Flamenco!

Hello All, Im still in Madrid.

Last night I saw a flamenco show at a local place called Las Tablas and man it was AMAZING!

The skill and just pure ability that these performers have is pretty cool. I got some sub-par pictures, but on a plus did get to speak to the main dancer for a bit. Shes a pretty cool lady. For those of you that don't know, Flamenco is a Dance and song show where the singers clap and stomp there feet to provide procussion, there are guitar players and the dancing is all about movement as well as providing a rhythm, much like tap dance. The show is surreal.

Unlike other dance, the dancers are not all about pretty movement (although some of the movements require great grace, some are quite choppy and are nessacary to get the right foot rhythm). If your ever in Spain or anywhere where professional Flamenco is preformed, I highly recomend seeing it, it's lovely.

Shows can be expensive however, LT was a steal at 30 or so Euros for a 2 hour show. The atmosphere is enticeing and overall the experience is great (compare it to a jazz bar setting with lively entertainment).

After the show ended I went to my favorite local bar (ok ok the only local bar I've been to) and saw a live band called "Poker Band" and they were decent. The band was talented and the singer is a master of sounding like other people, but the music was all cover stuff. I did get a pretty nifty picture of me and the singer, and met a rowdy, drunk, Swiss rugby player -- that part was less fun though.

O well I'm all set up for a good nights sleep and then a robo tourist day tommorrow topped off with a good local Jazz Club. Its definatly a good thing!

On other notes, my friend is going to be in Barcelona tommorrow so Im going to go meet him and have a fun few days.

Well kids I'm dying of thirst so its off to get some Auga (vassa, water -- call it what you will; its crucial) and maybe an orange if i can track one down!

O PS - I decided I want to climb Everest, and then I realized how hard and expensive it is. BUT, I still want to, it just may have to be later. Don't worry ma/grandma, I will give you plenty of opportunities to talk me out of it.

-Tyler

Cool Pictures

Im Editing my Pictures (I know I know, why arent I updating my blog instead) and ran across some really cool ones.

view the whole set at www.flickr.com/people/tylerwillis

This is the Islamic Court in The Alhambra. The Bushes symbolize love and the entire court is symmetrical. When Important Vistors came they would come through the Tower, into this symmetrical court. The bushes would let them know that they were not trying to intimidate the dignitary, but in reality this was a very scary sight and a display of power. The Fortress looked amazingly powerful.








This is the royal Palace of Madrid and is Absolutely Massive. I think it hass over 2000 rooms (I could have heard that wrong, but thats what it sounded like)

This is a picture of Notre Dame. You can see why this massive Gothic Cathedral is so loved.

This is the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Its quite a sight to behold and houses some interesting art. The building is almost more interesting then what it houses. Ok it is.

Well I ran out of time so maybe when I edit my other pics ill post some of the better ones here. Until next time!

Greetings From Lovely Spain

Well all I'm back in Madrid.

So after I posted last in Frankfurt I went to the incredable city of Berlin. I didnt get to see much there as Vince (my friend who I met there) wanted instead to goto Madrid. We took the 36 hour train ride and he ended up leaveing in madrid.

So here I sit in Madrid. I met some Spanish people who are really nice and weve been hanging out. I wanted you all to get a quick update. I will be updating by both Audio and Written posts. I want everyone to know that I have been keeping a written journal and plan on batch updating many posts at a time so that I dont have to keep buying internet time.

Im off to get lunch and site see a little more. The museum of Archaeology awaits (wow did i misspell that). Just wanted you guys to make sure not to worry if I go silent for awhile, it just means a bunch of posts are going to come on one day soon. Also if anyone has a problem with audio posts, please tell me.

Tyler

Testing of a new feature

Try it out!

Transcription---

Hello all this is Tyler Willis, I'm recording to you from Frankfurt. I'm testing out a new feature of Blogger. Its the audioblog feature, which essentially allows me to record posts from any telephone connecting to a central databank in San Francisco. So I'm just testing this out and if it works, some of the posts I do may be over the phone if I have trouble getting to an internet acsses. Gives you a chance to hear my voice and gives me a little bit more acsses to posting quicker. So, let me know if it works out and if its easy to hear, and if everything goes well. Perhaps this could become part of the blog in the future, Thank you very much.

I don't need alot of Encouragement

heres the comment from my dad
----------------
I think uploading any essays or links to other stuff you are seeing or thinking would be great. Travel is about self-discovery, and posting thoughts, analysis, links, facts, etc., would be great (to me at least).

I kind of want to share some of the book reviews with you and as long as i have one consenter I figgured I'd test out sharing my reviews. Here is my review on Kite Runner, I'm not an incredably good reviewer but I really liked the book. I think tommorrow I'll add a little bit more about the personal impact on me, but heres the review. Beware if your going to read it...

Book Review: The Kite Runner

I recently just finished reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was suggested reading for Steve Chen's Cal Poly Orientation Class, I stole it from him and plan to post it back soon. It is the debut novel of this Afghani Author despite being extremely insightful and artfully written, I enjoyed it much and read it in less then 3 days. Onto the Book...

Meet Hassan, as the kite runner he is the books namesake and was childhood friends with the narrator and supposed author of this tale, Amir. Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman in Kabul. He has never refered to Hassan as a friend because in truth Hassan is his Servant. Despite a kinship and loyalty for Amir that Hassan openly displays, Amir is haunted by the differing social statures and caves to percieved pressure to not accept Hassan as an equal.

Much of the first section of the Novel is spent following Amir through his childhood where he is haunted by his fathers disdain for him, and favor for Hassan. Hassan is included in Family trips and rewards that Amir feels should only be for him, and acts out this jealousy by playing cruel jokes on Hassan assualting his intelligence and questioning his loyalty.

Throughout the Novel Hassan is a bright and blunt man. He seems to have a connection with Amir bordering on supernatural. He can often read his young friends thoughts and discern his cryptic actions for what they really mean. Hassan proves his loyalty to Amir in an extremely dangerous situation, Amir then repays his friend by shamefully abandoning him in his moment of need.

Hassan doesn't care -- he seems to sense the weak character present in Amir, knows that inaction was the only move that Amir would have the courage to make. Hassan accepts this and forgives Amir, throughout the novel Amir and his very spiritual father Ali represent what is the right and honorable path. This path has its antithesis in Amir, and later in Baba, Amir's beloved father. The Book is a focus on bringing together these two paths and coming to terms with past wrongs.

As Amir Travels back to Afghanistan to set his past right, the author begans to take his stance against the Taliban. Amir's small personal struggle against the Taliban's extremeism becomes a metaphor for the positive and negative repercussions from the war on Terror that had forced this unknown arena deep into American hearts and minds. This is not about war and death but simply about the battle for moderation we all must fight in ourselves. Baba's apperance early in the book as a good man who never refuses a beggar, builds orphanages, and works dilligently while enjoying gambling, drinking, and besmirching his son starts off this search of the right balance, but as Baba deteriorates and truths arise upon his death -- the book becomes a tale seeking the unification of the good in Hassan and the malacious past of Amir. A search to tie the two of them together forever.

I've got some Splaining to do!

Hello Family, Friends, and perhaps random wanderers.

It has been quite a while I have kept you waiting and I hope your still reading! The planned trip took quite a bit of time out of a day and left little to do except respond to emails. I'm hunkered down in Frankfurt on a rainy day and have all the time in the world to blog (well at least until 10pm when the price of this internet cafe jumps exponentially). So I apologize for keeping your waiting, and without further ado I'd like to start back on a bang.

I have loads of great stories, memories, and pictures to share with you from my 15 day long adventure with NETC but I sat down to write my blog and only got maybe 1\5th of the story down. So instead I think I'll be releasing them in segments intermingled with current events and posts. This post there fore begins on August 11th at 6am in a small German town called Rothenburg...



DAY 14 I watched as all the people who I'd become closer to these past two weeks rolled off on a bus headed out of Rothenburg towards Frankfurt. Some pretty heavy travel and then the comforts of home awaited them. As it rounded the corner I went back up to my room to lay in bed and catch a bit more sleep. My mind was racing and excited so instead I finished The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It was a fantastic book, I've written a short review on it in my private journal and may post it here -- I don't know if you guys want to read other topics or strictly trip thoughts (gimme some feedback on this). I switched to a smaller and less expensive room but had to wait a few hours for it to be cleaned. I unloaded my gear and went off to find a Post office to send postcards, a internet cafe to update blog and check email, and a call shop to buy a phone card. I walked back 2 hours later throughly unsuccessful, but instead had found out when the Train to Berlin left the next morning. I slept till about 5 and then reattacked the Internet Problem with a bit more energy and successfully found one. I sent my emails and printed out my Tax forms (yes i am that late on taxes -- gotta love extentions!) just before the owner closed, He was however done for the weekend and i couldnt burn my photos onto a disk, very unfortunate but it's ok. I enjoyed a long conversation with my dad. I went to sleep with my Taxes complete and feeling good about life on the road.

I woke up the next morning and packed all my stuff to head on out to Berlin. I'm meeting a buddy there on the 18th (if vince can ever get his ticket info sorted out :) jk pal) and as I'm thinking about it I realize he will want to see the city to and I dont want to spend 10 days in Berlin -- talk abt a waste of money. So instead i realize all the other options available to me. I debate between Nuremburg, Frankfurt, The Black Forest and finally decide on Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a very modern town kindof hidden from the international view. It has a kind of clean efficiency one would expect from a modern German town, and also happens to be the birthplace of someone I love dearly. So it was kind of a no brainer to head over there. As I read my guidebooks on the train I was pleasantly surprised to find both Mercedes and Porsche house their factories in Stuttgart. I called a local Hostel upon my arrival and got a room for the night at a reasonable price. After dropping off my bags and charging up my various Electronic Gadgets I headed out to get some laundry done, sadly the laundromat was closed by the time I got there because I had spent to much time at a nearby Internet Cafe. I dropped off my clothes and went out in search of food. I was disappointed to find Mensa (the college food eatery not the high IQ association) closed, so I instead had some Turkish dish at a local place. Döner meat with fries and potato salad. I went home and enjoyed a decent nights rest.

My intention was to spend a few days here in Stuttgart and resituate and get everything set up for continuing, however I was sad to find out the hostel was entirely booked. I stowed my stuff did laundry and email, came back backed up and left on the next train out (I think I will be back on my way to Berlin to see the Car Factories). I did find an English Bookstore and picked up The old man and the Sea, The 5 people you meet in heaven, and Deception Point. I finished 5 people you meet and am almost done with Deception Point, again reviews are available if interested (I saw this idea on Ben Casnocha's Blog which my brother updates me on from time to time. Give it a look if you have a minute [http://bigben.blogs.com/first/]). The train ride to Frankfurt was uneventful and only took place because I could not get in contact with the Hostel in Tübingen (a wonderful little town I also have plans to visit on Nat's recomendation). However I have fallen in love with Frankfurt, even in poor weather its beauty is obvious, I think I may stay a few days and get my stuff in order here like I was planning to do in Stuttgart. Anywho I read Deception Point, had a long convo with Natalie and then went to sleep.

Here we are at today, I know this is a long post but Its almost over... bear with me for a few more lines and I'll grant you freedom until next time.

The Trip so far had left me exhausted and I slept in until 2 in the afternoon, I woke up and tooled around Frankfurt for a bit and enjoyed a wonderful ente dish at a Thai Restuarant, Ironically even the Thai workers were using forks and i was the only one eating with chopsticks, Ironic to me at least. I now have found a relativly cheap internet cafe and I'm going to work on getting the NETC tour note part one up tonight... keep your fingers crossed.

OK im going to sign off and go back to get my notes. Hopefully I can get almost done tonight, I have 4 hours roughly until the prices jump... game on!

See you soon

Tyler