The Arch of Triomphe

This is one of the great city of Paris’ most famous monuments, the Arc de Triomphe. It is located in the center of the Place Charles de Gaulle, and its main purpose is to pay homage to the brave and fierce soldiers that fought for France--both during the reign of Napoleon, as well as during World War I. Aside from detailed carvings that boldly display the various names of the many generals who honorably gave their lives for France, there is also a solemn tomb of sorts for all of the unknown people that battled ardently and died valiantly alongside them.

Inside of the Arc de Triomphe is an area that allows people to ascend to two, inner levels and, finally, to a third, outside level. The first few levels are full of displays that give information about the history of the building of the Arc. The second floor even has a neat, rotating model of the Arc that gives useful and interesting information about all of the detailed sculptures and beautiful carvings on the outside.

The view from the top of the Arc makes the few Euros that it costs to ascend totally worth it. The city literally radiates from the center of the Place of Charles de Gaulle, like the rays from a sun. It is possible to see almost all of the other very famous monuments of Paris from atop the Arc, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Sacre Coeur.

Also, it is possible to hear almost every highly popular language spoken at the Arc. At the very least, I heard Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and German-- all within about a thirty minute period.

The Eiffel Tower

Say hello to yet another one of the most famous monuments in the entire world, much less its home city of Paris, France. The Eiffel Tower, or Tour Eiffel in French, was designed by Gustave Eiffel. This marvelous creation was built from 1887 until 1889, alongside the Seine River. It has many uses, some of which include, obviously, that of a scenic/observation point and that of a radio tower. It is a monstrous structure, the tallest in France, actually, and stands more than 2,000 feet in height. As of right now, it is the most frequented monument that has an entrance fee in the world.

I did not actually pay to go up to the top of the tower, as it costs 12 Euros, and I was attempting to stick to visiting the monuments that had fees covered by my museum pass. However, while I waited on two of my friends to go up and have a look-see, I saw some interesting things.

First off, all over Paris, but especially anywhere rich tourists are expected to visit are women from a Middle Eastern country, I do not know which, that carry around signs written in English. They walk up to you, in their long skirts, and ask you if you speak English. If you respond with a yes, they immediately show you the sign which tells a story about their being from a foreign country, not having any money, and starving to death. A minimum of five of these women asked me the same question, some of them more than once, and I did not really know what I should do. As I literally only had a 50 Euro bill on me, as those are the types of bills ATMs dispense, and which was they money I had to use for food for my stay there, so I could not have given any of them even one Euro. Finally, I responded with a no when they asked me if I spoke English, so I was then asked in French, German, and Spanish. It got to be really annoying.

The second thing I saw that was really interesting was two cops chase down a man that was “selling” Eiffel Tower key chains. There were about fifteen of these kinds of men, all around 25 years of ago or so, and, every time the cops came around, either on foot, on bike, or in a car, they took off in the opposite direction. I have no idea what they were doing that was wrong, but I looked up as a man rushed full speed past my shoulder just in time to see a nightstick from one of the cops go flying through the air and hit him in the legs. The two cops chasing him did not manage to catch him, as the one had thrown his nightstick to no avail and the other had tripped and fallen over a small fence. To this day, I wonder if the man was a pickpocket or if it was illegal to sell the replicas of the Tower underneath it or what.

The Notre-Dame de Paris

The Notre-Dame de Paris is one of the most impressive monuments I have ever visited. Aside from the amazing gothic architecture that characterizes the cathedral, which consists of such things at pointed arches, large, beautiful, stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses, gargoyles, etc. Notre-Dame is also renowned for its use as a place of reflection and tranquility. As a matter of fact, there are more than ten distinct artifacts and places within the cathedral that have the purpose of providing visitors with a place to reflect , pray, or light a candle. Examples of the aforementioned objects and areas are the: 1. Christ on the Cross; 2. and 3. Reception Chapels Saint-François-Xavier and Sainte-Geneviève : 4. Prayer books; 5. Virgin with Child; 6. Main altar; 7. Cathedral choir; 8. Apsidal chapel ; 9. Statue of Saint Denis; 10. Virgin with Child, dedicated to Our Lady of the Students; 11. Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Aside from the abundance of such benefits for its visitors, as well as the sheer beauty of the structure itself, I was struck by the mixture of cultural ideas within the area of the cathedral. Perhaps the best example I can give of such a mixture is by acknowledging the existence of a chapel for the Lady of Guadalupe. According to the stories I heard during my time abroad, in Mexico, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to the Saint Juan Diego when he was on the hill called Tepeyac. The Virgin gave Saint Diego orders to build a church in her name; he was denied funding and permission to do so until he could give some sort of proof as to the existence of said virgin. The picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared in his tilma (some part of the clothing) as proof. Since then, the Virgin of Guadalupe has been one of the most important symbols in Mexico. The fact that permission was granted to create something in her honor demonstrates her acceptance in the Catholic world.

Terror of the Deep

One of my favorite, though recently acquired, as I have only had it for about ten short months, certifications is that which I have obtained through an international SCUBA diver certification company--PADI. I have always loved to swim and be around the water, though, especially after having seen the ridiculously terrifying, at least from my perspective, JAWS movies around the time I was in the fourth grade, I was truly fearful of any water that was not located in a crystal clear and shark/alligator free swimming pool.

Through my diving experiences, I have been given the opportunity to truly appreciate all of the things I have read about since I managed to dig into chapter books when I was very young--marine life, the ocean, etc. It was truly an incredible experience to see so many specimens of the different types of wildlife up close and personal, in their own habitat. Not to mention, these particular species appeared to be so much larger and healthier looking than their cousins that are located in various aquariums across the globe. Even their behavior, though admittedly modified after having thousands upon thousands of SCUBA divers swim with them, was different.

When I went to Paris, France, I was excited to see that they had an aquarium. Though I do not agree with all of the practices surrounding the development and operation of aquariums, I do have a deep appreciation for their attempts at informing the public about the importance and difficulty of preserving the beautiful and strange wildlife we are extremely gifted to have on our planet.

Sharks have always been a favorite animal of mine to study, so, when I got to see a few of these graceful and powerful fish up close, though behind a glass wall, I was ecstatic. Sadly, sharks of all kinds are persecuted relentlessly all over the world--either for their fins and meat, or because they have inappropriately been labeled as mindless man-killers.

I simply wanted to say that I appreciate Paris' effort to support the spread of information about the conservation of our resources--and not just the ones that provide fuel to our cars or electricity to our houses.

Arte Mudéjar

Last week, our group took an excursion to see several aged and beautiful castles in our region, Castilla León. In the last culture class before the planned outing, interestingly enough, I was placed in a group that was assigned the task of creating and giving a presentation about an artistic style born here, in Spain, called el Arte Mudéjar.

Our group was informed that the castles we would see had many examples of this particular style. Sure enough, as can be seen in the posted photos, a person on the tour could not help but come into contact with an example of Arte Mudéjar. I would have liked to have posted other photos, but I could not due to the MB limit.

The most basic characteristic of Arte Mudéjar is the utilization of cheap, easily found materials, such as brick, wood, metal, tiles, and plaster, to create monumental and gorgeous structures, like the castles that we saw in Caco, Cuellar, and Pedraz. Intricate designs, like those on the tiles and walls, along with the beautiful, horseshoe-shaped arches, are also used to distinguish this amazing and unique style of arte and architecture.

La Inquisición

The Spanish Inquisition was created in the year 1478, by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was supposed to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in Spain. It was not truly eliminated until the year 1834, during the reign of Isabella II.
The formation of the Spanish Inquisition was provoked in part by the multi-religious conglomeration of Spanish society after the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. After eight centuries of war, the Christians finally succeeded in capturing Spain from the Muslims. Much of the Iberian Peninsula was dominated by Moors following their invasion of the peninsula in 711, until they were defeated. However, the conquest of Spain by the Christians did not result in the full expulsion of Muslims from Spain, but instead gave birth to a multi-religious society made up of Catholics, Jews, and Muslims.
The Spanish Inquisition, over time, evolved into an entity that tried to persecute and censor as many non-Christians as was possible; its members worked to cease the spread of heretical ideas in Spain by creating "Indexes" of banned books and other literature. The Indexes included a vast number of books of many types, though a great deal of attention was paid to the religious works of the other faiths, and, amazingly, to vernacular translations of the Bible.
Aside from having any affiliation with forbidden materials, the people of Spain were accused of having committed other, sometimes very strange, offenses including the practicing of witchcraft, blasphemy, bigamy, homosexuality, and bestiality. Witchcraft was not taken as seriously in Spain as it was in other countries around the world. However, homosexuality was punishable by death.
The Spanish Inquisition is particularly famous, or better said, infamous for its use of torture as a means of extracting a confession from its victims. Various torture methods were employed mainly to “assist” those criminals that were suspected of secretly practicing Judaism and Protestantism--especially in the 16th century; it was applied without any discrimination based on sex or age, so the victims included men, women, children, and the elderly.
The above picture is that of a poor man who has fallen victim to the Spanish Inquisition. This particular engraving was at the base of a lightpole, in the middle of the Plaza Mayor, in Madrid, Spain. It was brought to my attention by Isaac. Also, though much of this information came from what I know after so many years of having had history and culture class, some of the info was researched, so I do not take credit for it.

The posted photograph is one of many I have taken involving Segovia´s famous aqueduct. The metal cage, seeming out of place next to such a timeless and earthen masterpiece such as the picturesque aquaduct, with its sharp, jutting edges and rusty, metalic composition, was rapidly constructed because of a tremendously melancholic and interesting tale. A few years ago, a young man fell in love with a women with whom he believed he was going to spend the rest of his life; he lived happily for a time. However, as many other relationships do, his came to a end. Though he tried feverently to rekindle the relationship, it was not meant to be. Tragically, he climbed to the top of the ancient aqueduct, using the now-unaccessabile stairs, and, with a great leap, took his own life.

As I have an interest in math, though it goes no farther than introductory Calculus, Geometrical shapes have a way of catching my eye. To be quite honest, I am not certain as to what this particular object is, though I believe it may be a planter or a place to extinguish cigaretts. If it is indeed a planter, it is a shame that it currently holds not but mucky water and rotting trash. Most things such as this, however, are constituted of cheap, easily breakable plastic in the United States, and I absolutely love stonework--something you can find just about anywhere you both to look in Segovia.

When I first came across this little sanctuary, I was immediately reminded of the movie "The Secret Garden." The high, stone walls and immensely private nature of this tiny backyard would make a great place for much-needed relaxation and free use of a child´s active immagination. As land is ridiculously expensive, and often difficult to encounter in Europe, stumbling across this tidbit of greenery was a smidget good fortune for which I was thankful. Flashbacks of watching old movies with my sisters and dreams of my own lavish garden were pleasant, though brief, connections between two cultures--the one with which I was currently enraptured, and one in which I lived during a simple time that seems so long ago.

The monumental aqueduct is, without a doubt, the most popular subject of my photography in Spain. It was built by the Romans, many long centuries ago, and has continued to stand as a great testament to the ingenuity and determination of what was once the greatest empire of all of history. Interestingly enough, there is a legend in Segovia pertaining to how the aqueduct was constucted. A young girl served as a servent to the wealthiest family in Segovia; she lived a hard life of perpetual tasks and never-ending laundry under the stern and often cruel hand of her lady. The place to which she had to go in order to fetch water for her chores was located a great distance away--clear across the city. Everday she had to trudge the wearying distance, carrying heavy buckets of water to the house of her lady.

When the young girl reached the proper age to be married, she was graciously gifted with the finding of her true love. The night before her marriage and right to a new life, her lady told her that they were having a surprise party and all of the laundry had to be washed--including that of all of the invited guests. As the young girl would miss the opportunity to marry her beloved if she ha to make all of the trips to carry the large amount of water she would need to perform her task, she cursed at the lady, yelling that she would give her soul to the devil if there was water in the house for her at the very first moment of morning.

The Devil, not wanting to pass up such an easy opportunity to gain a soul, sent his minions to create the aqueduct, having to have it completed before light´s first ray. Later that night, the young girl wept at the possible loss of her soul and begged the gods for forgiveness. Aphrodite took pity on the poor girl, and hid the very last stone from the minions. Thus, the aqueduct was completed enough for the girl to get the water for her chores in a timely manner--allowing her to be happily married, with her soul in one piece.