Can somebody explain it to me?

For a week we have heard on television that Isabel Pantoja, a famous Spanish artist, was getting out of prison. If you don’t know who she is, you just need to know that she is an artist who went to jail because of money laundering. After a great career as a ‘tonadillera’, she was involved in some dark business due to her relation with Julian Muñoz, a corrupt politician that also ended in jail. It is a long story and if you are interested you can read more things here.

However, for me, the most incredible thing is what happened last Tuesday. After some months in jail, Pantoja was given a permission to get out of jail for a few days. I am not going to judge if she deserves it or not. I understand that the judge made the best decision. Probably, there are worst crimes than the one she committed but the law is supposed to be equal for everybody. This is not the subject of debate.

In mypoint of view what is terrible is that a group of fans received her when she was getting out the jail. They were there outside the jail to give their support and to cheer her. I can’t understand! Obviously you can admire somebody because of their career or music, but I think that is terrible to receive here as she was a heroine.

This woman robbed and cheated. I know she is paying for it and that everybody deserves a second opportunity but I can’t conceive receiving someone that has committed a crime this way. Something similar happened a few months ago when Leo Messi went to court because of tax offense and hundreds of supporters went there to cheer him. I can’t understand it.

I know that in life you have to forgive, but what I don’t accept is that someone that has cheated us gets an ovation. I know there are bigger problems in our world but this type of behaviour says a lot of our society that is involved in one of the worst crisis of history but is not capable to condemn unfair and illegal attitudes of famous people.

Nice city and great guide!

This past weekend I discovered a new city: Dublin. Jéssica and I went with another couple to visit Marta, a friend of my wife who has been living there the last two ages years. It was a trip that I was looking forward to because everybody spoke well of Dublin. I have to say that it was worth it!

Our trip to Dublin has a lot of anecdotes. After we bought the flights, we started looking for a hotel. For a reason we don’t understand yet all of them were very expensive. Therefore, we decided to rent an apartment. We found one in the city centre very cheap and well connected, and we decided to book it. Everything looked all right until one morning that Laura told us that the woman had cancelled our reservation. Drama! We started looking again for somewhere to sleep and it was impossible to find anything. All the apartments, guesthouses and bed and breakfast were full and the hotels left were too expensive for a weekend. After a hard search we booked two rooms in the Ibis Hotel (30 minutes away from the city centre) with breakfast.

The Spire

We hadn’t started our trip and we already had many a lot of inconvenience problems. A few days later, we read that in Barcelona’s airport there was a strike and we also find found out that the tram that took us from the hotel to the main street of Dublin was affected on Sunday due to maintenance works. Hopefully, nothing affected us and we didn’t have any other inconvenience.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

One of the best things of going to visit someone is that they explain you a lot of things. Marta took us to the see the Spire, Dublin’s General Post Office where the Republic of Ireland was proclaimed in 1916, St Patrick Cathedral, the Old Library in Trinity College where the Book of Kells is kept. We also crossed the Ha'penny Bridge and went to see the Temple Bar, one of Dublin famous pubs. Marta took us to some of the nicest parks, we walked around the main streets full of life and we also met the Prime Minister. We saw one of Oscar Wilde’s houses and had time to go to a few pubs and walk around Dun Laoghai. Marta, who answered all of my questions, became a great tourist guide.

Temple Bar

Everything in Dublin is in walking distance and we had plenty of time to see the main attractions. Obviously, we couldn’t visit any of the museums but we had to prioritize. We finished tired because we walked a lot and we didn’t stop much but it was worth it. It was great to practice my English and enjoy a new country. After visiting Ireland, I only have Northern Ireland left as I have been in Scotland and Wales before. Maybe someday I will fly to Belfast to complete the five countries.

Ha'penny Bridge

It is not a big city but it inspires good vibrations and I think it is a good destination for a weekend, specially, if you find someone like Marta.