Randiandersen's travel blogs:
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Day 13
Entry 21 of 92 | show all | print this entry |
Today we had a later start - which was good for everybody. We went to the University again, but this time to a different part of town to the Arts School. We had two more lectures at the Arts School, but these were much more interesting and engaging and actually applied to us as arts students. When we got there we met our professor and he gave us a quick tour of the school. They are under construction so we didn't get to see much, but registration was under way and I got a taste of what that's like without computers. Oy what an exercise.
The first lecture was about the evolution of the Portuguese art scene and the different influences that lead to modern and contemporary art in Portugal as it stands today. It probably would have been more engaging if I'd had some art history already, but I learned some things about cubism and orphism that I will surely not remember when all this is over. In all seriousness, though, I really got a lot out of the lecture and was able to apply it even more the next day in the museums. But I'll get to that.
After the first lecture the professor let us have some free time in the square nearby and told us where to meet for lunch. We just wandered around; I left the group and went to try and find some theatres that the professor had mentioned were in the area. I didn't find them. I found two more churches, though. That was a nice change of pace.
Lunch was at this beautiful little café in what had once been a sort of gathering place for women whose husbands had gone to fight in WWII and were suddenly left without a means of supporting themselves. The women in this organization, which was Catholic but open to people from every religion, would teach the women to sew or knit or embroider and find them ways to make a living. The place we ate in used to warm up the lunches the women brought from home; then it became a café that served food as well and soon was open to the public. It was wonderful food - the rice pudding for dinner was out of this world - and we ate out on the roof deck with a view of the nearby rooftops and the city surrounding us. Besides the pigeons, there were also some little brown songbirds (sparrows I think, or finches) and one of them kept coming back to the railing next to our table. One of the girls fed him a piece of bread and he stayed there for a long time, more than long enough for me to take way too many pictures of him. I had my camera on continuous mode so that I could just hold the button down and keep taking pictures, and I probably had about 40 before the other girls made me quit. It did mean I got some great shots of him, though.
We had about a 2 hour lunch out on that deck. It was such a relaxing break and it really rejuvenated everybody. After that we walked back to the school for another lecture, this time on the theory and practices of printmaking as a primary mode in the modern art movement in Portugal. This one was a little harder to get into; the first speaker read his speech and I had a hard time following the second and third because the first made me so tired. Unfortunately I don't remember much of the lecture.
After the lectures were over and we had all gathered outside the entrance to the school, the professors came down to say goodbye. The main professor who had done most of the talking and all of the socializing was really the only one to make real contact; the other two shook a few of our hands and said obrigado and left. But the first one shook all of our hands and gave each of the girls a kiss on each cheek - very European and very classy.
That evening I just went to dinner, took pictures of the sunset, and stayed in to get some writing done. I still didn't get entirely caught up. But I went to bed really early and was able to sleep in, since we weren't leaving until 9:30 the next morning. It wasn't the most exciting of days but it was a nice relaxing day and it gave us the chance to really get to know the rest of our little group a little deeper than we'd been able to with the more hectic schedules.
Latest Comments (3)
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Re: Did somebody say Rice Pudding? (reply)
Sep 23, 2007 21:50 EST by randiandersen
darn! i didn't even think to take a picture! it was beautiful, too. not to mention really really good. and to think i spent 18 years insisting i didn't like it. silly me!
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In reply to:
I hope you got that pudding recipe! Or at least a picture. Can't wait to some of the pics.
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