I Like The Way You Burke It

Kate Schneider Burke’s Blog

Sevilla April 21, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 12:17 am
Saturday, we decided to take a day trip to Sevilla. They aparently throw the grandaddy Semana Santa festival. This picture is about three hours from show time and while it doesn’t look like it the streets were really quite croweded. Our bus left before the parade came through the part of town we were in but just seeing the setup was really impressive.
Sevilla is also the home of a seriously honkin large cathedral built about a billion years ago. It actually might be ?the biggest? in Europe. Unfortunately the line to get in was even bigger.
This photo doesn’t even do the scale justice. The cathedral actually takes up about a city block. We saw people in the bell tower which might have come close to making the tour line worth it.
This is a ?back entrance? to the cathedral that we passed on our way to the bus stop. I liked it for the empty pedestals that must have been designed to hold status of future saints. Sevilla is absolutely packed with statues of religious and cultural figures, every single one is of a man. I think Mary and Isabella must be the only women of consequence in Spanish culture.
Awww….
Of course we were so exhusted after riding the bus for four hours and then walking around for 45 minutes that we had to stop for a coffee. By the way, Sevilla has enough Starbucks (not where we went) to make any American feel right at home.
We did not frequent the Starbucks, but headed for a local cafe. Wells orders Cafe Americano and Kate orders Cafe Cortado.
This appeard to be the front door of someones private residence. Way cool.
Walking through the gardens.
Without a set plan we decide to do what all good tourists do and take a bus tour. It was actually great.
A Moorish river watchtour was one of the first sights on the tour. Legend has it that the gold dome was actually gold brick. The Christians kicked the Muslems out of the city around 1250AD, that makes this what I call ?a really old building?.
Plaza de Espana was one of the coolest buildings in town. It was built in the 1920s to host a trade expo that everyone hoped would rekindle trade with the Americas and bring Sevilla and Andalucia back to prominence. Like almost all of the cool/old/historic buildings in town, it now houses government offices.
This is my official entry into the ?Lamest Pose of Our Trip? contest.
We picked a lunch recomendataion out of Lonely Planet and it turned out to be really great. This is Kate’s entry into the ?lamest pose of the trip? contest.
Kate liked the tapas so much she decided to give us her raging bull impression while waiting for la cuenta (the bill).
We think this is a status of San Francisco…not that we really cared to much but the faces in the pedestal were crazy!
After lunch we bumbed around a little bit. Streetside on Avenida de la Constitucion was full of chairs and ?La Campana? a famous bakery was so packed you had to take a number.
Hola.
Keep in mind that all Royal Officials come to Sevilla during this week. It is SO much bigger than any other holiday.
 

Mounday Thursday – Easter Week in Nerja April 20, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 12:15 am
Procession Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy Virgin of Hope – Maundy Thursday’s parade was just as elaborate as Wednesday’s.
We were standing on the main exit from the Balcon this time instead of right by the church. There were drummers and buglers of all ages.
As you can see, lots and lots of pics of Jesus. LOTS!
At first, I was wondering if we were in for a near repeat of Wednesday night’s parade. The basic elements were the same but the ?pasos? honored the updated Maundy Thursday events.
What you can’t really tell from these photos is that it takes about 30 men to carry the platform.
Tonight’s paso portrays Simon the Cyrene helping Jesus cary his cross up to Calvary.
Groups of little boys dressed in light white robes carried wooden crosses. This little girl lead a group of about 30 girls all dressed in purple velvet robes. Other than the bands, each symbolic group of the parade seemed to be segregated by gender.
Madonna (the pop singer) clearly got some wardrobe ideas from these women. They were ushering in The Virgin.
The parade come through in waves. The view between the first and second wave makes it easy to see why it is such slow going.
We ducked out early again, this time for a coffee at Papagayo on Playa Calahonda right below the Balcon.
Look at the moon!
Check out the tan.
 

Happy Easter April 11, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 8:00 am

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Picnic on Burriana with Steve, Ruth, Emily, Harriet, and James April 1, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 5:00 pm

We spent Saturday picnicking on the beach with our friends Ruth, Steve, and their three kids Emily (15), Harriet (13), and James (8). Wells and I play tennis with Ruth and Steve (both in their early 40’s). They are from Whales and moved to Nerja four years ago. They sold their thriving Bed and Breakfast in Whales at the perfect time and relocated to Nerja for the sole reason of having a simple, but quality lifestyle. Steve does not work much and they get to hang out with their kids all of the time. Their outlook on life is compelling and refreshing. All of the kids share one bedroom and absolutely love it. They go to Spanish school, have Spanish and English friends, and speak three languages.

It was a gorgeous day and James instantly became Wells’ best friend. Wells handed the camera to him and James took over 200 pictures. Here are just a few.

If you are wondering how I uploaded these pictures in a nifty slideshow pattern you can thank Wells. I was having a wheel barrel full of problems getting our pictures to properly upload into my blog with all of the existing applications out there. So what did Wells do? He just wrote some code and uploaded a button for me to push on my computer. Unbelievable! Just click on the big picture and then you can easily click through the rest.
 

Van Gogh’ my god March 3, 2009

Filed under: Nerja, Uncategorized, oil painting — Kate @ 10:39 am

I joined an art class! This is my professor, Blanca. I have also included a photo of the view from my classroom. There is no lack of inspiration here. I am taking an oil painting class and I have no experience so this should be pretty ugly but soooo fun! We meet every Monday night from 5 – 7. The classrooms are surprisingly close to our house – three minute walk.

 

The white Boots – told ya! February 28, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 12:32 am

  I made a list of observations in my first few days in Nerja. You might remember the comment about the white boots. I PRAY this style does not hop the pond. If it does, let’s ALL agree to be unfashionable. Please?

 

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We won! And we didn’t even know we were playing February 25, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Kate @ 9:53 am

wellsandkate091308pm-59It is no secret that Wells and I loved our wedding photographer, Meggie Velasco. Unbeknownst to us she hosted a contest to see which of her photographs would receive the most comments. Now, had I known that this contest was going on I would have shamelessly requested that all of you vote for us. But I didn’t know. Neither of us did. And we won! I would  have preferred to have won the lottery but this will do.

http://meggievelasco.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/and-the-winner-is/

http://meggievelasco.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/wells-and-kate/

Thanks, Meggie!