Category Archives: Europe

Europe (UNWTO Area)

31st March 2015 (Holy Tuesday): Driving through Medieval Towns and Salt Marshes {France, Easter 2015}

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In the morning we set off towards the north of France through the provinces of Brittany and Normandy. There were not that many cars on the road so that was good, because the car was a scale up from what we wanted, and I had to get used to driving a bigger car than I am used to. And I’m bloody short so using a higher car was… a challenge. After a couple of hours we had to take a break because my leg was cramping.

Eventually we got to Gérande, which is a Medieval fortified town dating from the Wars of Succession. We walked around for a while and had breakfast, and saw a lot of speciality shops, among them lots selling salt. Here’s the La porte Saint-Michel, the main gate.

But, why salt in the shops, you may ask? Because Gérande has been famous for its salt marshes since the 19th century. And of course we made a stop to visit the Salt Marshes of Gérande. Did I mention “of course”?

Our destination for the day was Le Mont-Saint-Michel, the mount of Saint Michael (Unesco World Heritage Site). It is a tidal island in the area of Normandy in France, at the mouth of the Coueson river. It features a medieval town and a Christian Abbey and a monastery. The main buildings tend to be Romanesque and Gothic, and the atmosphere is really cool – you might have noticed that I’m a bit of Gothic-style fan by now.

It was chilly and windy, and to be honest I found Mont-Saint-Michel to be slightly disappointing. The construction and exploitation of the tourism side, with building a parking lot and so on blew up the tidal system a couple of decades ago and the island is no longer such. They’re working now to try to restore everything back to how it was, but at the same time they are keeping a bridge, although that one should work for allowing the tides to move through. It was overcrowded, but we managed to have a good stroll.

After visiting Mont-Saint-Michel, we headed off to find our B&B at a small village about an hour away. I took a long, long, hot, hot shower and we ate some snacks for dinner.

30th March 2015 (Holy Monday): Getting around Toulouse {France, Easter 2015}

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In the morning, my friend showed me around Toulouse for a bit. We saw the Capitolium, the business school, and some springtime trees, but mostly walked around. Toulouse is not a particularly pretty town, mostly industrial.

We had lunch at a rather nice Japanese restaurant, where I had my first sort-of real tonkatsu.

Then we returned to my friend’s place to get packed and headed to the airport as we had a 19:30 flight to Nantes, where we arrived around 21:00. My friend had rented a car for me to drive and I had the doubtful pleasure of getting to know the double roundabouts. We found an open McDonald’s by the road to have dinner and we drove to the hotel for the night. Also, for some strange reason we were given a family room (for like four people) and… our shower had lights. Seriously.

8th March 2015: Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary in Guadalajara (Spain)

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When I was young I used to love the anime Saint Seiya. Then, as I grew older, I read the manga, then I sort of drifted away from it, until somehow new fandoms and old fandoms collided – and it as announced that YOSHIKI was writing the theme song for the film Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary. That grabbed my attention, and eventually Selecta Visión announced that they would release them in cinemas in Spain.

When it was announced that it would be showing in the shopping centre cinemas in Guadalajara for a couple of sessions only, I decided to buy my ticket online. It was strange for me for several reasons – the main of them was that I rarely go to the cinema to watch something dubbed. Also, the online shopping was weird -instead of getting a ticket, you got a number and then you had to input that number on a machine to get your actual traditional ticket printed.

I drove to the shopping centre, which was rather dead as it was a Sunday at half past six, the shops were closed and the restaurants not open yet. The audience of the cinema was comprised by a class of special needs kids and a lot – and I mean a lot of super-excited fathers with their young sons, who had no idea what the whole fuss was about. I enjoyed the film – I had resisted watching it bootleg although it had leaked on the Internet. It was a different, lighter take on the Battle of Sanctuary. I did, however, miss the Virgo Shaka vs Phoenix Ikki battle – because after all they’re my favourite characters. When the film ended, I stayed behind for the whole credits and YOSHIKI’s song “Hero”, beautifully sang by Katie Fitzgerald. I was literally the only person left in the cinema through it, and I had to apologise to the cleaning crew, who told me no problem. And hey, I got to see the mid-credit scene on my own!

Saint Seiya Legend of Sanctuary

After the film, I walked to the car and drove home to watch it again in its original version, because I am that kind of geek, and I was not too impressed with the dubs – but hey, that’s me, I’ve always preferred the originals.

1st February 2015: Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Madrid (Spain)

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You can say that this was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment improvisation – I literally woke up and decided that I wanted to go and see the Space Pirate Captain Harlock. I found a cinema in Madrid that showed the film and I hopped on a train to get there. I arrived in time for an early lunch before I headed off for the film, as the only version in Japanese was at half past three.

This was one of the first times I ate and went to the cinema alone in Madrid, and it was a strange experience. My relatives always say that a person eating alone is sad, and as I’ve been hearing that for a long time, and sometimes it resonates, specially when I’m in Spain. I originally wanted to eat sushi, but in the end I decided against it and went to UDON instead, where I ended getting the membership card. I decided to try the Chicken Yaki Udon – much better than the ramen, in my opinion, as they were real udon noodles, unlike the ramen which uses tallarini – and a koroke (croquette), and I had cheesecake mochi for dessert.

After lunch I headed off to the Yelmo Cines Ideal to watch the film. I had no seat number and I did not need one as we were literally… five people in the cinema. It was a small cinema theatre, and when I arrived there were three or four people, I figured that more would come, but when the previews started we were just five, and five we stayed. When the film finally started, I was really impressed by the quality of the CGI – I already knew that the voice-over was going to be great, what with Oguri Shun and Miura Haruma.

The plot of the film reminded me a little of Space Battleship Yamato, but that might just be me being biased. Even if I vaguely remember watching the anime from the times I was a child, the film felt at the same time nostalgic and new, so I could really enjoy it. Although it is a bit on the predictable side, it wraps up really well.

After the film, I backtracked and it turns out I was home before anyone even noticed I was gone. I should get away more often (≧▽≦).

27th December 2014: A stroll in the cold (Guadalajara, Spain)

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I had a couple of friends over for that silly blursday period between Christmas and New Year’s and we decided to get to Guadalajara for a walk or two. Not that there is much to see, but it has a small zoological park. The Zoológico Municipal de Guadalajara had a rocky start, with small cages and sad animals, but it seems to be trying to do better. The main activity that goes on in the zoo is the recovery of birds of prey, and there are some education programs too.

We had lunch in an all-you-can-eat Asian restaurant that I enjoy because it is one of the few places where I can get myself some sushi.

Afterwards, we visited the Palacio de la Cotilla, Cotilla Palace – whose name ‘palace’ is more than overrated. It is a 17th century is a downtown manor in Guadalajara, Spain, formerly owned by the Marquis of Villamejor. One of the rooms, named the “Chinese Room”, Salón Chino de la Cotilla, is decorated with hand-painted rice paper, brought from Beijing, and several Japanese Edo-period paintings which were probably purchased in France from Dutch sailors or merchants.

Finally we took a stroll towards a silly spot in the middle of nowhere that has a Japanes-like bridge over… nothing, really, but it is a cute bridge, in the Parque de las Esculturas, Sculpture Park.

After that we just headed back home because it was dark and cold and pizza could be ordered (≧▽≦).

10th – 12th October 2014: In Leon (Spain) with Family

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The year my father retired we went to have a nice weekend out, and we chose to drive to León, a historical city towards the north of Spain. I had to work on Friday afternoon, so we drove off in the early evening and reached Leon after dusk. We were staying at the Parador, called Hostal de San Marcos for a couple of nights. The building was luxurious, it was one of those one-in-a-lifetime experienced. The hotel is a former convent built in the 16th century, and it distils magic.

On Saturday morning we set off to visit the Basílica de San Isidoro de León, a Christian church dating from the 10th century. It is famous due to the 12th-century paintings that decorate the Pantheon of the Kings of León underneath the church.

After this, we walked into the town centre and we came across the Casa Botines, a Modernist-style building erected by Gaudí, now a bank.

A bit further we saw the came across the local seminary, the Seminario de San Froilán.

We went on and found the local farmer’s market, the Mercado Tradicional de Productos Agrarios, which was in the Main Square of the city.

Finally, we circled back towards the cathedral, Santa María de León, a Gothic building built in three steps – the main building was built all throughout the 13th century, the north tower in the 14th century, and the south tower in the 15th century. The difference in the towers is easy to spot (≧▽≦). One of its key features are the stained-glass windows.

Upon leaving the cathedral, one of my favourites, by the way, we took an extra walk in the historical area, and found cool buildings and decorations.

We had lunch, then returned to the Hostal de San Marcos. On our way back we found the cutest sweet shop that made adorable chocolate figurines.

We saw the Iglesia de San Marcos, the adjacent church, and then I explored the whole hotel a little.

Also, I discovered that I could see the Puente de San Marcos, a stone bridge over the Bernesga River, from my room.

We drove off on Sunday morning, because the weather was nasty and the forecast was worse, so we wanted to be out of the area when the storm really hit. But before that I managed to get to the second floor of the cloister and explore some more.

15th July 2014: Robots and Drums (Madrid, Spain)

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A bit over ten years ago, when I was in universe one of my neighbours was paying for a proto-on-demand TV subscription, and it turned out that my TV caught it for some reason. At that time I got to watch a bunch of anime – in Spanish, badly-translated and rather… altered. Among the series I watched was Gainax’s “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, or Shinseiki Evangerion [新世紀エヴァンゲリオン]. Evangelion is a rather confusing series in itself, but the creative translation and censorship made it almost impossible to understand. Evangelion tries to be a giant robot anime with a religious / philosophical background, where humans piloting huge robots (“EVA”) battle monsters called “angels” which apparently seek to destroy humanity. Or something.

The point of this anime-history paragraph is to explain how I ended up at the Museo ABC de Dibujo e Ilustración, the drawing and illustration museum in Madrid. They were running an exhibition about Evangelion and the Japanese katana Evangelion y las katanas japonesas. It was something interesting to see, and the first time I’ve ever seen actual Japanese katana information. The exhibition has three focuses – actual katana, recreations and figures of elements of the series, such as the robots, pilots or weapons, and weapons inspired by the anime.

After the exhibition I took the underground towards the thratre Teatro Circo Price to watch a taiko exhibition: “Taiko Performing Arts Ensemble: Dandan” by Kodo. Taiko are the traditional Japanese drums and there is a whole drumming style for them. It was really, really fun. Due to a fluke of destiny, I had very good seats, so I could enjoy to the fullest – far away from the reverberation and echoes, close enough so I could even sneak in a good picture or two!

The performance was amazing. I think this was the first time I’ve ever seen something so grandeur. Even when I saw a taiko school in Japan, it was just drumming, while Kodo added a lot of acrobatics to the mix. It was really great!

Unfortunately, I could not even check the merchandise after the performance as I had to run for my train, or risk getting stranded overnight in Madrid.

14th June 2014: Falconry & Birds of Prey Exhibition in Guadalajara (Spain)

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Falconry is one of those things that I’m torn about – on the one hand I’m not really keen on animal labour and shows, but being close to those animals is an amazing experience. The town of Guadalajara was celebrating the 900th anniversary of the passing of the Medieval Hero Minaya’s passing, and falconry was common technique at the time.

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was a Castilian knight and warlord who lived in the 11th-century Spain. He was called El Cid Campeador which roughly means the Master of the Battlefield. He was a glorified mercenary, and has made history books as one of the most important history heroes. He was exiled when he confronted the King about killing his predecessor. One of his generals, Álvar Fáñez Minaya, is credited with liberating the town of Guadalajara from the Moors. Just as El Cid represents courage and strength, Minaya represents loyalty.

Guadalajara really likes the figure of Minaya – he is in the local coat of arms and flag, there’s a school and a Moorish tower named after him. And as he was supposed to have been an excellent falconer, the exhibition was organised. I never caught the name of the owners of the animals, but there were some very impressive birds over there – Steppe eagle, Eurasian eagle-owl, Iberian imperial eagle, Turkish vulture, a hawk / falcon and… and that’s the end of my ornithology knowledge. All in all the animals were beautiful, although people not respecting their space made me a little bit sad.

1st June 2014: “La Mirada Interior” exhibition in Guadalajara (Spain)

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This Japanese-culture exhibition was held in the Palacio del Infantado in Guadalajara and I dropped by because seeing Japanese stuff in a Gothic palace was… well… weird. Here are some pictures:

24th – 26th May 2014: Paris (France) for Yoshiki Classical

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24th May 2014: Evening in Montmartre

I was going to atted Yoshiki Classical concert in Paris on Sunday, so I made planes with a a friend to meet up with her over the weekedn so we could do some stuff together. We booked a hotel close to the venue, Le Triannon. I arrived in Paris in the evening of Friday the 24th and met my friend direcly at the hotel – the first thing we noticed was that the area was not the safest, but we could still get to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur to see it lit.

Sacre Coeur, a basilica on top of a mountain, lit in gentle green light at night

And also to see a nice view of the Eiffel Tower all lit up.

A shot of the Eiffel Tower from afar, lit reddish orange

25th May 2014: Under ground, above ground

On Saturday morning we went to Catacombes de Paris, the Catacombs of Paris. The ancient quarries and mines of Paris became the final resting place of more than six million people. In the late 18th century it was decided to eliminate a good portion of the quickly-overcrowding cemeteries and graveyads of Paris and for a 1786 the bones were carried to the catacombs at night. Today they are consisdered a museum and thus managed as such.

Creepy catacombs of Paris, with thousands of human skulls and other remains

After the catacombs we moved onto the Ille de la Cité, the “island of the city”, an island in the middle of the Seine, to visit Notre-Dame de Paris, our Lady of Paris, a magnificent Gothic cathedral built in between 1160 and 1260. In the 19th century an extensive renovation was carried out, and a few features were added, such as a the gargoyles and a replacement spire for the original one. We climbed the towers and were treated to a really cool Paris view before going inside.

Collage of Notre Dame; the main façade, the gargoyles, the inside of the main navev, and a view of Paris from the top

Leaving Notre Dame, we headed our the Île de la Cité and passed by Saint Germain l’Auzeroix, which mostly dates from the 15th Century and used to be the church for the Louvre inhabitants.

A restored gothic church with an octogonal tower

At the Louvre, by the way, there was a humongous queue, so as both of us had seen it before, we decided to skip going inside.

The Louvre palace from the outside

We passed by the Luxor Obelisk, an Egyptian monument which is over 3000 years old, located in the Place de la Concorde. I’ve always found that name very ironic considering that many people were guillotined there. But hey, the obelisk is cool and all.

A black Egyptian obelisk with golden decoration

We continued walking up the Champs-Élysées until we got to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile (the “Triumphal Arch of the Star”. Okay Paris. Okay.), which is one of the biggest triumphal arcs in the world. It was completed in 1840 and it honours the casualties in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Commemorative gateway or triumphal arch in white stone

From there we took the underground back to the area of the Sacré-Cœur, which we could see at the end of the streets.

Sacre Coeur peering at the end of a street

And to finish the day, we had some Japanese food because why wouldn’t we?

26th May 2014: Bad weather, queue & Yoshiki

On Sunday, we started off back in the Île de la Cité and we walked around Notre Dame on our way as my friend wanted a walk along the Seine.

The back gardens of Notre Dame

We took the underground towards Les Invalides (Hôtel national des Invalides or The National Residence of the Invalids), a complex of buildings erected between the 17th and 18th centuries and that hosts the military museum and some notable graves, among them Napoleon’s.

Les invalides, a neoclassical palace with a golden dome

Afterwards we took the underground to Champ de Mars, the long park where the Eiffel Tower stands. The Tower was built as an entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair exhibition and it was controversial at first (and rather ugly if you ask me, but hey to each their own). Eventually, it became so famous that it was not taken down as originally planned, and to-date it is one of the most visited landmarks of the world.

Eiffel tower in the clouds

Eiffel Tower from underneath, with a tennis ball hanging in from the second floor

As you can see in the pictures, the weather might not have beent he nicest, but we made our best. We walked all through the Chaps to the Trocadero on the other side. There were very few people on the street so I convinced my friend to take a ride in the carrousel over there, because I’m insane like that. Soon after we had left, a group of random people decided to emulate us.

Classical caroussel, looking over the ears of one of the horses

After this, we said goodbye. I headed off to Le Triannon for Yoshiki Classical, and my friend towards the airport as she had work on Monday. Yoshiki is one of the most important figures in Japan’s musical scene. He is the leader of the iconic band X Japan, and also trained in classical music. He wrecked his health when he was young, though, so he is not in the best shape. His recital Yoshiki Classical was meant to be a reimagination of some songs of his career, just him and his piano and some invited artist. I have to admit that it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever been to, and I don’t regret attending one bit. Although this was my first concert alone, I didn’t feel strange in any way.

A concert venue with some people waiting

I don’t know what I was expecting, but this surpassed any and everything I could have thought of. Yoshiki is a wonderful human, and he spoke in English during the whole event – he is living in America now, collaborating with people like Stan Lee and Marilyn Manson to do more great stuff. For me, seeing him in person and playing his piano was a heart-bursting experience.

Yoshiki Classical Banner

Although Le Trianon is a seated venue, tickets were not numbered. I arrived at the queue round 17:00 for a 19:30 concert. It was not a good line – French fans seemed to have no sense of personal space, and the person behind the person behind me was invading my space, and I’m not exaggerating.

Conversely, the venue was quite ready for us, entry was well organised and smooth. Theatre staff, speaking in French and Japanese, made sure that ticket holders did not bother the local commerce nor their patrons. Judging by the faces of the sellers around, they were not used to people queuing for the theatre.

Gates opened around 18:45, and I managed a seat on 7th row, in what I thought it would be a good position to actually see Yoshiki’s face as he played. The stage was equipped with the Kawai piano, a synthesiser, and the seats for the strings, along with a standing microphone. I took in the relative positions of everything to chose my seat. The screen showed the Yoshiki Classical World Tour banner, and staff members sold insanely expensive glow sticks.

By 19:50 the audience had started to get nervous,but the members of the press were being shown in to their seats, which meant that the interviews were over. The concert finally started at 20.05, with the entrance of the supporting musicians – three violins, two violas, two cellos. The assistant gave them the tuning note and the video launched behind them. It started with a fragment of the Golden Globes museum interview, where Yoshiki explained the two sides of him, the destructiveness of heavy metal and the peace of classical music. This was illustrated by short clips of X Japan drumming and other activities, such as playing for the Emperor, or Yoshiki Symphonic, all to the music of Miracle.Finally, Yoshiki walked in, sat in front of the Kawai and played the intro of Forever Love.

He did quite a lot of talking between the songs, with a few words in French, but mostly English. He explained that we would have two parts (I used the intermission to go get goods and buy an overpriced bottle of water).Throughout the concert he introduced the strings by name, he remembered all of their names even with effort (and named them Yoshiki Sextet with great mischievousness), and Katie Fitzgerald, the vocalist of his Violet UK project. he himself said that he had too many open fronts and that he had been recording with X Japan forever, but also with Violet UK. He put the blame on himself for being a perfectionist and thus never finding anything finish-worthy. Katie rolled her eyes at him. They seemed to have a good chemistry going on. At the very beginning he told us that he was used to being in the back of concerts, playing drums and that being so close and seeing us made him nervous. He joked that as it was a classical concert he would not stage dive.

As he played the piano the screen behind him projected images, some of them abstract, some of them related to the song, such as roses for Rosa, stills of the Saint Seiya film for Hero, or raindrops for Endless Rain.

He spoke about the history of X Japan and his own – he started playing piano when he was four, the same year he met ToshI. He picked up drums at ten, in Chiba. He reminisced about how he hunted down Pata, Taiji and Hide, ”having to break their bands to get them to come to his band”. Then he spoke of Taiji’s and Hide’s passings, and not talking to ToshI for about ten years. At this point he broke down. It makes one wonder about the kind of pain this man harbours in his soul. You could feel the rage as he pounded into the piano at some points, and yes, I am sure he was crying during the song he dedicated to his father, Taiji and Hide. He said that he had learnt that big venues and stadiums did not really mean anything, but that the support of the fans was what kept him going.

He played an improvisation of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and a song he had heard on the radio the day before. He confessed that being on tour he lost track of days and places. He was aware of time and space enough to announce that the upcoming October concert in the Madison Square Garden may be the start of a new X Japan tour, but I do not think any of us believed him.

All in all, I knew that he is a great pianist, musician and artist, and after the concert I am completely sure that he is a good person, too. It’s not an act, a persona that he created for the stage. Nobody is that good at feigning pain. He picked up a bunch of presents from the crowd on the first couple of rows himself, be it flowers, plushies, flags, and was thankful for all of them.

Setlist:
1. Miracle (during the video)
2. Forever Love (X Japan)
3. Golden Globe Theme
4. Rosa (Violet UK)
5. Anniversary
[Intermission]
6. Amethyst (Strings only)
7. Swan Lake Improvisation (Tchaikovsky)
8. Hero
9. I.V. (X Japan), fragment
10. Hymne à l’amour (Édith Piaf cover)
11. Without You (X Japan)
12. Kurenai (X Japan), fragment
13. Art of Life (X Japan)
14. Endless Rain (X Japan)

Yoshiki talking to his audience

Yoshiki and Katie Fitzgerald during Hero

After the concert, I went back to the hotel. I would have loved to stay a bit longer, but it was night already and the area did not feel… Nice. In the following morning, Monday the 27th, I just headed for the airport and came back home. It was a very complete weekend!

28th & 29th March 2014: London (England, Great Britain) for VAMPS

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A friend convinced me to attend this VAMPS concert in London by paying for the VIP upgrade in advance. I took a red-eye flight on Saturday morning to Gatwick and went directly to Camden, where the venue, Koko live house, stood.

The venue, a neoclassical building with a marking reading Koko

Aside from the run to the hotel, I spent most of the day in the queue, which was rewarded when I got an autograph from HYDE himself on the Sex Blood Rock ‘n’ Roll album.

Hyde's autograph on the Sex Blood Rock n' Roll CD

It was probably due to the high of the autograph, but this is one of the best concerts that I’ve ever attended, with lots of amazing songs, and I had a great time. I did not freeze during the Meet and Greet, and I shook hands with both members, mumbled something along the lines of “thanks for the autograph” to Hyde and “thanks for the pick” to K.A.Z, referring to the one I got in Barcelona. Then I bounced off the evening with most of the songs:
  1. Devil side
  2. Redrum
  3. The past
  4. Secret in my heart
  5. Replay
  6. Dolly
  7. Sweet Dreams
  8. Life on Mars?
  9. Hunting II
  10. World’s end
  11. Angel trip
  12. Trouble
  13. Midnight celebration
  14. Revolution II
  15. Memories
  16. Love addict
  17. Sex Blood Rock N’ Roll

The venue at night

The next morning my friend went off to the airport first thing in the morning. I was not travelling back till the evening, so I took the chance to… Well, first things first, I took the chance to get myself to a Costa Coffee and get a vanilla latte.

A Costa coffee dispossable glass

Then I took the underground towards the end of the world, or more precisely the end of the Jubilee line – to North Greenwich. I took the O2 Arena exit, to say hi the IndigO2, where I had been once back in 2012 to attend the L’Arc~en~Ciel World Tour, the first and only time I’ve ever seen them.

North Greenwich undergrond station

The O2, a huge tent with crane-looking structures that reminds one of a giant hedgehog

I left the O2 Arena behind, and walked about 20 minutes towards the Cutty Sark, a tea clipper built in Dumbarton in 1869. It took eight trips to China to trade for tea and other items. Its history involved mutinee, murder, trampling of cargo and travels to Asia and Australia. In the 1880s it was considered one of the fastest ships if not the fastest sailing the ocean.

A landed sailboat

The Cutty Sark’s figurehead is the witch Nannie Dee, created by Robert Burns – in the poem a man falls in… love or lust… with a witch during a coven meeting that he’s spying, and the witch chases him away, getting away with the tail of his horse, that you can see in her hand.

Close up of the ship. It is perched on a glass structure that gives away tot he museum

The steam engines made sail-ships obsolete, but the Cutty Sark was active until the 1950s, when it was rammed by another ship on the Thames. In 1954 it was moved to a custom-dock in Greenwich to become a museum.

I wanted to see the exhibition inside, which turned out out be about Chinese tea and the history of the ship, which was not unexpected. I bought a pet-rat souvenir plush because I found it adorable. In 2007 it was ravaged by a fire, and extensive rebuilding works were undertaken, which included building a new support of glass and steel that would also become the new visitor centre when the museum reopened in 2012 (when I was there in 2012 it was not yet open. I guess this was an itch I had to scratch).

Different objects in the Cutty Sark museum - tea boxes, sailing instruments, the steering wheel, marionettes, one of the original floaters

A small black rat plush with the Cutty Sark tag

Oh, and by the way… here’s the binnacle!

An actual binnacle compass

I walked back towards the underground and by the Thames riverbank.

Thames and riverbank

There stands the Old Royal Naval College, a Unesco World Heritage site build between 1696 and 1712 – it was originally conceived as a hospital and it became the Royal Naval College in 1873.

Naval college. A symmetric Neoclassical building, with columns and a green lawn

Continuing on the riverbank, you can see the floodgates in the background.

Small waves at the walk near the river

I paid my respect to Admiral Lord Nelson Statue and went on.

A sculpture of Nelson, with his right hand

I had to take a bus at Victoria Coach Station to go to the airport, and I got a very nice tour of the city, with the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament…

The Big Ben or Elizabeth Tower

… the London Eye …

The London Eye, a giant ferris wheel

… and the Tower of London.

The Medieval Fortress Tower of London

Once at the airport, I had some Yo!Sushi dinner – not the best, but hey I take sushi wherever I can find it because yay sushi.

Sushi dinner

30th December 2013 – 1st January 2014: New Year’s in Toledo (Spain)

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30th December 2013: Arrival in Toledo

We took an early train to get to Madrid, and transferred to the high-speed line (AVE) to get to Toledo – the ride from Madrid was barely half an hour. Toledo is known as “the city of the three cultures” as during the Middle Ages, Christians, Muslims and Jews managed to live in peace there, and make it prosper. Today it is a tourist hub in the centre of Spain.

The first thing that we did was head off to the Alcázar (Muslim castle) – although it was originally built by Romans in the third century, its current look is owed to the restoration carried out in the 1540s. However, it had to be restored after the Spanish Civil War. The Siege of the Alcázar was one of the most symbolic victories on the Nationalist band. The Alcázar was under siege during the whole summer by Republicans trying to take it over, but in the end, Nationalist reinforcements arrived, chasing the Republicans away. Today, the Alcázar is an important cultural building (where the bullet holes can still be found) and hosts the Museum of the Army, Museo del Ejército.

From the vantage point of the Alcázar, we could see the Academia de Infantería (Toledo Infantry Academy), built in the 20th century in imitation of the Renaissance and Herrerian style.

We also saw the Castillo de San Servando, the Castle of San Servando, a fortified Knights Templar enclave. Fine, it started off as a regular monastery, but it was later given to the Knights Templar in order to protect the city.

Both buildings are on the other side of the Río Tajo, the Tagus river, the longest river in Spain.

After having lunch and checking into the hotel, we visited the cathedral Catedral Primada Santa María de Toledo (Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo). The cathedral, built in Gothic Style, was erected mainly throughout the 13th century, even if it was only finished in the 15th century. It sports two asymmetric towers, well, one tower and a small Mozarabic chapel in place of the other one.

By the time we came out of the cathedral, night had fallen – truth is that we missed a little on the pretty windows due to it being darkish outside already. Nevertheless, this treated us to some nice night views. First of all, of course, the cathedral itself…

The Alcázar once again…

… and the Castle of San Servando.

We then walked through the Plaza de Zocodover, one of the city squares, where the old Muslim for cattle and horses was. The current layout was set in the 16th century after it burnt down in a fire.

We walked around the old town for a while until we found a place to have dinner, a Middle-East restaurant called La Casa de Damasco, one of the few times I’ve had real food from this area. I have to say I really enjoyed it.

31st December 2013: Churches and Birds

We started off the day at the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes (Monastery of Saint John of the Monarchs) is an Isabelline style Franciscan monastery. It was founded by the Catholic Monarchs to celebrate the birth of their son along with their victory in the Battle of Toro, in the late 15th century. It has a beautiful Gothic cloister.

Our next stop was one of those things that breaks my brain, a Christian Mosque, Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz. It was built in the year 999 as Bab-al-Mardum mosque, but it was turned into a Christian Church in 1085. I’m torn between rolling my eyes at Religions needing to assert dominance and being grateful the Mosque was preserved for us to visit.

Close to the Mosque stands one of the gates of the old walls, the Puerta del Sol, the Sun Gate, of the city walls.

Our next stop the Iglesia Jesuita de San Ildefonso, a church dedicated to Saint Ildefonsus, the patron saint of the city. Construction started in the early 17th century and ended in the mid 18th century, in the Baroque style.

From the upper towers of the church, there was a great view of Toledo.

We decided to walk down towards the river, Río Tajo, where we met a flock of geese (which I’m happy to report had not lost their heads to any kind of stupid animal-hurting tradition).

As we continued, we walked past a sculpture to Miguel de Cervantes, Estatua de Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the acclaimed “Don Quijote” book. The statue is placed beyond the Arco de la Sangre , the Blood Archway, that leads into the Zocodover Square.

As darkness rose, we had dinner in a Chinese restaurant. While we did, the lights turned on, and the city got ready to welcome the New Year with fireworks.

1st January 2014: Views of Toledo

We slept in, and after an early lunch (Chinese, again, as we were feeling decadent), we booked a ride in the “tourist train” that took us to see some of the most amazing views of the Medieval Town from the vantage points on the other side of the Río Tajo.

On the way back we saw the Puente de Alcántara, a Roman arch bridge built upon the foundation of the city after the Celtic settlement was taken over.

The ride ended up on the other side of the city than the one we had been favouring, so we just walked round the walls that fortify the city, the Murallas de Toledo, which are of Muslim origin over Roman foundations. King Alfonso VI is credited with finishing off the walls, and he named one of the gates after him: Puerta de Alfonso VI.

Another of the gates is the Puerta de Bisagra, the last of the monuments we visited before we headed back home the following morning.

One of the creepiest moments in this trip was realising that our key could open a room which was not ours – we got off on the wrong floor and we went down the corridor to the room door, and opened it. It was not our room. We were very quite put off by this, and it turns out that we had a master key. Finding this was a little freaky, and we tried to complain to the hotel. Furthermore, they wanted to charge us for keeping our luggage for a few hours.

Oh, and I caught a cold during our 31st at night escapade. Because of course I did.

27th December 2013: The Terracotta Army in Madrid (Spain)

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This was a bit of an unplanned event. I had been in Madrid the previous day with a friend and we had seen that the exhibition was going on. Unfortunately, there was a huge queue to go in, so we could not stay. Instead we got tickets on the internet and chose a standard “lunchtime” hour so we were almost alone watching the exhibit. That was awesome. The exhibition was held in the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa underneath Plaza de Colón (Colombus Square) in Madrid.

The Terracotta Army is called the Eighth Wonder of the Ancient World. It was discovered in 1974 close to the city of Xi’an (Shaanxi Province). It is comprised by hundreds of larger-than-life soldier statues built out of terracotta. They are part of the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, the first emperor of China. There are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, aside from 150 cavalry horses. There are different types of soldiers and they have different ranks. Their function would have been to protect the Emperor from the spirits in the afterlife. Forty thousand bronze weapons have been found among the soldiers. For reference, they were buried with the Emperor around the year 210 BCE!

The Exhibition “Terracotta Army – Guerreros De Xi’an” displays about 150 replicas of the best-preserved soldiers, weapons and chariots, along with different decorative elements and a reproduction of the Pit 1, where the bulk of the warriors were found. It was a very interesting exhibition that made me actually want to travel to China to see the actual Mausoleum for real!

Afterwards we had tickets for the cinema, because “47 Ronin” was running, and the Cines Ideal show non-dubbed films, and basically… there was Akanishi Jin in it. The films has its… merits… somewhere… I mean I loved it but it was pretty bad – I’m not precisely known for liking deep, intellectual films anyway (≧▽≦).

26th December 2013: Japanese Exhibitions & Christmas Lights in Madrid (Spain)

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Over the Christmas break, there were many activities related to the celebration of the establishment of diplomacy between Spain and Japan, so-called Año Dual España Japón. We decided to kick off the day going to a Japanese restaurant, my favourite in Madrid, the Nagoya (believe it or not, this is the daily menu).

There was a Calligraphy exhibit in the national library, Biblioteca Nacional. On the way, we also found that there was an exhibition about the Chinese terracotta warriors, but the queue was insane! We decided to try to get tickets online for another day.

We went to Caixa Forum to see a Japonism (19th-century European art influenced by Japanese concepts and aesthetics). Honestly, pictures were forbidden, but I snuck one because I really loved the painting.

We also took a walk to see the Christmas lights. Here’s the Postal Service building, Edificio de Correos.

And a view of Gran Vía, one of the main arteries of Madrid, all lit up.

22nd December 2013: Derelict Monastery in Tendilla (Spain)

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Here are the ruins of the church of a long-forsaken monastery dedicated to Saint Anne, the Monasterio de Santa Ana, a Hieronymite convent built in the 15th Century in Tendilla. Originally, it was built half-way between the Gothic and the Renaissance styles. The monastery was abandoned in the 19th century due to the The ecclesiastical confiscations of Mendizábal, a of laws and strategies that resulted in the expropriation and privatisation of religious and monastic properties. The building was later “sold” for stone, and the tombs it contained were sent to other churches.

I used to be terrified from it when I was a child, but I had an hour or two free in the village so I decided to climb up the mount to have a look.

28th & 29th September 2013: Barcelona (Spain), VAMPS, and friends

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I had just started a new job so getting to Barcelona for the Saturday concert had to be undertaken on that same day. I missed all VAMPS members and supporting musicians coming in and signing autographs but I got a good place as someone had been “saving” my spot at the queue. I have some awesome friends ^^

This was unfortunately a rather empty concert, even if a fun one. Hyde tried his best at Spanish, which was not too good to be honest, but kudos for trying. The setlist had a couple of my favourite songs, so that was a plus. I also managed to catch one of KAZ’s picks, and got one of the bunch that bassist Ju-ken’s left on stage!

Collage showing the band, the stage, and the picks I got from them

I slept over at a friend’s house, and “sleep” means we stayed up talking until the wee hours of the morning, but then I was meeting up yet another friend for breakfast. We went to the Parc de la Ciutadella [Park of the Citadel], which features a… mammoth and a really nice fountain / pond.

Collage of the park, showing the pond, a wooden elephant, some palm trees, and the lookout point over the lake

Afterwards we went to the area of the harbour, Puerto de Barcelona (harbour), to have something to drink.

Harbour, showing the different quays and the cablecar

Finally, we all got together to have lunch in a Japanese restaurant before I headed back off to the station to head back home and work on Monday.

Japanese food lunch to share, including sushi, salad, dumplings, breaded meat and sweets

27th September 2013: Bunraku at Teatro Español (Madrid, Spain)

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Oh, Gods, this was an odyssey. Seriously, can’t we just figure out print-at-home tickets? When the announcement for the event came up, I got tickets. I actually called my parents to ask them if they wanted to tag along, and they said yes, so I bought three tickets. There were only two performances, and the tickets were selling out fast.

Let me start at the beginning – the announcement involved the Sugimoto Bunraku 2013 European Tour. Bunraku [文楽] is a type of Japanese theatre that uses puppets to perform about serious topics, mostly classic dramas (as far as I know). The puppets are dressed in amazing costumes and manoeuvred by artists dressed in black as if to become invisible. Sugimoto’s company is collaborating with The Japan Foundation to show this art to the world, in this case holding a European tour with the play.

Anyway, back to track: I bought the tickets, and the next step was actually getting them. I had to go to a cashpoint to get them printed (because, again, print at home? It seems to be for lesser beings), which was not easy as I was living in a small town at that point. On top of that, I got the wrong bank cashpoint at first (≧▽≦). Sometimes excitement gets the best of me, but in my defence a) I did not even know the actual bank existed and b) the mistaken bank had a similar name. And on top of that… in the end my parents decided not to come at all! In the end I gave the tickets to my cousin and her kid, who were curious about the whole thing.

We met up in Madrid, in front of the theatre Teatro Español, where the event took place, and it was interesting to see how the whole thing was sold out. The work that was performed is called Sonezaki Shinjū, which translates to The Suicidal Lovers of Sonezaki, or the Love Suicides of Sonezaki, written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon in the early 1700s. It tells the love story of a poor merchant and a courtesan. When the merchant is set to marry off another woman, tragedy ensues until the two of them decide to die together in the forests of Sonezaki Shrine. I’ve actually got myself the book (well, my cousin insisted on getting it for me as thanks for the tickets) to read, as there were no subtitles on the play, just a summary brochure.

Even though I’m no fan of the whole romantic drama thing, I have to admit that the music and the puppets made the whole thing eerily captivating. Aside from the puppeteers, the key figure in the play were the musicians and the narrator, which explained (in Japanese) and narrated the play. The way the puppets are dressed, the shamisen and koto music, and the way you see the puppeteers and yet not see them is super cool. Unfortunately, no pictures allowed that I can show you.

Afterwards, we met up with my cousin’s husband (I did try to get a ticket for him, but it was too late already) and we… had McDonald’s, because that’s what we do when he hang out.

27th & 28th July 2013: Segovia (Spain)

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27th July 2013: Echoes of a Roman Past

We took the train early on Saturday and arrived in Segovia in mid-morning. Segovia is a Spanish city of the Inner Plateau, located in the autonomous community of Castilla León. It has gained fame because of its many monuments and landmarks, the main being the Roma aqueduct in almost perfect condition, the cathedral and the castle (which may have served to inspire certain mouse-company for the Cinderella Castle). The city centre has been a world Heritage site from 1985 and the aqueduct received the title of International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1999.

We checked into the hotel, which was dead in the centre of the Main Square and then we visited the Catedral de la Virgen María, the cathedral. The building was constructed between 1525 and 1577 in a late Gothic style that had already phased out in the rest of Europe. We saw the cloister, the chapels and the apse.

Then we moved onto the Iglesia de San Martín, St Martin’s church, built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style, with a Romanesque-Mudejar tower bell.

We then took a walk around the city centre, and we came across the Palacio de Cascales, a 15th century palace that belonged to the Alpuente Count.

We passed by the Casa de los Picos, the “House of Peaks”, also built in the 15th century.

We somehow ended having these nice views of the rooftops of the city, too.

And passed by a very interesting house.

We finally got to the main event, the Aqueducto, the aqueduct. An aqueduct is a “water bridge”, a construction designed to carry water from one side of a valley or a ravine to the other. The Aqueducto was built by the Romans in the late first or early second century. It once transported water from the Frio River into the city, and it ran for a whooping 15 kilometres. It is one of the best preserved aqueducts in the world, as it was reconstructed several times through history, and it was working to get water to the city up to the 19th century.

We passed by the Casa de Ejercicios del Seminario one of the buildings of the Seminary.

We reached the Main Square, the Plaza Mayor again.

And saw the Romanesque Iglesia de San Andrés, St Andrew’s church, with a particularly nice bell tower.

After this we decided to take a break and have the typical pork meat lunch. Then we moved on towards the Alcázar. An alcázar is a type of castle or fortress built during the Muslim rule in Spain and Portugal. The Alcázar of Segovia has been through several redesigns and renovations, but it is a pretty impressive building. The current form was reached during the reign of King Alfonso VIII, so it dates from the 13th century, but it was retweaked by several kings and queens after that. It was the royal residency until the Spanish court moved to Madrid in 1561.

On the way we could see some views and the Iglesia de la Vera Cruz, the True Cross Church.

The Alcázar is quite an impressive building, in Herrerian style, with impressive towers. Part of it is a history museum the other part is a military museum.

It also offers nice views of the cathedral from the other side.

We walked back to the city centre and along the aqueduct again.

This trip was in July, and scorching hot back home, so we had not considered much of a temperature change. Unfortunately, Segovia in the late afternoon became more than chilly and we had to walk into a random shop to buy a thin jacket, then headed off to the Plaza Mayor.

Funnily, when we were having dinner there, someone warned us that the shop assistant had left the alarm tag on my jacket! That was amusing. We called it a day heading off to the hotel, and being duly impressed by the illumination put in place for the cathedral.

28th July 2013: Churches while the city sleeps

On Sunday morning, most everything was closed, so we took a strolling tor if the Medieval area, and saw a bunch of churches from the tenth and eleventh centuries:

Iglesia de la Trinidad (Trinity Church).

Convento de las Carmelitas Descalzas (Barefoot Carmelite Monastery).

Iglesia de San Nicolas (St. Nicholas’ Church)

Iglesia de San Quirce (St. Quirce’s Church)

Iglesia de San Esteban (St. Stephen’s Church)

We also had yet a different view of the Cathedral.

And we could see the Alcázar in all its glory.

Then we returned to the city centre, where we caught a glimpse of the Iglesia de los Santos Justo y Pastor (St. Just and St. Pastor’s Church).

We had lunch and said one last good-bye to the Aqueduct before we headed back to the train station.

15th June 2013: Maratón de los cuentos de Guadalajara (Spain)

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The Maratón de los cuentos de Guadalajara, Storytelling Marathon of Guadalajara, is an annual event that has been taking place in the town since 1992. During a weekend, Friday to Sunday, in June, stories are told non-stop. For a couple of days the town becomes alive with the idea of telling stories, is decorated and so on.

I decided to attend the marathon and listen to a few stories. I walked down Main Street, which had been adorned with flags and hanging letters.

The marathon was carried out in the Palacio del Infantado, a Gothic palace that belonged to the Infantado Dukes. The most important feature, the façade, was completed in 1483. Both the Palace, the gardens, and the patio were also decorated for the event.

After a walk around I sat down to listen to a few stories inside the Palace, before I headed back home.