Alcázares Reales de Sevilla

The Royal Palace of Seville was originally a Moorish fort and palace built by the Almohades dynasty which ruled in southern Spain from 1121-1269 C.E. It is a collection of Palace Buildings, with intricate patios with fountains, and an extensive garden, all of which is surrounded by a thick stone-wall. It is an amazing example of mudéjar art, which is a combination of Islamic style architecture and design with gothic and romantic motifs. It is incredibly intricate and geometric, as well as colorful. The gardens are absolutely amazing. Having recently been in freezing Russia, they are perfect. Acres of trees and flowers, along with ponds and fountains. It was built to be a paradise for the rulers of southern Spain, and it truly is, even today. Some sections of the palace are still used as the official residence of the Spanish Royal Family when they visit Seville. I spent several hours, and could have spent several more, wondering the gardens and patios. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited, and I seem at a loss for words fit to describe its idyllic tranquility.

The Outer-Wall

Palace Interior

Gardens, Patios, and Fountains

And finally, a poem by Luis Cernuda, written in the 1940’s from exile, about the city of his birth.

“It was a sky of blue, clean and pure, glorious in light and warmth. Among the tops of the palm tree, above the terraced roofs and white corridors that crowned the garden, a grey and ocher tower stood slenderly like the chalice of a flower.”

Ocnus, Ancient Garden

To Luis Cernuda, on the 100^th year of his birth, Seville, 2002.

This very poor translation is my own, and hopefully the English conveys some of the surreal beauty of these gardens.

La Catedral de Sevilla

The Cathedral of Seville, or La Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, is the third largest church in the world, after St. Peters Basilica in Italy, and Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida in Italy. It was completed in the 1500’s on the sight of a former Moorish mosque. Several parts of the mosque were used in the structure of the new cathedral, including a minaret tower, which was converted into a bell tower, known as La Giralda. It is the highest point in central Seville, and offers a wonderful view of the architecture of the Cathedral as well as the layout of the city of Sevile.

A View of the Facade of the Cathedral

The Interior

A side chapel

The Main Altar

A View of Seville from La Giralda

The Layout of the Cathedral

From Patio de las Naranjas

La Giralda at night

Winter in Denmark

Winter has finally arrived in Denmark. The last few months we have had very mild weather, mostly in the low 50’s with a little rain. But starting on the 1^st of December, we dropped down to the upper 30’s during the day, and below freezing during the night. We even had a few flakes of snow last Wednesday. I have now taken out my winter coat, which has been out of use since I was in Russia, and have even started looking for a warmer hat.

Our First Frost

The first day of December also marks the start of another season here in Denmark, the start of Christmas Season. Christmas is the most important public holiday in Denmark, and is the time when many people’s favorite traditions are played out. Nevertheless, as most Danes are not religious, it is not really a Christian holiday. In fact, the name of this holiday doesn’t mention Christ at all; the Danish word Jul (Yule) comes from a pre-Christian Pagan holiday celebrated around the time of the Winter Solstice (21^st of December) by all Germanic peoples of Europe, including the Scandinavians, Germans, and Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, this old holiday was blended with Christmas, and the traditions mixed together to create a modern Danish Christmas.

In the home, Danes have some very special decorations for the Christmas season. We have an Adventskrans, or Advent-Wreath, made of pine-boughs we collected from the forest, with four candles. One of these candles is lit every Sunday leading up to Christmas. We also have an advent candle, with numbers counting down the days of December, which we burn every morning. As December is the darkest month of the year in Denmark (the sun will set at 3:40pm this afternoon), it makes sense that the traditional decorations involve candles.

Our Advent Wreath

The city also comes to life during this time. There are lights and garland on many of the streets, and the stores have all decorated their windows for the season. This year, we have some extra decorations in honor of the COP15 Environmental conference that will be held here in a few weeks. All of the Christmas lights in the city are LED, which use less energy that normal lights. Additionally, the large Christmas tree in the Town Square is powered partially by bicycle-generated electricity.

Copenhagen's Christmas Tree

Bicycle Power Generators

Lego Santa

The shop windows are decorated

Christmas Trees on sale on Kultorvet

Christmas Garland

Christmas Lights

Preparations for the Climate Conference

Welcome to Hopenhagen

I am not sure what this is for yet, but it is huge...

I will soon be posting more about both the conference and the Christmas season as time progresses, as well as all of the posts from my trip to Spain, which I have neglected to upload so far. I hope you enjoy!

A Danish Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving here in Denmark was a huge success. Thanks to the help of my host-mother, and one of my host sisters, we managed to pull off a very American Thanksgiving for 13 people. We started the night before, my host-sister making the pumpkin pie, and me the corn bread. Then, this morning, I started peeling 13 pounds of potatoes, all by myself. After that, my host mother and I made stuffing, cranberry sauce, baked pumpkin, and a waldorf salad. Around noon, the 12-Pound Turkey arrived with my host sister (we had a special connection to get the turkey, as they are hard to find here in Denmark). We put it in the oven for three and a half hours with the stuffing, and started making the candied sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. We also made fresh whipped cream for the pumpkin pie. It was nice making everything from scratch, and now I know I am prepared should I ever have to make a Thanksgiving meal of my own.

All in all, it went very well. We set a formal, albeit Christmas-y table, and enjoyed the good food and great company. It was almost like being at home, just without the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Tomorrow will be black Friday in America, but here in Denmark, everything will be back to usual.

Getting the Turkey Ready

Into the oven

Baked Pumpkin, Mashed Potatoes, and Gravy

Pumpkin Pie

A Set Table

The Finished Turkey

And of course, no Thanksgiving would be complete without left-overs.

Red Square and The Kremlin

We spent our last full day in Russia on a tour of the Red Square and the Kremlin. Red Square (in Russian, Красная площадь) means both Red Square and Beautiful Square. The color red has long been associated with beauty in Russian culture, and the naming of the square has nothing to do with communism. Nevertheless, it still houses the mausoleum where Lenin’s preserved body is on display. We visited the square on the 6^th of November, which is they day before the day when the USSR celebrated the Revolution. Today, modern Russians celebrate WWII on this day. Nevertheless, we happed to be so luck to see a delegation of the Russian Communist Party (the largest opposition party) hold a ceremony on red square, where they honored the revolution by delivering flowers to Lenin. Apparently, it is quite a rare sight in modern Russia, so we were delighted to be able to experience it.

The Entrance to Red Square

The Communists

Lenin's Mausoleum

The Communist Party is almost entirely made up of old people

A Statue of Marshal of the Soviet Union, Georgy Zhukov, in Revolution Square, right outside Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral

Later that day, we had a guided tour of the Kremlin, which is the citadel of Moscow, where the Tsar, the Soviet Union, and the modern Russia Federation all conducted their government business. It is also the location of many of the most important churches in Moscow, because there was virtually no separation of church and state in Tsarist Russia. Indeed it was an important symbolic decision to house the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in the same location as the Tsar. It certainly made for the perfect ending for a very interesting trip to Russia. I am so glad I got the chance to go, and see some truly amazing things. Below are some photos of Red Square and the Kremlin.