over to Belvedere Palace, which is a palace used as an art museum. I'm not really much into art, but I started to actually really like Klimt's work, and there are a lot of his paintings at Belvedere, including one of his most famous ones, The Kiss. Unfortunately, I didn't really have enough time to go into the museum, and decided to just walk around its gardens instead. Next time.

Front view of Belvedere Palace.

On the second day, Nicole and I went bright and early in the morning to the Schonbrunn Palace, which is a bit outside of the city. And good thing too, because we had to wait a little while before we could enter the palace, and when we left the line just to buy tickets was insanely long (and out in the cold!). Anyway, the palace was built in the 16th century as the summer residence of the Austrian royal family. It has some really beautiful and extensive gardens, which we spend a while exploring. Once we'd had enough of the freezing cold and the wind (and a little bit of snow), we headed back into the center of Vienna for lunch and some more wandering around. Not sure why we decided to do that in the cold, but we did. We first went to Stadtpark, a park dedicated to famous Austrian musicians and composers. Interesting, but a little underwhelming. After that we decided we really deserved some sort of hot beverage. And Austrian pastry. Yum.

Back view of Schonbrunn Palace.

Fountain in the gardens of Schonbrunn.

After our snack/respite from the cold, we went to the Haus der Musik. This was perhaps my favorite thing of the whole Germany-Austria trip. I'm not really much of a musician and I don't know a ton about music, and I've forgotten a lot of what I did learn. But I did spend somewhere around thirteen or fourteen years playing the violin, and this museum, well...made me miss my violin. Basically, this museum is just dedicated to music, as simple as that. The first floor has some historical information about the Vienna Philharmonic, a video playing the latest Vienna New Year's Eve concert (so cool), and a few other things, including a wicked awesome (that's right, so awesome I'm pulling out the "wicked") game where you and a partner each roll a set of dice to compose your own waltz. Anyway, the second floor has all different things about sound - the physics of it, how we perceive it, etc. The third floor is dedicated to the most important Austrian composers, including Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, etc. Each room is dedicated to the life and career of each composer. Unfortunately, we didn't get to the 4th floor because of time, so I don't really remember what would have been up there. Anyway, the museum is so worth going to, even if you don't know much about music. And it's so interactive (especially the floor dedicated to sound).

Anyway, so there's my long spiel on Vienna. Hopefully I haven't discouraged anyone from visiting, because it is a nice city. Just not my favorite. Perhaps if I went back I would have a better experience.

So there. Whew. Finally, only about two months later, I'm done writing about Semana Santa. If you've made it this far reading...well, you're a trooper. Auf wiedersehen for now.

Salzburg, Austria: a Few of My Favorite Things

Ah, Salzburg. Aside from the weather (and a few other minor things), this city doesn't disappoint. It's not too big, it's really pretty, and it's where The Sound of Music takes place and was filmed. How can a city where The Sound of Music takes place not be a happy place?!

Just look at it. Convinced?

I'm starting to sound like a guidebook. But really, even in the cloudy and rainy weather that we had while we were there, Salzburg is still really beautiful. We started our first day there by doing a Sound of Music tour (for anyone who's rolling their eyes: get over it, you and I both know you're just jealous). The tour first brings you a bit outside the center of the city to the house that they used for its back terrace and the lake where Maria and the children go boating and then fall in right when they see the Captain and the Baroness. They also bring you past the house that was actually used as the front of the von Trapp house, as well as the Hellbrunn palace, whose grounds house the gazebo used for "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and "Something Good." You used to be able to go inside the gazebo but then some old lady broke her hip or something and so they decided to close the gazebo off to visitors. Thanks a lot, old lady.

Well, uh, the gazebo.

House used for the back terrace.

Anyway, after we stopped briefly at these places, we drove off into the mountains/lakes region outside of Salzburg on the way to the town of Mondsee, where the church that they used for Maria and the Captain's wedding is located. We had just enough time in Mondsee to see the church (very pretty), the lake and surrounding mountains (even prettier), and eat apfelstrudel (yum yum!). I think doing the tour was worth it most of all because they bring you to Mondsee, which aside from being a nice little town, allows you to see some great Austrian scenery on the trip there: the mountains, the lakes (which are especially beautiful), and the cute little Austrian mountain villages.

One of the lakes, about half an hour outside of Salzburg.

The tour dropped us off in front of the Mirabell palace, which is famous mostly for its gardens, which Maria and the children ran through singing "Do Re Mi." We explored the gardens for a while and then afterwards headed over to the city center (the historic part). The historic center is pretty small; you could easily walk from one end to the other in maybe twenty to thirty minutes, but there's a lot to see and as I said, it's really pretty. There are several little squares, many churches, markets, levitating Mozarts, a really impressive cemetery (weird combination of words, I know), and several other little monuments made famous for all of time thanks to The Sound of Music. We spent the rest of our first day after our Sound of Music tour just walking around. Mainly we visited the cathedral and then walked to the Nonnberg Abbey, where Maria (both the real one and the Sound of Music character) was a postulant. I think they were only allowed to use the outside of the abbey for filming, though.

Entrance to Mirabell Gardens. Look familiar?

The second day in Salzburg we went up to the Hohensalzburg fortress/castle. It's one of the largest and best preserved medieval castles in Europe, and really, it's more like a mini town atop the hill overlooking Salzburg. There's a big courtyard with a few paths leading off of it to several buildings (the main part of the castle, the chapel, etc.). You also get probably the best views of the city from up by the castle. Anyway, after spending plenty of time exploring said castle and eating lunch there (I guess it's kind of cool to say I ate lunch in a castle?), Nicole and I went to check out the museum at Mozart's birthplace. Yep, if you didn't already know, Mozart was born in Salzburg and lived there for a good portion of his short life. The birthplace is interesting, but really more of a traditional museum; very little to none of the original furniture or possessions of the Mozart family remain there. However, his first violin is on display, which I thought was pretty cool.

View of the castle and cathedral from the Mozart bridge.

Only a fraction of all the Easter eggs...

Now, since of course our trips to Germany and Austria were during Spain's Semana Santa, this means that Easter was approaching. Apparently coloring and decorating Easter eggs in the German-speaking countries is really popular (in Spain, not so much). We came across lots of colored eggs in outdoor markets, but nothing compared to one particular store we came across in Salzburg. It was

I thought thiese were pretty sweet.

really a store for decorations in general, I think, but at this time of year the ENTIRE store was filled with decorated eggs. And not just different colored eggs. Eggs with flowers, eggs with bunnies, eggs with geometric designs, eggs with maps of the world, you name it. Seriously. I have never seen so many egg shells in my life. It was incredible and terrifying at the same time (I mean, you get too close and one misstep and you break like 300 euros worth of egg white- and yolk- free egg shells). But mostly it was really cool.

Coming up, our next and last stop: Vienna.

Money Problem$

When Spain makes the front cover (or front cover online equivalent) of a US newspaper, the New York Times in particular, you know things aren't good...

#45 Enjoy the Madrid skyline from the cable cars (teleférico)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program (Semana Santa) to bring you this news story. Mainly because I started writing about Austria and got bored and this is a much shorter and easier post. Anyway, I've been really dying/dreading doing this one. I've heard that the teleférico is really cool and gives you some great views of the city, but I'm terrified of heights and the idea of being 40 meters off the ground with the only thing keeping the cable car from crashing to the ground is a thick cable doesn't really help that fear. But, I've ridden ski lifts before, and if I could do that, I could do this.

Teleférico over Casa de Campo. Madrid skyline in the background.

Totally worth it. So the teleférico (built in 1969) goes from the neighborhood of Argüelles to the center of Casa de Campo, the biggest park in Madrid. During the ride, you can see much of the Madrid skyline (although as far as skylines go, Madrid doesn't really have the most impressive), including the four Chamartin towers, buildings in Moncloa and Plaza de España, the royal palace, and the Almudena cathedral. It also crosses the Manzanares River (which, as far as rivers go, is not particularly impressive either). Lastly, you can also get a nice view of the mountains north of Madrid. But regardless of the somewhat lacking skyline, it's still a really pretty view, particularly of the palace and the cathedral. And it's particularly nice if you do it in the evening while the sun's setting. When Maddie visited me a couple of weeks ago we decided to check it out, and as I said, it was definitely worth it!

Royal palace and Almudena cathedral.

Madds in the cable car.

Over the Manzanares River.

Every time I think about the cable cars I get "Over My Head (Cable Car)" by the Fray stuck in my head. Not such a bad thing though. An oldie but a goodie.

Deutschland - Next Stop: Munich

This is going to be a long one. Munich. Capital of Bavaria. Everything one could ever want in the name of German food, German beer, Germany castles...Maybe I'm romanticizing it all. I've seen so little of Germany that it's not fair to say that Bavaria (or Munich, for that matter) is any better than the rest. But it is so very, very wonderful.

We spent three days in Munich. Split up into one day visiting Neuschwanstein (the famous castle that you're sure to recognize), one day visiting Munich the city itself, and one day visiting Dachau, the memorial site on the grounds of what was one of the earliest concentration camps. So, let me first tell you what I know about Munich. As I said, it's the capital of Bavaria, one of the southern states of Germany. It's the third largest city in the country. It was the sight of the 1972 Summer Olympics where Mark Spitz won what was at the time a record seven gold medals. It's home to the BMW headquarters. Beer isn't an alcoholic beverage, it's just another part of the culture (Oktoberfest, anyone?). It houses one of the biggest and most famous beer halls, the Hofbrauhaus. The carillon (glockenspiel) on the tower of the town hall has puppets that sing and dance a few times a day. Enough to whet your appetite?

So, as previously stated, day one in Munich was dedicated mostly to Neuschwanstein. Amelie decided she didn't want to make the trek there, so Nicole and I took the two-hour train in the morning out to the little town where the famous castle is located. I should add that the train ride itself is really nice, since it's

Fairy tale castle by the Fairy Tale King.

essentially two hours of beautiful German countryside. The castle itself is famous worldwide, and was the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland. It was built by Ludwig II (or rather, it was built by his money) starting in 1869 with the "latest technology" of the time (for example, running water throughout the castle, central heating, etc.), but the intention was that the castle look medieval in style. "Neuschwanstein" literally translates to "New Swan Stone Castle" and reflects Ludwig's obsession with swans (he was nicknamed the "Swan King," among other things) The castle was built as a "retreat" or "escape into a dream world" for Ludwig, with much of the interior design inspired by the operas of Wagner (to whom he apparently even dedicated the palace). In 1886, Ludwig died mysteriously and in a lot of debt. Much of the castle (such as the entire second floor) was never completed to this day (it now houses the gift shop and cafeteria). The throne room, one of the most ornate rooms of the castle, contains no throne

Throne Hall, sans thrones.*

Singers' Hall.*

because it too remained unfinished at the time of Ludwig's death. Ludwig never intended for the castle to be opened to the public, but in order to balance out the construction debts, it was opened to the public for a fee only six weeks after his death. Aside from the throne hall, one of the most important rooms of the castle is the Singers' Hall, whose walls have various scenes from Wagner's operas and scenes of medieval knights and legends, with whom Ludwig apparently "identified." Anyway, enough about the history of the castle. All you need to know is that it's very cool and definitely worth a visit if you're in southeastern Bavaria. (For those interested, this website gives a bit of information and photos of the rooms you would see on the guided tour.)

Right near Neuschwanstein is another smaller and somewhat less impressive castle called Hohenschwangau, which was where Ludwig II grew up. It was built as the summer residence of the royal family by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. The castle is still privately owned but you can visit it with a guided tour. In the little town where the two castles are located (also called Hohenschwangau), there are two really pretty lakes from which you can see the mountains bordering Austria off in the distance. Unfortunately, the town is mostly full of tourists, but somehow it manages to keep its beauty and even a big of peacefulness (mainly by the lake), in my opinion.

Glockenspiel

So after spending most of the day in Castlelandia, Nicole and I decided to visit the Olympic park that was home to the 1972 Olympics. On day two, we spent the morning wandering around the old town, including the Marienplatz, home of the famous carillon in the tower of the town hall, the famous marketplace, and St. Peter's Church. The Marienplatz is really cool and I personally don't think the glockenspiel (carillon) show is underrated. I was going to put a video clip of the glockenspiel, but my video files sadly seem to have stopped working for me, so a picture will have to do. The market, Viktualienmarkt, is also awesome; there were tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, German crafts, and the beginning of many, many, decorated Easter

View from Peterskirche.

eggs. Then we went up in the tower of Peterskirche, which has some great views of the Marienplatz, the market, and the rest of the city. After all this, we went to the famous Hofbrauhaus for lunch. The place is HUGE, but nicer than I'd expected. Not just your average beer hall. The place is actually pretty nice on the inside, with the ceilings and walls decorated, live music, and, well, beer. As for German cuisine, it's
not horribly different from Spanish cuisine in terms of ingredients: lots

Inside the Hofbrauhaus.

of pork, sausage, and potatoes. However, the Germans seem to do it differently. I don't dislike Spanish food, but I'm so tired of it, so German pork and potatoes were a nice change. (Not to mention they know how to make beer. The Spanish, sadly, do not.) After lunch, Nicole and I visited the Schloss Nymphenburg, a 17th century baroque palace that was the summer residence of the Bavarian ruling family for a couple of centuries. The place has pretty extensive gardens and SO MANY swans. Totally worth a visit.

Day three was dedicated to Dachau. Dachau was one of the first (or maybe THE first, not positive) concentration camps, first opened as a camp for political prisoners only a few weeks (on March 22nd, 1933) after Hitler was appointed Reich Chancellor. The camp was used as a model for other concentration camps, and as it was one of the earliest, the name "Dachau" was feared throughout the region. Starting in 1937, mass arrests began and these people were sent to Dachau (along with other camps). They entered the camp through a gate that is still there, reading "Work liberates." Over the course of its 12-year use by the Third Reich, over 200,000 people from over thirty countries were taken prisoner at Dachau. Even though Dachau was a work camp, not an extermination camp, 41,500 people were murdered there from extreme forced labor, malnutrition, typhus outbreaks, etc. There were two crematoriums (a small one and a bigger one built with greater capacity), but there are no records that they were used for mass cremations. Dachau was liberated in 1945 by US troops. Later on, in 1965, the Bavarian State opened up the Dachau Memorial Site, which is of course, still there today. Some of the original buildings remain, while others (like the barracks where the prisoners "lived") are reconstructions. There are also religious structures that have been built for visitors, as well as memorial statues and monuments, some more explicit than others but all equally emotionally provocative.

"Never Again" memorial with ashes of unknown prisoners in front.

Anyway, in terms of our visit to Dachau, it was obviously not the most fun part of our trip, but definitely worth it. We took a three-hour guided tour of the camp, although you can do a self-guided tour; there's still plenty of information that will take you hours to get through. I don't think there's ever any way to fully grasp the horrors of the concentration camps and all of the things that went on leading up to and during the Holocaust, but visiting the concentration camp memorial sites is one way to move towards an understanding of not why or how these things occurred, but at least what occurred.

After our cheerful morning at Dachau, we spent the afternoon in the English Garden, one of the world's largest municipal parks (it's even bigger than Central Park!). This wrapped up our time in Munich and Germany - that night we left for Salzburg, Austria.


*Photos taken from the Neuschwanstein Castle website: http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/palace/index.htm

Deutschland - First Stop, Heidelberg

I guess it's about time I start catching up, particularly with our German-Austrian Semana Santa trip. I mean, I could be planning my lessons for tomorrow, but why do that when I could instead be entertaining the masses with stories of airport mishaps and giant, deathly pastry balls and singing, dancing clocks and Easter egg hunts and schnitzel (LOTS of schnitzel), just to name a few. Oh, and of course pondering the timeless question: how DO you solve a problem like Maria?

I'll start by saying this trip was awesome. However, I'll also start by saying that this trip did not start awesomely. It was a warm and peaceful Friday in Madrid, that 30th day of March. We were done with school for 10+ days, luggage packed, ready to go at the airport. Flew to Frankfurt successfully (from which we would take the train to Heidelberg the next morning). By "successfully" here, I mean that we flew Ryanair without dying. I do not, however, mean we flew to "Frankfurt," per se. See, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of flying with Ryanair, you may not know that many of their flights go to small airports well outside of the main cities they claim to fly to. For example, if you take them to Paris, it actually brings you to Beauvais, and from there you have to take a bus for about an hour and a half to Paris. Luckily, I knew this when I flew to Paris four years ago. And when I flew to London last April. Unfortunately, we neglected to do our research on Frankfurt. Long story short, we wound up in the Frankfurt Hahn airport and not the Flughafen Frankfurt am Main airport. Two good, long hours away from Frankfurt vs. about fifteen minutes. Already the German language getting the best of me. Swell.

Nevertheless, we made it to Frankfurt, albeit at nearly three in the morning. The next day we caught our morning train to Heidelberg. Let me just say that, despite the cloudy and somewhat rainy weather,

Courtyard of the castle

Heidelberg gives a great first impression of Germany. It's a relatively small city with a really charming old town and a pretty sweet old castle. There are a lot of tourists, but it's not too overwhelming, and it's just plain pretty. We had two days in Heidelberg. Days one and two were mainly spent the same way: walking around the old town, visiting the castle, eating lots of schnitzel. The castle is a huge structure that to me is part castle, part palace, part fortress, part miniature town. Most of it is still in ruins after destruction in both the 17th and 18th centuries, so a good portion of the buildings are just old facades surrounded a huge courtyard, which to me is more like a plaza. Anyway, the original buildings of the castle were build around the turn of the 15th century. Various Prince Electors (whatever that is) added to the castle/palace/fortress structure at various

View of Heidelberg from the castle

points in history thereafter. The castle was destroyed various times, such as during the 30 Years' War, when both the castle and its gardens were damaged, and then later in 1764, lightening hit the castle. For this reason only some of the castle remains and has been restored. Apparently after lightening struck the castle, they gave up trying to restore it and people started using the castle as a makeshift quarry in order to build houses in town. Later on this was stopped in an attempt to preserve the castle. Today parts of it are still used for ceremonies, balls, performances, etc. The courtyard is also used frequently for musical and theatrical events.

One of the bigger cells of the prison

On the second day we dedicated the morning to checking out the Philosopher's Walk, which is located across the Neckar River from the old town, and the old university. On the side of a small mountain are a few pathways that university professors and philosophers would supposedly wander along in the olden days. It has great views of the old town and the castle. After we did some philosophical pondering, we headed back over to the old town to check out the old part of the Heidelberg University. The university was founded in 1386 and is the oldest university in Germany. It is apparently one of the more prestigious universities in Europe today. Anyway, as a tourist, I guess you can normally see the great hall, the old prison, and an exhibit about the history of the university, but the great hall wasn't open for visitors unfortunately. Luckily, the prison is probably the most interesting part (the stupid exhibit was mostly in

Graffiti

German). It was used from the late 1700s into the early 1900s as punishment for students who had committed petty crimes or pulled pranks - some normal, some ridiculous (for example, letting the neighbors' pigs loose, public intoxication, participating in duels, etc.). Depending on the offense, students could spend anywhere from a few days to four weeks in the prison. However, they were still allowed to attend lectures while they were imprisoned. They were also allowed to bring certain things with them and guests were allowed to visit and give them things (for example, bedding, food, beer). To help pass time, the students would write all over the walls of the small prison, and the most recent layers are preserved today, which is mainly what you see when you visit. It's a really interesting place to visit, but I really think you miss out on a lot when you can't understand what's written on the walls (obviously, it's in German).

I should explain its title. While in Heidelberg we discovered a couple of stores that solely sold a very specific type of pastry: the Schneeballe, or snowball. (Now, let's all admit that this, not unlike many other German words, makes you giggle a bit inside.)

A 10-cm diameter ball of pastry goodness

Traditionally, snowballs were these huge masses of pastry rolled up in a ball and dusted with confectioner's sugar and then served at special events like weddings. These snowballs actually come from an area in Bavaria, about two hours away from Heidelberg, but they've become such popular tourist souvenirs that I guess they've spread throughout southern Germany. Anyway, they sell them in a ridiculous variety of flavors with different glazes and/or fillings. They are delicious, but deadly. I thought only the US was capable of such ridiculously sized foods, but evidently not. They are not to be eaten in one sitting. But they are a must. (And as soon as I find a recipe, I intend to try making them myself. That ought to impress people: "Hey, whatchya making?" "Oh, just some schneeballes.")

So that was Heidelberg. As I said, a good introduction to Germany. Up next: more castles, more schnitzel, more beer, singing and dancing clocks, and more beautiful Germanness - Munich!

Video: Palm Sunday morning in Heidelberg.

29-M

Well, I'm definitely not in the running for the best blogger of the year award; I'm so far behind that there are things I did way back in February that I still haven't talked about. I've even got a Post-It note on my desktop with a list of things I need to write about. Oops.

Today, I will recollect on a wonderfully annoying thing ever so common in Europe: the general strike. I should preface this post by saying that I do support a country's people fighting for their rights, better work conditions, etc. I think it's important to be politically involved, even if it means just being aware of the problems facing a country's government and economy. What I don't really understand, and therefore have a difficult time supporting, is the ways in which some peoples go about fighting for solutions to these problems. While I don't know a whole lot about politics or the Spanish government, I really don't think that having a general strike is an effective way of speaking to the government. For one thing, when the economy is really suffering, unemployment rates are rising, and salaries are lower than most of the other countries in Europe, how does skipping work for a day (and therefore a day's worth of pay), closing down privately owned businesses, or reducing services to "servicios mínimos" prove a point? All I feel that does is hurt the economy and affect your fellow citizens.

Protesters in the Plaza del Sol on March 29th, 2012. Photo from El Pais

But this isn't meant to be a rant about how the Spanish people go on strike to make a point. What they do for their own patria is their business, regardless of whether or not my American attitude agrees with it (and whether or not I get annoyed by the metro running at 30%, just for example). And I do think that it's a good thing that the Spanish people want to be so involved and want to fight for their rights, particularly when it comes to employment. Anyway, mainly I just wanted to mention the general strike last month on March 29th. Spain's unemployment rate is up to 23%, roughly 3.5 million people. Nearly 50% of Spanish youth (I'm not sure if that's people under the age of 25, or 30, or what) are unemployed. Needless to say, Spain is in trouble, and because of that, last December the country elected a new prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, from the Partido Popular (People's Party) after eight years with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Since then, Rajoy has been working to try to get the government and the economy more on track, including several labor reforms that would greatly affect employment for many. Recent changes include laws that would make it easier for employers to fire their employees (who, for example, don't perform up to par; something that was very difficult before), freezing or cutting salaries, and reducing severance pay.

So what does this general strike mean for politically and economically ignorant people like myself? Servicios mínimos, for example. Across the country, those who decided to go on strike stayed home from work and went to demonstrations to protest. Public services, such as public transportation, the postal service, etc. either reduced services to 30% or shut down completely for 24 full hours. I actually had no trouble getting to work on time (I got lucky and didn't have to wait long for either of the two metro lines that I take in the morning), but I heard stories of people who waited 30-45 minutes for a metro, or waited for just as long for a train that never came.

Anyway, if you want to read more about the general strike on March 29th, here are some articles that are sure to be more informative and eloquent that my own post:

CNN
NY Times
The Guardian

Palacio Real de El Pardo

This one isn't on the list. (And probably rightfully so; it's an interesting place to visit but not a must-see). There are several royal palaces in and around Madrid. There's the royal palace in the center of Madrid, there's the one in Aranjuez (my favorite thusfar), there's the palace/monastery in El Escorial, there's one outside of Segovia called La Granja de San Ildefonso, which I haven't yet been to but is known for having amazing gardens, apparently there's another in the province of Segovia called the royal palace of Riofrio but it doesn't look all that interesting from pictures online, and there's the Royal Palace of El Pardo.

 

Moat from the castle

Located only half an hour north of the center of Madrid, the area in which the palace is located was originally used as hunting grounds by the royal family starting in the middle ages. The palace itself at El Pardo was originally built at the beginning of the 15th century as small castle. In the middle of the 16th century the castle was rebuilt into a palace, conserving elements of the castle such as towers and the moat. The palace was then used through the 19th century as an alternate residence of the royal family.

Gardens

After the Spanish Civil war ended in 1939, Franco made the palace at El Pardo his official place of residence and work until his death in 1975. During that time, the palace was the political center of Spain. Since his death, the palace has been used for housing the heads of state of other countries when they visit Spain. The palace contains a great deal of art, including paintings, and above all, lots and lots of tapestries. Outside there are some small, simple gardens which were kind of dead and sad looking when we visited since it was the beginning of march (not to mention the weather wasn't that great when we were there). Nearby, there is a small house called the Casita de El Príncipe. It was built at the end of the 18th century for prince Carlos IV and his wife, princess María Luisa de Parma as a hunting lodge. It also has its own small garden nearby.

Casita de El Principe

You can visit both the palace and the casita, but only by guided tour. The tour shows you the two large courtyards inside the palace, many of the rooms that former kings and queens used and lived in, and even rooms in the wing in which Franco lived and worked. All in all, it's an interesting palace to visit, but for sure the gardens are nicer in the spring or summer (just Google or Wikipedia it...). Furthermore, there's absolutely nothing else to see or do in the tiny little town of El Pardo (there's really not even much to walk around and see because it's that small), so while I'm glad I went to see it, I wouldn't go recommending it as a day trip to tourists.

#77 Visit the house in which Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares

This one's for you, Mom. About a month ago, I was researching some day trips to take from Madrid on the weekends and came across a town with windmills like the ones that inspired El Quijote. I went to the bus station here to ask about the bus schedules and prices the week prior. Then, when I got to the bus station to purchase tickets the Saturday that Nicole and I decided to go, I discovered that no, the 11 am bus actually does not stop in Consuegra on Saturdays and the next one that does leaves at 1:15 pm. Considering the trip is over two hours, we decided that wouldn't be worth it. So in a scramble to save our Saturday, we decided to go to Alcala de Henares, one of the more popular (not to mention shorter) day trips from Madrid that (shamefully) neither of us had been to.

Facade of the university

White storks

Alcala is famous for two or three main things: it's university, whose buildings date back to the very end of the 15th century, the birthplace and childhood home of Cervantes, and, less so, the insanely large population of white storks. The original university, the Universidad Complutense, was moved  during the 19th century to Madrid and retains the same name today. The Universidad de Alcala now uses the original buildings (plus new ones; the campus is split in a few locations throughout the city), and you can take a guided tour of them if you visit the city. Every year, the king and queen of Spain present the Premio Cervantes (Cervantes Prize) in the Great Hall of the old university to an important figure in the Spanish-speaking literature world. The prize is a pretty big deal because it commemorates the life work of the writer, rather than just one particular piece of literature, and in addition to the king and queen, many other important people are present for the ceremony.

Don Quijote & Sancho Panza in front of the Cervantes' house.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the Cervantes birthplace. The house is overall  interesting enough; the rooms and the furniture are representative of a typical house of the Golden Age of Spain (16th century), and there is a room with various editions (old, new, in foreign languages) of El Quijote. However, there was very little information in the house about...well, anything (his life, the house, rooms, furniture, etc.).
Another place we visited in Alcala was the Corral de Comedias, which is a type of theater typical of the Golden Age of Spain. The one in Alcala is one of the oldest of this type of theater still in existence in Europe. Although it is now enclosed completely, the corral de comedias was an outdoor theater in an interior patio of a block of buildings. The Corral de Comedias in Alcala is located on the main square of the city, the Plaza de Cervantes (in the middle of which is a huge statue of Cervantes).

All in all, Alcala is a nice little city that's worth a visit, especially if you're a Cervantes or Quijote fan. Here are the rest of the photos that I took for those interested.