Back to Bristol

We arrived back from Spain at midnight to a temperature of -1, a frozen car and snow scattered along the roadside. At that time of night it wasn't much fun circling the block to find a car park and we remembered with fondness our double garage with remote control. The birthday girl lay in bed the next day as Harry donned himself in lycra shorts and warm jersey to cycle to work - he regretted not taking the car as he got 3 punctures on the way home - it was dark and wet - so I did feel a tad sorry for him.  That night we opened our Christmas and birthday presents - spoilt again - it is so nice to be remembered by everyone! We watched one of our presents 'A Second Hand Wedding' filmed on the Kapiti Coast - rather relevant to a Kapiti Girl even if she doesn't much like garage sales - it reinforced once again how different the Kiwi and the English life styles are. Another night we went to the Panto - Dick Whittington and then Haz came down with a bug which laid him low for a few days.  I enjoyed the sunshine while he recuperated in front of tv and once the coughs became less frequent we ventured out to see 'The Tourist' and relived our time in Venice. We've also spent a bit of time this week reading up about the horrific floods in Brazil and Australia. It is hard to imagine the devastation and sadness experienced by the residents - the photos do not seem real. Another week past quietly at work and then on Saturday we visited the Haynes Motor Museum - a couple of hours were spent looking at engines (Harry) and at the advertising exhibition and the history about women in this male dominated industry (Denise).  So, its my bit first and then Harry can add his bit about pistons, brakes and carburetors.  In 1872 Bertha married the inventor Carl Benz. She must have had a bit of money cos she invested in his creative past times ie building the first car.  Carl lacked confidence it seems and to prove that his invention was worth something she took her two teenage sons for a drive from  their home in Mannheim to her Mum's place in Pforzheim.  The first he knew about the 100 kilometre drive was when he received a telegram to say they had arrived safely (hopefully he might have missed them a bit earlier).  Back in 1888 this was very very long drive - how times have changed.  The car broke down a few times and there were a number of searches for pharmacies which apparently was the only retail outlet for fuel. Brake linings needed replacement and Bertha cleaned a fuel pipe with one of her hairpins and insulated a wire with her garter.  Hows that for female ingenuity - imagine her arriving at her mothers - hair all askew, one stocking, but as pleased as punch as she proved to Carl that his invention had potential.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz

There was also an exhibition of 'advertising the motor car' and one of my questions posed to Harry on the way down was 'When did the car start to need the woman sitting on the bonnet to sell it?' We guessed at the 1950's and 60's but were about 10 years too early. I was fascinated with the life of advertising - not surprisingly it has changed from the factual and the practical to the exotic over time. Before 1915 it was all about the 'nuts and bolts' of the car, reliability, low running costs and horse power. A few years later it was all about two car families, reliability, status and safety eg 'Is your wife marooned during the day?' 'Why leave the car parked all day at the office when she is stuck at home with the kids?' Come on hubby - get a second car.

In the 1920's - the car offered the driver and passengers, freedom, adventure and fun - speeding through the countryside without a care in the world. 1930's and 1940's - it was the long, sleek car - sophistication and status.  And although not draped across the bonnet the woman began to appear as an added feature.

1950's and 1960's - it was all about 'the bigger the better' - no longer a means of transport but a fashion extra (huh - the word 'sexy' was added to the motorcar). And petrol advertising became big.

1960's and 1970's - oil prices went up and so did traffic volumes and environmental issues became the focus of a few.  "The female form has been used by advertisers to sell cars almost from the beginning, but in the 1960's and 1970's woman were reduced almost to automotive garnish with very clear connotations."

Then there was an article about how things had changed and "thankfully political correctness no longer allows such sexist images and woman are now portrayed as confident, sophisticated, successful and independent drivers in their own right".  I took a couple of photos of my favourite cars - one a real cutie - the height of sophistication and one which would make me feel 'really important' if I ever get to ride in one.

From Haz...My selection of photos is of a Jaguar that pre-dated the the 'E' type and only 16 were built before a fire at the factory put and end to production. The Stanley steamer which is still close to state of the art technology, a Bugatti with a Caramello mascot and a 1958 Ford Fairlane Skyliner that was the real original for all those retractable hard top cars out there that are popular today.

On the way back we stopped at Glastonbury at the outlet shops with the plan to buy a couple of things and then to go to a wassail. But it was my turn not to feel great and so we missed this great celebration and barn dance. Having only read about wassailing in the last week I was keen to know more... There are apparently two types the House-Visiting wassail and the Orchard-Visiting wassail. House-Visiting wassails are a bit like carolers coming to the door at Christmas time except they do not sing christmas carols but wassails "Here we come a-wassailing, among the leaves so green".  But I wanted to go to an Orchard-Visiting wassail - where people sing to trees in apple orchards in cider-producing regions of England to promote a good harvest for the coming year.
"Apple tree, apple tree, 

we all come to wassail thee,

Bear this year and next year to bloom and to blow, 

Hat fulls, cap fulls, three cornered sack fills, 

Hip, Hip, Hip, hurrah, Holler biys, holler hurrah."

Traditionally, the wassail is celebrated on the Twelfth Night after Christmas although some celebrate it on January 17 as that would have been the correct date if we weren't using the Gregorian Calendar in 1752.  Wassailing comes from the middle ages and symbolises the  exchange between the feudal lords and their peasants - it is charitable giving rather than begging as shown in the words of the song "Here We Come A-Wassailing"...
We are not daily beggars
That beg from door to door,
But we are neighbours' children
Whom you have seen before.
The lord of the manor would give food and drink to the peasants in exchange for their blessing and goodwill, i.e..
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too,
And God bless you and send you a happy New Year.
And God send you a happy New Year.
All interesting stuff ... and last but not least there are the puzzle wassail bowls and fuddling cups. Lots of history behind these bowls and cups all joined together... drink from one spout get wet from another. The challenge was to drink each cup in the right order and it won't spill!! 

Seville and Granada

We have been told by a number of people that Seville is one, if not the most prettiest cities in the world, and so being only 200 kms away we thought 'Why not?' and if it was worth spending some more time then perhaps we could spend a night in a cheap ‘hostal’ if there was such a thing in Seville at Christmas time. So, armed with a picnic breakfast and lunch and a plastic bag of ‘nightly essentials’ we took off on what was one of the sunniest and warmest days we have had.  We stopped before getting into the Cuidad Centro (is our Spanish getting good or what!!) as we were driving past some fairly interesting stuff which was built for the 1929 American Expo (wrong year for an American expo!!).  Here we found the museum in the Parque de Maria Luisa which was rather a spacious park where locals came to exercise, play and  feed the white pigeons with seed bought from a little kiosk. There are lots of gardens and fountains, pavilions in different styles and buildings that are now embassies, museums and a police station.  The biggest was Plaza de Espana which is a huge semicircular building which is meant to symbolise Spain welcoming the tourist with open arms.

Walking into the central city we passed the Hotel Alfonso XIII.  The guidebook said it was the city’s grandest hotel ‘worth a look inside – no one minds as long as you aren’t dressed too outrageously’.  So, we walked up with our plastic bag containing our toothbrush and other bare essentials and the doorman raced down to take our luggage and welcome us to the hotel - only kidding - he apologised for being in the photo as he ran down the stairs.  Not far from the Alfonso we did find a reasonably priced ‘hostal’ in a little cobbled street. Across the block from our ‘room for a night’ was the Old Tobacco Factory which inspired Merimee to write the opera Carmen – to us it didn’t look much – but then we haven’t seen it with cigar makers walking through the doors morning and night Carmen and her friends standing outside hoping for a tobacco scrap to make a cigarette (women weren’t allowed to work for money- but they did manage to get known as ‘fast woman’ - unfairly they say).

The Cathedral was also not far away, and we stood in one queue waiting to enter.  After a while I wandered to the front just to check and found it was actually a queue to see an exquisite 'Belen' (nativity scene).  Then around the corner there was another queue - this time to the cathedral?  No another Belen.  Third time we entered the doors of the largest cathedral in the world - built on an old mosque – with the tower of the mosque (the Giralda) still in place.  It is in this building that the tomb of Christopher Columbus (Christo Colon) stands and where the trip up to the top of the tower is by slope rather than stairs.  The story has it that the slope was for the donkeys  – not sure why – but it might be so that they could carry bricks during construction – there is nothing to interest a donkey at the top except some bells which chime regularly and a nice view of the town.  The Cathedral was big, and it did house some treasures and some very large engravings of Mary and Jesus -  another testament to the richness and power of the church.

But it was across the road that Harry and Denise were truly amazed and found something to put on the Top 10+ list.  Across a cobbled stone path is the Alcazar – a fortified palace occupied by rulers since the Roman times. Money from olives, dyes and sugar helped to make this a place where we could wander for hours just like the Spanish royalty used to do (but we missed out on the food, massages and hot pools).  Like most of the large buildings around here it started off as a Moorish fort and is an example of mudejar architecture (12th to 16th century). The pictures say it all.

So, the  Alcazar joins a very distinguished list ... The Kiwis 'Must See and Do Things'

1. Mt Kau Kau, Wellington
2. Cathedral, Milan
3. Giant Causeway, Northern Ireland
4. Newgrange, Ireland
5. Quantock Head, England
6. Food, Poland
7. Tower, Glasgow
8. Cemetery, Milan
9. Cycling in the Snow, Amsterdam
10. Walking the Cliffs of Dover, England
11. The Pavilion in Brighton, England
12. Waffles, Brussels
13. Hawkstone Park, England
14. Scara Brae, Orkney Islands
15. The Bridge Teashop, Bradford on Avon
16. The Alcazar, Seville

Seville is home of the Tapas – and we did try to find a few bars where there was space for us to sit and eat.  But the locals seem to stand at the bar, eating and drinking, and there doesn’t seem to be a way for others to push through to purchase and then sit.  So, we gave up and had some nice meals at restaurants where many serve half portions – sort of double tapa size.  We also wandered to the hospital de la Caridad – which shouldn’t have been hard to find but was. This was where in 1674 Don Miguel de Manara set up a hospital to look after the dying and the destitute. Today we think it is a home for elderly gentleman as there were a lot sitting in the square chatting and smoking.  Anyway Don was the inspiration apparently for Byron’s Don Juan.  Having difficulty recalling the story we later read up about it ... Don was coming home from a wild orgy and he had a vision that he meet a funeral procession carrying his corpse.  This was a memorable moment for him as he repented (no more orgies for Don) and joined the Brotherhood of Charity whose job it was to bury the bodies of vagrants and criminals.  He later set up the hospital.  Funny, when I was reading the story I was reminded of Robbie Burns perhaps it was just the riding home on a dark wet night...Inside the chapel were some paintings by Murillo which were worth looking at – the larger than life paintings depicted the story of Jesus.

Seville is also tile country and many buildings have wonderfully coloured doorways, window sills and street names painted on tiles.  Triana across the river is the place to go and so we spent a few hours wandering around this ‘up market’ area looking through doors into entrance halls, ceramic shops (I didn’t see anything I really liked – pity as I was willing to buy), little chapels and restaurants.

Another day we drove to Granada - and we expected some similarities to Seville eg Cathedral, Alcazar, tiles and tapas.  We eventually found our way into the centre (having taken a few wrong turnings due to road signs not reflecting the number of closed streets due to a new tramway system being installed). We walked up the hill to the Alhambra (Alcazar, fort, church, garden all in one).  This is a pretty popular place, the number of visitors are limited to 8,100 a day!! We waited an hour for a ticket and then an extra 1.5 hours to get into the garden and palace (glad it wasn't peak tourist time). Perhaps we were tired, spoilt by seeing Seville, or both, but the place didn't have that WOW factor for us although it was a very good example of Moorish architecture.  My treat was to see an exhibition of Matisse paintings (friend and foe of Picasso) which we spied as we were waiting for our entry time into the Alhambra (good things come to whose who wait patiently!!).  On the way back to the car we stopped for dinner at a Turkish restaurant where people were sitting on low stools, in dimly lit rooms, smoking a hookah - one of those single stemmed tall pipes which people share.  I wondered if they were actually smoking tobacco as some of them looked very dreamy and relaxed but perhaps it was just the atmosphere and good food.