WTF Olympics

I am thankful on a daily basis that we will be departing fair London before the insanity of the Olympics begins. But Olympics fever is already everywhere, and in combination with the Jubilee has led to a generalized English pride all over the place. No comment.

One of the things I least understand is the design of the Olympic logos. Here is the official logo:

Ok, so I took the picture with an iPhone zooming in across the street, but you get the idea. It is supposedly a very stylized "2012," which I only realized a few days ago while talking to Katie. I thought maybe it was an abstract version of the British isles. It's also been likened to a sex act, but I'll let you do the googling if you want to find that yourself (though it can never be unseen once it has been seen). At any rate, it is ugly.

Not as ugly as the mascot, though:

Crazy Building

I walk by this building a lot, despite my best efforts haven't figured out what it is. But it looks crazy old, and as if it might collapse at any moment.

España

Also, I went to Spain last week! Finished up some research in the National Library, lugged back 22 (yes, 22!) books and DVDs  - and in a carry-on to boot - and celebrated my friend Erika's birthday with her. AND saw the sun and experienced temperatures over 70 degrees for the first time in a while.

Dinner with Erika;  hopefully an optical illusion that my head is twice as large as hers.

Headless statue at the end of a sunny hallway near the Sala Barbieri in the National Library

Erika's sister Lorena on their beautiful terrace shows off her various Cookie Monster accessories

Below: Took a very hot stroll through the new Madrid Río Park with an old friend from when I lived in France. The park is kind of an attempt at green space/beach space (sorta) that also expanded the Manzanares River from its former status as a trickle. I'm not sure how ideal it is in scorching sunlight - could use more shade - but it's beautiful and there were people swimming and sunbathing. I was not one of them.

bridge over the Manzanares

house murals next to the bridge

the newly expanded river with sunbathers and swimmers in the pools

That same day I headed over to the Reina Sofía museum to meet another old friend. I arrived early and checked out the temporary exhibits - one of them, "Castles in the Air" by Hans Haacke, was really phenomenal. It was a retrospective of his career featuring a new piece that was very critical of the current state of things in Spain - photos and video art of a half-built suburban housing complex that lies largely empty following the real estate bubble's implosion. 

Some photos of the newish expansion courtyard, from above and from below:

And views from the new roof terrace:

And what better way to end a post on Spain than with a relic of the Franco dictatorship, on the door of my friend María's apartment building (and many others):

The plaque just indicates that the building complies with a 1954 law, but prominently features the Falange's symbol of the yoke and arrows. 

Twelfth Night

Appropriately, since I had twelve nights remaining in England (but who's counting) last night Katie and I went to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Twelfth Night. It was hands down one of the best theater performances I've ever seen, ever. Great cast, great design (sort of like an 80s beach resort hotel), and there was a little pool of water under the stage that the actors came up out of when they were shipwrecked. Very cool. Photo is ©RSC, not my own.

 (Viola emerging from the wreck)

 Just your average walk to the movies

Last Monday I went down to the British Film Institute to see The Kid with a Bike (highly recommended). The walk over is quite lovely:

And the theater itself is not too shabby!

The walk home was even more beautiful, but harder to capture with an iPhone camera, so you have to kind of squint your eyes at this one to replicate the effect of what it actually looked like:

Chez Freud/Hampstead Heath

Two weekends ago (blog's been a bit behind since I finally started writing the chapter in earnest and was traveling) I went with my friend Elena up to Hampstead to see the Freud Museum and famous Heath.

Freud and the fam moved there to escape the Nazis in 1938, and he died a year later, so it was actually much more Anna Freud's house than Sigmund's, though of course the museum is more dedicated to papa Freud (Anna gets a room, though). The house was pretty beautiful, and we got to see Freud's extensive collection of Orientalist knickknacks.

Then we wandered around Hampstead Heath and enjoyed one of the first really beautiful - albeit blustery and not so warm - days we've had here.

Baby swan family!!!

Landscape doesn't get much more English than this. You sort of expect Heathcliff or Mr. Rochester to come riding over on a steed, don't you? Or is that just me?

Football

Have been watching some Eurocup games, yesterday I was in Spain to see them win and today in England to see them lose. There's a soccer bar nearby called Café Kick, took this picture there a couple of weeks ago when Katie's husband (a big Portugal fan) was visiting and we saw them win there, a lovely game.

The lamp on the left has foosball players painted on it and the poster to the right is from the Madrid World Cup in 1982 (a good year, if I do say so myself).

Old Operating Theatre!

This is so far a highlight of the trip. 

Mick Hattaway, the semi-emeritus professor/ Shakespeare scholar/ expat New Zealander who is our "mentor" on the program (which means he organizes our weekly presentations and regular meetings and other events) had the great idea of bringing us to this unique and off-the-beaten-path spot. 

The operating theatre was part of a women's hospital for the poor, and was probably built in 1822. It's in the garret of a church and was totally forgotten about until a few years ago when someone writing a history of medicine Ph.D. thesis guessed that it might be hidden behind a wall, after seeing a lot of references to surgeons' comings and goings there. It was found, pretty much intact, and is now a little museum.

It was very cool to see because I actually learned a lot about this period of medicine - the 19th century - because of the History of Pain book that I translated last summer. No anesthesia and no antiseptics would not be a great time to have surgery! We got a great interactive talk from the very knowledgeable guide. Roommate Katie volunteered to be the imaginary patient - but the tools are real! The guide is explaining one of the most common operations, an amputation following a horse and carriage accident, where Katie's leg got run over by a carriage wheel. No anesthesia, so there would've been about 5 people holding her down while her bone got sawed through. Katie's faces in some of these are priceless.

Outside the theatre itself there is a very cool collection of medicinal herbs (the garret was also used to dry herbs to make medicine) and surgical tools. 

And finally . . .

. . . the food. Devon cream tea (scones with clotted cream and jam) and Cornish pasties. We ate salad the rest of the weekend, I promise!

Last Devon pictures

Exeter quays and historic center, complete with some crazy swans who apparently aren't afraid of people:

More Devon

Rose and I visited a beautiful National Trust Property, Greenway, also known as Agatha Christie's house. It was a great way to spend the few hours of nice weather we had that weekend! Some nice silly pictures of me courtesy of Rose.