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| Author : GEORDIEandVIRGINIA | Diary name : Gullibles_Travels | ||
| 26 May 2004 : Barcelona - Spain | |||
| Tapa Time | |||
| Barcelona has been fantastic, wonderful and packed full of stuff to do! On our second day in the city we went to a bull fight. I had been told by John to go and see one before they get banned. Never thought to ask why they would be getting banned. We asked at the tourist office if there was one on and she gave us the location and the time to be there. I quickly realized why they are on the way to being banned. For some stupid reason I thought that they just teased the bulls, played with them. I mean c’mon I never had to think about it before. The closest we get to this kind of thing in New Zealand is ‘The Dog Show’ on Sunday nights. And there sheep usually win over the humans. To cut a gruesome story short the bull ends up dead. And it is not a pretty death or a particularly quick one. Geordie and I tried to take our mind off the action by taking photos of the action. An ironic thing to do, but we focused on getting ‘the great shot’. We have put some up on the site, so if you don’t like animals being hurt, don’t look. The souvenir poster was brought though – looks a lot nicer than the real thing – you know, it has that nice artistic quality to it. On a happier note – we had booked into a sort of hostel, sort of apartment type place. There were only 4 or 5 rooms sharing the facilities. It was a great set up. Unfortunately the walls were not made of concrete – hence on the second night I was kept awake with 2 Americans having a full-on relationship argument. She felt that he didn’t talk to her enough, that he was always broke and had no money and that he was obsessed with porn. I didn’t really get to hear much of what he thought as she never let him get a word in edgeways. She hammered him until he was a blubbering mess. Geordie mind you was dead to the world and didn’t hear a word of it. The next morning they were both gone, so didn’t have a chance to see if they kissed and made up. We were moved to the other side of the building on the second day, not sure why, but thankfully it was a bit nicer all round. We decided to stay longer so after a few more days the landlady moved us to another apartment altogether which was even much nicer! Met a couple of Aussies there from Deewhy would you believe. It was great to be finally able to buy food and cook our own meals in the kitchen. When we arrived to the new apartment the lady showing us around asked for us to not use one of the 2 bathrooms. She didn’t say why, just pointed to the one that we should use. Unfortunately Geordie was busy checking out potential wireless locations and didn’t hear a thing. The next day as he came out of using the ‘reserved’ bathroom {whooo do not go in there – ed}, one of the other guests asked if he had just used the bathroom. ‘Oh’ she said, ‘It’s just that we have booked a private bathroom for ourselves….’ She was hoping that Geordie would get the hint, apologize and offer to never set foot inside it again. ‘Yeah, well, that’s marketing for you’, quipped Geordie as he shrugged and sauntered off. He missed her quizzical look. I managed to explain the situation to him so that he no longer dropped the kids off at her pool. (Thanks Jess) Most of our days in Barcelona were spent visiting galleries, museums and monuments. We had only planned to spend 5 nights in the city, but there was so much to see and do and it had such a nice feeling to it that we ended up staying for 11 nights. Some of the highlights were visiting the Picasso museum where prints, prints and more prints were purchased and added to the donkey cart. Joan Miro gallery was also attended as was the Sagrida Familia, La Pederia, Casa Mila and to keep with the Gaudi theme, Park Guell. All of Gaudi’s stuff was brilliant, but my favorite was Casa Milia. The decoration, thought and attention to detail were all marvelous. Hundreds of photos were taken as there was so much to take in. Another wonderful event on the long list was that of visiting the main art gallery near the Olympic park area and then afterwards waiting for night to fall so the show could begin. We had been kindly advised on the boat over to the island ‘If’ in Marseille not to miss this spectacle. We didn’t! There is a massive fountain out near the gallery which on Friday and Saturday nights they light it up and have a show of music, lights and the fountain constantly changing shape! The crowd numbered into the hundreds and the show lasted for over half an hour. The whole place looked stunning. As for food, we managed on a few days to leave behind our typically staple diet of kebabs and salad to enjoy some tapas. Especially when we met up with Sue and Nath who love the stuff! I must admit it is a lovely way to eat…. Pick at a few things, go for a wander, find some more morsels to snack on, more wandering…. Of course Geordie had hunted down and taste tested every Patisserie, Bakery and Chocolate shop within a 2 mile radius of home. I think it is a blessing in disguise for him that he carries my luggage, keeps the pounds off. A word of congratulations must again go to my boy as he has somehow managed to study in between being dragged around monuments and sat another exam and passed. At least this time he had not been packed off to hospital the night before. From Barcelona we made our way to Paris for the Sting concert. We navigated the metro system far better than last time and made it to the hotel in one trip with no missing bags or bodies. Sting was on Saturday night and we had somehow managed to get seats on row 6, better than John McEnroe could manage! The concert was fantastic – loved every bit of it. It was held at L’Olympia which was a cosy small venue, so practically everyone had good seats. We had a quick trip in Paris before we headed down to Cannes, only 5 nights. Not a hell of a lot of sightseeing was done, none really. We caught up on some sleep and just relaxed and lounged around. Paris will just have to wait until next time. After a 5 or 6 hour trip we arrived in Cannes, just too late to miss the festival… doh! We have rented a small apartment here that is I dunno how old… but old. It is in the ‘old’ part of Cannes! The people we are renting it from met us at the station and showed us the way to our new home. We have been continuing with the relaxation theme here as well, just thrown fresh food into the mix. Just around the corner from where we are staying there is a market which is open every day which sells all the local fresh produce….. so we go down and stock up on all sorts of delicious treats…. We will be taking a boat trip over to St Tropez and also out to the Island where the man in the Iron Mask was kept… apparently. Until then, Virginia Hi Munchkins! Well, we have had a great time over the last few weeks. Our worries about terrorism and the unknown have gradually been replaced with the travelers’ twin nightmares of being late to drop the Cosby kids off at the pool and tasting your dinner twice. When stuff happens like this http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/05/23/paris.roofcollapse/ you start to realize that safety is an illusion and you might as well get on with life. Ok, now for the bull fight – Virginia was right. Let me just say it was one of the most bloody and cruel experiences I have ever had and that was just the ticket prices. Basically a powerful bull comes charging out and they proceed to tease it until it starts to tire. They then stab it with an assortment of hooks, spikes and spears so that blood is pouring out of its back. Once the assistants have done all the work and the bull is knackered they disappear and the Matador is left alone. He then swaps his sword for another which must be a stronger/sharper one. He then encourages the bull to charge him directly and he will try to stab his long sword between the shoulder blades and through the heart. Sometimes it would take multiple attempts and you would often see the tip of the sword come out of the bottom of the bull. The bull would stumble around for a few minutes with blood pouring out of its mouth and they would back it into a corner. One of the Matador’s assistants would then walk up to it and stab it in the back of the head with a small dagger. The first time this happened Virginia didn’t see the dagger and she thought they were patting its head. There there nice bull. Nearby Las Ramblas is a notorious yet unmissable street in the heart of the city. It is famous for trouble – bag snatching, illegal gambling, you name it. While we were at a restaurant someone had their bag stolen. They got up and left their table and came back later to find their bag was gone. No one noticed anything. It was a Welsh family and they made a show of searching the restaurant about 100 times. After answering them for the nth time that no I didn’t know where their bag was I politely pointed to the security camera in the corner of the ceiling and suggested that they might want to ask the manager to look at the tape. Welsh dad found the manager just around the corner from us and asked to look at the tape. I could hear the manager say Si Si and led him to a cupboard where there was a tv monitor. Welsh dad asks where the tape is. No tape says the manager only tv. That was the end of that. A camera which displays to a tv kept in a cupboard. Whoooha crooks watch out. There were guys in the street playing the shell game. We saw an American get fleeced. He came up in his pressed polo shirt and white trousers (you’re on holiday man just relax) and bet 50 Euro on a shell. Someone else had already tried one of the 3 shells so he should have had a 50/50 chance (1). While everyone was talking about the bet a guy came in from the side and peeked under one of the remaining shells. No ball. So it had to be the shell the American picked. But it wasn’t of course. The guy must have palmed it some how. He was good. The Gaudi architecture was breathtaking. This guy was so ahead of his time. He made one of the first underground car parks in a building he designed. This was for the first motor cars and horse carriages. The use of space and light inside his building was innovative and adventurous. Sting concert was just fantastic. We had better seats than some of the celebs. It’s a great family show – I’m sure his music helps start families all the time. Virginia spotted his holiness John MacEnroe and I tried to get his autograph for Rob. He politely declined saying that since it was Sting’s concert I should ask him. I said that Sting probably would have trouble spelling MacEnroe. (2) My tennis game is going great. I estimate that I am about 3 years away from being a truly great player. Next year I will be 4 years away. Laptop is going great. Wireless is good fun. Found the Routers Cannes network broadcasting with no security the other day. The German keyboard is a challenge some times – if anyone could tell me what the “Einfg” key is supposed to do it would be much appreciated. I’m not sure but I think it’s the Stuff Everything Up key. Till next time. Geordie (1) Actually, this 50/50 chance is incorrect. Here is a puzzle for you. You are on a game show on television. The idea is to win a car as the prize. The game show host shows you three doors. He says there is a car behind one of the doors and that there are goats behind the other 2 doors. He asks you to pick a door. You pick a door but the door is not opened. Then the game show host opens one of the doors you didn’t pick to show you a goat (because he knows what is behind the doors). Then he says you have one final chance to change your mind before the doors are opened and you get a car or a goat. So he asks you if you want to change your mind and pick the other unopened door instead. What should you do? I wonder who will e-mail me first with the answer. I think it will either be Nana, Matthew or Nathan. The question is from a book called “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” which I have just read. It’s about a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome and all he understands is maths. Through this perspective we explore issues such as family breakups and the school system. (2) For those who picked it this was a George Costanza, i.e. I didn’t think of this line until I was on the way home. Would have liked to have seen the look on his face though. Bonus points if he had of lost his temper and made a racket. | |||