Architecture Review: Calatrava

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is going to change the Chicago skyline with his skyscraper called "Spire," which will measure 610 meters and 115 floors. It will be the tallest building in the United States, says El Pais.

Perhaps you have seen the Ciudad de las Ates y de las Ciencias in Valencia, designed by Calatrava and inaugurated in 1998? We did on Monday. It's quite impressive. So impressive that we searched Google Images for pictures to share with our loyal blog readers. Here they are:






Inn't the innernets grand?

Madrid Update

So we just got back from our lightning trip to Valencia. Took the Renfe Alaris, preferente class. It was nice--we got breakfast on the way there, and dinner on the way back. Checked out the study abroad program and we were positively impressed--and it wasn't just the kingly treatment of the staff or the delicious paellas we ate.

Let's see. What has happened in Madrid lately? Mary left last Tuesday morning, which was sad. We enjoyed having her here, and couldn't help but think about how fun it would have been if she had still been living here this year.

We had a very nice time with Alena and Chrissy, too. They left last Sunday morning, at the crack of dawn. It was great to see some friendly faces from home.

We started packing up our things in preparation for our withdrawal from Madrid on the 27th. We have mailed ten boxes of books and DVDs to SB.

Last Thursday night we watched "Cara a cara," which is the Spanish translation of Face/Off, the film that didn't damage Nicholas Cage and John Travolta's reputation nearly enough. Even dubbing couldn't save that movie. But for some reason, S stayed up late to see how it turned out.

Last Friday we had dinner at Dani and Yoli's house. We brought pollo al ajillo with us, and they provided the fresh strawberries for dessert. Marco, who starred in our blog of September 11, 2006, is getting bigger, and he is looking more and more handsome.


Plaza del Oriente.

Ask us about that dude in the background sometime.


The Atocha turtles.

Gran Via.

The elevator in our apartment building.

Our friends at the Museo Reina Sofia.

Cañas at Cervecería Santa Ana.

The ancient Egyptian ruins near Plaza de España.


Mary's apartment in Chueca.

Maceira with M and J. Note delicious pulpo a la gallega in the foreground.

And right now, we are enjoying the company of our college/Portland friends, B and A. They look great, and it is great to be able to spend some time with them. As soon as the plumbers fix our hot water heater this morning, we are going to get out of here and go meet them for Fun Madrid Time.

Oh, by the way: last night we had dinner at Maceira--totally stole that restaurant idea from Mary. So good.

Amagomundi in Ohio

“Let me put it to you this way,” Amagomundi said. “When it’s all said and done, when [we] head back home — which at this moment will be South Bend, Ind. — I will get there and look in the mirror, and I will say, ‘I came with a set of principles and I didn’t try to change my principles to make me popular.’ ”

We are still going to get the job done in Madrid, but we have set a pull out date of April 27th.

Tout Va Bien

At the Centre Pompidou during our trip to Paris in March. It seems like so long ago.


And a photo taken during the last stage of a memorable meal we had at Le Petit Marché, 9 rue de Béarn. Particularly noteworthy was the bottle of Regnard Bourgogne that S and B shared. We wish we had written down more details about that wine. (It must have been a pinot noir, but we only say that because we just found a pinot noir by that name at finewinehouse.com. And now that we think about it, the wine had the light body that we generally associate with a pinot noir, with hints of... whoah. Is this the most boring parenthetical statement ever?) The wine was very good. A had rumsteak, B had a very fishy-tasting rouget, Sindo had a delicious coquelet, and S had an agneau that was so good he wishes he could have it again this Sunday.

(Photo credit: Raucous but friendly British couples sitting at the table next to us.)

Yesterday in Madrid

Yesterday in Madrid it was absolutely perfect. A little chilly, but with puffy high clouds, a light breeze and the terrific light you seem to only get in Spain.

Today it's Holy Thursday it's cloudy and cold. We had to have pasta for lunch because we didn't plan on everything being closed. We were going to have pollo al ajillo, but instead we invented a vegetable pasta using whatever was left over in the fridge and pantry. It tasted pretty good with the grated parmesan cheese that La Doge brought us when she came to visit us from Venice.

Mary is visiting us this week and it's been great to have her here. We were sorry we couldn't feed her our famous pollo al ajillo today. Maybe we can do that on Holy Saturday. Or Holy Friday if we can find any stores that are open.

Some of our readers have been anxious to get a sneak peak at Ron Mueck's sculptures that are being exhibited at the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Málaga. The man that you can see in the background has been added for scale.


"A Girl." Mueck's work will be at the CACM until June 17, 2007.