In the spirit of lazy Sunday, here’s lazy Monday: The (former) Mosque at Cordoba, Spain. It is elegant in its simplicity, and quiet even in crowds. Go there, and see it.
By the way, there’s an elegant Baroque Chapel* that was inserted into the center of the Mosque. At any other spot, it would have been a destination in and of itself. Placed where it is, my opinion of the Chapel is the same as that of the King of Spain’s statement to the architect: You have ruined it.**
*My apologies if the term “chapel” is incorrect; I believe that the Mosque is now designated a Cathedral in Roman Catholicism, but “Cathedral” is too fine a word for this accidental monstrosity. And, anyways, humble Presbyterian, here.
**Paraphrase.
And, here’s Amy and me on the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine. Wearin’ really silly sunglasses, and with a bit of a smirk from me. Honestly, I’m not that full of myself.
O.K., yeah, I’m pretty full of myself. (Perhaps too full: Damn, I’m gettin’ pudgy.)
von, I remember this place as being dark – is the picture enhanced?
And, here’s Amy and me on the streets of Bar Harbor, Maine. Wearin’ really silly sunglasses, and with a bit of a smirk from me.
God, maybe I’ve been in the Bay Area too long, but those sunglasses don’t look in the least silly to me.
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What’s all this about your being “pudgy”? If you are, I don’t see any trace of it in that photo. Must be some kind self-deprecatory modesty or something …
As for the Alhambra, I can’t help but see a certain parallel between its fate and that of the Hagia Sophia in The City Formerly Known as Constantinople.
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If I remember correctly, it’s at this Mosque/Cathedral where I came across a genuine tourist trap. There’s a bell tower so you trudge up the stairs, it’s about a hundred feet vertical, and as you near the top you discover a little card shop and a monk, sitting beside the last flight of stairs, and charging like 50 cents for access to the top. Now, I’ve already invested my wind and my effort so I’m obliged the 50 cents to make good the view. I wouldn’t have paid the money if they had charged on the ground. To this day I’m pissed off and amused.
von, I remember this place as being dark – is the picture enhanced?
I’m not the source of the picture, so I couldn’t tell you. But, yes, it’s probable.
As for pudginess, let’s say that the shirt may hide a bit of the girth.
If Von is starting to complain about his girth I must conclude that: 1) he’s thirty and 2) he and Amy dine out often. I remember that pants I wore the day before my thirtieth birthday didn’t fit the day after. It was eeiry. At that same time I was in full campaigne to make my lover my wife. Lot’s of Chinese and Mexican food. The results were shocking. Fortunately, persistance paid off, I married, and I’m not letting her go because though I’m (a bit more than) pudgy, I am not silly. So Von, if you haven’t yet, marry Amy. Before you get fat. She looks like a keeper.
If Von is starting to complain about his girth I must conclude that: 1) he’s thirty and 2) he and Amy dine out often.
Umm, guilty on both counts.
So Von, if you haven’t yet, marry Amy. Before you get fat. She looks like a keeper.
Married in ’00. Did one thing right.
I’ll second Fabius on Amy’s “keeper” status…
I can’t help but see a certain parallel between its fate and that of the Hagia Sophia in The City Formerly Known as Constantinople.
You mean that it will remain one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and be subject to the normal ups and downs of restoration all the world’s great buildings are subject to depending on the local economy, or do you mean something much more religious than that?
Talk not of pudge – I have undergone one of the most disturbing 5 year transformations one can imagine – and I owe it all to my career 😉
It is truly lovely and I don’t think that the picture is enhanced, but they probably lit the place well. My pictures of it are all very dim.
Hagia Sophia has lived through many changes.
Von: you and Amy might get work as models for clothing catalogs. Yipes. I am but a mere Gimli-like troll.
I remain, however, fond of the mention of Bar Harbor (“Bah Hawbaw”) in Diamonds Are Forever as well as my infant-time vacations in Maine, and stay in a more recent year. Maine: Good For More Than Lobster.
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“You mean that it will remain one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and be subject to the normal ups and downs of restoration all the world’s great buildings are subject to depending on the local economy, or do you mean something much more religious than that?”
Yes and no. What I was getting at was that, whatever the various religions may claim to the contrary, all things must pass – “sic transit gloria” and all that.
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