A concert in the park

06.07.11 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - The music conservatory held its final concert in one of the small plazas in San Lorenzo. The finished with by playing the 1812 Overture which is a lot to bite off for 14-18 year olds. It wasn't like seeing the Pops, but still they did a great job and the conductor provided some great moments. Do you think he grew out his hair just for this moment?

-Will

Reflections 1.
Bum bum bum bummmm...

Keeping time.
Reflections 2.

Semana Santa Redux

04.15.11 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - We were able to catch one of the first processions of Semana Santa (Holy Week) on Friday night. The ones early in the week are pretty low key, but I did get some shots of cute kids with trumpets.

If this is your first look at photos from Spain's celebration don't be alarmed at the "klansmen." They invented the outfits before the KKK, so to be fair, they don't think anything of it.

-Will

I call this "Attention Span" or perhaps "Attention Spa[i]n".
"This hood wouldn't be so bad, if they just made these darn holes bigger."
Jesus making rounds.
The monastery on a clear night.
Trumpeter.

Snow in March

03.05.11 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - It snowed again. In March. And it snowed so much this time it actually stuck around for more than 5 hours. Per usual it did make for some pretty pictures.

-Will

Ominous clouds behind the monastery.
Passing along the monastery square in the snow.
Smile!
This was the next morning (Saturday) where a poor groomsman had to make a dash through the snow to get to his car to pick up his waiting partner (girlfriend? bride?) outside the Miranda-Suizo Hotel.
Snowmen!

Saturday

12.11.10 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - We went to Vilalba for the afternoon and I brought my camera for no apparent reason. Here's a late fall shot of the park here and the vermouth I had while shopping. Try it some time. It's the ultimate drink around 1pm on Saturday.

-Will

The park.
Martini glass.

Snow - Part 1

11.30.10 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain - Anyone who tells you that it is always sunny and warm in Spain is a liar. In fact, it even snows sometimes, especially when you live in a mountainside village. Between the periodic snow this year and the daily Galician rain showers of last year, my vision of sunny Spain has successfully been skewed. The only good things I can say about it is: it's pretty; it makes even Spanish children creepily quiet; and it usually melts in a day.

Hoorah!

Will

You can just make out the monastery in the distance.
Train station in Robledo.

The view out of my window.

La Virgen de la Romería en San Lorenzo de El Escorial

09.12.10 - San Lorenzo de El Escorial - In the action-packed weekend that was, Sunday was a fiesta in our town. Something called a Romería, which I still haven't pinned down a proper definition for yet, but seems to be when every gets dressed in traditional costumes, builds parade floats and walks down to the nearest park to barbecue in the morning and comes back late at night. Missed the barbecue part unfortunately, but we did see them coming back. Seemed like a good time.

-Will

Drummer boy.
Dancing queen.
Romero.
Guarding their trophy carefully.

A bit of motor oil and a bit of homemade tinto de verano are something to always keep on the back of the parade float. It's just a good idea.