Thomas the Tank Engine

The nice thing of living in Madrid is that every weekend we can be tourist within our own city. An even better thing about Madrid is that all museums have certain days in the week when entrance is free. On Saturdays – for example – the Railway museum and the archeological museum son gratuitos.

Railway museum was great fun and I could relive my days as Thomas the Tank Engine (although Carmen and I were controversially considered 'too old' to have a ride on the mini-train..the only real disappointment of the day). After this we walked the long way north (passing Atocha, Paseo del Prado and Cibelles..see photos below from our walk) up to the national library on Plaza Colon (Square of Columbus). The national library also houses the archeological museum – a true treasure of national history.

Although we stayed in the museum for the better part of two hours I will have to return to finish my visit. The museum houses a great collection of Roman, Egyptian, Moorish, Greek and Byzantine art. All of which have had a great influence on Spanish culture.

At night we rented the movie Capote about the American writer Truman Capote whilst he was writing his final book In Cold Blood on the Kansas Clutter murders in 1959. Impressive movie. After this Carmen and I met with Eduardo and we went for a few drinks in La Latina, the nice going out area close to our house. It is similar to ‘De Pijp’ in Amsterdam. Edu was in great spirits (as was I) as Atletí won their match against Osasuna. A violent match which saw a missed Torres penalty and 4 (!!) Osasuna red cards! We are currently 5th in La Liga trailing the leader Barcelona by only three points.

The Temple of Debod

On Friday I decided that it was time for a stroll through the city so I took the metro to Plaza España. The sun was out and a feeling of guilt was bothering me. It’s January and I am just waring a vest. Maybe I should switch off my computer more often or regulate the amountof times I open the fridge. During my stroll I was interested in visiting the Temple of Debod which is nearby Plaza España. I didn’t know too much of this Egyptian temple before I negotiated my way through busy Friday afternoon Madrid traffic. Set in a quiet park close to the city centre the Temple of Debod looks out over the surrounding plains of Madrid and offers fine views of the Royal Palace. But it is the contrast of Old and New what is most striking as you can see below.

Upon entering the ancient structure I passed the following sign, it read:

The temple of Debod is an original Egyptian structure dating from 2,200 years ago, which was dedicated to the cult of the gods Amun and Isis. It was donated to Spain by the Egyptian government in 1968, as a token of Egyptian gratitude for the assistance Spain provided in rescuing the temples of Abu Simbel, in Nubia.

It was the last sentence of this sign which caught my attention. 1968. Gratitude. Assistance. Rescuing. The Temples of Abu Simbel. This was all sounding rather familiar to me. I knew that the Temples of Abu Simbel had to be moved from their original place to a new site as they were submerged for the better part of six months a year by the unpredictable river Nile. This was all part of the bigger project of the Aswan Dam, the enthusiastic power plan of General Nasser.

Now why was this all sounding recognizable? Well, I have been telling everybody who seemed even half-interested that my engineering grandfather Tom Reeve single-handedly built the Aswan Dam with his right hand whilst fending off the invading Russians with his left. Often I also tell that he was involved with the moving of the Abu Simbel temple halfway up the Nile. Therefore I was curious what the small museum inside the temple in the centre of Madrid would offer.

As I was walking through the catacombs of the 2,200 old structure I was more interested in the exposition in the upper chambers of the sun shrine. The exposition was about the moving of the Abu Simbel temples. Maybe I would learn more about the project and of course I was convinced that my grandfather would get a mention. My head was spinning and I realized that I hardly knew anything about this part of my grandfather’s interesting life. What was he doing in Egypt? Did he – if anything – take part in the moving of the temples or in the design of the Asuan Dam? Was he indeed kicked out by the Russians?

I would like to know how much of this story is true and how much this story has been Reevised[1] (see note at the bottom of this article for more explanation of this term). Therefore I am asking all Reeves with more information to post a comment or send me an email. When I have more information on this subject I can start asking more relevant questions such as ‘why did Spain receive an Egyptian temple as gratitude whilst the Reeve family did not get at least a small Obelisk?’

[1] A story that has been Reevised is a story that takes a small truth and adds a huge amount of historic speculation which it immediately takes as the truth. My father – for example – Reevises many stories. The fact that we are direct descendents of Queen Victoria’s half brother or that our house in High Easter was built on an ancient Viking burial ground, are amongst the more famous Reevised stories.

Rebajas

Along with Los Reyes arrive the sales (Rebajas), a frenzy which really has no counterpart in Western Society. We decided to go to the Segunda Rebajas (The Sales in the rebound, even cheaper, even more bargain-crazed shoppers) and somehow I got myself some nice new jeans. This was necesary as I bought my last pair in last years Rebajas.

But with the sales also came the sun as you can see above, so I wasn’t complaining…and even better, whilst waiting for Carmen in Zara I discovered three new functions on my camera!! Not only can I take photos in front of mirrors, now I can also take photos of underwater wildlife (I am curious to know when this will become useful).

Los Reyes Magos

Magic Kings is Spain’s version of Christmas or Sinterklaas. Instead of one, there are three Saints (the oriental kings Balthazar, Melchior and ….aghh, I always forget the third one, please leave a comment if you remember the third!) who come with presents. For me, it was my third present giving day in just over a month. I like saints who bring presents.

Like all the other festive days, Los Reyes Magos also have their traditions. Just as Sinterklaas you place a shoe near the chimney and you are either left a present or a piece of carbon when you have been a naughty girl or boy (that’s right, carbon! Carbon which has the power to kill!! Not like a roe brought by Sinterklaas) Needless to say, I received the carbon but lived to tell the tale (in my case the Carbon was made of sugar, but I got the warning!!).

Everybody loves the three magic kings and everybody has their favorite. Many choose Balthazar because he is black. I am all for positive discrimination. I choose Melchior because he has a funny name. I can’t comment on the third, because I still can’t remember his name. This year Merlin the cat joined in the fun and became the fourth – and by far the most royal – King!

This year the Kings presented me with a pyjama, (the first pair since childhood!), a pair of slippers for at home, a robe (are you noticing a trend in the presents?), more socks (always handy…or in the case…footy!), and a very useful USB memory stick (used to transfer this text from my computer onto the Blog!! Hooray for memory sticks!)

Here is the whole family celebrating the arrival of Los Reyes Magos:

Feliz Año

Well dear readers, it has been a while hasn’t it?

A new year has come and a lot has happened since Carmen and I tried to negotiate 12 grapes in 12 seconds whilst drinking Cava (with something gold in it!) on New Years Eve. However, this Spanish tradition ensured that we would be lucky throughout 2007 (Carmen managed 5 grapes, whilst my paltry attempt came to an end at 12.10 when I finally ate my final grape, lets hope the God of Luck missed our efforts!) New Years Eve itself was spent with Carmen’s entire family with a fantastic dinner. Just like last year, we went out with friends after the dinner until late. We were ‘eating chocolate con churros’ relatively early this year at 09.00 in the morning…

The following days were spent eating, resting and doing a small tour through the south of Galicia with Carmen’s sister Irene and her boyfriend (mi cuñado) Alberto, who valiantly drove for two days on end without losing any enthusiasm for Galicia or its natural beauties! Here are some of the highlights of this great province of Spain:

The village of ? well known for its inquisition prison and small museum on local tapestry.

Ourense is nice for a cup of coffee. To thank this city for its hot beverages Carmen and I agreed to save their (very pointy!) Christmas tree from falling down..

Alberto and the nice little town of Allariz, known for its monestary (as seen at the back) and home to one of the most prominent politicians of Galicia, whom we of course met in the street...

On the second day of the trip we went into Portugal to visit this fort. Now as an adopted Spanish I don’t like Portugal too much, but I made an exception for this great little tower.

Wine not yet! Wine fields in Portugal, with our tireless driver Alberto!

The bridge Carmen is standing on is Roman! Hooray for the Romans!! With this photo we are back in Galicia.

The Tour of Southern Galicia Crew: me, Carmen, Irene and Alberto. Another day, another castle! This photo was taken by the tour guide (read village nutcase!) whose only word in English was ‘hot’. It remains unsaid that Carmen, Irene and Alberto had a better tour of this castle than me!!