ORIGAMI WILDLIFE

Real sized origami hippo.

I woke up today expecting to go to the country to watch how spring was imposing its reign but a rainy morning made me change my plans. So, what can you do when you don´t want to stay warm and cozy at home? My wife came with the right answer: "Let´s visit the Origamy Show at the Centro de Historias (Stories Center) Museum". Well, like any other grown up man, I had the last word: "Whatever you say, my dear". And so off we went. Bull´s eye!!! We made the right choice!!

The show consists in two mixed ones, one showing the works of Éric Joisel, one, if not the best, of the origami sculptors in the world, who sadly passed away in 2010, and the other one showing various artists from the crimp Collective mostly using the "froissage" (wrinkling) technique, creating whole spaces where you imbue yourself and become part of the show.

By the way, just a tip: Zaragoza has one of the oldest Origami Associations in Europe, and from October 2013, the first Public Origami School will open its doors in this beautiful city, thanks to the hard work and perseverance of this association called Grupo Zaragozano de Papiroflexia (Zaragoza´s Origami Group).

And now back to the expo!

First, after some geometric works by Jorge Pardo, you enter the water world brilliantly crafted by the Crimp! Collective (France). Find yourself exploring the sea bed, a world of anemonae, squids, corals and other creatures all made of paper. Oh! I forgot; in case you don´t know, one of the basics in origami is that you should only use one piece of paper for each figure. Having this in your mind, the work of this artists deserves even more credit!!!

The sea bed and its magicall creatures.

Then you go through the "innards" of the Earth, a place full of misteries where you can tell you are getting closer to Hell. Hands coming out of the walls, strange faces and figures all around you ... Great start to this show in a very unexpected way.

After visiting these worlds, you enter Érics Joisel´s works show; incredible figures, masks, animals, vegetables and items appear in front of your eyes and you cannot keep your lower jaw as high as it should be!!

Real sized rhino!

The precision and imagination needed in order to make this pieces of art must be incredible and almost mathematicall (remember that each figure is made out of one single piece of paper).

Sure they aren´t real ones?

Of course there are many other works in this show which are not related with wildlife that will also leave you breathless, but you have to see all this by yourself for pictures cannot reflect the power to amaze that they display.

If you live in Zaragoza or you are plannig a visit to this beautiful city, don´t miss this expo, it´s only going to be here until June.

Please check the links below and find out more interesting stuff about this expo and the future Origami Museum of Zaragoza.

Support Zaragoza´s Origami School proyect:
Zaragoza´s Origami Group (Grupo Zaragozano de Papiroflexia)
Éric Joisel´s website
Crimp´s website

THE KING AIN'T DEAD, HE'S IN ZARAGOZA AND HE'S HAVING TAPAS!!!!!!

Rosa has it clear: the King knows about tapas.

So you thought Elvis was dead hu?, well, he is not. He is alive and kickin', and you can have some tapas with him in the center beautiful Zaragoza and I tell you they're all right Mamma!! 

Placed in Reconquista Street 5, next to the strategically sited San Miguel Square, right in the center of the city, this place offers you more than meets the eye.

I knew about this place but I had never entered in it until last sunday and boy, what was I missing!

From the outside, almost nothing tells you about what is going on inside, it's just the typical all time tapas and snacks bar that you can find enywhere in Zaragoza (don't be mistaken, typical does not mean low quality, it's just that there's a lot of offer of them), but once you enter the place surprises como one after another.

Who can tell the King is inside?

At first, what catches your attention is the decoration: it's Elvis everywhere; driving liscenses, photos, record sleeves, posters, action figures and plenty of memorabilia. Of course, you can hear him throug the speakers the whole time.

But the best part is about to come: take a look at the tapas and snacks they have at the bar stall and then you know you've come to the right place. Loads of high quality stuff paying attention to local gastronomy in the first place. Just to give you an idea: migas, bullring bull stew, red peppers stuffed with cod, cod croquettes, chorizo and longaniza sausages, chopped fried pork ribs, and a large etcetera. 

They have the special "Elvis tapa", which consists of grilled baby squid, fried green pepper from Padrón (the "lottery" pepper, some are hot, some are not, ) and roasted potato with sone garlic flavoured olive oil and parsley.

Oh, I forgot! Every tapa costs one miserable euro, and everyday from 19:00 to 21:00 you can have your tapa and your drink for 1,50€.

And everyday they have a very cheap menu that costs 8€. It's homemade and it does look good (I didn't have it but there were people having it and it seemed quite fine).

The sight of the bar stall left me "all shook up".

Rosa Miranda, owner of the bussiness, was very kind and answered every question we asked her. She told us about her visit to Menphis on the 30th anniversary of the King's death and she showed us some pictures.

The atmosphere was great, and you could tell by the amount of clients greeting Rosa that there'es quite an important amount of everyday costumers, which speaks for itself about the bussiness and the way they treat their clients.

Once the tapas are served ther'es a little less conversation and a liitle more action.

If you want to try traditional homemade dishes at very reasonable prices, be served as if you were a friend, or you just want to have a beer with Elvis, now you know where to go!!

I think this is going to be a must in the tapas tours I offer to my clients... and my own ones too!!!

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