The Pea Green Project

The Enchanted Forest

2010-04-13T13:16:00.015+02:00

Close to Coimbra, there is a place known as "the enchanted forest”: the Mata do Buçaco that surprises us immediately.

Its origin dates back to the sixth century, when a community of Benedictine monks stops in the valley; the land then passing into the hands of the Bishop of Coimbra, which, in the early seventeenth ceded it to the Discalced Carmelites, who built the monastery in 1628 .

Currently there are only the church, whose facade has three arches, the interior has a unique nave, the plant, latin cross, and the cloister, surrounded by the hotel.

The monks, in their eagerness to get a place for meditation and prayer, decided to build a stone wall of 5750 meters in length that defines the forest, and continue with the planting of exotic tree species, from the Portuguese colonies.

Today, we can see more than seven hundred species of trees, in an area of 400 hectares. Unique species, which require travel around the world to contemplate: Himalayan firs, Australian acacia, Japanese camphor, Brazilian araucaria, Caucasus cedar, eucalyptus from Tasmania, Pennsylvania ash, ginkgo biloba, Asian palm, Mexican pine, redwood, and American white cedar ... Along with native trees and plant them in Europe: cork, oak, beech, mastic, olive, elm, oak and yew.

The monks were of Pope Gregory XV in 1622 a papal bull forbidding the entry of women, neatly sidestepped when Queen Catherine, widow of Charles II of England, wanted to visit the Buçaco, opening a new door in the wall. Since then there is a third entry, called Portas da Rainha. Another bull of Pope Urban VII granted, and condemned to excommunication to those who cut down or degraded forest.

Between 1730 and 1750 they constructed eleven hermitages in the forest to live there in isolation, of which nine are still standing. The views obtained from their roofs are spectacular: all shades of green you can imagine, a dense, thick carpet that transports you to far-off places, and reminded us inevitably to the movie, "The Final Days of Eden. "

Upon the abolition of religious orders on May 28, 1834, and the processes of secularization the Buçaco passed into the hands of the monarchy and the state, which continue with forestry work and increase their reputation with the construction of the palace.

Then also installed the ordeal, more than three kilometers, which today consists of twenty small chapels inside which the various stations are represented by figures modeled in clay, natural size.

Much of the old convent was demolished in the early twentieth century to build a hunting lodge for the Portuguese royal family. Although the project took over the Italian Manini, also attended the architects Nicola Bigaglia, Manuel Joaquim Norte and José Alexandre Soares. After the First World War, and transformed into the Palace Hotel Buçaco, became a fashionable destination in Europe.

It is made in neo-Manueline sytle, its outer structure in stone Anca, has reminiscent of Tower of Belem and also shows grounds of the cloister of the Jeronimos Monastery, and arabesques of the Convent of Christ in Tomar.

Especially interesting is the south façade and its striking East gallery, with several scenes of the Portuguese epic.

The hotel entrance was forbidden for "tourist", but true to our idea that at any hotel in the world can afford a coffee, changed our clothes in the car, because after the whole day touring the forest did not seem very proper to enter with boots and sticks, and headed for the entrance. We went with some apprehension by the goalkeepers, ask for a coffee, which was not no big deal, of course, and toured the different rooms, something that certainly worthwhile.

The sumptuous interior is decorated with tile panels, frescoes and paintings alluding to the time of the Portuguese discoveries Lusiads also the plays of Gil Vicente and the "Peninsular War" (War of Independence); sculptures by A. Gonçalves and Costa Mota; canvases by J.Vaz illustrating verses of the epic sea by Camões, the frescoes of A. Ramalho or the paintings of C. Reis.

The furniture includes Portuguese pieces, Indo-Portuguese and Chinese, enhanced by the sumptuous upholstery. Also highlight the Moorish ceiling, the floor made with exotic woods and the Real Gallery.

In short, an amazing place, little known outside of Portugal and is an encounter with a flora that can hardly be seen anywhere else.

In our mountain blog, Lost Hiking, explains some of the routes and images that we do in this fantastic place, a new entry called "Mata do Buçaco."

La Purisima Mission State Historic Park

2010-04-09T13:16:00.013+02:00

Missions left an indelible mark in California. This is reflected both in the presence of physical remains, as many places names.

His memory and importance become apparent as we travel the state, we find fully restored old missions, ruins or neighborhoods such as in San Francisco, called, precisely, Mission, reminding that even today stands there.

California's climate helps to the conservation of buildings, not its turbulent history, marked by numerous conflicts, which led to the virtual destruction of a large number of missions.

Today, however, are increasingly those that are restored, more or less correct, because have become a powerful tourist attraction.

In this post we will write about a Mission, not as famous as the Carmel Mission, or San Luis Obispo, but much larger and more authentic: La Purisima Mission.

At La Purisima Mission State Historic Park, the time not only stops, but back, to 1820, thanks to restoration work carried out which have given the appearance that the mission had at that time.

Founded in 1787, is the eleventh of twenty-one missions established in California. La Purisima is part of the original "Camino Real".

Spanish missionaries opened the way for the late eighteenth century, from San Diego to Sonoma.

The first mission was founded by Fray Junipero Serra in 1769, thus establishing the characteristics of a type of adobe construction that exists today on farms and neo-colonial estates.

Visiting these 21 missions that connects the road is one way to meet California.

La Purisima is a magnificent place, and a key factor for its development was the presence of a water course, which enabled him to become a settlement of considerable size, being necessary to employ at least two and half hours to traverse it completely, without take account of the museum visit, the time to invest in photography, or dedicated to food.

The feeling of authenticity we have from the start, as it will retain most of the buildings and restoration materials have been incorporated rescued from the ruins of the Mission as well as others from the area.

They even restored the aqueduct and water system.

It has also enabled a picnic area and a number of roads over 25 miles, which runs around to the delight of hikers. These roads also can travel on horseback.

If we choose any of these forms of access, we must beware of rattlesnakes, which are protected species, and have their home there. It is advice that I give from my own experience.

Once inside the premises of the mission, looking out the different rooms becomes a journey through time, as they are very well stocked, both of furniture as objects of everyday life.

The visit is pleasant and sheltered from the heat, which invited to do so without haste, stopping at the rooms, and, for many people is a reunion with lots of objects from his childhood.

The Colors of the Night

2010-04-07T09:50:00.000+02:00

This is the provocative title of the exhibition dedicated to Van Gogh who made us travel to Amsterdam.

"I often think the night is much more vivid and rich in colors that day."

Vincent Van Gogh.

How not to get excited about the work of the Dutchman, who moved in just ten years in the study of light and art more than all his contemporaries!.

The exhibition is a trip in itself, begins in 1880 and we can follow the evolution of Van Gogh through the poems he read, the epistolary relationship he had with his brother Theo, his admiration for Millet, Breton ... the country life, and the difficulties of the lower social classes that reflecting one and again in sketches prior to "The Potato Eaters."

At first Van Gogh wanted to be preacher, and came to give away all his possessions to those who had nothing.

His whole life is on the brink, his extreme sensitivity always leads him to the limit.

The time that passes in Paris is the emergence of light, color, Toulouse-Lautrec and Degas in his drawings; the Impressionists admired Japanese prints (we saw several works of Hiroshige).

Vincent test pointillism of Seurat, "painting of the imagination "of Gauguin, the mix of light and shade of Rembrandt ...

Only ten years in the life of a man, until 1890, when Vincent decides to stop being a burden to his family and commits suicide, but we could be a lifetime watching his work.

All his work is a homage to the painters and artists he admires, he is obsessed with the colors of light, also with a night light.

Being able to see on this trip "Starry Night" the famous work exhibited at the MoMa, next to "Country road in Provence by night" from the Kröller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, and "Starry Night over the Rhone" , from the Orsay Museum, is something we will never forget.

The moon, the night light, the stars that Vincent compared with points on a world map show the work of a dreamer, ahead of his time.

This has been the excuse for our trip to the city of canals, which The Pea Green Project has squeezed the most.

We have tested the White Beer on the terrace with a splendid light; one of the best apple pies in the city, Villa Zeezicht, and the delights of the Pancake Bakery.

We have allowed ourselves to see with handsome Netherlands in another starry night, this time close up the Westerkerk in a local fashion: the Werck, and we have come a significant number of the more than 1,200 bridges that owns this town.

The Winter in Lisbon by Antonio Muñoz Molina

2010-04-06T12:11:00.006+02:00

- "But a musician knows that the past does not exist ... Those who paint or write merely to accumulate past on his shoulders, words or pictures. A musician is always in a vacuum. The music ceases to exist just at the moment finished touch. It is the pure present. "

Antonio Muñoz Molina, The Winter in Lisbon

I think, as I read this book on the feelings that invaded our hearts at Dizzy's Club of New York. In the mythical Broadway, at the height of Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center offers the best jazz.

The legendary saxophonist Lee Konitz, accompanied by Peter Bernstein, Ray Drummond and Matt Wilson, among others; the "Dizzy's Cosmopolitan" with vanilla's rum made, filling the cups; the surprise to find that a tiny Asian woman do sound like that on the sax; a dimly lit room; the audience delivered, the skyscrapers in the background of the scene, the impression must be dreaming, that we are not really there.

Jazz, bourbon, smoke, the femme fatale, and three not-real cities but imagined, Madrid, San Sebastian, Lisbon, are the background of this novel, black cinema in words.

The work was brought to the screen, and was attended by the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, as you can see in this excellent blog post of "Jazz, that noise."

"They played just him and Billy Swann: the lack of bass and drums gave his music, his loneliness in the narrow stage of Lady Bird, a stripped and abstract quality, like a Cubist drawing solved only with a pencil."

This is a predictable novel, full of topics, where I discover the strokes of the future Molina; descriptions that, years later, dazzle in "Windows of Manhattan"; towns and ghost characters. I entered in the book longing for the white Lisbon and find myself on the night of Hopper's paintings.

On the banks of the Bosphorus II

2010-03-29T13:19:00.011+02:00

"The evening wraps Beylerbé Palace. A cold dampness rising from the Bosphorus and the shadows invade the living room of the Sultana Valida. Instinctively, women have to whisper.

On tiptoe, the slaves make their way to light the candles of green glass chandeliers that, placed in the four corners of the room, looks like large leafy trees."

Kenizé Mourad "On behalf of the dead princess"

The golden age of Ottoman civilization is being held within the walls of Topkapi Palace, where even seems hear the bustle of the court of the sultans and sultanas, the illuminators to illuminate his work busily, the rustle of silk on the bodies ; the smells ..., attached to the wood, soil, ointments, oils, perfumes of the slaves and ladies of the palace, the refining and even cruelty are living in their lobbies and corridors.

All these feelings that fascinated Europeans of the time, also invade us and fascinate us centuries later.

Inside the palace there is a place that often, and making a big mistake, is seen in haste, if not omitted, although its walls is more than any other place where time seems to stand still: the Harem.

Created as a simple set of wooden pavilions at the time of Suleiman and his beloved Roxanne, today is a labyrinth of courtyards, rooms, corridors, bathrooms, bedrooms and dungeons, which brings together the essence of Topkapi.

A large part of the harem is decorated with beautiful Iznik pottery and along its corridors, sometimes in darkness, their salons, where light filters through skylights and blinds, it is inevitable to try to imagine what the lives of their inhabitants.

A self-contained world with its own leaders and outcasts, intrigues and conspiracies, simple stories too, of those that only trying to survive.

A place where hopes were born and died every day, sacrifice for the benefit of the family who stayed behind made it more bearable the confinement in that prison of gold. A world organized to the point where each person had their role to be played until the end.

For us, that we visit, things are quite different; within the harem we're fascinated at the extravagance of rich decoration, the Turkish baroque and rococo, and is without doubt an essential place of the visit, not and Topkapi Palace, but of the Istanbul.

Livraria Lello & Irmao

2009-11-25T13:38:00.010+01:00

The books were our first travel fellows, in fact, started traveling with them, reading their pages, imagining that we were the protagonists, feeling like the author himself, the magic of words.

Perhaps that is why, in our travels we always look "real" spaces in which to dwell for a moment, surrounded by books written in other languages and read by people of different cultures, but all united in a common quest, which is simply , knowledge sharing, knowing glances and even surprised to find who does not expect foreigners in such places, buildings constructed to hold treasures of literature, or simply bookstores.

At 144, Rua das Carmelitas, Porto, Portugal, is one of those places. A place full of history, memories, stories, great moments, authors, readers, curious, and especially books.

The Livraria Lello & Irmao is a building built specifically for library, and was inaugurated on January 13, 1906. His style, neo Gothic, makes it, for many the most beautiful bookstore in the world.

In its magnificent facade, on both sides of the large center window we see two figures representing Art and Science, which is already a declaration of intentions, and remind us that both concepts are not opposites but complementary. Too bad the curriculum developers have forgotten.

The interior decoration, made in wood, leaves you amazed from the start. The staircase is undoubtedly the most prominent feature, since the entire layout of the room leads to it. Decor is amazing, the red color of its steps, and at least to us, their small size, because the pictures make it appear much larger. In this sense, it resembles the Staircase of the Laurentian Library, by Michelangelo.

Since the pillars of the hall, the great names of Portuguese literature are looking us, Eça de Queiroz, Camilo Castelo Branco, Antero de Quental, Tomás Ribeiro, Teófilo Braga and Guerra Junqueiro.

Already in the upper deck, we admire the central window, the chandeliers, staircase, and the comings and goings of customers; smell the coffee, we sat down and time becomes more human, forgetting the rush.

Probably, today the impact for its appearance on the big screen, his character will be distorted somewhat. However, if Porto is your fate now, seek, stop and enjoy what it is: a magnificent library.

Shoshone Point

2009-11-23T12:56:00.013+01:00

Surely there will be few, or perhaps any other trails in the Grand Canyon with an effort-outcome relationship as magnificent as the path that leads to Shoshone Point.

Tours of the Grand Canyon, is in fact the National Park itself is organized and is divided into two zones, the South Rim and North Rim.

The first is the best known of the two, most tourist operations, and the most conditioning.

All the South Rim is full of View Points, which are truly spectacular, require no effort, except for being able to find parking at times of bigger audiences and raise and lower the car.

Then there are the trails, marked trails running through the park, and that this time yes they require both physical and psychological preparation, with an amazing exception: Shoshone Point.

It is a journey of about two miles, with an estimated duration of 40 to 60 minutes, with virtually no gap, so its score is, rightly, easy path.

Most of the view points along the South Rim, offered a similar view, and do not allow calm and quiet look of the immensity of the Grand Canyon. This tour, makes it possible, and is an excellent observation point for planning several trips much more demanding, as the Grand View.

This little path that does not even appear in many guidebooks, it is not signposted at the entrance.

We start from Grand Canyon Village, the Desert View Drive, we must stop the vehicle and internally by a unmarked path, being necessary to get a guide where you see this path, and request information at the places provided for it in the park.

We use the excellent guide, Hiking Grand Canyon, (which we'll talk soon in our blog Lost Hiking), by Ron Adkison, published by Falcon, and we had no problems in finding the path.

After a walk among the pines, and suddenly you arrive at the brink, and that, by itself, is leave you breathless.

Walking parallel to the building came to Shoshone Point, and there we find it incredible to have these views with so little effort, especially after having done the difficult Tanner Trail.

The sunset is surely the magical time to enjoy the Shoshone Point, you can sit on the edge of the cliff, watching the Colorado river-something not usually get elsewhere, and as the light changes the landscape, highlighting ways and colors.

Before you show the South Rim at its best, the Hance Rapids, the Tapeats, the Desert View Watchtower, and even the Marble Platform and the Echo Cliffs.

Closer to see the bulk of the Vishnu Temple, we can fix Powell Plateau, Cape Royal and Point Sublime, with Wotans Trone.Also observed Horseshoe Mesa, Sinking Ship, Coronado Butte ...

Many roads running through the Grand Canyon are tough, rugged, mostly without water, and loneliness is sometimes overwhelming.

It is a wonderful experience.

Chengde, Imperial Garden

2009-09-08T13:27:00.014+02:00

It is very common, to chat about the places we visited in China and when we say, Chengde, people think of Chengdu, a city better known.

When we started planning the trip, it was clear we would visit a few places, we’re talking about a continent!, and that we would try out some of the conventional views, although, of course, there are places that are a must, always considering that we move in a small area.

While staying in Beijing, we decided to go to spend the weekend in the field, which is rather common, though. We took the train, second class, and travel was a spectacle. We were, of course, the show. We divided by the car as we had no adjacent seats, and after the initial shock, some travelers are daring to speak. A while later, we were fully integrated into the everyday train journey.

The landscape, just outside Beijing, caught our attention, mountains, valleys, rivers, towns .... In the train, a Canadian, only westerner besides us, saw the heaven doors open and slept quietly confident his belongings to our colleagues who sat beside him.

In front of us, a man, tall and thin, chewing something indecipherable that drew from a plastic bag. We were unable to know it was ...

Then came the delivery of hot water for the noodles, for tea ..., the conductor, the vendor of sweets (Chinese, of course), and the thing was animated at times.

A little later, a group of local travelers played a kind of poker., and although we pay close attention, not understanding how to play. On your return, try him again without success.

Also were curious glances, shamelessly, as is customary in China, we peered down to the smallest detail, we naturally belonged in the same way, which proved very useful in the return trip, as it coincides with many of travelers, and we greeted warmly.

By midmorning, we come to Chengde.

Chengde is a prefecture of the Chinese province of Hebei, located northeast of Beijing, and is known primarily for Mountain Residence, an imperial garden listed as World Heritage by UNESCO since 1994.

Its construction was carried out for 89 years, between 1703, at the behest of Emperor Kangxi, and 1792. It occupies a total area of 5.6 km ², almost half of all urban areas of Chengde. It is a vast complex of palaces and administrative and ceremonial buildings, including temples made in various architectural styles and imperial gardens, besides being a historical relic of the end of feudal society in China.

Kangxi, Qianlong and Jiaqing emperors spent long months in the residence to escape of the summer heat in Beijing (we saw for ourselves that was an excellent idea). The palace area and the southern part have a design reminiscent of the Forbidden City.

It consists of two parts: a court in the front, where the emperor received the high officials, nobility, members of ethnic minorities and foreign ambassadors, and an area of rooms in the back where lived the imperial family.

Subsequently, the history of this population suffered many vicissitudes. During the Republic of China, Chengde was the capital of the province of Rehe. From 1933 to 1945 the city was under Japanese control as part of the independent state Manchukuo.

After the Second World War, the Kuomintang, Chinese nationalist political party, regained the jurisdiction. In 1948, the People's Liberation Army took control of Chengde. Until 1955 was part of the Rehe prefecture, when the province was abolished and the city was incorporated into Hebei.

Today, its tourist importance grows slowly, and his visit proved to be a discovery. The city is relatively easy for us to move through it, and the dining experience was splendid, but that’s other story.

One of the most striking of this visit was the group called Eight Outer Monasteries.

On the slopes of the mountains, to the north and west of the village is a majestic group of eight temples, but actually were twelve, although only eight were lamas sent by the Qing court and received financial contributions from the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs to develop their activities, and were built from 1713 during the reign of Kangxi and 1780 during the reign of Qianlong. Owing to the fact that were located to de north of the Great Wall, they were called Outer Monasteries.

These are the Puren Temple, the Temple Fushang (destroyed), Pule Temple, the Temple Anyuan, Puning Temple, the Temple of Sumeru, the Putuo Sect Temple and the Temple with the image of Manjusri. Based on the han style (Chinese), these temples also reflected the best of the architecture of the Mongols, Tibetans and Uighurs.

The largest of these buildings is the Putuozongcheng Temple, popularly called Little Potala Palace. The stone structure was built in 1771 as a replica of the Potala Palace in Lhasa and has more than 60 halls and terraces. It is now used as a museum, and although it can’t, logically be compared with the original, but gives you an idea of it.

There are seven other major temples. Several are used for religious purposes. Tibetan and Mongolian monks live in the Temple of Sumeru, Happiness and Longevity, which was built for a visit of the sixth Panchen Lama of Tibet in 1780.

The monks sing every day in the Hall of the Elevation and the ceremony at the center of the temple. We had occasion to observe some celebrations, with monks and praying, dressed in orange first, yellow second, and was impressive. A demonstration that, despite of all, Buddhism is alive in China.

The Xuguang (sunlight) Hall in the Pule Temple (Temple of Universal Happiness), has a round roof with double eaves, similar to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The temple was built in 1766 for a Mongolian official, a Buddhist named Bulu Ke. The pilgrims usually pray in front of three giant statues, the most important of Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni, for the Chinese), the founder of Buddhism in the sixth century BC.

In the Bodhisattva Hall in Puning Temple, Temple of Universal Tranquility, you can admire a wooden statue of Guanyin, from 22.33 meters in height and weighing 110 tons, and is the largest and highest wooden statue in the world. His visit in a tremendous impact.

There is much more to tell and more to do in this city, famous and known worldwide, but not in Spain, often overlooked by traditional circuits.

If you go to Beijing, organized trip or for free-the best, no doubt, let a couple of days to visit this place.

it doesn't disappoint.

Asiatica Musée

2009-09-05T11:55:00.000+02:00

When we travel and discover a new and interesting place, the accident is often a prominent role.

A few days ago I found a partner with whom we share a passion for travel.

After some conversation, we began to talk about Paris, an inevitability among us. Did the name of a museum, the Musee Guimet of asian art, fascinating, magical, which has already dedicated a post some time ago, and attached to it, came the Asiatica Musée.

Nestled in Biarritz, not very central, and in a building more suited to a Carrefour that for a museum, this gem goes totally unnoticed.

Upon arrival, nothing portends what awaits you inside, so the feeling produced in you outside the building, continues to enter. It looks like the an "around a hundred" store. A fluorescent lighting, and scattered here and there three or four pieces, looking like plastic. The first aim is to turn around, and go to where you came from.

We went to the counter where one, it must be said, proactive and friendly woman greeted us, surprised and intrigued. The audio guide of the museum is not worth it, because as the hostess told us it was very easy, that is very, very simple, and also have a booklet with it, and even more detailed information. Although the parts marking system is a bit chaotic, you quickly understand the nomenclature and you can follow it without problems.

As we descend to the ground floor, our feelings change completely, and that's when you wonder how a collection like this can be in a place like this.

The collection consists of over a thousand pieces, spanning five thousand years of history. Antiquities of India, China, Tibet and Nepal.

Two floors devoted to Asian art, with an excellent collection of objects, we found fascinating tthe collection of India in particular, expressed with taste, well lighting too, and with extensive information, also in Spanish. The collection is organized chronologically; there are panels in a brief report on the geographical location of what we see and the general chronology of the different styles.

Besides this, spread over several tables per plant, we have books related to what is stated. We conducted the visit in two parts, and employ a few hours, without reading all the information available, so if you want to make a comprehensive visit can take you all the day.

For those who do not know this style of art, is an excellent introduction, including, arguably overwhelming. For those who are already familiar with the artistic expressions shown here, means finding them together in a small museum pieces many, many unique in the world, others rare, with few specimens exposed to the public and museums located in remote places beyond the reach of most of people.

Note that we did visit all alone, nobody else entered the museum, bringing freedom to admire the collection, compare, comment ..., was total.

A luxury hardly possible, and that you must not lose.

Further information in the museum website, Asiatica Musée

Musée Guimet

El Viento de la Luna, Antonio Muñoz Molina

2009-09-04T11:05:00.004+02:00

"Nothing is simple, nothing is as it seems at first sight, and any minimum fragment of reality contains such possibilities of knowledge and mystery that makes you dizzy looking out of them."

"El Viento de la Luna," Antonio Muñoz Molina

Even the title is suggestive, it makes me think, is a clever wink that book reveals into its pages because there is no wind in the Moon.

A journey of initiation, which involves the five senses. In the Pea would have liked to to ask thad this book was written.

Find the childhood in its pages, our parents and grandparents, their longing for a better tomorrow, their efforts to provide us education, comfort, convenience ... will we be as brave?
Do you need more incentive to dip into his universe?

Mágina contains everything: Adolescence, the need to cast off, to grow, to travel far to be different, to be ourselves.

The memories of that phase of protection, where everything your parents taught you was new, was unique, not aspire anything more.

Discover the world with your senses newly released, never having enough. The descriptions are texture of canvas, are painted with smells, tastes, sounds ...

The man on the moon, the world seen from outside of us, loneliness, the isolation of thinking differently, look different, want different ...

I have not finished yet, I don't want to finish, but I wanted to share with you now, and as Antonio Munoz Molina, imagine the silence on the moon, a quiet tribute to his father, to mine, to all fathers.

A Happy trip, this time without a photo, it's up to you!

Gods and Humans II

2009-09-03T13:29:00.015+02:00

In the light of dawn we landed, and after a brief tour before us the back of the Temple of Edfu appears.

The temple is the best preserved of all Egypt. At that time the sun filled the temple walls, highlighting their inscriptions.

There we were, standing, barely able to speak, still thinking if this was real or just a dream ... We started taking pictures, trying to catch that moment, under the amused and curious eyes of our guide. Given our enthusiasm, says quietly: "You will satiate Temples! If they are all equal"!. He didn’t know who we were ...

The muezzin began the call to prayer as we moved towards the temple entrance. When we got off the esplanade that leads to the temple, appeared before us the pylon, almighty, glorious, and we look again to ourself to make sure that indeed we are there.

Due to the difficult situation in Egypt at that time, the temple showed us unusually empty. Barely a dozen people hanging around inside, producing an incredible feeling of discovery, and allowed us access to all premises, ask the guide, and expand on a visit that, today, is probably much shorter.

Like in other later temples, Edfu lost most of its furniture and decoration when its activity was ended. We are so fortunate to watch the two colossal statues of falcons that flank the entrance and which was at the entrance to the pillared hall, both representing Horus.

In this room, the great height of the columns and the short distance between them makes perceive smaller than it really is, but on the other hand increases the symbolic nature of swamp or thicket that has the room.

The columns have vegetable forms on the bottom, and several strips of symbolic reasons above and below the center offering scenes.

Another element that struck us was the variety of capitals, like lotus papyrus, compounds, some of which still retained traces of polychromy that originally covered the temples.

For there we wandered, asking the guide, talking to carers, reflecting on what we saw, and time passed without any worries.

Returning to the boat, we thanked the wipes because the heat was beginning to tighten, without which we have been aware.

Sitting by the window watching the Nile run as it did thousands of years ago, we were real pharaohs.

Related Entries

Gods and Humans

Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre Museum

Music calms the savage beast

2009-07-27T12:28:00.006+02:00

How to reproduce the sensations that cause us the music? How to explain that the stringed instruments cheer the spirit, go to the brain, but the piano is at the mouth of the stomach?. The presto, the old adage, do the tears flow. This vigorous fight, without intermediaries, directly the pianist's fingers stroke, beat, pursued, are imposed, they shut the rest of the orchestra.

Everyone listens, violins lifted the bow, just pinched the strings in clear homage to these two opposing forces, now Boris Berezovsky and Brigitte Engerer like two lovers, move, retire, demand push is rhythm ...

The whole world is in these moments, everything is possible, time and space do not exist, the only point of light that illuminates the keyboard and subtle choreography that musicians of Warsaw Symphony not only touch, but dance "The piano concertos" of Bach, in an almost mythical duet.

All the loneliness of the world focuses on the center stage. There, under a daylight is the pianist, has come almost on tiptoe, barely noticed his presence and the music flowing. Thanks to Zhu Xiao Mei for his virtuosity and humility in the "Goldberg Variations."

In a series dedicated to Bach seemed essential listening for any piece composed for harpsichord. This instrument with its unmistakable sound, it looks delicate, and decorated in bright colors effortlessly transports us to other times.

Thanks to Pierre Hantai, who offered us a great program and much more. Three times he left the room, and sat down three times to offer more music in its purest form. Thanks Bach, and the Music-Music Award for letting us one year more, immersing for a few days in the timeless space that Music is.

Lost Hiking

2009-07-07T09:16:00.002+02:00

Under the slogan 'The world and all that is in it' enunciated by Alexander Graham Bell, the second president of the National Geographic Society, to define their conception of geography, the Society leads exploring the planet since 1888 and show, through National Geographic Magazine, the wonders of life.

We would like to think that The Pea Green Project is animated by the spirit of the Geographic.

For that reason, we embarked on a new adventure in the network:
Lost Hiking.

In our new blog we will discuss various issues surrounding the world of Hiking, and Trekking.

We'll especially criticize the signaling pathways, the materials that are manufactured garments and other items, publications, instructions for using the various widgets, an more... used for the practice of these activities.

We will do this, also, from a non-professional point of view, because we're the majority that practice these sports.

The National Geographic Society organized the first expedition in 1890, Russell Expedition, and was a success. We hope that our new venture will be, also thanks to your collaboration.

Ptolomeo

2009-07-06T10:16:00.004+02:00

Claudius Ptolemy, the Egyptian astronomer and mathematician, changed the vision of the universe and tried to explain scientifically the mechanics of the stars.

His theory, although wrong, had significant influence until the sixteenth century. Along with Erástotenes and Strabo, was also one of the great geographers of the Ancient times.

There is a new place in Bilbao, full of globes, armillary spheres, maps, prints, ..., where time seems to stop, and where the name of Ptolemy takes a new meaning.

A place to admire the genuine works of art, with a past that tell us, a place to learn ... full of light, with few concessions to the artifice, which focuses our attention on the exhibits.

Some time ago that the sight of The Grand Canal from San Vio, 1723, and whose original is in the Thyssen Museum, went us to the streets and canals of Venice.

Now, close up, a nineteenth-century engraving, which represents the same channel, albeit with a different perspective, created by the Master just two years later, around 1725.

The Frick Collection

2009-07-05T09:31:00.002+02:00

I wanted to visit this gallery to see "The Polish Rider," the enigmatic picture attributed to Rembrandt. This canvas is displayed next to one of the most interesting self portraits of the Dutch painter.

This table provides a novel title to Antonio Muñoz Molina, and as the writer says in "Windows of Manhattan," visit this collection is like escape from the bustle of the city, share a secret, a gift.

Only the three Vermeer's hanging in one of the corridors in front of the majestic staircase worth the visit.

These three tables show the palette, blue and yellow, the stoat, the entry of light from the left, the prominence of the glass windows, the maps, their messages hidden in pearls, letters, musical instruments, music sheets ... , we speak about courtship, adultery, certainly complicity, rigid moral and social position.

There is a small trompe l'oeil of Liotard in the corridor overlooking the central courtyard, next to a portrait by Ingres, which makes us look twice for see this is not a sculpture, but a drawing.

A house-museum, which has retained its familiar character residence, which enjoys and lets you enjoy the elegant portraits of Wistler, the only American artist that Henry Frick considered worthy of the future museum (with the exception of Gilbert Stuart, chosen for their portrait of George Washington), together with those of Gainsborough, Van Dyck, Titian ...

The museum is a perfect mix of furniture, European paintings and sculpture, and is due to the selection of authors and for it's small size.

Mr. Frick wanted "a small house, full of light, air and land, a comfortable house, simple, tasteful and hold." The architect Thomas Hastings, will work later in the New York Public Lybrary, and interior designer Sir Charles Allom chose the English style of the eighteenth century.

How Not to mention the Hall, where a San Jerónimo by El Greco stands between two portraits of Holbein, one of Thomas Moore, another of his mortal enemy, Thomas Cromwell, responsible of the execution of the author of Utopia, Moro, because his refusing to sign the record that turned to Henry VIII head of the new Anglican Church.

By whom felt more sympathy the artist?, says the guide of the Frick Collection, you will have to decide for yourself!

The Prado Museum, by Google Earth

2009-07-04T09:29:00.003+02:00

In The Pea Green Project, it's an unusual to comment on technological issues, however, we believe that the occasion deserves.

We tested the new version of Google Earth, with special attention to the images obtained in The Prado Museum. It's really spectacular, and the degree of definition of the images is undoubtedly incredible.

It is certainly not like to contemplate the paintings in its physical location, and it is not as exciting as being in front of any of these fundamental works, in this case for the History of Painting.

Nor can properly appreciate the different textures of the canvas, or produce that feeling of "almost able to touch" the work.

However, this method has its advantages. The level of approximation is achieved, and therefore the detail that you can view is spectacular, with the addition of viewing whenever you want, no molested by other visitors, the museum's schedule ...

Sometimes we might even settle the poor lighting that could have the works, and in many museums, is a serious disadvantage when it comes to appreciate, especially painting.

Also for many people who, for various reasons can not travel and admire onsite parts, is a very attractive tool. We always will defend, if possible, ideally, learn by first hand what interests us, and judge for ourselves.

It is true that we must seize the advantages that technology provides us, and sometimes a virtual tour is better than nothing.

The Other Life of Books

2009-07-03T11:28:00.002+02:00

There is reverence, respect, admiration in the way we treat books, sometimes as a source of pleasure and as an object of worship.

Touring the British Museum Reading Room, where there are still traces of Kipling, Gandhi, Karl Marx ..., or the New York Public Library, is strolling through the temples of reading, stories of coffers and treasures, places where books are revered, where silence is required still, calm, an oasis in the city center.

In an increasingly virtual world, we can travel to the past touching editions of admired authors, London, Faulkner, Dickens, Austen ... watching the old tokens stored in those boxes with thousands of small drawers waiting to be discovered, breathing more slowly, expecting all that accumulated knowledge came to our mind.

There is something magical when you read a book that has gone through other hands, be the same as Vargas Llosa in the foreword to "Madame Bovary" in which there are fictional characters that make us more some real people.

The other life of books, books marked, annotated, underlined, like Napoleon after reading "The Prince" by Machiavelli, or Proust or Virginia Woolf by reading the "Letters of Madame de Sevigne," small marks on the sheets, underlined ...

Hobbies that each reader leaves the reader in the book are another form of love, of giving other lives, a path for future readers.

Enjoy, read!

American Diner

2009-07-02T10:12:00.017+02:00

The Diner is an important part of American History; not only of the history of the restaurants, but of culture and life in the United States.

Born in Providence (Rhode Island) in 1872. At first it was carts for lunch were drawn by horses along the city streets, and sold food to the workers.

Cars were abandoned when their owners began using disuse trams as a restaurant in a fixed place, which meant a huge improvement for customers.

Subsequently, the diners were built by companies in New England, taking the style of wagon train thanks to the well accepted for streetcars.

The interior was really comfortable, with rounded corners, comfortable places to sit, a long, narrow space that surrounded and protected to the customers.

The golden age of the diner stretches between '30s and '50s in the twentieth century.

Arose on the highways, and on the outskirts of cities, but also in the center of the small villages and were open 24 hours a day. In addition to the speed of service, the atmosphere and the family meal, made them immensely popular.

Its decline began with the rise of fast food restaurants in the '60s and the availability of food for "take away", today replaced by a laconic "to go".

However, a revived interest in simple and good food, a certain "nostalgia", have allowed some of the original diner, and other, more modern, but built in the style of the olds, still in operation.

In New York, we tested the Empire Diner, was built as the "modern style" in 1946, with a metallic outer edges and curved conveying speed and efficiency, like the new trains that ply the country at that time.

It is an icon of the city, highly recommended to make contact with the world of the diner.

In the boundaries of Death Valley, there is a population, Beatty, which is advertised with the slogan: "Why go to Beatty, Nevada? Because no one will look for you there. Relax."

Here we find, inside the Stagecoach Hotel & Casino, a place that, while not a typical diner, decor and food are certainly in that category.

Like the waitresses with their incomprehensible jargon, and her accent, even more incomprehensible.

Still palate with pleasure the splendid and huge "Denver" omelettes. A place that, Beatty, very interesting to explore the magic of Death Valley, but not a drain to our pockets.

Already in California, King City, on the way to Salinas, the city of Steinbeck, a huge truck parking made us pause.

In Spain, where it's said that where truckers stop, eat well. We think that perhaps the same would happen in USA.

There, a usual sheriff, opened the doors of the Wild Horse Cafe, "Home of the Burger Trucker."

Great burgers, buckets of coffee, guys with cowboy boots and hats. Books about "bad girls" of the Far West and other curiosities in handmade editions. Stop here!.

Walking the 49, along the path of gold in California, we came to Placerville, where Mel's is a classic Drive-In, born around 1947.

Diner food, with few concessions to modernity, and something that always draws attention to the Europeans: breakfast at any time.

Who is going to breakfast at four in the afternoon?. You, sure.

On the coast, between dunes of white sand, surfers and watchtowers, we find the Rock & Roll Diner, modern, developed in the style of the old, in a railway carriage, and with the typical diner menu with a Californian accent .

'50s in Frisco are represented among others by Lori's. The first was opened at 336, Mason St. in 1986, with rock 'n' roll, Coca-Cola, Elvis and Marilyn as identity.

We tried the location at 149 Powell, near Union Square, with a Chevy Bel Air, and an Indian motorcycle for decor.

One more diner is located at the Ghirardelly Plaza, another must in San Francisco, with splendid views of the bay and the Golden Gate.

Also in San Francisco, we call attention to the Fog City (nickname of the city) Diner in the 1300 Battery St., an icon, also in "modern" with the touch of class that is expected from this city, and warns that, as soon as you enter, in its atmosphere, its own service for a great restaurant and their dishes, sophisticated, like the World Famous Red Curry Mussel Stew, Chilled Oysters on the Half Shell, Dungeness Crab and Cioppino with prawns, mussels and local fish, with grilled sourdough, to give a few examples.

The parking requirements forced us to use less time than it normally invest in to enjoy a meal, so we will have to return because the menu is huge!.

In any case, worth close to a lot of money that exist in cities and towns of the country, if possible one of the survivors and try to capture something of the essence of authentic diner and also a time that undoubtedly many Americans yearn for.

Further information: American Diner Museum

No, Woman No Cry

2009-07-01T08:00:00.000+02:00

In Southeast Asia, at the confluence of the territories of Burma, Laos and Thailand, borders, often become confused, hardly recognizable, and although it is a militarized zone, it is relatively easy to cross the line in every way.

This is a place of great natural beauty, matched only by the enormous ethnographic diversity: tribes such as Lahu, Karen, Blue Hmong, White Hmong, Sgaw, Akha, Mien, Lisu or Lawa, among others.

This is a dangerous place too, where armed incidents are frequent, where, despite government efforts, the opium trade is still alive, a place of passage of refugees fleeing harassment by the military dictatorship in Burma, or disaster natural, a sort of administrative limbo, where residents have an unclear legal situation.

We saw them, our passports "abducted" by officials rather than doubtful, when we enter in Laos or Burma, leaving behind our identities, and becoming subject anonymous ...

This is a place where, paradoxically, the influx of tourists is essential and often is the only source of money for villages.

The best conditions of life, yet so very far from Western standards, are in Thailand, where these people have a substantial degree of autonomy, or abandonment, as you look, so that tourism is a core support for subsistence, and a time, a conviction for many members of these societies, especially for women.

They are, women, which assume virtually all responsibility, being the most extreme case of women of burmese ethnic Padaung, due to its infamous tradition of placing rings in the joints and the neck of girls born on Wednesday Full Moon ...

Visit villages of the ethnic group, implies a moral dilemma for many travelers.

Also for us it was, no doubt, but our visit to a village of this tribe in Burma, where tourism revenue is not coming, and talk to these women, seeing their faces and hear their approach, made us think much about The Western habit of judging the rest of the world based on our values, without hearing the other party.

On the one hand, tourism is not conducive to abandon this practice, even women of other races, or born at any time, adopt this ritual, because for families is a secure source of money.

It is also true that the inhabitants of these villages, without the revenue from tourism, would see their future as a people committed to the very short term, since its integration into the social and political structure of Thailand and, ultimately, Laos , seems very complicated.

Some villages are exclusively inhabited by members of one ethnic group, in others, several.

Villages are richer, more life, more children, but sometimes it's easy to think that these are places designed as "ethnographic park", it does not.

Respond simply to a matter of administrative convenience, and policy by governments.

Anyway, all of them, regardless of the ethnic group to which we refer, women are the economic base of the village, and those that perpetuate ethnic group, although this situation, far from giving a position of privilege, puts in an inferior position that lasts, because, for too long.

Rapa Nui, the Island of the Bird Men

2009-06-30T23:57:00.000+02:00

At the eastern end of Rapa Nui, is this group of moais, the most impressive of the island, called Ahu Tongariki.

The majestic statues stand facing the sea and the volcano Maunga Pu A Kaitiki.

Easter Island, Rapa Nui, is an exotic destination in itself, apparently locked out of space for the unexpected. However, there is much more, and often depend only on us to find it.

Similarly, in this technological world, impersonal and computerized in which we are immersed, "travel" to other countries, answering the daily mail, "talking" with people from very different and far places.

It is therefore surprising and is a joy to receive, as has happened today, a real postcard from the edge of the world, from Rapa Nui.

Thanks!

Manhattan Transfer, John Dos Pasos

2009-06-29T11:35:00.008+02:00

"What people have sung your fall, and always reborn from your ashes."
Manhattan Transfer, John Dos Pasos.

I read this book a second time after the fall of the Twin Towers. It's a magnificent portrait of a city and its spirit.

Unhappy people looking for a dream, the city, the achievement, the skyscrapers, taxis, fire pumps, success, failure, the land of opportunity, money, psychoanalysis, the bag, corruption ...

The real protagonist it's the New York of the early twentieth century, the character that devours, that is imposed on the other, destroying ideals, love, youth, sowing the seeds for the fall of the '29.

A milkman who comes to politicians, Gus McNiel; a lawyer who is a prosecutor, George Baldwin; a good boy who finishes bum, Jimmy Herf; a marine who becomes a millionaire, Congo Jake; an actress who comes to magazine director, Elaine.

Characters to which we are accustomed to films, and on all the entrepreneurial spirit, the future, the hope.

The skyscraper as a metaphor for the goals of the inhabitants of the "Big Apple".

A story that becomes prophetic, today. On the pediment of the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock exchange, it can be read: "The integrity protects the work of man."

"The Bowling Green Bull ", a huge bronze bull that photograph all the tourists; with bears, representing the upward and downward stock market.

"The bull tries to charge the bear, and he hopes eventually to strangle him", Andre Kostolamy.

"Bears against bulls," is an expression that illustrates the game of speculators.
Of the expectations of the bears (which yield securities because they believe in lower prices) and bulls (they buy it back at a price upwards) are movements in the pouch. Too bad that the Bulls and the Bears do not like reading!

Sukhothai, a Memory of a Kingdom

2009-06-26T13:28:00.005+02:00

Sukhothai, "The decline of Happiness" is a name that we can be at least strange for a city.

However, Sukhothai wasn't only the capital of a great kingdom, but marks in the timeline of the time, a moment of capital importance in the Tai art and culture, becoming perhaps a premonitory significance of time, less grandiose, which arrive later. In this sense, the name is most appropriate.

On the other hand, we assumed the contrary, a rebirth, a discovery, an attraction that will never leave us.

Strolling through the ancient ruins of Sukhothai, admire its buildings, its sculptures, the Buddha, trying to assimilate its dimensions, to understand what it means ... an unforgettable experience.

Even the most ruined part convey something magical, which takes you back to another era.

In the Archaeological Park of Sukhothai, declared World Heritage by UNESCO, there is still much research work to be done, and find much to restore, but never mind.

The magnificent buildings of the Sukhothai kingdom which still survive, and irrespective of its origins, its history, or its true meaning, we are a legacy of the glorious history of the Tai people in the valleys of northern Thailand.

Lemonade Prizes

2009-06-24T10:00:00.006+02:00

It seems that the month of May isn’t finished the good news for The Pea Green Project. Today we have risen with another prize! This time, it has been our readings companion Homo Libris, who has given us. And from his web (making use of intertextuality, not the copy), we explain where its charm lies.

The Lemonade 50 Prize is awarded by Metropolis Books. In particular, they have awarded the prize to several blogs that were entered in an unusual initiative, the colaBLOGradores, which want to promote those blogs, trying its thematic review of the books, want to send them to appear on your blog, associated with the books that are available for sale (remember that this blog is associated with Metropolis Books, a website on cinema and literature, with its own online store.

This is the prize that has received Homo Libris, and from his hands, comes to us.

These awards, as you know, have their own internal rules. Among the 50 Lemonade Award are:

1. Put the logo in the post or the blog.

2. Nominate at least 5 other blogs that show a great attitude and / or gratitude.

This is the hardest part, which never happy at everybody, even to us, but must be done.

Bibliobulimica, Ale's Blog, for their sympathy and everything that teaches us from the other side of the Atlantic.

Teresa's Books, Teresa’s Books, because in her blog we are like our home.

Alvi on the Road, one of our peas-in-exile, which reveals the Hungarian authors, and much more.

From Book to Book, the blog of Lammermoor, by that invisible agreement thread that connects us.

Audrey's Cousin, because every day we remember her, seeing his picture in the hallway of our home, :-D

3. Sure to link either to the nominees in the post.

4. Let them know that they have received this award means a comment on their blogs.

5. Spread love and don't forget who you link to the prize.

That's all folks! Thanks for your support,especially Mithdraug,‘cause he has reunited us!:-D

Edit the entry to add the new awards that Ale granted to our blog. We will get used!!

Gods and Humans

2009-03-03T14:09:00.000+01:00

Egypt was an impossible dream for us, a land far away and inaccessible.
One day, almost without realizing, it became a reality. Our first destination outside Europe, and an experience that marked us forever.
By then the old kingdom of the pharaohs to the travelers was a real risk that few were willing to assume.
With a little of unconsciousness and the hope that irrationality and bigotry do not end up imposing its own law, embark towards Cairo.

Upon arrival, a sweet smell, a damp heat, a language unknown by us filled with new sensations. Wandering stunned at night at the Marriot Hotel, with its comings and goings of people in their twilight rooms, splendid decor ... restless and almost left to Luxor.

Upon arrival we were impressed with its streets nearly deserted for western people, the population looked at us with a mixture of astonishment and concern, and questioned us about our journey, we are reassured, we asked that, upon return, tell the world that Egypt was a wonderful place.

We climbed on board, that would be our home for many days. In the spring, calls to prayer provided a background to the row of empty vessels, open to any curious, rotting in the sun, waiting for better times.
That memory is actually alive in our memories. The adventure began.

In the Full Sun

2009-02-20T13:35:00.000+01:00

Stratosphere Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. 14:00.
I see the monorail from my window, cranes that extending the Strip.
We are at the end of the street, 2400 Boulevard Avenue, the boundary between the artery most famous in Las Vegas and Downtown.

The heat is bearable thanks to the hotel's air conditioning to 70 Fº degrees.!

Only in the room is we can escape from the Casino and its slot machines deafening 24 hours at a day. Noise, lights, players tied to the machines by the rope that holds the cards.

The majestic mountains surround a vast wasteland on McCarran airport, it actually looks like a airport with runways sand. Signs rest in anticipation of the night, the planes appear to be part of the decor.
Nobody seems to be out enjoying the day under the scorching sun. Everyone has to live the night, which, through the halls, the Croupiers, sounds of machines, it seems last forever.

Only summer attire betrays the station.

La Isla Bonita

2009-02-15T12:34:00.008+01:00

This post was written by our comrade in arms, Inma, which has decided to contribute to the development of El Guisante Verde Project. We hope you enjoy it!.

After touring several of the Canary Islands, I am decidedly choose one of the smallest, well known as "La Isla Bonita", La Palma. It is an island of only 706 square kilometers and a population of about 85'000 pepole, where tourism is not a tourist beach but mountain, mountain biking and diving.

To reach this beautiful island, there is only one way, flight with a stopover in Tenerife.

One of the best options is to buy by your own, a flight, and then book the hotel or apartment and rent a car with local agencies in there, we did well and was a success.

The Cancajos is purely a tourist town where the apartment are, but out of season is very quiet and is connected by bus on 20 minutes.

The maximun height in the island is "Roque de los Muchachos", with 2426 meters, where the famous astrophysical observatory is, although nearly all the island's centre mountain range exceeding 2000 meters.

Like the rest of the Canary Islands and other islands that form the Macaronesia, it's origin is volcanic, differing from all others by the green os it's mountains, and plenty of water, La Palma is the unique of the Canary Islands that have rivers or small streams.

In the North, just the center of the island is occupied by the National Park of Caldera de Taburiente, a huge crater, one of the largest in the world, which can make trekking and visit the Waterfall of Colors, a jump red water due to land containing minerals. It is a must to visit the majestic landscape, which can be completed with a visit to the observatory Roque de los Muchachos.

Also in the north and near the Caldera de Taburiente, are the beautiful forests, such as Les Tiles, small forest of rare beauty, where you can enjoy one of the most important laurel forest of the Canary Islands.

From here, you can reach to the Nacientes de Marco y Cordero and for this we must be prepared to walk and at the interpretation center we can ask for the access.

Another nearby woods and a special charm is the cube of the Galga. Is smaller than the previous one, but you can see the big ferns. In our journey we pass through the capital and reach the southern tip of the island where it is close and you can enjoy the cast of the volcanoes and the opportunity to make a path of several hours across the volcanoes of Cumbre Vieja.

The Volcano Teneguía was the last eruption in 1971. There is an interpretation office about the volcanoes from which you can visit the volcano and still see some fumaroles.Another of the pleasures of the island is its cuisine, a few fish on the grill, "viejas", "cabritillas" ... as well as honey or brown tajines.
The Island deserves more than one visit. Must enjoy quiet time.

More info on La Palma Tourism.

Caperucita in Manhattan by Carmen Martín Gaite

2009-02-10T11:41:00.003+01:00

It's nice to meet with old friends again, and even more so when those friends have given you many special moments. Back to Martin Gaite and traveling with her across the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan is a true gift. My vision from New York was blurry when I read this story for adults, for the first time. Today, after our trip to the Big Apple, is bright, clear, vibrant, and images are more recent in my memory, when we followed in Sara Allen's footsteps by Columbus Circle, the area around the Lincoln Center, Central Park ...

A beautiful metaphor for freedom, that makes you see with different look the statue gift from France in 1885 and made in the image of the mother of the sculptor, Mr. Bartholdi ... Traverse Central Park alone, get into our fears, looking to Freedom in the eyes ...
As said Antonio Munoz Molina in "Windows of Manhattan" in New York I am no one, I'm a nobody, yet I am more than in ... read elsewhere, find, enjoy, it's August!

Corto Maltese, Hugo Pratt

2009-02-05T14:23:00.001+01:00

Learning constantly keeps us alive, and learn from other cultures is the spirit of this blog. On this occasion we will do through the comic.

Travel through the pages of one of the greatest designers of our time, Hugo Pratt.

Following his character Corto Maltese, we can travel, adventure after adventure, one of the most beautiful places of our planet and live periods of world history in a way that perhaps we had not imagined.

Beyond the personality of Hugo Pratt, in his capacity as an artist and writer, widely discussed in other, more appropiate, forums, highlight the task of accurate documentation carried out to design their titles, and that we as an introduction into modern editions.

It's another way to travel, to prepare or complete a journey, different, entertaining, which always learn something new, and we will now present.
We hope you enjoy!

San Francisco

2009-01-15T17:35:00.005+01:00

I miss the San Francisco of Russian mountain slopes, radiant blue sky, cuted by kind skyscrapers, like neogothics as Pacbell Building, or Russ Building, 1925 and 1927 made, even as the latest St. Regis Museum Tower, 2005, or the triangular building, the Transamerica Piramid, the highest in the city that defines its skyline.
The wind, which requires travelers not warned buy the most popular souvenir: the San Francisco sweatshirt.
Frisco, as its inhabitants call it, is a city to walk, climb up and down Lombard Street, Hyde St., Powell St. ..
Guidance is easy thanks to the Coit Tower as a beacon on top. Will vary with the views of the Bay from every hill, but the most famous view is from Russian Hill.
We must prove the Ghirardelli chocolates, and admire the view and the sunset with the Golden Gate in the background.
If, like us, miss the very least, you should see the Hitchcock film "Vertigo", where all must in the city appears; the Mission Dolores, which lends its name to the neighborhood (though the Mission in the heart of the film is San Juan Bautista, about 90 miles from San Francisco), the Golden Gate, the Redwoods ... and also to read "The Underground" by Kerouac, a lesser-known work "On the Road", but describes the effervescent era of Frisco, and you can still relive at the Vesuvio Cafe.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-21T22:57:00.005+01:00

"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had on his approach.
"Bah!" said Scrooge, "Humbug!".

He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

"Cristmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure". "I do", said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! what right have you to be merry? what reason have you to be merry? You're poor enough."

"Come, then", returned the nephew gaily. "What right have you to be dismal? what reason have you to be morose? You're rich enough".

Text and images from
"The Annotated Christmas Carol"
W.W. Norton & Company Inc.
www.wwnorton.com

Breakfast at Tiffany's

2008-10-24T13:04:00.001+02:00

"I do not want to hold anything until you find a place where I am in my place and things are theirs. I'm not sure where is that place. But I know what it looks like. ... It's like Tiffany's."
"Breakfast at Tiffany's," Truman Capote

It's a little refresher, a short but dense story, inevitably linked to the film starring by Audrey Hepburn, outshoned for herself and her magnetic personality. Although the real Holly Golightly is a woman more real, less naive, stronger.

It is worthwhile to venture into the void that for the curious, show the movie.

This effectively uses the dialogues of the original text, though upset the order and the players, to achieve that Hollywood touch to which we have come, and a happy end, which does not encourage the story of Capote. He always chooses a more open final, where the reader has to imagine, to invent, to complete..

A more real final where things do not end with credits.

A good reading for summer, and how not!, an excellent overview of the city of New York, the Hamburg Heaven, Central Park, 5th Avenue, and, of course, that Tiffany, grateful, celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 1987 with a letter from the Audrey - Holly, led to the company.

What a pity!, that the movie ruled the scene of the horses by Central Park, and racing ahead at the 5th Avenue ...
It would have been great!.

Cafe de la Presse, San Francisco

2008-10-23T12:41:00.000+02:00

In Grant St. next to the entrance of Chinatown in San Francisco, we discovered a magnificent Parisian style cafe, on a sunny afternoon in late June.

As Mrs. Dalloway, I want to capture everything around me, the complacent smile of a waiter, ready to fill the cups of coffee and glasses of water (at last, without ice, and a glass bottle as the old Gas).

A yellow sport car parked next to the entrance, voices, accents coming from all parts of the world ...

Look!, is a spectacle, you can dine at tables with candles, buy magazines, newspapers, bread, candy.

It is a curious American mixture, a French touch close to the most interesting Chinatown of the West Coast.

Monteverde, Costa Rica

2008-10-22T12:21:00.004+02:00

There are few places in the world where Nature is the absolute protagonist, and she makes the rules. One of these places is Monteverde, in northwest of Costa Rica.
An example of how people can live within the rain forest without destroying it completely, and in this sense, the very fact that the paved roads are almost unknown, is a statement of intent.

Through the windows of our room at the hotel "El Sapo Dorado," a wonderful spectacle appeared in front of our eyes.
The Rain Forest, with infinite shades of green, fog, contrasts of light, “pizotes”, birds ..., always changing, always new, where we were guests.

Turner & Venice

2008-10-09T10:45:00.007+02:00

"The paintings of Turner are impossible to reproduce, even the best breeding does not do more to spur the curiosity of seeing the original."
After vedutism of Canaletto, the Venice imagined, the works of Turner requires the active participation of the viewer to "see" a Venice just suggested, outlined.
If you like, your next stop is the Tate Gallery in London to admire not only the Clore Gallery with its more than 300 watercolors, but also the rest of his painting. And you can get closer to the National Gallery, where he accompanies his admired Claude Lorrain.

Rome, Eternal City III

2008-09-13T09:29:00.004+02:00

"If those characters could intimidate Madame Mêre, always impressed for the exceptional sense of complicity that existed between all of them: a spirit of clan that, despite its exclusivity, was not completely unknown. It was the same that existed between the Bonapartes. As if it were written that history was made in exclusive groups, isolated of collective groups. "

"Venus Bonaparte", Terenci Moix.

It is the papal nobility and leading members of large families: the Orsini, Colonna, the Doria Pamphili, the Chigi, the Altemps, Salviati, Aldobrandini, Spinola… which shine with letters of gold in the golden chronicle of Rome at 1804.

"That Rome to be consolidated as a modern city without abandoning its continuing connections with the ancient world."

Finally, the book looks at some of the master pieces of the history of art: Venus Victorious, the Laooconte, the Apollo of Belvedere, the Spinario (seized by Napoleon), so coveted that are under consideration in the Museums of Views. The Knight with gloves of Titian, the Leda of Veronesse, the Virgin of Guercino, the San Sebastian of Giordano (booty of Cardinal Fesh, Paulina and Napoleon Bonaparte’s uncle) The St. Teresa of Bernini in Santa Maria della Vitoria… Rome is a large container of art, an essential stage of the "Grand Tour".

"A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of his inferiority, because he hasn’t seen what it is assumed that every man should know."
James Boswell. s. XVIII.

It is a journey that every people enthusiast for the art and travel must make. Come on, and tell us your experience!

Rome, Eternal City II

2008-09-08T09:21:00.001+02:00

"Venus Bonaparte wants to be a tribute to the city of Rome and a cameo designed to contain the literary portrait of an extraordinary woman…" "Venus Bonaparte", Terenci Moix.

The boldness, freshness, the strength of youth and beauty, compared with the experience, fear of death, envy, betrayal and jealousy.
Rome represents the eternal life, Paris the gallant life, the ephemeral, pleasure.
Josefina, first wife of Napoleon, is the expert woman, elegant, adult, abandoned. The admired woman.
Paulina, favorite sister, shows us the eternal girl, whim, desire, dissatisfaction. The adored woman.

Madame Mere, her mother, the matriarch of the Bonaparte clan, is the image of resignation, the unconditional support of his family, serenity, continence. The respected woman.
Women as artwork, displayed in all their ages, Venus Bonaparte, accurate title.

Let this book accompanies you for some of the emblematic places in the city:
Palazzo Barberini, Aldobrandini, Villa Borguese, Via Giulia Farnese Palace (identified by the lily), Fontana Mascherone, Giacomo della Porta Palazzo Falconieri (its emblem is a hawk)…

Rome has 13 churches, seven mains, five patriarchal, the jubilee churches: St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Paul's outside, Holy Cross of Jerusalem, San Sebastian (on the road Apia)
Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navonna, the Pantheon, Campo de Marzio, Via della Fontanella, via del Corso, Church of the Gesu, Mausoleum of Augustus, San Giacomo in Augusta (where he was studying Canova).

Rome, Eternal City I

2008-09-03T09:14:00.004+02:00

We choose this book to respond to those followers of the Pea who asked some about of the Eternal City, this post is the first of the serial. Speak about Rome is talking about art and choose a work like the Venus of Canova is to open a door to the memory of its streets, families of the nobility who made grandiose and its artistic jewels so coveted by those who besieged and visit it today.

"She has the affection of Napoleon, who always distinguished more than her other sisters…
His imperial dreams had fallen on Italy, organizing and reorganizing states, decimating territories, and Every time a chance comes up, replacing thrones. But while awaiting his opportunity, he watched with admiration the example of the Roman Empire and considered the Eternal City as the paradigm of all virtues that characterize the military genius, the political genius and the surprising mixture of both: the religious genius manipulated by temporal power of the pontiffs.
"Venus Bonaparte", Terenci Moix.

A superb overview of the imperial dream, of all dreams: greatness, fame, art, culture, passion, dreams remain, live forever, intensively, over the rest of the mortals. Dreams of Mars and Venus, reincarnated as Napoleon and Paulina, in the unique setting of the Eternal City.
A story of love, love for life.

Windows on the World

2008-07-30T11:22:00.001+02:00

"I remember every one of my walks and all the windows I looked out in Manhattan, list them in my memory some nights when I can not sleep and my wanderer imagination returned to that city, she leads me as the docile animal who knows his way and does not require its owner to the guide.""Windows of Manhattan," Antonio Muñoz Molina.

The windows have something strange: we see the world as their shape, and of magic: inevitably attract us. When we reading the words of Munoz Molina, come to our minds images captured through many windows, memories and sensations. As a small tribute to this book that has inspired us, we created Windows on the World (W. on W.), to remember those windows through which one day we looked out.

The picture above shows the Skyline of Shanghai from the window of our room at the Hotel Xing Yu. The modern world, steel and glass in front of us, across the Huang Pu.
At our feet, another world, another image, the hutong, immersed in an unequal struggle for their survival, try to go on.

Grand Canyon

2008-07-25T09:27:00.004+02:00

One night he sprang from sleep with a start, eager-eyed, nostrils quivering and scenting, his mane bristling in recurrent waves. From the forest came the call --(or one note of it, for the call was many-noted), distinct and definite as never before--a long-drawn howl, like, yet unlike, any noise made by husky dog. And he knew it, in the old familiar way, as a sound heard before."
Jack London, "The Call of the Wild".

When you look at Grand Canyon, and contemplate the magnitude of the gulf that opens in front of you, feel something similar to vertigo, and an irresistible impulse to dive deeper into it. Descends.

Behind of you are the road, tourists, the voices, civilization ... and only gradually tapping your steps, your breathing, and... the call. It's Nature, calling you, attractin you to the bottom, awaking your asleep instincts.

Like Buck, sharpen your senses at every turn, and understand that this so-distant past, in which men lived free, and Nature imposed its law is, actually, just around the corner. And you feel one with rocks, earth and wind, and smiling, because you know that part of your spirit will walk there, forever, in Grand Canyon.

Water of Life

2008-07-21T11:00:00.011+02:00

The Hamman of Çemberlitas was built in 1584, by the behest of the Sultana Nur-u Banu, wife of Sultan Selim II and mother of the future Murad III.

The legendary architect Mimar Sinán designers, it’s considered one of the major works of Ottoman Architecture of the sixteenth century.

Some years ago we enjoy a few hours inside of this former hamman, sober and quiet (then at least) because tourists, discouraged by his appearance, somewhat ramshackle, opting to go to more modern hammans, or those located at luxury hotels.

Accordingly, the traveler will find that most customers are Turkish, which allows to be more aware of the experience of Hamman, able to keep its time and enjoy the sensations that make it possible to set those moments in the memory.

Entering in the Hamman is to make a journey through time, which purifies the body and soul, its luxury is the silence, the slabs of marble, steam, the lack of noise generated by machines, high ceilings, stone walls, conversation, which pierced the vaults screened natural light, the scent of tea and soap ... and pleased to devote the, often deny, attention to our battered body.

Their number is reduced gradually, as well as its importance as a meeting place and in the community life; on one hand, baths and hot springs from the Romans, in the other hand, the hamman, the importance of these spaces along the History has been capital.

I believe this should remain so, and it is important that places like the magnificent thermal baths in Bursa or Çemberlitas Hamman in the city of Istambul do not disappear.

Come In, and travel through the Time!.

The original post was published on Monday, March 17, 2008, read it!

Journey to the Exotic South America, Jorge Sanchez

2008-07-16T10:02:00.010+02:00

"I thought making seven major trips to learn about the world, and then ... lead a normal life, a job, a girlfriend, a second-hand car ... but the truth is that I get caught, and I could not stop. "

This is what we hear while we sought a book in Tintas Library, in the city of Bilbao, the best place for enjoying the trip before and after.

It was Jorge Sanchez, traveler, which presented the reissue of his first book, "Journey to the exotic South America". We listened how he managed to survive with $ 300, his adventures to achieve visas, their tricks to be "invisible" at border crossings, as well as his new projects, was a lesson of humility for The Pea.
Again we become aware of we are so small. It was at once a stimulus, and we are now with the world map, counting, like him, the countries visited by us, and all that remains to discover. Without wishing to compare with Jorge, his gallery of passengers is a high level club, so that is to travel!, what we share is his curiosity, his eagerness to know other cultures. The book is full of adventures submitted that seem impossible in our globalized world. If, as we, you want to know more, we've added a link on Not only blogs, in this same page.

The original post was published on Wednesday, March 12, 2008, read it!

My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk

2008-06-24T12:56:00.000+02:00

"The Red in a crowd scene, in which, I saw immediately, each of my illustrators had worked in a different corner, shuddered me for his passion."

I admired for years the treatment of color in Pamuk's work, partly explained by his teenage years devoted to painting. his works have texture, are visual, especially "My Name is Red", a fascinating story that goes beyond the life of Illuminators, to get back on tradition, or innvoation.
Are they imitators or creators?.
The admiration aroused by Western painters, the Persian tradition, teachers in Herat and Tabriz...
How to say nothing of color about an author who was insired by the other Rome, Istanbul, a city-bridge between Asia and Europe, its mosques, bazaars, its splendid tiles, leave a mark on the retina that affects to the Pamuk's writing way.
Not only in this book turns to color as a metaphor for his characters; in "Snow" too, color defines the character more elusive, Blue. Even the book that made him famous among us,long before win the Nobel, entitled "The Black Book".

I've read his pages from black to red, to blue, to white of snowflakes through "New Life", and has never ceased to amaze me, although I found among his characters and in the streets of his beloved Istanbul, or Kars, or Frankfurt, like inside of a painting.
Many oh his obssesions, hopes, fears, longings, that are repeated over and over again, and we do ours, approaching us to the world of the other, to his country, the most European os islamic countries, a country proud of its tradition, with need to innovate, to move closer to the West without losing its identity.

These stories, are stories about a country, about its people,they become our own history, as he explains in "My father's Suitcase", when talking about literature like medicine, the need for daily reading and write good literature.
Contrary to what Pamuk said (he prefers to admire wirters already deceased), I love that he is an alive author in order to continue reading his new works, which dosage as all good reading, in order to understand why he writes and why we read.
I see in Pamuk the Turkey we met years ago, as Europeans fascinated by Turkey in Topkapi Sarai, and The Blue Mosque -ever color present-, and that surprised us collect good conversationalists in ruins of cemeteries converted into cafes, that Turkey of large sellers, kinds, experts..., illuminators and miniaturists, which have made of the smallets details a sublime art.
The original post was published on Friday, March 7, 2008, read it!

Musée Marmottan

2008-06-17T09:54:00.000+02:00

At last Paris!, with London were afraid to close a circle, and opened much more, like a big black hole and now, again, Paris, win your heart, exalts, absorbs, re-open half closed boxes of your heart.
Monet, real watching painting, see beyond, feel the colours, textures, movement over time in palaces of the seventeenth century.
A museum should be so inclusive, evocative, promote an area of calm, isolated from outside. Pictures from Giverny enter in the brain as sparkles, Cathedral of Rouen, so warm here, so closely approaches, photographic (at the beginning perhaps influenced by his friend Nadar), the fusion of the real world and reflected world in the water, "Japanese Bridge", the snowy landscape of The Magpie...
Le Pont de l'Europe, Gare Saint-Lazare.
Why train stations cause so many mood?. Trains, smoke, the passenger arrivals, departures, beginnings... Actually, is not all of this a great trip?.
My love for painting comes from long time ago, from fights with shades of green in a vain atempt to emulate the Nature. I understand the obsessions of Monet to reflect again and again the same view, the same frame under different light, cherished differently by the colours, in an imitation of their beloved Japanese prints.
We all live influenced by the exotic, it is easy to find influences in Monet touring again and again their works, first in Le Jeu de Paume, later, in the magnificient Gare D'Orsay, his circulars paintings at L'Orangerie, and close the circle, go up in the Marmottan, with painting a thousand times evoked, elusive (stolen in 1985), in order to find a privileged place in a circular lounge with Pissarro, The Lady of the Range -Morisot-, snowy landscapes of Paris, and there, in the middle, the table that gives its name to the movement: Impresion Soleil Levant.

Would Monet been the center of this movement without its patrons?
Those who provoked, bought, promoted his exhibitions in France and in "the other side of the pond", in New York, Boston..., so that American collectors and painters of that nationality that come to live together and learn from the master.
They share his abandonment of the Barbizon Group and his experimentation in the final stage, as gardeners of Giverny. Without their discoverer Boudin, supported by Clemenceau and Duran-Ruel, without the company of Camile, and his second wife, Alice (wife of his friend Ernest). Whitout his travels and his attraction to the exotic, his passage through Argenteil, Rouen, Norway, Holland, London, Italy, and especially without his beloved Seine River, it would be impossible to understand the work of Claude Monet. His own name is an evocation of colour.
Kandinsky saw in one of his paintings of Almiares, the first abstract painting. Always lear from others!

Many of the Impressionist works share space, inspiration, scenes and yet the hearing, emotion, distinguished in a full room of their "namesake", Manet, more academic, Renoir more warmer, Morisot more affectionate, Pissarro, Sisley..., from the works of Monet. It is not the eye, is the sound of colour, touch, taste caused by each material.
The impressionists painted outdoor, wanted to imitate the Sun, and the heat caused by their canvases, is still there waiting; visit Paris, first the Gare D'Orsay, followed by L'orangerie, and the majestic Marmottan, and like me you will recover the love by this movement of artists with paintings easy to see, marked brushtrokes, intentional, of complicity with the audience, because we must watch more than once to feel you must move away from the painting, sit, feel, rotated, like the sun, as light!
Enjoy it!
The original post was published on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, read it!

L'air du Temps

2008-06-10T09:16:00.002+02:00

What makes a perfume in a classic?

My relationship with perfume has not been easy. It is the sense of smell the most evocative and less educated; feelings of attraction and rejection are immediate and it is therefore difficult to hit with a fragrance.
My first approach to the world of perfume is visual, collect miniatures for years, is a collection of small, capricious, packaging that have made history, Lalique, Loewe, Penhaligon's. However, choose and use a perfume is more complicated, we test, smell, feel ... Essences mixed with alcohol to a greater or lesser concentration are the basis for reaching the eau de toilette, parfum or eau de parfum. The "Made in" always in our minds is Paris or France, and almost makes us forget other places with tradition perfumer.
The Annick Goutal's exquisite store, Rue des Rossiers in Le Marais Parisian, the Penhaligon's Gift package at Liberty in London, composing a world that not only appeals to our nose. Except some flirting I have been faithful to these four fragrances:
L'air du Temps, Ninna Ricci, for years considered one of the top five perfumes in the world.
Trésor, Lancôme.
Dolce Vita, Dior.
Lolita Lempicka classic, Lolita Lempicka.
These four perfumes are classics. There are high notes, but the casualties, which make up my choice: musk and sandalwood in L'air du Temps. Vanilla, peach and apricot in Trésor. Vanilla, cinnamon and apricot in Dolce Vita, and finally liquorice and vanilla in Lolita Lempicka.
It would be unfair not to mention the Arab perfumers (the Egyptians and manufacturing ointments), with natural essences, excite our senses. Getting lost in the medina of Sousse -Tunisia- to finds one of these old businesses and select a fragrance measure is an experience. Each mixture over our skin creates a new note.
Touch It!

The original post was published on Thursday, February 28, 2008, read it!

Musée Guimet

2008-06-02T08:37:00.000+02:00

"And I
secretly hidden
go deep into a trail
in Mount Shang
that even the lumberjacks
knows"
Wang Wei, "River Wang Poems"

We suggest start the visit in the elegant Hotel Heildelbach, 19 Avenue d'Lena, Paris. Inside there are the most important pieces of which Emile Guimet led to Paris in 1867, forming what today is called the Galeries du Panthéon Bouddhique du Japon et de la Chine.

This museum can pass unnoticed, and it is overshadowed because of his older brother, the Guimet Museum. It is, however, a very pleasant and quiet, with exquisite pieces that deserve a watchful eye, plus a beatiful Japanese garden, so it seems to us a perfect introduction to what we shall see below.

The industrialist from Lyon, Emile Guimet, a passionate student of the History of Religions, founded the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques, Musée Guimet, 6, Place d'Lena, in 1889. At present time, the museum hosts numerous works fruit of the French scientific expeditions in Asia, own acquisitions, donations, collections from the former Museum of Indochina at the Trocadero, and the section of the Far East, that has been kept at the Musée du Louvre until 1945.
In 2001, after four years of works, the Guimet Museum reopened its doors showing an area completely reorganized.
We emphasize, first of all, the recovery of the lighting by natural light into the rooms, thus returnin to the original idea of its founder, which, combined

with the use, magnificient, of the artificial light, gives the exhibits one, if it's possible, more beauty.
Another interesting aspect is the distribution of spaces, clean, open, with numerous windows and empty spaces that communicate with each other halls, revolves around a large central courtyard that gives to the museum a dynamic spatial dimension, without becoming labyrinthine, and makes possible a progressive journey, according to the designed didactic from the direction of the Museum.
The teaching is the thrid aspect to highlight. On the one hand we can continue the spread of Indian Civilization, and its two major religions, Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia, specially in Cambodia.
In the other hand, and starting from India again, we will continue the Silk Road to China, Korea and Japan, passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan, besides the Himalayas in the ways of Tibet and Nepal.
Finally, we show Chinese Civilization in all its splendour and historical significance, helping us further understands their influence on Korea and Japan.

The last aspect that highlight is the collection itself, with capital letters. The Guimet Museum hast the best collection of Khmer Art outside Cambodia; pieces are exquisite, little known, hypnotic, and with a great prominence within the Museum. Its location in the central chamber, makes your gaze back on them again and again, but never mind; every time you will find a new plea for stopping few moments.
The remaining works, from India, Southeast Asia, China, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Korea and Japan make up a museum, which we believe is the best in Europe, and competes whith the magnificient Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, or Shanghai Museum; even believe it's better in terms of the variety of types that collects and diversity of origin of the pieces.
Currently, the museum is free, at least until June 2008, including an 1'30h audio guide. Although I keep it spends a lot more time in their rooms.
The original post was published on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, read it!
Further information on the Guimet Museum website

Paris, Je t'aime

2008-05-27T12:56:00.040+02:00

"Thank you Lord, at last we have the Hotel Carnavalet", wrote in 1677 Madame de Sevigne.

Our love was a first sight love; a love that you know shall not disappoint, a love whom, after all this time, we remain faithful. Many people have tried to define it, writers, painters, actors, politicians, travellers, bon vivants, but none of them has achieved completely. Not only is the City of Light, of Love..., is Paris.
When you arrive, she welcome you warmly, softness, without noise, with elegance and intimacy, as if you were and old friend, and at the moment of going away you feel his influence, his magic catch you, and simply you do not want lo leave her.
Therefore, "We'll always have Paris", is not just a phrase of Bogart in Casablanca, is a feeling that will accompany you from the very first time you go.

In addition to discovering the secrets of a district in particular there was two museums among the objectives of our trip: the Musée Marmottan Monet, with a wonderful collection of paintings by Monet, among them, which is considered a symbol of the birth of the impressionist movement, Impression Soleil Levant, and some of his contemporaries, including Gauguin, Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir, Morisot..., within an exquisite private villa of the nineteenth century, former residende of renowned historian of Art, Paul Marmottan, with a nice museum, a beautiful garden view to relax and meditate on what our eyes see.

This museum holds another small treasure, the illuminated plates since thirteenth to sixteenth century, from the legacy of Daniel Wildenstein, a feast for the eyes.
The other museum, Musée des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, left us breathless, because the quality of construction, natural lighting, exposure and organization are exceptional, and deserves a separate entrance in the blog, which you'll can read it very soon.

It should be noted that, by work and grace of the French goverment, this museum, and some other national museums, have free entrance until, at least, June 2008, including audio guide, so seize the opportunity.

Lastly, we must confess that, despite everything, we could not avoid making a visit to the Egyptian section of the Louvre Museum, and walk through the centre of Paris. One sunny morning in January, Notre Dame without scaffolding or works..., we can not ask for more.

The main purpose of this little trip was that, as long time is probably the most dynamic district of Paris, Le Marais, and discover its secrets.

We decided to stay at the Hotel des Chevaliers, at 30 rue de Turenne, 50 meters from the Place des Vosges, but sufficiently distant from traffic, something more intense, but never comparable to the grands boulevards, of the rue St. Antoine, where the nearest subway station is.
Throughout its history, the neighborhood has undergone deep changes; first went from being a marsh area (marais), cropland in the thirteenth century, thanks to the work of monks and Templars. The wall erected by Charles V increases the sense of security among the population, causing a marked increase in the population and its agricultural facet loses importance compared to residential use, also driven by the monarch, who is leaving the city to reside in the Hotel Saint Paul.

The peak time of the neighborhood came in 1605, when Henry V orders Sully carry out the construction of the Place Royale, today Place des Vosges, which turned the neighborhood in object of desire for Parisian aristocrats, who built here their luxurious mansions.

However, at the end of the seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, the aristocracy moved to Versailles, and Faubourgs Saint Germanin and Saint Honore, leading to the arrival of new tenants, merchants and craftsmen occupied buildings.
Perhaps for this reason, Le Marais is one of the few neighborhoods of Paris that retains most of the buildings before the Revolution, which equates to stay here a journey through time.
Today is a neghborhood alive, full of narrow streets, where traditional commerce and the avant-garde are mixed; promises of couture, classical music and jazz, antiques and design more current, as in the Village Saint Paul; full of cafes, bars of wines, boulangeries and bistros, where savour authentic French food and nouvelle cuisine in just a few square meters. No smoke, without traffic.
One of the many places where you can check the neighborhood, is the Place du Marché Ste. Catherine; premises as Le Marché, where you can taste the confit of magret de canard with lemon and honey, bread and mushrooms, or poule on cous-cous and curry zucchini, accompanied by a good merlot, and you will forget the troubles of the day.
It is a neigborhood for walking and observing; sit in a square eating a piece of quiche, while a couple was kissing passionately in another bank, some Orthodox Jews walk hastily in the direction of the synagogue, or guess, through cafe windows, animated discussions about art, literature, politics...

Browse through the magic rectangle that mark the Hôtel de Ville, Place de la Bastille, Picasso Museum, and the Centre Georges Pompidou, is demanding, but certainly worth doing; calmly contemplatin the many hôtels particuliers, and comings and goings of the population, with small grants, for example, a coffee with chocolate cake or lemon at the Royal Bar, 19 Rue du Parc Royal, where every table is decorated with a fresh rose.
It's Paris!.
The original post was published on Monday, February 4, 2008, read it!

Ars Millenii, A thousand years of illuminated manuscripts

2008-05-23T11:57:00.005+02:00

“Ars Millenii” with this title started a series, “Open your Eyes”, which we hope will prove interesting for those who want to get a bit further, and deeper about what they see in their upcoming trips, or, back on home, about what we have seen.
This book brings us closer to a fascinating world, often disparaged as an minor art, yet crucial for understanding the evolution of art in Western Europe, while in the illuminated manuscripts, focuses largely on the expertise of an era, Middle Ages, which has been rejected too often, forgetting that it laid the foundations of the Modern World.
Even today, we can travel across Europe following the footsteps of its medieval past, and in this context, Codex are one of the best guides that traveller can have.

The original post was published on Saturday, January 26, 2008, read it!

Cologne, a city with a wiew, El Guisante Verde Project

2008-05-22T11:47:00.007+02:00

Cologne is surprising. Like many German cities, was ravaged during World War II, and this is the reason why, despite having already played an important role in Medieval Europe, there are little remains before 1945.
However, the deep restoration works their churches, jewels of Romanesque Art, have received, and the Cathedral, miraculously preserved from destruction, makes you wonder why it has taken so long to go to this city.
To the foregoing should be added a great variety of Museums, and in playful aspect, its breweries.
The team of The Pea Green Project, spent several, unforgettable days in this city, and here you are the result. We hope that this little book carry you up there.
You can find this book at Lulu.com

The original post was published on Wednesday, December 5, 2007, read it!

Memoirs of the Convent, Jose Saramago

2008-05-21T11:22:00.003+02:00

"Apart from the conversation of women, are the dreams that keep the world in its orbit."

Review of the Portuguese History in the late eighteenth century; John V, Lisbon earthquake, construction of Mafra Palace ... Portugal "has the Globe's World in its hand"; history of an era after the discoveries, of dreams, hard work, religion and superstition; critical history.
Saramago describes with passion, without pride, with a lot of data, with fiction, a novel that is not historical, and spread love for a country very close in customs, sentences, dreams, always seek out what we had inside, insecurities , complex, and in the capacity of its men and women, who paid tribute in these pages.
Characters anonymous, real protagonists of history. Mafra, whim of the King, martyrdom of his subjects.

The original post was published on Tuesday, January 15, 2008, read it!

On the banks of the Bosphorus

2008-05-20T10:30:00.009+02:00

... Where East and West come together, we can understand that this division has always had invaded the soul of the Turks.
A dichotomy that is a source of daily debates in Turkey itself, and that is reflected in all areas of everyday life, and all social strata. Also artists, especially writers, echoed this situation, as, Orhan Pamuk in Snow.
Turkey was not our first experience in a Muslim country, but if we can say that, so far, was the most learned, thanks precisely to their contradictions.
On the one hand, the Muslim religion dominates the religious sphere of the country, on the other hand, Turkey is a secular state, and official sectors defended this nature against wind and tide. The result of this situation is that in no other country can enjoy so many beautiful mosques; none can know so deeply religious rites and attend the daily practice of faith and, finally, none can be both talk about these issues with people like here.
Travelling Turkey is in many ways like going home after a long journey. It has archaeological Romans remains, Greeks (often better preserved than those of most famous places), Paleochristian and Ottomans. Across these lands, the entire range of our civilization is dispersed, as well as in exceptional museums, like the Anatolian Civilizations in the city of Ankara, the capital, where we emphasize the pieces from Hittites.
Much could talk about other museums, the landscape, varied and surprising, gastronomy..., and all this without mentioning which for many is the only hallmark of Turkey: Istanbul.
No comment about this city at this entry, we will do later, little by little, remembering and dreaming on the banks of the Bosphorus...

The original post was published on Friday, January 4, 2008, read it!

Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

2008-05-19T12:46:00.004+02:00

"I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!."
(Ebenezer Scrooge)

The original post was published on Tuesday, December 25, 2007, read it!

Sawadee

2008-05-18T12:36:00.003+02:00

Numerous are the reasons to travel to Thailand; perhaps not the most known, but the food must be a priority. The Thai cuisine is an incredible mix of flavours, colours and textures that surprised the most demanding palates. For those who want to experience new sensations, we propose making one of the most common dishes, the Phad Thai.

Ingredients for four people:
250 grams of rice noodles, thick
150 grams of fillets of pork thinly sliced
120 gr shrimp peeled and chopped coarse
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 tablespoons fish paste (can be replaced by a tin of anchovies in oil, well washed)
3 well chopped garlic cloves
2 fresh red chiles, seeded and chopped well
2 tablespoons lime juice
6 stalks of fresh chopped chives
2 tablespoons sugar cane
2 beaten eggs
2 or 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
150 grams of chopped unsalted peanuts
Onion for submission

The preparation is quite simple. Soak noodles in warm water, about ten minutes. Drain and reserve. Heat the oil in a wok, and skip the garlic, chile and meat, about three minutes. Then add the prawns and skip another two minutes. Add the chives and noodles. Cover the wok and cook about two minutes. Add the fish sauce, limejuice, sugar and eggs. With two wooden spoons, mix well and cook until studded egg this well. Sprinkle cilantro and peanuts, and serve, traditionally accompanied by crispy onion into thin strips.
Enjoy it!
The original post was published on Sunday, December 23, 2007, read it!

Un Ballo in Maschera

2008-05-17T12:01:00.002+02:00

When we think about Venice, it is inevitable that come to our minds the vedute of Canaletto.
It does not matter that his Venice is a Imaginary Venice; gains made in the field of light, atmospheric perspective, and gave his painting poetic meaning that, since then, has conditioned our vision of Venice.
Today, Venice can produce conflicting feelings of attraction and rejection, but noboby is indifferent.
Venice had a glorious past, was dominating, was opened to the world, and discovered to Europeans the wonders of the Orient.
He was also forgotten, but retains, despite everything, their own pace, which is why you must give it a try, especially those hours during which the invading hordes, with their digital arms, they move away towards their barracks in the mainland.
If you are patient, you will discover places like the Ca 'del Sol, in Castello, where the venetian magic will catch you.

The original post was published on Thursday, December 20, 2007, read it!

The Paradise on Your Palms

2008-05-16T11:53:00.003+02:00

The ascent of Cerro Chato is not something that tourists usually do when they travel to Costa Rica. It is a small sacrifice by heat, humidity, vegetation that surrounds it all ... but don’t lose the opportunity to perform.
Along the way, the fabulous bulk of the Arenal Volcano, with its perennial column of smoke, and his frequent explosions, gives you his best view.
The Cerro Chato, an old volcano, hidden in the interior of its crater lake of an indescribable colour, which can reach more than entertaining in a fall. Costa Rica ... travel freely, without haste, on foot.
You will see countless animals, you’ll venture into exuberant vegetation, amazing, and you will be rewarded with nearly virgin beaches.

The original post was published on Sunday, December 16, 2007, read it!

Mountain Soul, Gao Xingjiang

2008-05-15T11:24:00.009+02:00

"Nobody proof that what you said was true. You have not consulted any real story of travel, and even in the recently published guide of high places appears no entry for that name... Nor ignoring that in countless books and ancient historical texts, from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, a work of ancient divination and magic, until the old treaty geography, entitled annotations to Classic of the Rivers, mentions the place of Lingshan. Buddha awakened from their sleep there at venerable Mahakasyapa. You are not stupid, you must appeal to your intelligence, look first name of this small town Wuyi which is indicated in the pack of cigarettes and the way it enters into Lingshan, Mountain Soul."

Conclude a book circular, which recalls other book I have read about China.
Authors such as Hong Ying, He Jing, Wu Jingzi, Lisa See, Amy Tan, Anchee Min, Gavin Menzies, Dai Sijie, Jose Freches, Jung Chang..., come to my mind when reading these pages of Chinese Nobel.
History, legends, sacred mountains, The Eight Immortals, love, violence, the quest for Me, tradition, ecology, popular songs, the nostalgia about the past, about of childhood…
Evocative, dense and demanding. Lectures on writing novels and other arts; review of poets, painters, historians ... and veiled criticism of the system.
Is worth spilling your blood for the Emperor?

The original post was published on Monday, December 10, 2007, read it!

In the Ass of the World, Antonio Lobo Antunes

2008-05-15T11:01:00.005+02:00

"We bring the blood clean as that of the generals in air-conditioned offices in Luanda, shifting points of colour on the map of Angola, as clean as that of the gentlemen who are enriched with helicopters and weapons trafficking in Lisbon, the war is in the ass of the world, do you understand?..."

A cry, a call to our asleep consciences. Nostalgia for a lost life, of innocence, of Lisbon, protection of childhood, of love.
Two worlds that are excluded, who do not want to learn from each other. The White Goddess, monumental, Manueline, with their tiles, their coffees, the ideal world of painters, Matisse, Vermeer ..., the tourist brochures.

And the other Lisbon, Portugal in black, as men from their colonies, as the existence in Angola, forgotten, hidden, buried, like the men who lived and we do not want to remember.

Metaphor of our lives, white, Western, safe lives of closed eyes on the roof of the world.

The original post was published on Friday, December 7, 2007, read it!

Dragon's Well

2008-05-15T09:53:00.006+02:00

The tea, or "foam of liquid of jade", in the words of ancient poets is a very important part of the Chinese culture, as described in "The Tea House", an immortal work of Lao She.
Over the course of our small journey through Chinese lands, visited the Zhejiang Province and its capital, Hangzhou, which Marco Polo said it was "beautiful and magnificent as a celestial city."
Nearby, there is the planting of a legendary fame tea. After knowing the secrets of his preparation and conduct a tour in the fields, we could taste several samples of tea, Lung Ching, Dragon’s Well, surprising and very special.
During our stay we met the true spirit of Chinese teahouses. There are many of them in Hangzhou and in the vast majority will be received with surprise and curiosity.
As for travelling within the country, here too, it is interesting to have some knowledge of the language, which will enable to you to enjoy the experience with intensity, as well as help with staff and restaurant menus, or in the hotels, where people only speak Chinese.

The original post was published on Wednesday, December 5, 2007, read it!

Far East

2008-05-15T08:42:00.005+02:00

"Travelling across Europe supposed to assume a legacy is already set but... travelling to Asia... means the novelty of discovering what previously unsuspected and unimaginable".
Robert Byron, 1933.

Before making this journey of discovery that even possible in the present days, it becomes necessary to visit the Oriental Museum in Valladolid; undoubtedly the art collection of Far East more important in Spain.

It is a museum in capital letters, simple in its conception, away from technological ostentaions that comensate for the lack of any real content, where you can admire, without haste, hundreds of pieces that you bring a new and fascinating world.

If, moreover, you had the good fortune to chat with his alma mater, Blas Sierra De la Calle, your visit will be unforgettable.

The original post was published on Sunday, December 2, 2007, read it!

More information can be found in Oriental Museum

Köln Weihnachsmärkte, Christmas Markets in Cologne

2008-05-09T11:08:00.007+02:00

Once again, since late November, and for about a month, many German cities, and others from Central European countries, decorate their streets on the occasion of Christmas.
Among them, we highlight Cologne. There are six major markets, in the main squares: Dom, Neumarkt, Alter Markt, Rudolf Platz, next to the Chocolate Museum, and one floating in the boat "Wappen von Kölch."
The festive atmosphere breathes throughout the city, and mostly in their markets, where children are involved, filled with food stalls and crafts of high quality.
Any institution in Cologne are always crowded and its many breweries where we can see that, as claimed by its inhabitants, Cologne is a city "Mediterranean" in Germany.
Art lovers have a reference point in Cologne, starting with the numerous Romanesque churches of the city and have been missed. As far as museums are vital, the Wallraf Richartz Museum, one of the most important art museums in the world, the spectacular Roman Germanic Museum, Ostasiatische (Asian Museum), the Museum of the City ... and many others Such as the Chocolat Museum or-DE-Haus, completing an incredible offer.
On the other hand, we must remember that the Cologne Cathedral, the Dom, by itself, is enough reason to make a trip to this city.
For the rest offered Cologne, which is much, must discover yourselves, because, as Voltaire said: "The secret of boring people, is to tell everything."

The original post was published on Wednesday, November 28, 2007, read it!

More information can be found in Cologne Tourismus

The Plot against America, Philip Roth

2008-05-09T10:58:00.008+02:00

"He knows what I love, Cuccuzza? - Told my father. Election Day. I love voting. Ever since I was old enough, I have not lost a single call."

With permission of John Dos Passos, perfect approach to life, history, politics and everyday life of the United States, this time in the fifties. United States stayed with F. D. Roosevelt, but Lindbergh has returned in the twenty-first century to convert this fiction into reality, not only for Jews but for many other "foreigners".

Solid, absorbent, promising the story of Roth. The need for group membership, adaptation, the idealization of democracy in the country, ingenuity, patriotism, beliefs, values ...

Is there anything of the American dream in new generations?

The original post was published on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, read it!

The Last Meeting, Sándor Márai

2008-05-09T10:36:00.008+02:00

"Very few people whose words match their existence. When this happens, there is one of the rarest wonders of life." Pp. 144. Chap. 15.

Long time ago, that words didn't shocked me so much, nostalgia, passion, truth... they resume a life that is perhaps life itself Márai, or perhaps our own.
The fatality, signals our responsibility for us happens, friendship, unconditional love, understanding ...

"The greatest secrecy and the gift of life is when two people are 'like'." Pg. 154. Chap.16.

The original post was published on Monday, November 26, 2007, read it!

The Maia, Eça de Queiroz

2008-05-09T10:10:00.006+02:00

"It was what they liked most, that solid and silent palace, without rosettes or towers, patriarchal settled in the middle of the hamlet, with its beautiful Manueline windows that gave a noble face real, the valley at his feet, and fresh leafy, crowned by those two fireplaces, huge, excessive, that everything summarized, as if that residence was not anything other than a giant kitchen tailor-made for the gluttony of a king who devours his kingdom on a daily basis ... " (p. 274)

Lisbon, 1875, the nobleness, the aristocratic upper middle class, the French and English influences, the lives of Maia.
Afonso, patriarch and admired man and his grandson Charles, idealistic, romantic and dilettante.

A story of passion. Monforte and Pedro Maria Da Maia, Raquel Cohen and Joao Da Eça, Countess of Gouvarinho and Carlos; Maria Eduarda and Carlos ... a story of the end of the century, a story of men: Afonso Da Maia, Alencar, Cruçes, Taveira, Craft ... mature, wealthy men, men alone, men of good living, and jealous men envied (Dámaso).

A story about the end of youth, and a story about friendship, where women are only the challenge, adventure, which worship the goddess, who shun the loss, "love stronger than human laws."

History of a country, and its capital, "the Lisbon marble and garbage", Sintra, Mafra, Olivais, Santa Olaia, life in the city compared to life in the idealized-countryside, accompanied by fayenzas of a bric brac, furniture of the eighteenth century, Louis XV style; carriages, Faeton, break ..., for transportation. The toilette, the palette, clac ... to the dressing room. A story where matter how much or more than the bottom.

“There are inferior beings for whom the sound of an adjective is more important than the accuracy of a system ... I am one of them,” Carlos Da Maia (Eça de Queiroz?).

"Never is the life that we projected in the imagination. We say:-I will be well because it is beautiful-if so, and we are well but never grilled, as the poor Marquis said: Sometimes better, but always different." pag. 826.
Ten absorbent and passionate days, lived in another century, the world where we cry just Afonso Da Maia, envy and the judge Carlos, and forget and away from the Maria ...

The original post was published on Saturday, November 24, 2007, read it!

Viewed!

2008-05-08T21:25:00.004+02:00

The Memory of the West, Bodie, one of the best-ghost towns of Northern California, fascinates you from the outset. The feelings we experience while visiting their dusty streets, observe the interior of houses, the school, the saloon..., accompany us forever.

Our small tribute is two calendars for 2008, published on Lulu.com.

If you want to hang on your wall a little piece of the history, go to Lulu.com!

The original post was published on Thursday, November 22, 2007, read it!

My Blog is written with the Feet

2008-05-08T21:11:00.003+02:00

After a conference of >Enrique Dans, where the council is playing, try to create a blog and don´t think too much, we are here as novices, I hope to make friends.

Writing as walks, one step behind the other.

This is the first, the most difficult.

>The original post was published on Thursday, November 22, 2007, read it!