Garnerbiker's Journey on planet Earth

This blog started as a trip journal for the summer of 2011 Europe trip of 69 days. My wife Katherine, and I decided to use the entire summer break that teachers get, and go crazy. Everything was new to us. I was surprised at the blog's following. It has now become a tradition to travel on our breaks and blog about it. I write mostly as a journal for myself and students, but also give travel ideas to others that might want to travel like us, or go to the places we have seen. Take a look at what's on here. The experiences that I have had through travel are continuously shaping my life. I recommend you get out there and do it!

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Saturday, July 26, 2014

Barcelona Day 4

We started the day with the buffet at the hotel. It was very nice indeed and very fancy.

We chose to walk to the Sagrada Familia since it is about 1.5 km from the hotel, but, it was about to rain. The rain held off until we got there, and then it came down. We were so impressed with the sight of the cathedral, it made donning the rainwear slow. The tourists in the area scattered like cockroaches to any place with rain shelter while we marched through in full glory with rain protection.

If you are interested, search SAGADRA FAMILA on Google to find out about this 100+ year construction project. It was started in the 1890's and will not be completed until 2025. Wow! It is another creation with Gaudi's influence and brain power. He is even buried in the crypt.

A bassoon player carved on the nativity frieze.
The entire nativity frieze.
The colors inside were perfect. I did not take many pictures since the best ones are online anyway. We just walked through listening to the audio guides at every stop.

Katherine found a place online to try for lunch about 7 blocks from the cathedral. It was far enough away to escape the crowds, and had wonderful tapas. We especially enjoyed the veal.

After lunch we came back to the hotel and cleaned up and rested. The evening plan was to go to a Flamenco restaurant and performance back on La Rambla. Flamenco is not from Catalonia, but the place my dad found does a traditional performance that is highly rated. We were in for a treat!

Katherine posing by one of her favorite cars. Meep Meep!

The buffet was delectable! We sampled a little of everything. Surly, one of the nicest ones I have ever been to.

 
We were asked to scooch in for the performance since every seat was sold. This lady was complaining loudly about the space. I see why!
No photos were allowed until the last 5 minutes which was nice. I can't stand people holding up their cameras for an entire performance.
Many words came to mind during the performance, but the one that I think best describes it is: INTENSE!!!
The dancers were precise and the rhythms of the cajon and clapping drove on. The guitar players were about to catch on fire!
 

This was a experience that I have never had before. The dancing, castanet playing, guitar playing, and hand clapping came together perfectly. We loved it!

Tomorrow it's off to the port for the Disney Cruise. Let's go!

(No more free hotspot, and we will not have wifi on the boat, so the next post might be a while.)

 

 

Barcelona Day 3: Mom and Dad arrive.

Today was a big day. We had to pack up and leave the hostel and meet my parents at their hotel. Luckily, everything worked out great, and we walked to the hotel just after they arrived. Perfect timing. On the way out of the hostel, I told them that we would be back for a tour with the parents.

We went right up to their room, reorganized, and headed out for a walk to La Rambla. We saw it yesterday, so a tour was in order by us.

It was hot by this time of day for sure. Once again, we came across Casa Batllo.
 
On the way to La Rambla, we took my parents for a tour of the Sant Jordi Hostel. Since they had never been in a hostel, they were pretty impressed. We saw lots of travelers inside. The top level pool was active and people were making food in the kitchen. I even found a bedroom that was open to show them the bunk bed situation. Each has it's own light and power plug! Then we headed towards La Rambla.

La Rambla at this time was densely packed with tourists. We only made it a little way before an ice cream break was needed. There was a cool place we found with a seating area in the basement to let us rest up. Nice! My mom and dad were also interested in seeing the Marcat de la Boqueria. I took them right to the sheep's heads. Yeah!

Whew! We made it to the end with the Columbus monument at the water. The metro stop was right there to take us back to the the hotel.
A nap was in order at the hotel. It was brief, but needed. My parents had been up for many hours and the plan was to head out in the evening for tapas. We would need to have our game on.
We found a cool restaurant called Cerveseria Catalana to try. We ordered several plates off of the menu of the day. Since it was in Catalan, we were not entirely sure what we were ordering, but everything was great. We tried everything from baby squid to garlic prawns to tender beef. It was amazing eating! Tapas are not traditionally eaten as a full meal, but as tourists, we munched away!
Taters and egg omelette called a tostada de patata.
Baby squids!
Shrimps!!!!
Monk fish! This is one ugly fish, but on the table it was presented nicely and tasted great.
Risotto.
A pile of mushrooms of many types with black pig slices.
Sirloin mounts.
The menu that Katherine deciphered on the internet with help from the hotspot we were using.
Catalonian creme brûlée. Yummy!
Coming back we ran across.... Yes, another demonstration and rally. At the end was the riot police. This makes 3 on our travels.

Back on the 8th floor, we chilled out to end the night with a view of the Sagrada Familia. We will check out that cathedral in the works tomorrow. Good night!

 

 

Friday, July 25, 2014

Barcelona Day 2

The morning started off with a breakfast in the hostel and then we were off to the Picasso museum. It was early and we took a walk down La Rambla. La Rambla is a popular thoroughfare with many shops, restaurants, and pickpockets. It used to be popular for selling birds and flowers, but now we only noticed the flower stands. It was early, so there were not many people.

After about a half hour, we got to the museum. I don't have any pictures since they are not allowed inside, thank God. This museum has a ton of Picasso's early works and is set up to outline his progression from a precocious youth to the artist we all know. I am no art expert, but I found this museum more interesting than some of the other museums that we have visited. What intrigued me was that the museum was focused on one guy, and showed how his style changed over the years. You walk through the halls and rooms in chronological order and can see this first hand.

One thing in particular stuck with me and really captured my mind. The final part of the exhibit started with an explanation that Picasso became enthralled by the works of the Classical masters in his later life. He was particularly interested in a piece that Velazques painted in 1656 called Las Maninas. For the original painting info go here: 1656 Velazquez.

 

Yes, that painting is super cool, but I am partial to Picasso's interpretation and variations on it. Below are two of them, but in the museum there were many more. In 1957 Picasso became obsessed with copying this painting. Many artists copy the work of great masters to perfect technique, but Picasso's "copies" are crazy!

After the museum we headed to the waterfront for a stroll. I saw the high masts of the sailboats from far away and really had to check them out.

A little Christopher Columbus action.
Coming back up La Rambla, we walked through the large market called del Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria. Somehow, we always end up in these markets. This one was high up on my entertaining list. The weirder the market, the cooler!
Meat. Yummy.
Sheep's heads anyone, complete with eyeballs?
Mmmmmm... Fruit cup for a Euro.

When we got back to the hostel, we needed a rest. We did laundary, cooked dinner made with ingredients purchased in the big market and relaxed on the rooftop terrace. My parents come in from the Washington, DC area tomorrow. Here we go!

 

 

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Travel Day and Barcelona Day 1

We managed to get a later flight from Lisbon to Barcelona. What we thought would have been a horrible cancellation turned out to only be a few hour delay. We just chilled at the airport until the flight left.

The flight was comfortable and brief. I have never been to Spain before, so I thought I should take a photo.

From the airport, we hopped on the RENFE train to the center of Barcelona. We bought a card that can be used on various forms of transit, including the train from the airport. It is called the T-10 card and costs 10.30€. Our ride cost only a little over 2€! When we exited the train look where we popped out. Casa Batllo!

Our hostel is called the Sant Jordi Rock Palace. They set us up nicely in a 4 bed dorm room on the 5th floor with a balcony. The AC was chilly, just how I like it.
Here is the view from the top of the hostel. The breeze was not much on street level, but it was really nice up top.

The next morning we headed to Park Guell. It is located to the north of the hostel. We had to hop on the metro to get there, which took us back by Gaudi's Casa Batllo. It looks interesting in both day and night.

The park is situated on top of a hill overlooking Barcelona. The views were impressive in all directions.

This is the main entrance. We bought our tickets online with a precise entry time, so no waiting in line.

Below is Katherine on the main staircase. The park used to be free a few months ago, but it was so crowded that no one could see anything. Now, you have to purchase a ticket. It has eliminated the mass crowding. 7€ gets you in.

One of the favorite attractions in the park is this salamander. Totally cool! Many people try to copy Gaudi and sell tourist souvenirs created in his style. The mosaic tile work is beautiful.

This is the Austrian garden area. We just took a slow leisurely stroll down the path.

I was amazed at how much detail was on everything. Every twist and turn on the benches were thought out and a little different. I was looking at everything very closely for the intricacies.

This hallway was pretty sweet. Gaudi wanted it to look like a rolling wave. Nice work!

After meandering around the park we got some lunch and took the metro back toward our hostel.

We decided to walk past another one of Gaudi's creations called La Pedrera. It's an apartment complex that we opted not to go into. The crowds were massive and unfortunately they had the entire building covered in scaffolding so we couldn't even admire the facade. Tickets were 19€ person, so we decided to check it out another time. Below is the line up of tour busses that have dropped people off at Gaudi's La Pedrera.

Sant Jordi's hostel has a very nice and well equipped kitchen. We were able to easily whip up a wonderful dinner.

This hostel has plenty of fridge space, which is often lacking at hostels.

I just saw olives. I guess I should have read the ANCHOA part. There were freeking anchovies in the olives. They were a little weird, but we ate them.

Katheirne must have been laughing at something really funny that I was saying. Yeah, that must be it.

More chilling on the giant Vat Porch. Maybe a Vat terrace. Call it what you want. It provided some great evening chill time.

The plan is to hit up the Picasso museum in the morning. We bought tickets for 9am, right when they open. It's a medium walk away. Gotta get up early.