The contrast was amazing. It's all about the light IMO. Flying back today, I discovered that (rarely) the temp- erature in both places was the same. But the way that people were dressed, and the way they carried themselves, was totally different.
In Barcelona, for example, I got to rediscover that women have legs. I had begun to wonder, living in Holland. Short skirts or shorts everywhere. Very entertaining. So much so that today, on the way back from Schiphol airport to my home, I made a point of counting the number of pairs of bare female legs -- as opposed to those covered by tights, leggings, jeans, or other forms of clothing -- I saw along the way. I got as high as 2. Same temperature. Different relationship to warmth, and to light. The light in Spain makes people aware of their bodies, and that they inhabit them. Most celebrate this awareness. Here, they tend to want to cover it up. Personally, given that the church Calvin used to teach in here in the Netherlands is now surrounded on all sides by Amsterdam's red light district, and thus by scantily-clad women in windows, I hope the sucker is tossing and turning in his grave, unable to find rest. He really messed up the sensibilities of this country in terms of what should be considered "proper attire" on a day like this and what should not. And, when you think of it, the Spanish had to deal with the Spanish Inquisition, and *their* ideas of what is proper and what is not. They got over it. Holland still IMO has never quite gotten over Calvin. His spiritual teaching was the antithesis of light.
