Luces de Navidad

The happy double decker buses that carry holiday folk around the city only seat people on the top cost only one euro and the ride lasts almost an hour. We girls spontaneously braved the line and had ourselves a fabulous time. Branches whipped us, the city flew by with a gorgeous display of light and cheer. I felt like belting out Christmas carols and took as many pictures as my chilly fingers could bear.

Madrid spends quite a bit of money on Christmas lights each year. The lights turn on at 18h and are shut off promptly at 22h. However, La Crisis has had its effect: some neighborhoods are unadorned this year.

Puerta de Alcala, just outside of Parque del Buen Retiro.

Glorieta de Cibeles, where Real Madrid celebrates significant victories. Notice the crazy Christmas hats. These are super popular in Madrid and I love them. Someone said that they're a reaction to the Franco years (the years of no fun). It's hard to imagine Spain without all the over-zealous fiestas.

Swinging onto Gran Via, past the Metropolis building.

Brave guy taking pictures on Gran Via. I was not that brave.

My favorite lights in the entire city. The eyes blink and wink all the way up Calle Hortaleza.

Gran Via

Plaza Santa Domingo, where Melissa, Joey, and Jayden used to live.

Plaza de Callao, home of the ice rink, Christmas tree, and Papa Noel.

Even without Christmas lights, Madrid is spectacular at night.

I am dying to visit this museum, the current exhibit is Mexican art from the 1950s.

One of my favorite motifs, but I forget which street.

Calle Jose Ortega y Gasset?

Que bonito!

Taking pictures on a moving bus in low light with a slow lens was a challenge. Haha, I realized when I woke up this morning that I could have adjusted the ISO and saved myself some trouble. I'm out of practice!

I wasn't paying attention to what street we were on at this point. Somewhere up by Colon.

I love the Corte Ingles lights. (I'll visit Cortylandia soon and post pictures of that as well.)Some of them look like snow falling. Unfortunately, the lights that move are so much more difficult to photograph.

Calle de Goya.

Calle de Goya.

The Girls at Colon. Full of Christmas spirit!

Looking toward Sol and the tree.

The fancy hotel in Plaza Santa Ana.

Above the Christmas market in Plaza Jacinto Benevente.

Calle Atocha?

Calle Arenal.

Calle Arenal with the Opera house in the background. Yay for a day spent with my ASM friends! With my new schedule, I rarely see many of my dear friends. It was lucky that I finally had a day off when they had a Puente. Thank goodness for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Turkey in My Pie

I took a lovely trip to London to visit Emily. She showed me so many things in our short two days together. However, I have to go back, two days is simply not enough time to truly appreciate London.

First stop was Kings Cross Station, where the Hogwarts Express would depart from. Yes, I am a total geek.

Next stop: British Museum. This is the bust of Ramses II--the hole is from Napoleon's excavators. They were a little invasive. There were so many cool things here... I couldn't quite capture the awesomeness in pictures. These hardly come close to communicating the wonder of this museum's collection.

There was a tribe of acrobatic Egyptians that liked to jump onto the backs of crocodiles. This sculpture may be depicting those acrobats. Pretty darn cool.

These two guys were lovers. The one on the left was the emperor and the one on the right died young. To commemorate his lost love, the emperor made the artists depict him like a god in all of his memorials (that's why he has such an idyllic rendering with the leaves and such). The hair is incredible.

Right outside the British Museum is a lovely hotdog cart that sells it's extra long hotdogs with hot roasted onions. Yummy. Emily and I devoured ours american style with ketchup and mustard.

Oh, Colin Firth! You will always be the original Mr. Darcy to me. There were a bunch more outside the Odeon Theater, including Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, and some other delightful folks.

Emily and I at Picadilly Circus. I expected more acrobats and clowns. Sigh.... I suppose reality never quite lives up to the imagination.

Picadilly Circus fountain.

The Thames?

Hyde Park

This is the Prince Albert memorial. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert are one of the only royal couples at before that time to marry for love. They were crazy about each other and when Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria was inconsolable. Even though Prince Albert had expressed that he didn't want an ostentatious memorial, it's pretty clear that Victoria didn't mind breaking that promise with this incredible monument.

Each corner of the monument has a cluster of figures representing a different part of the British Empire. This corner is Asia, with it's lovely elephant. In the center sits Prince Albert, entirely golden and gleaming under an intricate and gold laden canopy. Emily and I arrived just as the sun was beginning to set, making the gold even more brilliant.

Big.

Europe

America

Also in Hyde Park was an installation by a sculptor (didn't write down the name). The sculpture turned our world upside down.

Beautiful Kensington Palace. Princess Diana lived here.

The Electric Theater, the oldest cinema in London.

After walking the entire length of Hyde Park into Notting Hill, we were happy to put our feet up and watch Harry Potter 7. The leather seats were ridiculously comfortable. Next time we're reserving the spacious couches! The movie was fantastic and I have always dreamed of watching the Harry Potter movies in a British cinema. Thanks Em!

Emily and I outside Buckingham Palace at the Changing of the Guard. My hair looks so red in the light of day!

The Changing of the Guard features a lot of pomp and circumstance. My favorite part was the brass band. I was delighted by their rendition of the Star Trek theme as well as a Glenn Miller medley. It was bitter cold though and I didn't envy the musicians fingers or their task in tuning their cold instruments.

The crowd.

The guard.

Show's over!

Westminster Abbey

Outside Parliment--we're really cold!!

Big Ben

Big Ben's... thingy. If Big Ben is the bell inside, what do you call the tower and clock?

There's the sun!

From the Cleopatra monument you can see the Eye, Parliment, Westminster, Emily, and Big Ben. Cool!

Our last stop in the city was Bourough Market. The food stalls were overwhelmingly tempting to me. In this picture you're witnessing cheese being melted. They cut a hunk of cheese off a giant wheel and sit it under the burner until it was bubbly and golden. Then they scrape it over roasted potatoes and serve it with gherkin pickles. Yummy! They also have a grilled cheese sandwich with leek, garlic, green onion, and onion. Emily and I also devoured some Turkish delight, hot cider, yummy coffee, and I bravely attacked one lovely savory pie. In honor of Thanksgiving, I chose the pie with turkey, cranberries, stuffing, and gravy. It was pure heaven. If I lived in London I would definitely frequent the Bourough market as often as my pocketbook would allow.

I have a few more pictures, but none of them quite live up to these. I might post a few of Emily's later, to complete the experience. It was so lovely to spend time with Emily and to see her world. Now when we skype I can picture the places in her stories and the people she talks about a bit more clearly. I can't wait to go back and explore London with her again.