Day trip from Barcelona to Figueres to see Dali's Theatre Museum and Jewels Exhibit

Do you recognize this photo? Its Salvador Dali's 'Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea, which if viewed 18 meters away, is an image of Abraham Lincoln. I was recently reminded of this painting in the Dali Theatre Museum in Figueres, Spain when I read about Jim Campbell's Scattered Light exhibit in New York City that was partially inspired by this painting. Not to date myself, but I remember seeing this oil painting on a day trip I took to Salvador Dali's museum in 2000 (or was it 2006?)!

I loved this museum because it was fun -- its not one of those museums where you walk in one circle and you're done, rather, all of his work are on multi-levels -- you walk up the stairs to see one piece, and down another set of stairs to see an entirely different type of work. From a viewer's perspective, its very interactive -- I mean, just look at my descriptions of the Abraham Lincoln and Mae West exhibits below. I encourage you to make this trip, that is, if you're interested in Dali's work. If you're not a fan of Dali's, you will be after this trip! I guarantee you won't be disappointed -- it is a trip not to be missed!

Here are a few of my favorite pieces and in my opinion, should NOT BE MISSED at the museum.

• Abraham Lincoln - this was my absolute favorite! it made me chuckle just seeing this because its one of those "optical illusions" where you stare at an image and then it becomes something else! "its not what it all seems!" info: Gala Nude Watching the Sea which, at a Distance of 20 meters, Turns Into the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (Hommage to Rothko), 1976
• Mae West Room - you walk into this room and you think its randomly decorated with the famous "lips" couch, two eye paintings... and then they ask you to walk up a small series of stairs to view it from above ... and wallah, its a view of Mae West -- it's absolutely wild and fun!

• Museum's central patio -- there is a cadillac outside and up above in the "windows" you'll see Oscar-like statues of people. You just have to be there to witness the ornateness of the place.
• The Car-Naval - this is the cadillac that is sitting in the patio. If i remember correctly, you can see some crazy things inside the car as well ; can't remember if you were allowed to sit it in or not; info: Installation with a Cadillac, tire column, reproduction of the slave by Michelangelo, and Gala's boat, together with the Esther Queen by Ernst Fuchs and a reproduction of a marble bust by François Girardon.
• Unknown Piece - I don't recall the name of the piece, but there will be a LOT of PEOPLE staring at the small tiny piece. its encased in a black space, and if you look at it in various directions, you'll see something different. Oh, what was the name! If you go, please send me an email to tell me if you saw it!
  

In addition to these, there are several other pieces that he is known for, including the bending clocks, the oil paintings that if you look more closely there are miniature people walking, and even a solemn portrait of a girl looking out the window onto the river/ocean (which i believe is also here, or may be a portrait hung at his house in Portlligat Beach.

So start planning your trip! Make sure its open on the day you want to go and I suggest leaving Barcelona EARLY in the morning so you have enough time to see the theater exhibit and the Jewels exhibit (you're there, might as well!) ... and enough time to catch the last train back to Barcelona.

Its relatively easy to get here, all you have to do is take the train to Figueres and walk 12 minutes to the museum. For more information on planning your trip to Figueres, click here to plan your trip.

If you want to spend more than a day here, you can also visit Dali's house in Portlligat Beach; however, you must make reservations to visit the house PRIOR to your arrival. For more information, click here to plan your trip.

side note: A random thought. When I saw the W. Eugene Smith exhibit at the New York Library of Performing Arts last year, there was a photo of Salvador Dali at the exhibit. Think he was with someone "hanging" out around the Jazz performers! Small world!

In Honor of Holy Week Pt 2 - Western Wall aka Wailing Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

One of the Views into the Men's (left) & Women's (right) Exterior Courtyard at the Western Wall

The Western Wall aka Wailing Wall or the Kotel is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem. The reason why its called the Western Wall is because its the Western most wall of the Temple Mount. An interesting thing to note about the Temple Mount is that -- what you see today is actually the SECOND Temple that was reconstructed by Herod the Great around 19 BCE and additional layers were added in the 7th century onwards by other ruling empires. The First Temple, built by King Solomon, was destroyed in 586 BCE when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon. What you see today is only part of the Second Temple as parts of the Western Wall are located below street level (which, I'm sure you didn't know; and is too much to write about here, but if you want to read more, click here for more info on Second Temple).

Some interesting notes about the wall:

• Though the Western Wall is commonly referred to as the "Wailing Wall", Jewish people never refer to this holy place as the Wailing Wall - only as the Western Wall. The name gained popularity from 19th century literature where people used to call it the "Place of Weeping"... A description that stemmed from a Jewish practice where Jewish people came to "speak" to the wall -- often "mourning" or giving prayer requests... and mourning the destruction of their temple. (A third temple has been rumored to be built, but nothing has occurred).

• There is so much history here that it is even difficult for me to grasp and remember, but for this blog posting, suffice to say -- that after the Roman Empire and the Spanish, Turkish Ottoman, British, Jordanian ruling and now the Israeli ruling, this area of the Western Wall has been designated as a holy place for Jewish people to to devote their prayers (part of the 1930 International Commission) without interruption or interference.

• The exposed Western Wall, or the one you mostly see, refers to an 187 ft stretch of the wall, but actually it stretches 1,600 ft. Where is the other part you may ask? Its "hidden" behind residential structures built along its length.The height of the wall is 105 ft, with the exposed section approx. 62 ft. There are 45 stone courses, of which 28 of them are below ground level. Each stone weights anywhere from two to eight tons, with the largest weighing approx. 570 tons (found on the Northern side). Its amazing how this structure was even created! The area is thought to have been a limestone quarry centuries ago (hence the very large limestone blocks), so that may have helped place the stone into place

• You can visit, with a fee of course, the lower parts of the wall. Its actually an interesting tour and I highly recommend it. The guide books say you need a reservation, but my brother and I were able to get a ticket without one (but you may need a reservation if you go in peak season).

• The Western Wall is supposed to the sole remnant of the Holy Temple and is the "CLOSEST" spot to the holiest spot in Judaism -- the Foundation Stone -- which is expected to be housed inside the Dome of the Rock (others say it is situated opposite of the exposed section of the Western Wall), which is located inside the Temple Mount in the Muslim Quarter. Interestingly enough, Jews are forbidden from setting foot upon the Temple Mount and is considered a sin punishable by Kareth. WHAT?!?! So, one of holiest places located in the Muslim quarters ... can not be accessed by Jews and is considered a sin!

• Every year, more than a million notes, or prayer requests, are placed in the wall crevices. The notes are collected twice a year and buried on the Mount of Olives. If you can not be there to place it, you can even fax in your request to have it placed there. The likes of Pope John Paul II, Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI have placed messages in the wall

• The wall is segregated by gender, which I found surprising (and I will have to ask my Jewish friends why). Are women a substandard class or is this my American ignorance and prejudice towards American society (even though, we all know not everyone is created equal)? I started to think this when I compared my experience with that of my brother's.... here are some of the stark differences. Male's side: Exterior area was nearly double the size of the female side; there was a library and discussion room, not to mention a separate prayer room where rabbis would be present (um, did we mention that only males are allowed to be rabbi's); meanwhile, the female side had a small prayer room, and when I say small, I am not exaggerating -- it would be the size equivalent of two or maybe three restaurant sized bathrooms! you will have to see the photos.

Of course, there are photos to document this experience at the Wailing Wall. Below are a select few and you can visit my FLICKR page to see additional photos. The photos of the men's side was contributed by my brother, Wilson Lee.

Inside a small study room is a private sanctuary to pray (left). Within the Western Wall's crevices are small notes, or prayer requests left behind by visitors.

Men's library and prayer room (even has a rabbi) inside a building adjoined to the Western Wall. In the FLICKR photo album you'll see a stark size contrast of the prayer/library rooms between the men and women's side.

Israel-Palestine's Berlin Wall in Bethlehem

January 14, 2010, Photos of Israel's Security Wall in Bethlehem (A view from Palestine's side of the Wall)

According to wikipedia, The State of Israel has been constructing barriers along its borders, which are mainly located on Israeli-occupied territories in the West Bank and partly along the 1949 Armistice line, or "Green Line" between Israel and Jordan. The length of the border is expected to be 436 miles long (703 km) and as of August 2008, only 58% had been constructed, 9% was under construction and 33% of it has not yet been constructed. The barriers have been under a lot of scrutiny and are highly controversial. Depending on which story you read or who you are hearing it from, everyone has their own point of view of the walls -- that well, for a tourist is tough to believe who is right or wrong and will certainly take longer than a few days to understand. After my brother spoke with the hotel manager at our hotel, who is Israeli-Jewish, he learned that the security walls or fences have been built to protect Israeli civilians from Palenstinian terrorism, aka suicide bombing attacks. Since the construction of walls, the number of bombings have significantly reduced. He mentined that people used to be afraid to walk around the New City town center because there were frequent suicide bombings! According to wikipedia, opponents of the barrier say that the barrier is an illegal attempt to annex Palestinian land under the guise of security, which violates internatinal law. To put it quite simply, the barriers have in a sense "trapped" or restricted Palestinians from traveling freely within the West Bank and finding work in Israel.

So, that's a bit of background on borders and barriers built within Israel, which brings me to the photos I took of the security wall on our way out of Bethlehem. The photos you will see are from the Palenstinian side. G raffiti artists and commoners alike have creatively used Israel's "security wall", which places an Israeli/Palenstinean divide between the two warring countries, as a means to add their social commentary on the Israel / Palestine situation.

The photo above is of two Palestine men sitting in front of the Israel/Palestine Wall.

Note: Israel continues to place security walls and fences throughout its country. Over the last few days, I've been reading in the Jerusalem Post that Israel wants to put up a fence along the Israeli/Egypt Border, which stretches from the Gaza Strip (west part of Israel) to Eliat (southern tip of Israel). The project which is expected to cost north of 1.5 billion NIS, or approx. $6 billion US, is "supposed" to prevent illegal drugs from entering Israel among other things like illegal immigrants (from Nigeria, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast). The project is expected to start in two weeks.

For more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39368875@N04/sets/72157623094617725/

Tears Coming Down My Cheeks at St. Anne's Church

January 13, 2010 - St. Anne's Church, Jerusalem

St. Anne's Church in Jerusalem's Muslim Quarter is known to have one of the finest examples of Crusader architecture and is also traditionally known as the home of Virgin Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne. What I found to be one of the most beautiful things here was not the architecture, but the acoustic system within the church, which the church is also famously known for.

We were fortunate enough to have two strangers - man and wife - sing for us while inside the church. As I was sitting there enjoying the environment and listening to them sing -- something happened to me internally and tears started to well up in my eyes. I didn't even know what he was singing, but whatever it was, it touched me so much that the floodgates opened -- and tears began to roll down my cheeks. It truly was a touching moment for me. Luckily enough, Wilson recorded them singing and below is a video of the moment (the feeling may not be the same as if you were sitting there, but at least you get a sense of it).

After they left, Wilson also sang Silent Night in the center of the church -- and though it was good, it didn't touch me quite as much. :D haha.

Starting My Scuba Diving Lessons! Day 1

Today is the day I MAN UP and learn how to dive! Its such a crazy and foreign thing for me to do, especially since I'm not a good swimmer and am afraid of drowning. With these two things in mind, you would assume it would deter me from attempting to dive -- but, I guess I'm not an ordinary person, or I'm just an adventurous person who wants to test my own limits (if i die, i guess i died trying, right? ha ha). I'm not sure how I'll face up to this challenge, but obviously since I am writing about this now, I lived to tell the tale after my first day.

So what did I do today? It was all about tests and practical application of what I learned from books and video instruction. Btw, I had no idea learning how to dive would take so much time. You generally hear it takes about 3-4 days to become open water certified, but what I didn't realize is that its essentially an all day thing. You get a PADI instruction manual that you will have to comb through, or alternatively, you can pay close attention to the videos you are required to watch. After going through each chapter (5 chapters, and they are long), you are then asked to take a quiz at the end of the book, which is later followed up with another test conducted by your dive instructor. That's only the written tests! There are also 4 instructional dives in the water, where you will be testing your book knowledge in a practical setting.

So, today I completed my knowledge 1 & 2 tests (essentially, learning what positive/negative/neutral buoyancy is... equalizing pressure inside your body ... learning how to use the equipment and how it will keep you alive under water ... yes, breathe through the regulator! ... hand signals ... among many other things). I passed the knowledge 1 & 2 quizzes (seriously, its almost like i'm back in school - you have to review a 30 minute video for each chapter, then at night you read the chapters (um, you're supposed to) and answer the questions at the end. After all of that is done you then meet with the instructor to get quizzed again). I passed this phase and then it was onto the "fun" part - the confined water dive.

If you've snorkled before, you have some sense of how it is to swim with fins and also how it is to get water through your air hole (not pleasant). So think about that and now add on the "comfort" of swimming with an oxygen tank on your back, 5-10 pound weights and other gear ... its a lot more difficult. It takes some time to get used to all the equipment and even after a day, I'm still not that comfortable with it. Every thing was a new step and every step got harder as I continued on! The first was being able to try to stand erect in the water with all the gear and then being able to descend into the water and kneel. Oh yeah, lets just say I had to go up a few times before getting used to kneeling down on the ocean floor (all of this is a semi-confined water environment -- out here in the Red Sea -- its just a shallow part of the sea vs. in a swimming pool). I would say the most difficult thing I had to do today was alternating air sources through the snorkel and through the regulator while underwater. You have to BLOW out water from the snorkel and if you make the mistake of breathing in while water is in the snorkel -- you will instantly choke and feel that burning sensation from the salt water in your throat! ugh, extremely unpleasant and this can easily make you want to quit! After a few attempts I made it through this part -- but it made the following skill tests more difficult to pass since my mind was getting a bit "nervous" and "scared" which -- we all know -- prevents ourselves from advancing to the next level... And what I can gather from day one is this entire course is all about how confident you feel in your abilities (that makes sense since life is like this). I will admit I was a bit shaken with this part of the test... and as I moved on to the next challenge (5 step descent) ... I was a bit nervous underwater again and my next challenge was to take off my face mask and have it off for a minute. Needless to say, I had so many things in my mind that I couldn't accomplish this next task - my chest felt tight; my lunch felt like it was about to come up (mental note: do not eat too much before diving, but that all depends on how you are when you exercise -- i don't really eat); my mouth was extremely dry from all the dry air I was inhaling through the regulator and it tasted like salt; and to top it all off -- i had to pee (and regardless of what anyone says, its not that easy peeing in the open water even though its probably quite easy in the pool! ha ha) So, with all of that, I was just drained and had to call it a day. So I finished water confinement 1 and half of 2 -- which, I will complete the rest of 2 tomorrow.

So my friends, this diving experience will be a true experiment and a test of whether I can get over my fear of drowning and at the same time trying to do something fun and new! Its a WHOLE NEW WORLD down there... tomorrow is a new day (and ugh, still have loads to read for tonight!)