Córdoba... and still no internet.

Hello, hello, hello!

I'm back in the library today, but since it's not so crowded and the internet is actually letting me use blogspot today, I figured it was time for some updates!

Jim, Kirstin, and I spent the last weekend in Córdoba! It was pretty cool, especially the historic mezquita/catedral. It was originally a cathedral, then became a GIANT mosque, then was retaken as a cathedral and is currently used as a cathedral for practicing purposes, but called a mesquita for tourism purposes. It was HUGE, and the pillars and arches inside were absolutely amazing. Arabic art is very beautiful to me. Since Muslims cannot put pictures of anything living in their places of worship, they use intricate architecture and carvings of Arabic words and prayers as decorations. It really is quite beautiful. I often look at them and wonder if they were all done by the same person, or at least designed by the same person and executed by many... it seems like one person working would take far too long for it to ever be used because he would die before he was done, but they are all so perfectly similar that it looks like the same set of hands did all of it. That's not just in the mezquita though... In the Alhambra, in all the old cathedrals... it's just remarkable to me.

Another thing. In one of my MMW classes back at UCSD (MMW = Making of the Modern World. It was basically a 6-quarter series of human/world history/anthropology/sociology from the dawn of homo sapien until the present day), one of my professors (Professor Herbst! He was AWESOME!) mentioned that the ideals of certain religions are often reflected in their architecture. In cathedrals, your eyes are constantly drawn up, and on the top of the tall, tall, tall buildings there will be stained glass, paintings, carvings, etc. to remind you that God is up there. If you look up, you find God. Mosques, on the other hand, tend to be more flat, tend to draw your eye forward. That's because they aren't looking for God in their places of worship, they're seeing/putting God in their path/world. Also, Islam is more directional. They pray facing Mecca rather than looking at the sky. Things like that. Anyway, in the mezquita, you can really feel that. You go to a Catholic part of the mezquita and you find yourself looking up, into the domed ceilings and up into the eyes of a painted Jesus or angel, while in the mosque part, you are looking forward, through an arch decorated by some Arabic prayer.

I thought it was interesting. Figured I would share it. I will probably steal some of Kirstin's pictures eventually to help illustrate it.

Anyway, we also saw the Roman bridge. It was really big and very old. There were also a lot of ducks hanging out underneath it. A little white dog went NUTS and almost jumped off the bridge to get them. Luckily, she was wearing a harness and her owners picked her up. Stupid dog.

A common type of street performer in the touristy parts of Spain are people that paint themselves like statues and stand perfectly still. In Córdoba, we saw one that held a painted bullhorn. He would push the noisemaking buttons every so often, and would even do a kind of dance with the noises it made if someone gave him money. Of course, this was a huge hit with little kids crossing the bridge. He even twirled a couple of little girls around after they gave him some coins. It was very sweet and fun to watch.

There was also the Alcazar, which is a sort of castle vacation home thing surrounded by gardens. The castle part was closed that Sunday, but the gardens were lovely. Lots of roses and big, big trees and fountains... It was so lovely to look up the fountains and gardens and see the castle in the background. Some adorable old British people heard us trying to decide which two would get to be in a picture and offered to snap it for us. They asked where we were from, and we said California. Only cute little old British people would respond to that with 'Brilliant!' like they did. It was adorable.

We also ate pastries. It's the norm for Jim and I (when we travelled previously with Lauren and Aimee), and Kirstin was more than happy to join in on the tradition. It's such a nice pick-me-up after a day of walking around.

Our hostel wasn't that nice, but we were only there for one night and we had a warm shower and a bed, so we were fine. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone else though.

This Saturday, Jim, Aimee, Sean and I are headed off for Cádiz! I'm very excited to get some beach before it gets too cold... but maybe we are too late.

In Granada, it gets SUPER cold at night and warm during the day... Such is the mountain fall I suppose.

Anyway, the library is closing, so I suppose I should be off.

I miss all of you! Contact me somehow whenever you get the chance! =)