Cathedrals, Music and Monasteries



Cloisters at Monastery of San Juan

The past couple of months have been filled with visits to ancient Spanish cathedrals in Toledo and Segovia, and a monastery in Rascafria that was begun in 1390. All are steeped in history. In addition to my in-depth tours, I’ve been reading several historical novels based in England and Spain around the 1500’s. The time leading up to Christmas couldn’t be a better time for visits to all of these places because it really made me stop and think about how important religion was 500 or 600 years ago, and I couldn’t help but compare it to how materialistic people are now and how little thought is given to the real meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas. (although I missed Thanksgiving this year)

Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes

My Spanish history lesson began a few weeks before even arriving in Madrid because I was immersed in the story of Queen Isabel (the Catholic). I knew that I wanted to visit Toledo because it played an important role in the history of Spain since it was the early capital from the 6^th century to the mid 16^th century. Toledo is a spectacular city filled with narrow cobbled streets and centurys-old buildings and has over 2,000 years of history. Two of the highlights of my visit included a tour of the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and the Alcázar .  The Monastery was started in 1477 at the request of Queen Isabel. The architecture is flamboyant Gothic but incredibly magnificent.

 

Alcázar

The Alcázar is an impressive building at the highest point of the city. (Toledo is built on a hill but you always seem to be walking uphill and rarely down.) It was originally built by the Romans as a palace but was reconstructed by the Christians. It’s been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times but the last time, following the Civil War; it was reconstructed as the original building looked.

Aqueduct in Segovia built by the Romans

After a very quick visit to Segovia my first week, I returned to explore for a whole day. It’s a walled city dating back to 75 CBE and is stunningly beautiful but the most impressive features are the aqueduct and the cathedral. The Roman aqueduct dating from the late 1st or early 2nd century is made of around 25,000 granite blocks that were positioned and held together without any mortar. All together there are 170 arches that are about 95 feet high. It’s just impossible to comprehend how the Romans (well - their slaves) could have built such a magnificent structure that remains perfect today. The massive cathedral in Segovia was started in 1525 but took over two hundred years to complete so there are multiple architectural styles. One of the things that stood out the most for me was the choir, which was positioned in the middle of the cathedral – not in the back as in later centuries. Within the choir were the wooden carved high-backed chairs on either side and the organ with the pipes positioned above. In the middle were four well preserved music books. These were huge hard bound, thick books with hand written notes and words in Latin. Where else could you see the real music that was performed 500 years ago?

Yes - we had snow one morning!

My next visit to a monastery was the Monastery of Santa Maria de El Paular, a 15^th- century monastery set in the foothills of the Guadarrama Mountains. 

While staying in the attached hotel for a VaughanTown program, we had a personal tour of the monastery by a resident monk. This monastery was the first in Castile (an area north of Madrid) and construction began in 1390. During the first four and a half centuries it reached cultural splendor and became one of the most powerful in Europe. I don’t have words to describe the splendor and exquisite architecture in the various rooms within the monastery. They range from the most austere cells and dining room for the monks to breath-taking extravagantly painted and decorated prayer rooms for the priests. This was my final visit to the many cathedrals and monasteries of Spain.

St. Paul's in London

Almost upon arriving in London, I was sitting in a packed St. Paul’s Cathedral for an Advent service. Most of the service was provided by separate choirs of young boys and men, both of which have traditions dating back to 1127. My favorite was the boys’ choir – angelic faces framed by the ruffled white collars and voices that truly do sound like angels. During the service I was able to admire the cathedral, an incredible masterpiece that was originally built in 1675. Although destroyed in the great fire of London, services have been held there since 1697. Attending a service there with the choirs of all male voices is like living a bit of history.

Fast forward to my return to the US and thanks to my husband for booking tickets to a Candle Light Christmas Carol concert.  So now I find myself sitting in St. Anne’s Church in the middle of Annapolis which was started in 1696. The concert included star performances by a well-known violinist and a vocalist member of the Celtic Women group. Also providing piano accompaniment was a gentleman who was the pianist at the White House. The concert featured several renaissance pieces and was a very surprisingly pleasurable concert that put us in the Christmas mood.

This past week we attended a much smaller and intimate concert of lute and guitar music. This was in a Cape May B&B that was built in 1863. Not as old as the other venues but still with a lot of history.

So, thanks to my visits to the cathedrals and monasteries and attending concerts, I’ve passed through histories of the early building of the churches and the changes in the music from early litanies to the modern music that is played today. Unfortunately, in the US, modern Christmas music starts in the stores, on the radio and in TV adverts far too early, and by the time Christmas arrives they are grating on your nerves. When that happens, try remembering that the early music was actually carols that were a part of a tribute to Christmas and were sung only during church services or for special occasions. Regardless of your favorite Christmas music, whether traditional or modern, it goes hand-in-hand with the traditions of the season and it’s usually one that we’ve enjoyed since childhood. So, enjoy your Christmas music of choice and have a wonderful holiday!

 

 

 

Spanish Tortilla and Paella -- Cooking in Madrid

Chef Julia

While staying in Madrid for a week, I was looking for something a bit different than sightseeing and found a cooking school. Since I’d had so much fun with various cooking classes in Mexico and a couple of unusual classes at home, I immediately booked a class at La Opipara run by Chef Julia.

Based in a gorgeous indoor market, Mercado Torrijos, just a short distance from a metro stop and very easy to find and get to, Julia’s school is perfectly located. Mercado Torrijos is made up of the most beautiful and pristine stalls of fresh fruit and vegetables on the first floor and outside of Japan, it’s the most beautiful and immaculate that I’ve ever seen. The enormous size, color and quality of vegetables and fruits were stunning!

Perfect Pears and Oranges

Meat and fish stalls were all located on the second floor and each stall had its’ own specialty. Many fresh pollo (chicken), carne de res (beef) stalls and countless pescado (fish) stalls were established side by side. Both floors had numerous stalls for people to choose from and each owner took such pride in his produce and was ready to give personal advice as to what was his “best of the day”. Many people in Madrid come quite a distance for their personal service. Julia’s cooking school was in a corner on the second floor so I had to pass by these stalls on my way to my class.

After my introduction with Chef Julia, she told me I would be her only student for the class – yeah!! We discussed the menu, as in please no mussels or squid for the paella, then set off into the market to purchase our garden-fresh veggies and fruits, pollo and pescado. Julia made me order from the stall owners in Spanish, which was not only a challenge but a really good laugh – not just for Julia but for the stall owner as well. She couldn’t have me just order a pear – it had to be a pear, ripe to perfection. I couldn’t just order an orange – it had to be an orange that was exquisite and tomato, large and ripe but not too ripe. You get the picture. I completely murdered the Spanish language and I was hoping that I didn’t do the same to our dishes.

Pears in Wine Sauce

Julia had planned a few traditional dishes such as Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelet), Orange and Cod Malaga Salad, Paella (traditional but without the mussels and squid!) and Pears in Wine with Greek Yogurt.

My first job was to peel a pear and begin poaching it in a young Rioja wine. Julia explained that the wine had to be no more than a year old so that it would be very acidic. It’s not a wine that you’d want to drink on its’ own but it’s used in cooking. After we put the pears to cooking she gave me a taste of the wine and she was right – very acidic and sour!

As the pears were happily bubbling away, I pealed the potatoes and began to slice them for the tortilla.  Because the potatoes have to be sliced nearly paper thin, Julia showed me two ways to wield the knife. I’ve been trying to take a “knife class” (learning to use a knife as chefs do) at home but I’ve registered three times and three times it has been canceled. Maybe someone out there doesn’t want me to know too much about using a knife!

Potatoes sliced just right

It took me forever to slice the potatoes and when I didn’t get them thin enough, Julia showed me a trick to get the thin pieces needed. She sliced the onion for me since I was taking ages with the potatoes. We then put them into a pan and covered them with LOADS of olive oil and salt. It’s important to use only the best olive oil! We had to cook them on a high heat without burning them of course.

As the potatoes and onion were drowning in bubbling olive oil, we began preparing the ingredients for the paella.  Olive oil was poured to a pan and heated before adding 4 cloves of garlic with the skin still on, supposedly this gives it flavor without overkill. While those were cooking, I washed and dried 4 shrimp and then cooked them (heads and all) in the oil until they were a delicate pink.

Beautiful Pink Shrimp

My next job was to finely chop a red pepper but I wasn’t nearly as slow with it and then I grated a tomato. I’ve never grated a tomato before! Next task was to brown the chicken (Julia insisted on fish and meat) and then added the red pepper and spices being very careful not to burn the saffron. The tomato was added to keep the saffron from burning. The two spices important to a good paella are smoked paprika and saffron. Although saffron is an expensive spice, it’s well worth using it. She also said to steer clear of eating yellow paella in restaurants because artificial coloring has been added to it rather than using saffron. The rice was added next but it has to be a very special rice – short and plump grains; then the chicken stock and of course quite a lot of salt.

A Perfect Flip Onto the Plate!

The potatoes and onions were now done so it was time to drain them; mix them with beaten eggs and put them into a small pan. A tortilla de patatas has to be flipped twice and there’s a special skill in the first flip because the eggs have only set on the bottom so the tortilla can easily slide off. Julia very deftly did the first flip showing me how it should be done and I managed the second one without the tortilla ending up on the floor. In fact, I was quite proud that it ended up in the center of the plate.

Somewhere in all of this we had made the Orange and cod Malaga salad so I was ready to begin eating the salad and the tortilla while the paella finished cooking. To complement the food, Julia furnished a beautiful Rioja from Madrid that was sooo smooth and lovely.

Smoooth and Very Tasty

While I was sitting there enjoying my wonderful meal and sipping the lovely wine, Julia was cleaning up. I did feel guilty and offered to help her but she refused. Yes, I had noticed the presentation before I dug in (pictures prove this) and I was noticing the tastes of all the food but also throughout the class, the smells that came from cooking the tortilla and paella were heavenly!

If ever in Madrid, I’d highly recommend booking a class with Chef Julia. You can find her at www.escuela-opipara.com or contact her on info@escuela-opipara.com. Not only will you leave with a full tummy, you’ll have wonderful memories as well. Be sure to take your camera!

Barriga llena, corazón content or in English, “A full belly and a happy heart”

Chef Julia and Glenda

 

Beleaguered by Babies and Bumped Off a Flight

Looks peaceful - right?

I began my trip to Spain with an overnight flight to London Heathrow that started so easily and peacefully that I never dreamed that my whole journey would be fraught with one "challenge" after another. Firstly, when checking in on-line, I had a few seats from which to choose so I picked one that was fairly close to the front thinking this would be a pretty good location. When I boarded, I found out that it was a HUGE mistake because I should have remembered from previous flights that the seat that I chose was one row back of the bulkhead seats. Those are usually reserved for families with very small children. That was definitely the case – every seat in that row across the plane was filled with parents with very small children who needed bassinets. But in reality, they didn’t need bassinets because their babies screamed (not just normal crying) throughout the whole 7+ hours of flying and their parents were definitely using the “cry-it-out” policy for the entire flight. I know that experts say that it can’t be possible for a child to cry or scream for that long but the one in front of me tried to prove those experts wrong.

There were 3 or 4 of “the little darlings” and they took turns to make sure that at least one of them was screaming for every minute from boarding to disembarking. As if these deafening, piercing screams weren’t enough to make me scream, there was a willful and loudly vocal toddler behind me who was driving his mother (and me) crazy with loud shouts of what he wanted or didn’t want to do. He didn’t sleep either!

I know neither the parents nor their babies are to blame but Megan McArdle of The Atlantic proposed a perfect resolution in a recent article: “for every hour the infant screams, the parents buy a cocktail for every passenger on the plane”. I can’t think of a better resolution! The babies might not have stopped but we would have had one plane load of happy passengers.

Thinking that most plane food is pasta for dinner and rolls for breakfast, I ordered a “healthy” gluten-free diet so the dinner was just OK (what can you do to ruin rice?) but service was really marginal. The flight attendants were too busy trying to get bottles and food warmed, etc. for the screaming children so the rest of us were left to “enjoy our plastic dishes and utensils” for an extremely long time. Breakfast was totally unrecognizable. I had a “brick hard something or other” in place of bread and a yogurt. I couldn’t even break the brick “thing” and I don’t eat yogurt, nor do I drink airplane coffee so I had an orange juice for breakfast.

Finally, after a long sleepless night, I arrived at Heathrow early and caught a bus to Gatwick airport for my flight to Madrid. Traffic wasn’t too congested, especially considering it was 7.30 in the morning so I thought things were looking up. I eagerly made my way to check into my Easy Jet flight to Madrid 3 hours early. The women at the check-in counter told me that the flight was oversold so

that since I didn’t pay extra for a seat and others did, every seat was sold and I wouldn’t be allowed on the flight. I’d not flown Easy Jet for several years and back then you didn’t pay extra for seats. Silly me – I thought buying a ticket meant that I got the seat too. They told me I could come back 2-3 hours later and they “might” be able to get me onto the next flight at 5.00pm. I thought perhaps I could at least get rid of my bag – Not So. By then it was 8.45am so only eight hours to wait to see if “maybe” I could get on the 5.00pm flight.

Not relishing an 8 hour wait, I made my first priority some breakfast. With a full tummy, I found an Internet spot and logged on to try and contact the Easy Jet customer service with regards to my being “bumped off” my flight. No luck. I had a phone number but this meant that I had to find a store in the terminal that sold sim cards for my phone. Although my phone works internationally the calls are expensive and who knew how long I would be on the phone with customer service. It’s cheaper to purchase a sim card in the country I’m in! While dragging my bag from one end of the terminal to another, I found a phone store but paying with my UK credit card required a pin number. I thought that my pin was the original one that the bank issued. Not so! I finally gave up and paid with a US card. At this point, I was beginning to think that no matter what I was trying to do I’d have a challenge.

During a very long call, Easy Jet customer service took all of my information, placed me on hold, came back to ask the very same questions and placed me on hold again.  They then told me that I needed to reply to an email that they would send to me in order to get compensated for being bumped off my flight.  My next call (in Spanish) was to my hotel in Madrid to tell them that I would be arriving late, time unknown, but please hold my room. (yet another challenge – I do love a challenge but not several of them in a row with no sleep)

I went back to check in 3 hours after arriving at Gatwick only to be told to come back in 3 more hours to determine whether or not I could get on the 5pm flight. Back to the Internet zone! What else do you do during an eight hour wait?

Yes! At 2.30, I was able to finally check in and check my bag – for an extra 30 Euros! They charge for everything!! What started out as a cheaper flight was turning into a flight that would have been the same amount on another more reliable and less restrictive airline. Easy Jet charges for absolutely every extra thing you can imagine – you pay extra for seats, extra for checking each and every bag, extra for carryon bags over a certain size. At least with my bag checked in, I was able to move around the terminal easier!

I finally arrived at Madrid airport and quickly passed through passport control as an EU citizen only to wait forever for my bag to come out. Everyone had left but one couple and me and there were no more bags coming out. This was déjà vu from my flight in February when my bag didn’t arrive. I turned around to head to the lost luggage desk when I spotted a couple of bags on another carrousel but no people waiting there. I went over to check them out and there was my bag and the bag belonging to the couple. No idea why they were on a different carrousel but thank God they were there!

At this point it was nearly 10pm in Spain (4pm at home) so I’d been traveling for 24 hours when my trip should have only taken 16 or maybe 17 hours. After a very expensive taxi ride, the hotel staff was extremely warm and welcoming and my room was waiting for me. Exactly what I needed! I didn’t bother unpacking but just fell into bed and fell asleep immediately – only to wake up a couple of hours later. Nooooo! I have to have some sleep! Fortunately, I didn’t have anything to the following day until 5.00pm so I went sightseeing.

A Riot of Color Has Been Bombarding Our Senses

The area around us is now blazing with color. I don't remember the last time we had so many brilliantly red, yellow and orange trees. Thankfully the rain and some recent winds haven't blown the leaves off before we are able to admire them everywhere we look. I keep thinking that the colors are more vivid and there seems to be more of them this year but then I wonder if I'm already missing the changing of the seasons since autumn has been one of my favorites. We had the pumpkins out front and welcomed a good number of little "creatures" for trick or treat and I realized that I'm going to miss that too.

We’ve had an autumn packed with work, visits from UK friends and house renovations but as a belated anniversary and my birthday trip we took a trip to Longwood Gardens for a chrysanthemum festival. The highlight of their exhibit was one plant that had 1,416 blooms – the biggest in Northern America. There we saw so many varieties of chrysanthemums and colors that you don’t normally think of that it’s hard to imagine that they originated in China hundreds of years ago and the first ones were only yellow. This link will provide you with some of my favorites https://picasaweb.google.com/102840684536112573599/LongwoodGardens?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPD40qyS8qCQVw&feat=directlink.

One of my treats to myself this year was to take a Vegan ‘holiday cooking’ workshop. It was really good fun and packed with oodles of nutrition information and recipes. I won’t get to try them out at Thanksgiving but they’ll be waiting for me when I get back. The stores are already getting stocked for Christmas, nearly crowding out the turkeys that instantly say it’s Thanksgiving time. I’ll be missing that holiday this year since I’ll be working in Spain but since I spent several years in the UK, it’s importance to me has lessened.  I’m taking a few things representing Thanksgiving so that I can explain the holiday to the Spaniards. I’ve realized that by the time I return in December, it will be only a short time until Christmas.

I probably won’t be posting a blog for another month as my schedule for the month that I’m in Spain followed by a few days in the UK will be packed to the brim. I hope that all of you Americans (and ex-pats) who celebrate Thanksgiving have a great holiday and enjoy the time with your families. For those of you in the other countries, whatever the season is now in your part of the world, remember to take time to enjoy what you are currently celebrating. Although the season will come back you might be in a different part of the world next year and everything will be totally different. Enjoy the moment!

Bikinis and Bridal Gowns

Welcome to Vegas sign

Where can you see a bride in a beautiful long wedding gown holding a bouquet of red roses and two young women in bikinis standing a foot away? (The bikini girls were in a Starbucks line) Only in Las Vegas, right? This was just one of the bizarre sights I encountered during my recent trip to Las Vegas to work a conference.  There was no shortage of wild and skimpy outfits and certainly no shortage of body art, as in tattoos and piercings!

One of my favorite pass times is people watching. I think that I might be addicted. The past few days provided me with more than enough entertainment to last a few weeks. Honestly, people have always intrigued me. I love to notice hairdos/haircuts, clothing styles, accessories, the way people walk, what food and drinks they order. I am also fascinated by peoples’ body language plus the way that people communicate and interact with others. I’m just mesmerized!

Most of the time I’m not passing judgment but there are times when I have to wonder if the individual owns a mirror or has at least looked in one before leaving the house. These individuals make my imagination kick in and I try to guess their “story”. I’m sure these people are much more “creative” than I am and their creativity is just coming out in the way they dress.

Maybe next spin will be a winner!

Since Las Vegas has gambling everywhere you look, it’s the perfect location for people watching.  People get so intense – it’s better than theater. I didn’t have much time to participate in my pass time but in just walking through the lobby from my room to the meeting rooms, I saw all sorts of dramas. And it amazed me that on the last morning as I was checking out at 4.30am, there were still a number of people in the lobby casino.

A lot of people go to Las Vegas for special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. This was the case for some of the people on my plane out and the shuttle service from the airport to the hotel. I don’t want to admit that I was eavesdropping but they were talking so loud, it was impossible not to listen to them. There was also a group of young women in the hotel lobby who were celebrating Katie’s 21^st birthday. How did I know this when I had never seen them before? Because they were all wearing identical tank tops saying “It’s Katie’s 21^st” – except for one, whose top said that she was Katie.

Too many candles for my little cake.

I got to celebrate my birthday in Las Vegas too. I worked during the day but three of the people I was working with bought me a little cake and sang to me. In the evening I went to an incredible photo exhibition celebrating the 125^th anniversary of National Geographic – by myself. There were fifty of the most well-known photos that were featured on National Geographic covers. I’m guessing this isn’t the most popular entertainment in Las Vegas since there was only one other person in the whole exhibit while outside it was complete chaos and pandemonium. The exhibit was absolutely wonderful and I got to spend as much time as I wanted without feeling guilty for taking so long.

Conferences have always made me feel as if I’m in a microcosm, a whole different world where the outside world doesn’t exist. This is especially true when I’m staying in the hotel where the conference is being held. Days can pass by without my ever going outside into the “real” world. When the location is Las Vegas, the outside “real world” is filled with strange and peculiar displays. It’s like walking through an over dramatized reality show.  I’m back at home now and have transitioned back to peace and calm with a big sigh.

 

 

 

Moving to Mexico – Insanity or Adventure

Sunrise looking over Banderas Bay

My husband and I have just returned from another trip to Mexico. Having made the decision to move to a Latin American country within two to three years we’ve made several trips trying to decide exactly where. After visiting Puerto Vallarta in April, we were pretty sure that was where we wanted to be but all of the locals told us to come in August because it is absolutely unbearably hot and humid then. So our August trip was to see if we could handle the heat and humidity and begin to look at what homes are like in the area.

Our wonderful radio (courtesy of Europcar)

We rented a condo and tried to live as much as possible as the expats who have already moved there. After arriving we had to run the gauntlet of hiring a car. It’s never an easy task and this time was no different. Since we arrived late in the afternoon, our choice was limited – as in only one car. Steve checked over all of the dents and scratches and took photos of every scratch before we set off to find the condo -- only to realize that the radio had no knobs! OK, we’d just go back the next morning and exchange the car. This didn’t happen because by the time Steve got there, there were no more cars. So we listed to Mariachi music for the whole two weeks.

The condo rental manager had left a key with security along with a note saying that she couldn’t meet us but would come by early the next morning.  We found our nice little condo but the area where we’d spend most of our time, the main lounge, dining area and kitchen, was at ground level with an all glass front and one of the large blinds covering half of the glass was missing.  We also realized that the extra security lock on the door didn’t work and the lock on the 2^nd level balcony didn’t work either.  These prompted a call to the condo manager with a very unreliable connection on a Mexican phone that had been left for us. We were promised a visit early mañana to sort everything out so we went to the local Mexican Supermercado. We’d been there several times in April so we were familiar with the layout of the store and our shopping was done fairly quickly.

Back at the condo, as it got dark, we felt as if we were in a goldfish bowl because of the missing shade. This wasn’t so much of a problem because we’d been up since 2.30am to catch an early flight so we had an early night.

The next morning, the manager’s husband came by “early” (somewhere between 10.30 and 12.00) to sort out our missing locks and blind. We were actually very pleasantly surprised that it happened so quickly and efficiently!

The start to our stay had me thinking about what a major decision moving to a new country really is. We’ve both done it – I’ve done it twice and when I moved back to the US after living in the UK, I still suffered culture shock. This time will be more difficult because of the language and cultural differences. Even little things like foods that you automatically take for granted won’t be available. Major things such as medical emergencies will prove really difficult if we can’t understand what the doctor is telling us. Fortunately, there’s quite a large expat community in Puerto Vallarta so finding doctors who speak English might not be such a problem.  However, I did have to go to the farmacia to ask for some cream for my hands and I wanted to do it in Spanish. I had practiced with Steve so was all set. The only problem was, the woman answered me in Spanish and so quickly, I didn’t have a clue what she said. But she showed me the cream and I purchased it and the whole transaction was done in Spanish!

Our big challenge on this trip was to settle on an area that we liked and actually look at some condos because we want to spend at least a year there before deciding whether or not that will be a permanent home. We found our first real estate company quite by accident. We were looking for a restaurant and the real estate company with the same name was next door. We were very lucky because the manager spoke very good English. After describing what we were looking for, she told us that the rental agent was out but would be back on Monday. After calling on Monday lunchtime to confirm that the rental agent would be there, we stopped in the office at the appointed time. The rental agent wasn’t there and couldn’t be reached on her cell phone. Finally, the manager arrived back from lunch (around 4.30pm) and she personally took us to view three condos. We asked that information be emailed to us but we’ve seen nothing yet. Maybe she meant "la semana que viene" (next week). See the time scales definitions below.

We stumbled upon our next real estate agent again by accident. We were looking at areas and found a building that we liked and there just happened to be a business card outside the security gate. When we called, the woman answered in a very Canadian-sounding voice and she immediately set up an appointment for a couple of hours later. When we arrived, she was already there and buzzed us through the security gate. After showing us the condo, she asked for our contact details and by the time we were back at our condo, she had emailed us asking for our feedback. A couple of days later, she’d arranged for us to see another condo and again was there ahead of time. As before, she’d emailed us immediately so by the time we got back to the condo, we had an email asking for our feedback plus we had full descriptions and dimensions of both properties. The experience with the two real estate agents couldn’t have been more polar opposites.

Is this our future view?

We managed the hot, humid and rainy weather with no problems. It was just like being back in Maryland except at home we don’t have the ocean or palm trees outside our door. Our next test will be a visit during peak tourist time. Although we don’t want to live in the tourist area of Puerto Vallarta, we’ll be close enough that when the PV beaches are full of gringos from the resorts, the locals will flock to a beach just outside our terrace doors.

We came back excited and enthused. Yes, we know there will be “cons” and we’ll have huge challenges, but if we remain flexible and are willing to adapt and force ourselves to learn Spanish, we will find it easier and more enjoyable. Every day will mean that we are constantly learning and we’ll take more notice of our surroundings. Here in the US, we can almost operate on auto-pilot and make it through the day with our eyes closed. In a new country with a new unique culture and language to learn and new people to meet, we’ll have the opportunity to challenge and change our lives.

Mexican Time Schedule

“ahora” – definition ‘now’ but actually means ‘in a while’

“ahorita” – definition ‘right now’ but actually means ‘in a while’

“mañana” – definition ‘morning’ or ‘tomorrow’ – when used as tomorrow actually means some day other than that

“cinco minutos” – definition ‘5 minutes’ but actually means 5 Mexican minutes

“momentito” – definition ‘in a moment’ but actually means 5 Mexican minutes

We learn fast!

Reliving the Battle of Gettysburg – 150th Anniversary

Union Soldier's Tent

When in school, why did I hate history class with a passion?  Maybe because my teachers were never interested and could have cared less so they just wanted to “get by” in these “boring” lessons by giving us a list of dates to remember. Do I remember any of them – NO! Not to mention, neither do I remember why I was told to remember them.

Now, years later, I can’t seem to get enough of history. I’ve recently been spending hours enthusiastically reading historical novels, mainly based in England beginning with the early 11^th century. But I have to admit my interest in the British history didn’t begin until I lived in the UK and my husband took me to visit various castles and other places of interest.  Other trips included historic sites throughout Europe, Egypt, Africa, Asian countries and Central and South America where even more history suddenly became real for me.



Confederates outnumbered the Union Soldiers

In the last few years I’ve visited Jamestown and Williamsburg but my interest in US history was never really realized and it was only when I spotted a very small article in a Salt Lake City newspaper about the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg did I take any interest in the Civil War era. The article described reenactments and events that would take place so I immediately began planning a day trip to see live "the single largest and one of the most pivotal military engagements ever to be fought on American soil". Since moving to the US, we’ve never developed any sort of 4^th of July rituals so this seemed to be the perfect day to visit the Gettysburg reenactments.

Cannons shook the ground!

On the morning of the 4^th, although leaving home early we still had to queue two hours to get into the grounds! After just missing the Gettysburg Address by an actor (not Daniel Day-Lewis or I would have been out of the car and walked the final 3 miles to hear him) we just got to the first battle reenactment as it started. Cannons were booming out across the battle ground and right next to the grandstand shaking the grounds. While rifles and muskets fired more deafening volleys continuously, we watched several parts of the battle progress through a smoky haze. I had binoculars and Steve had his long range telephoto lens so we got to see up close how realistic the enactments are!



Part of the Calvary

We were never able to determine the exact number of reenactors, or “living historians” as they prefer to be called, but were told that it was in the range of 15,000. We also learned that there were 400 horses used for the Calvary and I was completely blown away (no pun intended) by the fact that the cannons and rifle fire didn’t bother them one bit. This was the largest battle that any of the reenactors that we spoke to had ever participated in. It was definitely a breathtaking tableau playing out across a huge field, often in a smoke-filled haze. One can only imagine what it must have been like during the battles 150 years ago when the two sides suffered over 50,000 casualties.

Union General

After the first battle, we wandered through a living history village, mainly showing us how the officers lived as well as other people who followed the troops; the military camp, where the front-line soldiers lived; the medical tents, and other activity tents. During the four days of reenactments, quite a few of the historians actually live in the same type of tents, cook on wood fires and live as closely as possible to the way it was 150 years ago. We got a chance to speak at length to one of the reenactors and found out exactly how knowledgeable and passionate these historians are because of the amount of time and cost involved in their participation. This isn’t just a weekend hobby - their passion, dedication to the authenticity of their uniforms, equipment, living arrangements, etc. was just beyond belief! They actually live their characters’ lives four to five times a year.

General Robert E. Lee

We spent the rest of the afternoon going around to activity tents to visit the reenactors and listened to them give their “stories”. We heard all kinds of stories from a woman who was one of the best spies of the Civil War, other stories of women who helped their causes, listened to a band that used 150 year-old instruments and a better band with quite young children (maybe 6-10 year olds) who played drums and the flutes. I’m pretty sure there were children of these ages that were used back 150 years ago too. One of the best was the session with the generals from the south. Steve and I were standing by the entrance to the tent so we were rubbing shoulders with the “brave generals of the south” as they entered and made their way to the stage.

Union re-enforcements

We watched the second battle of the day at 6.30pm. This was close to the actual time of the second battle on July 1^st 1863 and the weather was pretty much the same as well. It was around 90 degrees, humid and I can’t imagine what it would feel like in the wool uniforms worn by both armies. Most of these reenactors had worn their uniforms throughout our 90+ degree temperature day but they still performed beautifully!

If any of you get a chance to visit a reenactment, I’d very highly recommend it. It breathes life into history through sight, sound, smells and the passion that flows through each of these living historians. It doesn’t make a difference what country you are living in, historic scenes that they are playing out has had a direct impact on your life today. Live and breathe it, if only for a day!

There were far too many photos to include in this blog and even with Steve’s telephoto lens, some of them might be a bit hard to see. For those of you who are history buffs, if you’d like to see more photos, click this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/102840684536112573599/Gettysburg?authuser=0&feat=directlink

 

On the Road Again – Salt Lake City

Beautiful, majestic temple

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Salt Lake City (SLC)? Is it the Tabernacle Choir, the Salt Flats, Temple Square (the center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) or the Winter Olympics in 2002? During my first week in SLC, I was busy working a conference but I made up for lost time by packing my three leisure days with tours of things that Salt Lake City and Utah is known for.

360 choir members and orchestra

I was lucky enough to hear the Tabernacle Choir twice. On Thursday night, I went with the conference delegates to a private performance for them and a another much smaller group from the UK.  They announced that a few days before, Bryn Terfel (famous Welsh opera bass-baritone) had recorded with the choir for an album that will be out this autumn. The choir, accompanied by a full orchestra, sang two Welsh songs so hearing those along with sharing the music with the Brits in the audience made me feel very at home. Not only do many of the Choir members have Welsh ancestors, but the beginnings of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir are traced to Welsh immigrants, who settled in the Salt Lake Valley in the mid-nineteenth century. My second time to hear them was during a recording of Music and The Spoken Word on Sunday morning. The Tabernacle was packed. Since the Choir will be off on tour in just over a week to promote their new album, the timing for my visit was perfect.

SLC Capitol Building

My next adventure was a tour of all of the top spots in downtown and close to the center of the city, including the State Capitol building (beautiful!), the Governor’s Mansion, the Old Mormon Pioneer Trail, the Pioneer Heritage State Park (an authentic historical village), Lion House (Brigham Young’s home and his other homes that housed all of his wives and 56 children), the Olympic stadium and village and many other sites along our way.

Summer on main street in Park City

The next day, I had my own private tour of Park City and the surrounding area. Historically, a mining town, with only a few thousand residents, it welcomes over 600,000 tourists each year, especially during the ski season. It’s also home to the Sundance Film Festival and many celebrities and politicians have second (or third or fourth) homes up in the mountains. I saw examples of ski runs directly behind their homes so they don’t have to slum it with the mere mortals who can only afford to stay and ski from town or nearby resorts. It’s also home of the USA Ski Team and I watched some of the young ski jumpers practicing. It’s strange to watch them jumping onto wet mats and then sliding onto the wet grass without snow!

My final day was filled with explorations that couldn’t have been more different. I spent the morning at the Family History Library at Temple Square. Since I’ve traced my ancestors back several centuries, I had very specific ancestors and dates in mind to circumvent the brick wall that I’d hit on both sides of my father’s ancestors. The library has so many volunteers who are incredibly knowledgeable and help people with their searches. With their help I was able to go a branch further on both sides. Now, on my father’s fathers side, I’ve gone all the way back to 1600 . On my father’s mother’s side, I was researching a Scottish ancestor who, according to a census record, was born in Ireland. Thanks to the extensive family search database, I was able to find out that both his daughters were also born in Ireland. I only had the morning so I couldn’t determine where, but volunteers gave me maps and a list of further websites that might help me with more research.



Endless salt flats

My afternoon was spent at Salt Lake. If you are going to be in Salt Lake City, you have to see the lake, right? I guess I’m one of those people who has to see things that I’ve always heard about, but I quickly decided that while maybe I’d recommend seeing it once, once is enough! The salt flats are amazing to see and it’s hard to imagine the size that the lake used to be while now it’s just vast stretches of salt.  There just wasn’t enough visual interest for me.

I found Salt Lake City a wonderful city to visit. The people are all so warm and welcoming. There are numerous things to see and do, the streets are pristine (actually, the whole city is pristine) and very walkable. But you have to realize that their city blocks are much larger than most and quite often you are walking uphill. There’s a convenient light rail and within the downtown area it’s free. Downtown is filled with an eclectic collection of restaurants and bars and the ones that I visited all had great food; however, you do have to be aware of their unusual alcohol rules.

I loved learning about the fascinating history of the challenging Mormon journey and the development of the mining area around Park City. That whole area is well worth a visit!