Some News about Spain--why yes, beanpot inspired me!

[holdouttrout]

Since I studied there for a few months and fell in a romantic type of love with Seville (Sevilla!) which manifests itself mostly in listening to Sevillanas (folk flamenco) and talking about how I want to live there again, I notice when I see news about Spain.

There are two stories I saw today I thought were interesting, so I'm passing them on.

Spain seizes 'priceless' antiques, from the BBC. A Spanish man and Colombian woman were arrested after police found 700 pieces alledgedly looted from South American archaeological sites. Which...wow. For one thing, it amazes me just how much STUFF there is to find in South America. Of course, they were still finding possible Roman ruins under Seville WHILE I WAS THERE, so I guess it's not too surprising.

One of the things I always wonder is how much junk future generations are going to find from us, and how something that's common to us today is going to be unusual and 'priceless' tomorrow.

Also--where does all our crap go? We throw away so much, and yet...the effects are relatively invisible to the ordinary person.

The second article is a very interesting story about the 21st Duchess of Medina Sidonia, Luisa Isabel Alvarez de Toledo y Maura. Whew. She was nicknamed the "Red Duchess," because of how she championed workers. Very interesting woman. Apparently, she "married in articulo mortis her secretary and companion, Liliana Maria Dahlmann, and left her everything." I highly suggest reading the whole article, which is more about her life than her sexuality and last checkmate to her family.

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UNRELATED TO SPAIN:

I just love to torment my friend with news/reviews/information of any kind on Twilight, mostly because I am amused that she is so obsessed about them. Be warned: the posts I link to might contain spoilers and/or negative reviews about the books.

As for myself, I'm kinda meh about the books. They're quick, melodramatic, vampire-laden, angst-ridden, and set in the Pacific Northwest. :-) I've read the first two, and will eventually read the third.

Comments

[mrspollifax.livejournal.com]

Of course, they were still finding possible Roman ruins under Seville

I haven't been to Spain (and freely admit being jealous), but your phrasing reminded me of Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, where there is an archaeological site literally under the cathedral where they are digging up various previous churches that have been located on the exact same site. Really, really interesting, although not for the claustrophobic. I don't know about other people, but my America-reared brain has difficulty accepting cities being in one place for that long in any way that's not purely intellectual. =)

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Isn't it cool?

One of the most fascinating things about churches to me is how they tend to have been built on, around, or IN other houses of worship. So cool.

(Though things like that create problems when you're trying to build things like subways. No one wants their archaeological site to be smooshed by train tracks, apparently.) Killjoys. ;-)

[mrspollifax.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the thing that really stuck with me about this particular site was that even though the sizes and foundations of the different churches varied, the baptismal font (the pool kind) was always in the same spot. They had the different-era fonts outlined in different colored twine or something. I guess it's just ... human nature, community memory or something, to put stuff in the same spot, but still, it was really neat.