A Farewell to Analog Television and a Visitor From Scotland

Yes, as of February 17, 2009 analog television is no more. Say a few words of respect about how you will no longer have to do a dance wearing a hat of tin foil and sculpt kinetic mobiles out of old hangers that would inspire Alexander Calder just to watch the episode of Friends where Rachel and Ross break up for the 16th time. Let us turn toward the 21st century and embrace all that is digital!!!

I'm not ready. Christ, my phone doesn't even have a camera, and my boyfriend had to take pity on me and give his old iPod so I would have some music on this trip, because I only listen to records and never had a desire to jump on the Podwagon. What's next, the death of books? Don't be surprised people, podcasts are on the rise, and I'm not even sure what they are, save that they are threatening publishing companies and the tangible, beautiful, paper book.

Oh, in other 'only I care about this stuff' kind of news, Ricardo Montalban died a couple weeks ago. Who's going to watch 'The Wrath of Khan' with me to commemorate him when I get home?!?!?

Anyway, my friend Gwen came to visit me from Glasgow this past weekend! We met in Girl Scout Camp the summer going into 7th grade, so needless to say we go "way back"

Saturday we went to El Escorial, where King Philip II built his monstruous castle slash monastary in 1563. Fun Fact: Philip II was a very pious Catholic, but he died of syphilis. Interesting.

We waiting in a loooong line for a loooong time to get in, and there was only one person taking tickets. Gwen was shocked because apparently the UK is very efficient and puntual. She was also surprised by the lack of friendly customer service, since Scots are very nice folks. At least I have that to look forward to!
Here is the castle from the outside. My favorite part inside was this really cool map room that had some embarrassingly inaccurate depictions of our continents. Yay!
Yes, it was a very dreary day after all that sun that Gwen was looking forward to. Bummer.
The gardens were my favorite part, with all the blossoms and green hills.Someone got an A in hedge trimming!
All the hills reminded me of the Tolkien trilogy.

We were both starving after the Long Line Debacle, so we cheated and ate Chinese food. I loved every fricken bite of it. It was kind of funny because the owners were Chinese, but the menu was only in English and Spanish, so we were like, "Tienes 'Chow Mein?'" And I didn't know whether to say things in English, Spanish, or Mandarin, and the servers were equally confused, so it was funny.For about an hour and a half I completely forgot I was in Spain, and it was kind of nice.

On Sunday, we went to the Palcaio Real. I had already been there, but it's really cool, so I didn't mind going again. Plus, Gwen doesn't take forever in museums (thank God!), so we just saw, photo-ed, and left!

We also braced the Parque de Buen Retiro, despite the cold, and just wandered around. It's really big, so we saw a bunch of stuff I hadn't yet seen,

like the beautiful Palacio de Cristal. It reminded me of the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, and I just have a thing for victorian- looking glass houses, they're so rad. The lake had lots of ducks, too, so I want to go back with bread. Oh, and I've decided when I grow up I'm going to be an old man that feeds the pigeons in the park all day, serenely mumbling to myself. It's good to have goals, right?

We also paid our respects to 'El Angel Caido' or The Fallen Angel, one of the only statues in the world of Lucifer (the devil).

Hail Satan!

Then we trekked over to the museum Thyssen and cultured ourselves. I was in desperate need of a break from Jesus art, so we looked at all the modern art. There was some great Degas, Monet, Pisarro, and Cezanne. Ahhh, I love Impressionism, and the only other time I saw anything by Monet was when the travelling exhibit came to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and it was so damn crowded I couldn't enjoy myself and nearly had a panic attack. So yesterday made up for it, hooray!

Going on right now in Madrid is the Cow Parade, where hundreds of cows painted by different artists are found everywhere: streets, subway stations, and plazas. Gwen pointed out that whoever designed the cows isn't very bright because thay all have an udder AND horns. Hmmmm. Are these hermaphroditic cows? Or are they trying not to discriminate any gender?
Anyway, here's me with one of the said anatomically incorrect 'cows'.

I was really glad Gwen got to come visit me, it was like having a bit of home for a weekend, and I'm really looking forward to Edinburgh and Italy with her!

This Saturday is Morocco! I'm on the road to Marrakesh! All aboard that train!
Emily