on the way in

today I noticed that on the almost last stretch of my commute to school I have this sweet mountain view.  I was quite tired and cold this morning so it was nice timing.  Also notice the bus barely resisting the urge to drive down the middle of the road.

rain rain rain

 So today was pretty miserable. Nasty, rainy, cold.  When I left this morning it was just blustery (blustery is a word other people use right? I mean, I said it in class and got ridiculed – kids these days) Then it just got cold and nasty. Umbrellas. Umbrella vendors. Then I talked to Shelby and we went to the Krishna’s (the Hare Krishna’s) for lunch.  No, I did not do any chanting, but I ate a ton of delicious, including a baked apple that tasted pretty much exactly like fall.  Imagine how nice it was to go in from the cold nasty and take off your shoes and sit on a little orange cushion on the floor and eat a vegetarian feast.    

Then I went wandering since I had the afternoon off.  I decided that I might as well start checking out all the sights that I ride past in my commute to school.  First on the list was the Catedral de Nuestra Senora de La Almudena 

(for no particular reason besides proximity when I thought of this).  This is the cathedral right next door to the Palacio Nacional.  So the story on the Cathedral, as far as I can tell, is that it was started in the late 1800s and worked on for a while.  Then, when the Civil War happened, everything stopped for a bit.  It wasn’t until 1953ish that anyone started working on it again and it took until 1993 for it to be finished and dedicated by the pope.  It really took be by surprise however, because form the outside it looks quite average – predictable style, made to match the national palace next door, you know.  So I expected that it would be the norm inside as well.  But, instead it’s quite modern in style.  The

 stained glass has several different (mostly ugly) styles.  Here a few pictures, this Jesus is so kind of Russian avante-garde, which actually seems like an interesting style choice for a church.  Then the rest of it looks like Austin Powers somehow exploded all over some Islamic latticework.  The paintings around the altar are nice, but there are a lot of clashing styles going on.  I did like this 

window, mostly because of the way her hands are in the next section over.

Outside I found this:I mean, it’s clear they think they are show the world how cool and hip and fun and wacky they are, but c’mon, adults on small scooters with four wheels each is just confusing.  But, the view was nice. Plus you can see my sweet ride in there at the bottom!