(no subject)
I've spent the weekend wandering the city with Paul, seeing what's new. I don't remember the 515 bus, and the huge Apple store on Ste-Catherine was definitely not there when I left. I got new shoes and a sweater.
And we saw The Dark Knight in IMAX, which was amazing. I came in my pants a few times. Well, not really - I wasn't wearing pants, but I always get wet when Christian Bale is onscreen. I loved it. The Joker was brilliant. I suspect some fans might have been annoyed at how they changed Two-Face's story, but it fit well with the movie's plot. I really should read the actual comics (though I did read The Dark Knight Returns a few years ago).
I seriously need to unpack and clean my room.
Alright, Granada photos! The reason it took so long is that I have over 120 pictures, and resizing and uploading all of them, and then copying the code into an entry, was a pain in the ass. I don't think this is all of my photos of the town, but it was either give up on some of them or never get around to posting them at all. There's no description or explanation available for most pictures of the Alhambra grounds - but they speak for themselves; the place was so beautiful.
The view from Madrid to Granada.
The view again.
Who the hell takes a photo of a train station, you say? Well, I needed to because there were so many pictures that made me ask myself, "Where the hell is this?" and this way I know.
Downtown Granada! A monument to Isabelle of Castille and... some guy.
The door to my hostel.
My room!
My hostel was really great. It was in a traditional Andalucian house with a very high wall and a beautiful courtyard.
This is the chill-out area and the interior of it.
It also had hammocks! The little steps on the right lead to a little tent where they had hookah pipes. Fuck yeah.
My hostel was in the Albayzin, which (I quote Wikipedia) "retains the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past. It was declared a world heritage site in 1984." It was fucking awesome... although narrow, winding cobblestone streets? Not fun for roller suitcases.
Here are those narrow winding streets.
Moorish architecture, and the high walls around every house.
So I went for a walk around the Albayzin and there was a building on the horizon that intrigued m...
And yeah. It looked familiar. Very familiar. And I looked at my map and I knew what it had to be, but I absolutely could not wrap my head around the fact that the Alhambra was right there.
So you can imagine the state I was in the next day, when I actually went there.
The Alhambra!
For your viewing pleasure, I have split these photographs into a few categories : the Nasrid Palace (so the fortress proper), the Gardens, Other Buildings, Carvings & Walls and my personal favorite : Kitties!
The Nasrid Palace
The Gardens
Other Buildings
Carvings & Walls
Kitties!
The biggest surprise for me was the large number of stray cats and kittens on the grounds. In the Jannat al-'Arif garden I sat down on a bench and a sleek black cat jumped on my lap immediately. I was very pleased.
Not the Alhambra!
The entrance to the bathhouse where I spent that one awesome afternoon...
In other news, I am mildly horrified because my Beast-cat won't stop killing things. When I got home on Wednesday the first thing I noticed was a dead mouse by the curb. Tonight the Beast and I got home at the same time; he shadowed me for about two blocks, dodging between strangers' lawns, and I could tell he had something small and fluffy in his mouth. He rushed past me and I could hear the thing squeaking; I told him off and ordered him to drop it, but he disappeared in the backyard with it. Ugh.
The view from Madrid to Granada.
The view again.
Who the hell takes a photo of a train station, you say? Well, I needed to because there were so many pictures that made me ask myself, "Where the hell is this?" and this way I know.
Downtown Granada! A monument to Isabelle of Castille and... some guy.
The door to my hostel.
My room!
My hostel was really great. It was in a traditional Andalucian house with a very high wall and a beautiful courtyard.
This is the chill-out area and the interior of it.
It also had hammocks! The little steps on the right lead to a little tent where they had hookah pipes. Fuck yeah.
My hostel was in the Albayzin, which (I quote Wikipedia) "retains the narrow winding streets of its Medieval Moorish past. It was declared a world heritage site in 1984." It was fucking awesome... although narrow, winding cobblestone streets? Not fun for roller suitcases.
Here are those narrow winding streets.
Moorish architecture, and the high walls around every house.
So I went for a walk around the Albayzin and there was a building on the horizon that intrigued m...
And yeah. It looked familiar. Very familiar. And I looked at my map and I knew what it had to be, but I absolutely could not wrap my head around the fact that the Alhambra was right there.
So you can imagine the state I was in the next day, when I actually went there.
The Alhambra!
For your viewing pleasure, I have split these photographs into a few categories : the Nasrid Palace (so the fortress proper), the Gardens, Other Buildings, Carvings & Walls and my personal favorite : Kitties!
The Nasrid Palace
The Gardens
Other Buildings
Carvings & Walls
Kitties!
The biggest surprise for me was the large number of stray cats and kittens on the grounds. In the Jannat al-'Arif garden I sat down on a bench and a sleek black cat jumped on my lap immediately. I was very pleased.
Not the Alhambra!
The entrance to the bathhouse where I spent that one awesome afternoon...
In other news, I am mildly horrified because my Beast-cat won't stop killing things. When I got home on Wednesday the first thing I noticed was a dead mouse by the curb. Tonight the Beast and I got home at the same time; he shadowed me for about two blocks, dodging between strangers' lawns, and I could tell he had something small and fluffy in his mouth. He rushed past me and I could hear the thing squeaking; I told him off and ordered him to drop it, but he disappeared in the backyard with it. Ugh.