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Gold for Catholic priests in Madrid

Marty’s photos of the day #2756: This week I’m featuring Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money on vast displays of wealth? Isn’t that a wee bit hypocritical?

Today’s photos are from Madrid, Spain. One big difference between Spain and Italy is that churches in Italy posted signs forbidding inside photographs while Spanish churches seemed just fine with inside photography. Of today’s pictures, the one I still shake my head at is of the storefront where priests who didn’t yet have enough gold could buy more golden props and accessories. Well, I guess I’d rather priests be into acquiring more gold than into being one of the countless thousands of priests who have molested children over the years. Although, I suppose, the pursuit of gold and the pursuit of underage boys and girls isn’t mutually exclusive.

This is what I wrote about Spanish churches in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents:

“Roman Catholicism became Spain’s established religion in the sixth century, and it remained that way (except for a brief period) until 1978, when the country’s new constitution declared an end to state religion. The Catholic Church’s long history of wealth and power was on display wherever I looked. Whether it was a store selling silver scepters, golden chalices, and precious metal accessories for the well-dressed priest or the extreme opulence in the cathedrals, all the gold and silver I’d seen in my life up to that point would be a mere speck compared to what I saw in a single afternoon in Madrid. . . . . Many of the churches had massive pillars, soaring arches, beautiful gold-framed antique paintings, colorful stained-glass domes inlaid with gold, huge gold and silver pipe organs, and elaborate stations where you could drop in coins to light electric candles. Even the doors, most with intricate three-dimensional artwork, were remarkable sights. Imagine the good the churches could of done if they had invested their money into helping the poor instead of decorating their buildings.”

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The Florence Cathedral—just a little church in Italy

Marty’s photos of the day #2755: With this being Christmas week, I’m dedicating it to Catholic-related photos I shot in Italy and Spain. While visiting both countries, I thoroughly enjoyed all the opulent Catholic sights. That being said, how can a religion based on a book whose main character railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money on vast displays of wealth? Isn’t it a wee bit hypocritical for the Catholic Church to preach “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” while doing the exact opposite themselves?

This is what I wrote about the subject in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents:

“Roman Catholicism became Spain’s established religion in the sixth century, and it remained that way (except for a brief period) until 1978, when the country’s new constitution declared an end to state religion. The Catholic Church’s long history of wealth and power was on display wherever I looked. Whether it was a store selling silver scepters, golden chalices, and precious metal accessories for the well-dressed priest or the extreme opulence in the cathedrals, all the gold and silver I’d seen in my life up to that point would be a mere speck compared to what I saw in a single afternoon in Madrid. . . . . Many of the churches had massive pillars, soaring arches, beautiful gold-framed antique paintings, colorful stained-glass domes inlaid with gold, huge gold and silver pipe organs, and elaborate stations where you could drop in coins to light electric candles. Even the doors, most with intricate three-dimensional artwork, were remarkable sights. Imagine the good the churches could of done if they had invested their money into helping the poor instead of decorating their buildings.”

Today’s photos are of the Florence Cathedral (Duomo di Firenze) in Florence, Italy. This was one of the most impressive buildings I’ve seen while traveling all seven continents. Even with my camera lens set to its widest, I could never get more than a fraction of the building into frame. These eight photos still omit wide sections of the cathedral. Construction began in 1296 and was completed in 1436.

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The Catholic religion perplexes me

Marty’s photo of the day #2754: The Catholic religion perplexes me. In high school, one of my girlfriends was Catholic, and her favorite song was “Only the Good Die Young” by Billy Joel (though she wasn’t any more inspired by Joel’s lyrics than Virginia was). Additionally, I’ve had many Catholic friends over the years, and some of my most enjoyable speaking engagements have been at Catholic colleges. I even, for the most part, like Pope Francis. Conversely, history is filled with unethical popes, including Pope Pius XII, who is often called “Hitler’s Pope” for his failure to oppose the Nazis in World War II. And can anyone ever look at a Catholic priest again without wondering if he’s one of the countless thousands of child molester priests?

So with this being Christmas week, I thought I’d dedicate it to Catholic-related photos I shot in both Italy and Spain. This is what I wrote about the subject in my first book, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents:

“Roman Catholicism became Spain’s established religion in the sixth century, and it remained that way (except for a brief period) until 1978, when the country’s new constitution declared an end to state religion. The Catholic Church’s long history of wealth and power was on display wherever I looked. Whether it was a store selling silver scepters, golden chalices, and precious metal accessories for the well-dressed priest or the extreme opulence in the cathedrals, all the gold and silver I’d seen in my life up to that point would be a mere speck compared to what I saw in a single afternoon in Madrid. . . . . Many of the churches had massive pillars, soaring arches, beautiful gold-framed antique paintings, colorful stained-glass domes inlaid with gold, huge gold and silver pipe organs, and elaborate stations where you could drop in coins to light electric candles. Even the doors, most with intricate three-dimensional artwork, were remarkable sights. Imagine the good the churches could of done if they had invested their money into helping the poor instead of decorating their buildings.”

And that’s what I’m going to demonstrate with my photos this week. How can a religion based on a book whose main character, Jesus, railed against the rich, turn around and waste so much money on vast displays of wealth? Sure, as a visitor to Italy and Spain, I enjoyed the opulent sights, but how hypocritical for the Catholic Church to preach “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” while doing the exact opposite themselves.

Today’s photo features the giant statue of San Carlo Borromeo (Saint Charles), which was erected between 1614 and 1697, and is located in the village of San Carlo, overlooking Lake Maggiore in Italy. Deb and I stayed in a wonderful little hotel practically right next to it. This statue was the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty, and it is the second largest statue in the world that you can climb inside. It stands 76 feet high, not including the base. A narrow ladder leads up to the head, where you can look out San Carlo’s eyes. Impressive—yes. But did we really want to spend $15.00 to squeeze through a Catholic priest’s ass to the top? We passed.

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The joys of adjusting to life in a foreign country

Marty’s photo of the day #2753: One shock for Americans visiting countries like Spain and Italy is that you can’t always eat when you want to eat. I love that different countries have diverse traditions and cultures. Still, I have to admit to getting frustrated wanting to eat dinner at five or six o’clock and finding all the restaurants closed. For instance, when Deb and I planned our evening to see the Within Temptation concert in Milan, Italy, we hoped to get to the concert hall no later than 7:30 p.m. We would have loved to have eaten a fancy dinner before the show, but we literally couldn’t find a restaurant that was open between 2:30 pm and 7:00 pm. We ended up having to grab a sandwich at the bar in our hotel.

But adjusting to different cultures—even if it’s just for a week—is part of what makes traveling fun. When Deb and I drove to Genova, we arrived after dark, and our GPS had a hell of a time directing us through the heavy traffic and tricky turns to the parking ramp, where we were to leave our car and walk to the apartment we rented. After finally becoming-un-lost, we had to hike up a long stone stairway that branched off into multiple directions and eventually led to a higher level of the city (seldom, in Italy, could we park near where we stayed). We got lost again and then locked out of the unattended apartment that we were supposed to be able to access via a cell phone code—but our cell phones didn’t work in Italy. Fortunately, a friendly local couple rescued us by lending us their cell phone, and then gave us dinner recommendations for the night.

All this leads to this picture of Deb and me in the apartment we worked so hard to reach. When the restaurant our new Italian friends recommended was full, and the staff wouldn’t even let us wait for an open table, we—now exhausted—ended up at a tiny market, where we bought a couple bottles of Italian wine, several varieties of cheese, crackers, smoked salmon, and lots and lots of chocolate. We then walked back to our hillside apartment, turned on the music, and enjoyed a delightful evening. Although the day gave us many frustrations, when I think back about it now, I only have fond memories.

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Within Temptation and the little camera

Marty’s photo of the day #2752: Getting good concert photos is difficult enough with an advanced digital SLR and almost impossible with a pocket-sized camera. When Deb and I attended the Within Temptation concert in Milan, Italy, we didn’t see any camera restrictions (at least in English), but I wasn’t about to watch a great concert with my big camera around my neck. So I carried my pocket camera instead and took the expected collection of blurry shots. A Within Temptation concert is more than just music. It’s a show were the musicians are always on the move—except for one song. When vocalist Sharon den Adel and guitarist Stefan Helleblad slowed things down for an acoustic number, they finally stayed in place long enough for my little camera to focus.

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Italy Observations: Bathroom Edition

Marty’s photo of the day #2751: While in Italy, I spent quite a bit of time comparing and contrasting the country to the United States. Here are my observations for today—probably letting on a bit too much how my mind works:

In Italy, the toilets in most public restrooms do not have seats. This guarantees that if you have to sit, it will be cold. And if that toilet is in a men’s room, you’ll be sitting on the residual pee of more strangers than you really want to know about. Verdict: Advantage United States.

In Italy, most public and private toilets use a superior dual flush system to save water. Also, virtually all toilets are wall-mounted units that work better than the exterior tank models most common in the United States. Verdict: Advantage Italy.

In Italy, they had Benito Mussolini. In the United States, we have Donald Trump. Verdict: Equally shitty.

In Italy, 97% of the bathrooms have bidets. Still, I have to wonder: Does even 25% of their population actually use them for their stated purpose? Or are bidets just stationary sex toys that take up space and get in the way? Verdict: Way too many variables to guess.

Today’s observations warrant a macabre photo. You’re looking at Galileo’s thumb and index finger. When Galileo died, in 1642, Pope Urban VIII denied him a proper burial (the pope considered Galileo’s work to be an insult to Catholic beliefs) and instead ordered him entombed in an unmarked corner of a basement. Later, in 1737, Galileo was transferred to a proper mausoleum, and three of his fingers and a tooth were removed at that time. They are all on display at the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy.

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Eurasian Coot and Italy observations

Marty’s photo of the day #2750: While in Italy, I spent quite a bit of time comparing and contrasting the country to the United States. Over all, the list in my mind was quite equal. For instance, I found the driving there similar to driving in highly populated areas of the United States. Italy is infamous for aggressive and rude drivers, but if you’ve driven in Atlanta, New York City, or practically anywhere in New Jersey, the experience is virtually identical.

On the positive side for Italy, is that its people are much more physically fit than Americans. Since I was there in the off-season, I saw very few Americans and quite literally did not see an Italian under the age of 50 who was overweight. Italians walk a lot more than Americans do and they eat more foods made from natural, unprocessed ingredients. Even though I was in several large cities, I only saw one McDonalds and two Burger Kings. Local restaurants still rule in Italy. Once I boarded my flights back to the United States and started seeing Americans again, the high percentage of obese people was undeniable.

On the negative side for Italy, was that even during the off-season crowds were difficult to escape and the locals told us horror stories off how packed the cities get when the tourists arrive in droves. I used to live in Minneapolis, so I’ve experienced big city life, but coming back to Montana, with its sparse population, released the tension.

I’ll have more compare and contrast comments in future posts. In the meantime, here’s a photo of a Eurasian coot that I took during our last day in Italy. Deb and I spent a delightful afternoon in Angera, walking along Lake Maggiore. With very few tourists, the town and its flocks of waterfowl were just delightful.

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Venice

Marty’s photo of the day #2749:After being awake for more than 24 hours straight, because of our Italy to Missoula flights being canceled and rerouted, I’m back home, feeling reasonably alert. While in Italy, I took almost 2,000 photos and am just starting to sort through them—deleting 300 in the first cut.

Here’s a shot from Venice. While I had read much about Venice over the years, I was still amazed that the buildings came right up to the water. That they didn’t tilt due to the seawater wearing away their foundations amazed me. About a month ago, the water was higher than it is in this photo, causing much flooding. And, of course, I have to wonder how the city will cope with waters rising from global warming. 

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Who knew castles were so effective?

Marty’s photo of the day #2748: Greetings from Seattle! Never in my wildest dreams did I think Deb and I would be here today. Our early morning United Airlines flight out of Milan, Italy was cancelled at the last moment. So instead of taking United Airlines from Milan to Newark to Denver to Missoula, we ended up on British Airways from Milan to London to Seattle and then, eventually, Horizon Air to Missoula. We now have a five hour layover in Seattle. In all, I think the reroute added about three hours of flight time and six hours total to our trip. So basically we get 20+ hours of airplane fun. Oh, well! At least we’ll get home.

This is the huge castle above the town of Angera, Italy that Deb and I tried to sneak into yesterday. The castle was closed for winter renovations, but we tried our best to not let that stop us. It turns out that castles are quite effective at keeping unwanted people out. Who knew?

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Our Italy Swan Song

Marty’s photo of the day #2747: Greetings from Milan, Italy. Today is our last day in the country, and we spent it in the quiet little town of Angera (45 minutes north of Milan). The town was just what we needed, because both Deb and I had reached our limit of traffic and crowds. We knew nothing about Angera until we arrived. Our first plan was to tour the humungous castle on the hill overlooking the lake, but the castle was closed for the winter. Instead, we drove down to the lake and spent the afternoon walking the waterfront.

Angera is likely crawling with people in the summer, but here in the winter we practically had the place to ourselves. And there were birds everywhere! We saw more than a dozen species of waterfowl. I had packed my Canon digital SLR, with a heavy telephoto lens, and until today had regretted bringing it. Most of the time I wanted the widest lens possible—for both scenic and architecture shots. Finally, I got to use my big lens. I will go through all my bird photos on the airplane tomorrow. Today’s shot was more or less randomly selected from my camera card. This is one of the more than fifty swans we watched today.

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