Sunday: Being Tourists

After our arrival Saturday morning, our walking tour to QUT and Southbank, and our initial City Cat trip down the river to our cookout at the O'Donovan's, Sunday was our big touristy day.

We began with a visit to the MacArthur Museum,  where we connected with Sally, one of Rumintha's students. Everyone took the elevator to the 8th floor, where MacArthur's Office was during the Second World War. The elevator only held small groups, and the leadership team went up last where we discovered our American students chattering very loudly in the reception area. This building was essentially the Pentagon of the Pacific during the war. It was chosen for this purpose partly due to its size, and all floors were occupied by offices supporting the U.S. and Australian armed services. The building as also deemed to be more secure in case of bombings - a genuine concern - because it wa constructed with new techniques using brick, steel, and reinforced concrete.

Our excellent volunteer tour guide Paul kicked off our visit with a film about Brisbane during the war, which he stopped a few times to add supplemental information about what we're were seeing and the wartime experience of the  Brisbanites. We then moved to the very large table where MacArthur and his staff met to plan the Allied actions for the war in the Pacific. Paul presented a fascinating history lesson about the geopolitical history of the region, the significance of the South China Sea, the connections between Japan's ambitions and strategy in relation to the war in Europe, and the various bombing campaigns and attempted attacks on Australia.

We didn't have time to read and digest all of the museum displays, but we did get to visit MacArthur's actual office which is outfitted with a replica desk, period furniture, and the General's actual chair, table, and cigar box. Paul also took Roberto and me into Lieutenant-General Richard Sutherland's office across the hall, which is not officially open to the public. There, his actual desk is still in use by museum staff today.

After lunch we took a bus from the hotel to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Lone Pine is more than Koalas. It is a little zoo-like, with environments for many native Australian animals. Aside from Koalas, we saw wombats, dingo, Tasmanian Devils, crocodile, kookaburra, emu, other birds, and - of course - kangaroos. I realized after I left that I completely missed the platypus.

We watched some Koalas sitting in trees, watching us. They seem pretty stoic and sedentary, which might not be true, but it looked like they were lazily enjoying lounging around in the eucalyptus trees. We later got to hold a Koala to have our photo taken, and it was fun to see all of the celebrity photos of those who had been there before us doing the same thing.

We bought food to feed the kangaroos, but they weren't really that hungry after having tourists feed them all day, day after day. A couple of them ate from my hand, and we had some good photo opportunities and a chance to pet some kangaroos as they lounged around. One of the highlights was when we discovered a kangaroo with a small on in its pouch. The little one climbed in and out, moved around, and generally looked cute. Little children were delighted interacting with the animals, with one little boy bravely (or naively) petting, patting, and pulling on ears and whiskers. He wasn't too rough, though, and the Kangaroo was permissive.

Before leaving, many of us watched a demonstration of an Australian sheep dog doing its thing. That dog was full of energy and an expert at moving the sheep around the pen, over bridges, and through gates at the guide's command. As we left, it was lorikeet feeding time. The staff set out foot in holder that visitors could pick up, and then everyone was swarmed by a brilliantly colored flock of screening birds, fluttering around the crowd, landing on people's heads, on the feeders, on shoulders... we had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun taking some great photos.

Earlier today we all went through customs and indicated that we had not touched livestock or walked in pastures... well, not recently anyway.

After Lone Pine, we went up to Mt. Cooth-Tha, the highest hill in the area, in a national park, where there is a magnificent lookout point. From there we had a great view of several sections of the river, the surrounding hills, the distant port and the ocean, and - most spectacularly - the tall buildings of the CBD reflecting the golden sunlight of the sunset behind us. It was a beautiful way to end our day as tourists in Brisbane.

As I wrap up this post, we are approaching Bloomington's North Walnut Street exit. We still have six students with us, and although everyone is tired we have been talkative and relatively energetic. Some of the students have mentioned they cannot believe the trip is already over - it seem like the just applied to go, and now the class and the immersion tour are behind us. In spite of some tension and glitches, I know everyone learned a lot, and I'd say that on balance we had a great time. More Posts to come, including photos. But first, a reunion with Barry and our dogs, a shower, dinner, and rest. Our 30 your travel day is nearly compete.

Food in Australia (Part 3)

We're on the final flight of the trip, en-route back to Indianapolis from L.A. Wheels up at 10:20 a.m., actually two minutes before we took off from Sydney "earlier" this morning. Anyone reading this must be rolling their eyes at me rambling on about food, but we spent most of our time either working or eating, so this seems like a good non-chronological way to reflect on some aspects of the trip. Also, since the food culture in Brisbane doesn't seem particularly unique, I'm writing about the meals to help me remember some of the interesting things I had and to help me remember my experiences and feelings throughout the trip.

Our trip itinerary included a number of days where we were supposed to have "lunch on your own" or "dinner on your own." This didn't turn out to be the case more often than not.

I received a travel advance from the University in case a need for cash came up related to group expenses. But since the MacArthur Museum accepted a credit card payment for the student entry fees, I had no need for cash other than my own expenses. We had very generous hosts, though, so our meals were frequently covered and I'm expecting that I will need to pay back IU for unused per diem.

Our first lunch was provided at the hotel. The first night I went out to dinner with Roberto to a place near the hotel called Santa Monica, and he was kind enough to pay. (I had a nice craft beer with my dinner, Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, from southern Australia.)

On the second day we grabbed a quick Vietnamese baguette sandwich (actually on our own) at Thao's suggestion, which we ate on a bench on the Queen Street Mall while people watching in the pleasant sunshine.

On the third day, though, the leadership team joined Rumintha and Mako for a very nice lunch at the Gardens Cafe near campus, hosted by QUT Assistant Dean, International Andrew Paltridge. Once again the weather was perfect and we sat outside overlooking the beautiful gardens. I had a good salad and a lemon lime bitters, but in hindsight I should have had the Barramundi "burger."

The next day, Tuesday, we had a full day of business visits and the intent was to grab lunch on our own at the Queen Street Mall. Naturally, Rumintha offered to buy lunch for the leadership team at one of his favorite places. I had two errands to run and needed some alone time, so I passed on the opportunity. Thao kindly offered to bring me a take-away meal, however. My errands complete, I returned to the meeting spot and waited. And waited. Rumintha's quick spot was busier than anticipated, so the meal generously purchased for me arrived just as we began our walk to Boeing. Thao carted it around for me the rest of the day and I took it back to my hotel room to the fridge, but I never had the opportunity to eat it. I suspect housekeeping threw out a perfectly good, complete Singaporean meal this morning.

On Wednesday we had more business visits, this time away from the CBD so we had a coach for the day. For this "lunch on our own," Rumintha took the leadership team and Mako to his absolute favorite place: Glamorous Wok. Set in suburban Sunnybank, Glamorous Wok was situated near a busy intersection with several strip malls filled with Asian food restaurants of all types, as well as McDonalds, KFC, Woolworth's, and Aldi. Thao and I had some giggles as we sat in the booth and watched some of our students walk back and forth looking for a suitable place to eat. Our food was fine, and I think all of the students eventually got something to eat, as well. I had to duck out of lunch early to go across the busy intersection to the liquor store, where Rumintha correctly predicted I would be able to find Patricia, the wine he recommended I pick up to take home.

Wednesday night Thao, Roberto, and I were invited to dinner by Rob Webb from Cook. Our reservation was at 6:00, but by the time we returned to the hotel on the bus and completed our very long class meeting in the lounge, Rob had come to the hotel to meet us and we didn't leave for the restaurant until 6:45. We had a pleasant walk across the bridge to the Southbank and on to the restaurant which we had seen on our first-day walking tour: Stokehouse. It was a sleek, upscale place right on the riverbank with beautiful views of QUT and the CBD. We started with a beer (Kosciusko Pale Ale) before moving on to two bottles of an excellent Shiraz from New Zealand. We shared some chili chips with "aeoli" as a starter... <if this guy next to me on the plane rattles the ice in his empty drink cup one more time, I am liable to smack him> ...before moving on to entrees and mains. I had a crab meat ravioli before my entire of venison. The food was quite nice and very tastefully presented, with smallish portions on oversized plates. I think we had desserts, too. In any case, it was a very good, very fancy, and very expensive meal, so it was very generous of Rob to treat us. But it was a long meal. Not only is Rob very talkative, but the laid-back culture in Australia means the wait staff does not rush things. We finally received the bill at 11:10 p.m., long after the other patrons had left the restaurant. We made it back to the hotel at Midnight, our 16.5 hour day finally complete.

Thursday and Friday we actually got to get lunch on our own in the QUT food court, which had some really good options (Greek, Mexican, sushi...).

Last night was our closing dinner. We left the hotel at 4:30 p.m. to catch the City Cat ferry downstream to Eagle Street Pier for the 5:30 reservation at George's Paragon. There we sat at two long tables with an overflow table for Roberto, Rumintha, and Rob Webb. The place had gorgeous views of the river and the Story Bridge, lit in blue, but it was very loud which made conversation challenging and any celebratory remarks impossible. We had a four course meal (I had snapper) and once again the staff was pretty casual about delivering each course. The long dinner gave me time for nice conversations with Rob O'Donovan and some of the students seated near me, but it was probably a bit more time than any of us needed. As soon as the desserts had been mostly consumed I requested the drink checks so we could pay and depart.

Thao and I walked back to the hotel together, taking the slightly longer route along the river and we accidentally ended up going through the City Gardens (which we had been advised to avoid after dark), and past the Gardens Cafe. We found the path through the Gardens to be well-lit, so it was fine, but while we were walking along the river in a relatively dark spot we looked up and noticed the Southern Cross in the sky. It was a nice and unexpected treat to see on our final night in Australia. We made it back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m., merely 6 hours after the dinner excursion began, and 4.5 hours before our designated meeting time to head to the airport.

Food in Australia (Part 2)

We are in Los Angeles, where we landed at the same time we took off from Brisbane. Our flight leaves an hour and eight minutes from now, 17 minutes before we left Sydney. I actually didn't write anything on that entire flight. I slept some and watched two movies: I, Tonya and Murder on the Orient Express.

There is no Krispy Kreme in this terminal, so I still haven't had a Reese's donut, but I did get a Duncan Donut, and a banana. Our hotel didn't have bananas, so it was nice to finally have one again, and I look forward to getting back to a regular diet.

(Random aside: I've now seen 5 dogs in this terminal. Does everyone fly with dogs now?)

I was hoping to enjoy some Barramundi in Brisbane, since we saw it on the menu a few times and everyone raved about what a delicious fish it is. I kept passing on it, thinking I would have it at the closing dinner, since Roberto had already had the Barramundi at George's Paragon Seafood Restaurant on the river. Unfortunately we had a set menu and Barramundi was not an option.

I also missed out on the Kangaroo sausages at our opening night cookout. We had a lovely dinner at the riverfront home or Rob and Moya O'Donovan in New Farm. They had starters, salads, hot dogs, and really way too much food, but it was all very good. They had some kangaroo sausages, but not enough for everyone and I was too late to the game. To make up for it, I bought some kangaroo jerky at the Sydney airport, along with way too many TimTams. (I had to use up my Aussie dollars, and the TimTams did the trick.)

We had two great food discoveries at Rob's house. One was Solo, which was a delicious sweet lemonade. I ended up consuming a few more Solos through the rest of the trip. The other discover was Pavlova, a delicious, light cake made of, essentially, egg whites and sugar. The cake is topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit. I ate too much of Moya's pavlova, and then we had it again the next night when Roberto, Thao, Prof. Makoto Kanda and I went to Rumintha and Celia's  home for dinner. (Mako was visiting from Japan, to lecture to our class in Thursday.) Celia even sent pavlova with me when we left, so I ate it again on the third night. (At the closing dinner, I skipped the pavlova in favor of baklava.)

Celia's meal was wonderful. We had cheese and crackers, cut vegetables, and two kinds of oysters for starters. The Sydney Bay oysters were creamy and particularly good. We had some lovely red wine (some of which also went home with me) and some nice sake in honor of Mako. For mains, we had chicken, delicious duck, and the most tender, fantastic lamb chops with a homemade mint sauce. The Australian lamb has a milder taste than what we are used to in the U.S. and everyone loved it.

One evening Thao, Roberto, and I had a progressive dinner. We went to a new restaurant I had read about, the Munich Brauhaus, to get started with some German beer and pretzels. We could have stopped with that, but we also devoured a yummy sausage platter complete with a schnitzel, potatoes, and cabbage.

Our next - and final - stop was Popolo Italian restaurant, which came to us highly recommended by our students. It did not disappoint. We had some ravioli and calamari, but the star of the show was the creamy amazing mushroom lasagna. We were glad to have a bit of a walk from the Southbank back to the Ibis Hotel to help burn off some of those calories.

We are about to board, so it looks like I will have to extend this culinary story for another post.

Food in Australia (Part 1)

It's 9:12 am Saturday. We are in Sydney, and in about 20 minutes we will begin boarding the flight to LAX. I came to question, on this trip, why I try to maintain a travel blog. This trip was the worst in terms of finding time to write. The blog will be less of a real-time journal and more of a reflection on whatever I happen to remember.

Right now I am thinking about food and meals. On the way here we stopped at a Krispy Kreme stand in the other terminal, and we passed it again on our way through now, but we didn't have time to stop because we needed to transfer by bus to the international terminal and go through security. I had my heart set on a Reese's donut but, unfortunately, the international terminal didn't have Krispy Kreme.

It just struck me that I didn't get McDonald's on this trip. It's not my favorite restaurant, of course, but I usually try to go in every country I am in to see or taste the different menu items. I hear they had some unique things here, including an incredible breakfast sandwich.

I did get to have Nando's the other night. I had been talking it up, so Thao and Roberto wanted to go. Fortunately, they liked it. That evening I had a Jack Daniel's Soda in a bottle, which is something I had never seen before. It wasn't special.

Well, I was about to write about the nicer meals we had, including one with Rob Webb from Cook and last night's closing dinner, but we are about to board, and then the WiFi will be going away. So I'll have to get back to it another time.

Next up is our 13 hour 50 minute flight back to the States. Maybe I can write on the plane...

Oh - on the flight here from Brisbane I got to finish Ladybird, so that was nice. I'll watch a couple more movies on this flight, and get some sleep. We have already been in transit for nearly 6 hours.

Saturday in Brisbane

After checking in to the hotel, we barely had time to shower before gathering on the first floor for the buffet lunch the hotel had prepared for us. At 2:30 we met in the first floor lounge for a quick meeting before heading out on our walking tour of the area.

Although it was sunnier compared to Sydney, our walk through the Central Business District put us in the shadows of some of the taller biding and it was surprisingly windy, making it a little cool even with a jacket on.

From the Ibis we walked South down George St. to the Queen Street Mall - a pedestrian mall lined on both sides by actual malls which even extend underground. Some of our students exchanged money there before we continued down George St. to the lovely City Botanic Gardens. With the sun out and the wind died down, it was actually a pretty nice day. It was a beautiful walk through the Gardens down to the edge of the river and around the bend to the Goodwill Bridge. From the bridge we got our first great views of the river, the South Bank, the CBD skyline, and the Maritime Museum.

Across the bridge we walked through the Southbank Parklands, former site of the World Expo 88 and now a major entertainment and tourism district. There were busy bars and restaurants, a man-made beach, and a long path under a bougainvillea-covered arbor. All this ad up to the Brisbane Wheel, museums, and a performing arts center, which we did not reach because we stopped to board a City Cat ferry down the river to our next appointment, which I will have to write about tomorrow.

Tiredness sets in, so I must go to bed - still two full days behind on the blog.

I'm Alive and I'm on the Other Side of the World

Finally, essentially half way through this trip, I'm able to write something for this blog. It makes me wonder why I even try to maintain a travel blog.

Anyway, I have a disincentive to post from my phone, like I am doing now, because the app freezes up any time I try to post a photo. I have a lot of good photos to share, but my loyal readers are stuck with text. The laptop is currently out of commission with a low charge. It's now charging in the bathroom, since there are only two accessible outlets in this hotel room.

I did attempt to publish a post Saturday at 9:10 pm, but my efforts were thwarted by the app glitch and exhaustion. Here is what I wrote Saturday:

Exhaustion

34 hours of travel to get here. 8.5 hours and 5.6 miles of walking later, I am absolutely exhausted and unable to write anything descriptive or meaningful for this blog. I will be asleep in minutes.

So, about the 34 hours of travel: we left Bloomington Thursday afternoon around 12:40 and met up with the rest of our students at the Indy airport. One student was late but connected with us just as the rest of us finished the rather slow check-in.

We had an uneventful flight to LAX, during which I got a little corps board work done. We had nearly a 5 hour layover in Los Angeles where I had a nice Mexican food dinner with my colleague Thao. I also bought new noise-canceling headphones for the trip.

Our next leg was a 15-hour flight to Sydney, on a fancy new-ish plane with just not quite enough leg room. This plane had nice huge windows with electronic shading rather than plastic blinds that slide up and down. As expected, it had a wide entertainment selection on seatback, touchscreen monitors. It had spiffy restrooms with motion sensor faucets - and there were ashtrays both inside and outside the restrooms. I was pretty confused by that, since I didn't think smoking was allowed in flight on any airline.

On the plane I watched The Greatest Showman, Call Me By Your Name (again - just as good as I remembered), and Ladybird. Well, I got through all of Ladybird except the last 9 minutes, so I'll have to look for that one on the flight back.

Customs in Sydney was a bit chaotic and confusing, because there was very little signage or instruction about what we were supposed to do. Once we got through the glitzy duty-free shops, we found the actual Customs agents. They were friendly and quick, and then we got to the baggage carousel where there was more chaos. Eventually we all found our bags and a nice woman pointed us in the right direction for the exit.

We had been told that we would drop our bags at a different location inside customs, then transfer to the new gate inside security and check in there for new boarding passes. That was not at all what happened. Instead, when we got to where I would have expected to re-check the bags, we ended up standing in line to wait for the k-9 to come around and check everyone for contraband. Once cleared, we exited the doors and found ourselves in the middle of the airport outside security. We followed the signs for domestic connections and actually ended up walking outside to another terminal to the Qantas check-in counter. Fortunately, the staff there was super helpful and they printed and distributed our boarding passes without even needing to see our passports. We dropped the bags there, went through security, and took a shuttle across the tarmac to another terminal before boarding our flight.

I had a nice chat with a young entrepreneur on the shuttle. He was inquisitive about our class, and had interesting insight into the energy sector and doing business in Asia. At the new terminal we discovered our flight was delayed, so we got coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts while we waited. Finally we boarded the hour and a half flight representing the final leg of our trip,  and we arrived in Brisbane about 45 minutes late. Prof. Garcia and our host Ramintha met us at the airport and helped us find the bus to the hotel. We pulled up around 12:40 Saturday afternoon, our 34 hour trip complete.

Here We Go!

I'm one the way to Brisbane! We left Bloomington just over half an hour ago. My colleague Thao and I met six of our students and joined two colleagues and three students traveling to Dubai to share a bus to the airport. They're going on to O'Hare, but we're getting off at the Indianapolis airport and meeting the rest of our group there.

This morning I got to spend about three and a half hours in my office, so I was able to take care of a couple pressing tasks before leaving. That felt good. And I was packed by 11:15 last night, so I got some rest and I'm feeling ready for this.

If only I knew all of the students' names already...

Kelley Video features our class!

One of the things our Dean has done this year is launch a video series for the parents of our first-year students. This month's video features our D272 class which is traveling to Australia! See what Prof. Garcia has to say about what we will be doing during the trip.

Click to go to the video!

Tim Tam Slam

Today in class Prof. Garcia brought in some Vegemite and toast, and some Tim Tams. We learned how to do the Tim Tam Slam, although I think I was the only person in the room who had coffee and tried it (in the back of the room, while the lights were dimmed). Delicious! Except the instruction video we watched (and which I cannot locate) did not explain that you must only suck the beverage through once and then you have to eat it quickly. It didn't take me long to end up with Tim Tam sludge in my coffee mug.

Here's a different video I found to explain:



Less tasty, but ok if you do it right, is the Vegemite:

Countdown to Australia!

My new book arrived today! I've started reading...

Exactly seven weeks from now, I will be on Quantas flight 512 between Sydney and Brisbane, Australia, about to begin an eight-day immersion experience with 24 students and two colleagues as part of the Kelley School of Business D272 course "Doing Business in Australia as a Gateway to Asia."  We've completed two weeksof the eight-week class now, and this week I really enjoyed learning about Australia's History, Geography, and Demographics, and the country's  Political, Legal, and Government Policy Environment. We have a lot more to learn before we go.

In Brisbane, we will be hosted by Queensland University of Technology and Professor Rumintha Wickramasekera, Our students will present what they have learned in the class to faculty, students, and corporate representatives at QUT.

During the visit we're supposed to have the opportunity to see Koala and Kangaroo, and to have a nice Australian Barbecue. Most of our time will be spent in Brisbane, visiting a number of multinational companies there, including Bloomington-based Cook Medical. Stay tuned!

Brisbane.

QUT Campus and Ferry Flotilla.

Brisbane.

Spain Recap

Reuters image from The Independent.

Here it is, the last day of 2017, and I FINALLY posted the photo album from the vacation to Spain and France. Naturally I wish it hadn't taken nearly three months to download, compile, cull, and sort the photos from three different cameras, but within twelve hours of getting back we brought home Rufus, our tiny adorable Weimaraner puppy, and then life happened. It was wonderful to reminisce about the trip as I looked at all of the photos. I struggled to get the album to under 400, and then once I posted it I noticed that I included a good number of photos that were previously published on Facebook or this blog. Oh well; at least now they will all be in the same place.

I originally intended to write a little bit about the trip home, but at this point I can't think of anything memorable happening that's worth sharing. We made it back; it was fine. A lot has happened politically since we were there: Spain fired the regional government, dissolved the parliament, and took direct control over Catalonia. Some political leaders were arrested while others went into exile. New elections were ordered, and that backfired on the Prime Minister as pro-independence parties received the most votes. Parties against independence made gains; no party got a clear majority. A new government has yet to form, and as we enter 2018 the independence issue is still unresolved.

It was a fun and unforgettable vacation in spite of a couple hiccups and the cancelled soccer match. I would definitely go back - there are things I would repeat and there is so much more to see.

Next up for 2018: Australia!

Final Days in Barcelona, and Sitges

We've made it back to the U.S., and I'm using our final flight back to Indy to write this one. 

Fish at Santa Clarita.

Wednesday morning we left the hotel at 9:00 to go to Santa Clarita Market for breakfast. Everything was open Wednesday, and the market, which caters more to locals than to tourists, was bustling with a lot of fish vendors, plus stands selling cheese, olives, hams, and fruit. We bought half of a road skin Mellon and bought some tasty pasties and coffee, and we sat outside on the bench watching people and dogs as we ate. On the way back we passed through the Cathedral, now open. It was impressive, of course, if not as over-the-top as some of the others we had seen. Some interesting elements were an open crypt beneath the alter, and two tiny crypts mounted on the side wall, containing the remains of a King and Queen, dating to about 1050. For some reason, this Cathedral is known for having ducks, and we saw those on the way out.

We quickly packed up our bags and checked out of the hotel, leaving the bags there for the day. Without any set agenda for the day, and having already seen Casa Milà, we decided to visit Tibidabo. We took a new Metro line to the neighborhood at the base of the mountain ,and it was interesting to see an area of town we hadn't seen before. The Blue Tram wasn't running, so we took a city bus up to the base of the Funicular to Tibidabo. Funicular #4 was a graffiti-covered car which, again, didn't run as frequently as it could have. We didn't wait in line for long, though, as we were able to sit in the car and wait.

Tibidabo Funicular.

The trip up provided some nice views of the city. It was overcast, and the visibility of the sea wasn't ideal, but it was well worth the trip. At the top was an amusement park and, naturally, a big basilica. We checked out the city views before sitting outside at a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, Barry and I went to express the Basilica, which was actually an impressive mosaic-covered church with another, very tall, perfectly  square neo-gothic church built on top of it. We took an elevator from the plinth of the upper church to a level near the ceiling level where large statues of the 12 Apostles look out over the city on one side, and the surrounding Green hills on the other. Next we found two steps of stairs, totaling 140 steps, that led to the top of the structure just beneath the large bronze Jesus statue. It's the highest point in Barcelona, and the views in every direction were wonderful in spite of the clouds. The main Cathedral we had visited in the morning, the Castle we had visited the week before, and even Sagrada Familia looked pretty tiny from up there.

Capturing the view from Tibidabo.

Satisfied, we made our way back to the city center to collect our bags from the hotel, then took a combination of trains down the coast to Sitges, the beach resort town. Sitges was pleasant and sunny, and a quick cap ride delivered us to Hotel Capri where the super friendly and helpful desk clerk got us checked in and recommended some restaurants. We chose one, and walked about two blocks down the street to the beach in our way there, catching the last bits of the sunset over the shoreline to the west. Dinner was primary seafood, and it was nice. And we had some cava, too. That night, after Barry and I walked Gywen back to the hotel, we went out to check out more of the town and visit a few of the gay bars.

Sitges at sunset.

On the Promenade at Sitges.

Thursday morning we left Gywen on her own while Barry and I headed out for our adventure. She slept in, walked down near the beach for breakfast, took the tourist train around town, and read by the pool during the day.

We intended to drop off a small load of laundry on the way to the train station, but we arrived at the laundromat to discover there was no one there to take it. We called two numbers they had posted - one number didn't work, and the woman who answer the other number spoke no English. We had to cart our laundry with us the rest of the day.

We found some fruit and pastries on the way to the train station, where we caught the train to the next town, Vilanova. We grabbed some coffee there at the station café and headed out on foot to the beach, where we're were supposed to have a sea kayak and snorkel excursion. Along the way, we found a laundry that couldn't do our wash with same-day service.

I had received a message that said to meet the "Paddle in Spain"  office on el FAR beach. It was a pretty good walk to that beach, and when we got there we found a nice lighthouse, no other infrastructure, a few cars, some people camping, and an itinerant young French man in a van with a dog. No sign of Paddle in Spain  which, of course, never came up in my Google searches of the area before we left.

Paddle in Spain is, of course, an agent, and they contract out with other companies. I called them, and they told me I should have received a confirmation with the real instructions on where to meet the guide, as well as a direct phone number. I received a confirmation, but it was truncated and contained no helpful information.

After several conversations with the agent, the guide finally arrived to pick us up in a van, half an hour after the designated meeting time. He drove us to his company's actual office, on a different beach. Fortunately for us, we were the only customers for the day and the guide, Enrique, was apologetic, super friendly, and accommodating. Enrique is an architect and engineer by trade, but is an independent contractor as a water sport guide for fun and fitness.

Barry and Enrique opening the gate
to the boat storage.

It was a really windy day, so the original plan of kayaking toward Sitges and snorkeling had to be scrapped. We kayaked in the other direction, past a cow statue and some fisherman to a beach beneath an old palace, which had some war-era fortifications on it, along with a couple of topless women sunbathers. After snacks we kayaked back to the base and prepared for a second excursion: sailing. We didn't take  a Catalan catamaran, which is simple but can only accommodate two people. Instead, we spent about 20 minutes rigging a more complex but still small catamaran that we soon took out onto the breezy sea.

It was a really fun time. With the stiff breeze, we got up to a pretty good speed. The sun and the water were warm, and I enjoyed leaning out over the water as we sailed out toward a tanker ship where we could get a good view of Sitges. But of course, the day had to come to an end. Enrique had things to do, and we had to get back to Sitges and Gywen. We showered and said goodbye, then walked back to the train station, grabbing some fruit and olives in a supermarket along the way.

Back in Sitges we walked to the hotel and enjoyed a bottle of our French wine, our olives, and some other remaining snacks by the pool. We rested for a while before going out to dinner.  After walking back to the hotel that evening, we didn't make it back out to experience the nightlife.

Sunrise on the beach.

Yesterday morning Barry and I wok up in time to walk down to the beach for the sunrise. There were a few clouds in the sky, but it was lovely and we got a bonus full moon in the other direction. I went back to the hotel to collect Gywen while Barry went to scout out breakfast locations. Gywen was already out somewhere, so I went to meet Barry and we sat down at a large restaurant which had enough other people in it that we thought it was a safe bet. Soon Gywen happened to walk by and come in to join us. She had already had a pastry and been to a book store, but she ordered her coffee. Barry had fruit and yogurt, and I went all out with a Bloody Mary and a full English Breakfast.

After breakfast Barry and I went to finally do our laundry. We needed coins for the machine, so I ran to the bank while Barry waited for a machine to open up. I got behind a woman who must have been banking for the whole town. My patience ran very thin, but eventually I got the coins I needed and went back to the laundromat where I blogged while the really expensive laundry machines did their work. With the laundry done we walked back to the hotel, packed up, checked out, and stored the bags at the hotel until it was time to leave. Gywen planned to read by the pool, while Barry and I would go to the beach.

The last few days in Barcelona and Sitges we had contacted seven masseurs to try to arrange massages - which would have been especially nice following the kayaking - but we hadn't been able to schedule anything. Only three people responded, and the one who actually seemed available ended up out of our price range. I was regretting this as we walked to the beach, our vacation coming to a close. But when we got to the beach, the first thing we saw was the sign in Catalan advertising massages! It didn't take long to decide to do it.

Barry had his first while I walked through the town to an ATM, and then relaxed in the sand to wait my turn. The sum felt great, and the sound of the waves was relaxing, but the sound of pop music emanating from the nearby bar was a little distracting. My bad for not picking the best spot. When my time came, Barry walked to the church in the old town, where there was a lot of activity as the town prepared for its 50th annual International Film Festival beginning that day. My massage was very relaxing, and I particularly enjoyed the warm sea breeze and the sound of the waves contributing to the overall effect. Following my massage, we had drinks at the bar on the beach - a sangria for Barry and a Damm Lemon for me. But it ended too soon, when we had to got back to the hotel where I showered before we took a taxi back to the train and returned to Barcelona.

For our last night in Barcelona we got a hotel in Castelldefels, conveniently located near the airport for our early morning departure. But with the Sagrada Familia closure on the day of the general strike, we had to purchase new tickets and we got them for Friday evening at 6:00. We got to Castelldefels in time to check into the hotel and enjoy one more bottle of rather delicious French wine before going into the city. We finished up our nuts and fig cake from Montserrat and our rather delicious marzipan from Toledo.

First view of Sagrada Familia.

We took a taxi back to the train station, and then two trains to the Sagrada Familia stop, emerging from the Metro station directly beneath the towering Passion Façade. It was mammoth and impressive and, as expected, replete with construction fencing and giant cranes. We made our way to the Nativity Façade and tour entrance where we braved crowds to pick up our audio guides and explore the Basilica.

Sagrada Familia is a massive, modernist temple to Christ, Gaudí 's grandest vision, and a project to which he dedicated 40 years of his life. While construction started more than 130 years ago, the building is not scheduled to be completed until 2026. It's impressive and awe-inspiring now, not only because of its size unique plan, but also because of the incredible detail, symbolism, forest-like columns, beautiful stained glass (colored differently for the morning light and the evening light), and varied building materials. I had a feeling of disbelief as I touched the wavy Stone of the massive columns and looked toward the ceiling. The building moved me much like Casa Battló had on our second day in Barcelona.

East facing stained glass.

View from the park.

I had barely stepped into the museum when the guides began ushering everyone out of the building. It was too soon to leave, but we had no choice. I forced Barry and Gywen to go into the park across the street so we could get a better, more distant view of the Passion Façade before leaving.

It was now supper time, and Gywen was not only really hungry , but also very anxious about our early morning start. Across from Sagrada Familia we saw an FC Barcelona museum / store that we just had to peek at. The cashier there said there was no good food in the area, since it was all so touristy, so I made everyone walk about four blocks up to the next Metro station to look for other food options. Google Maps was not showing a lot of promising options, but there happened to be a delightful little wine bar just across from the Metro, and it turned out to have some nice tapas and decent options for dinner.

Our trip back to the hotel included to different trains, with a ridiculous walk to change trains at the Passeig de Graçia station. The taxi got us back to the hotel close to 10:30, and we quickly did our final packing before laying down for four hours of sleep.

Tuesday in Barcelona

This is my second post to write on the flight from Amsterdam to JFK.

Closed up Boqueria.

Tuesday we slept in a little bit, planning to leave at 9:00 am to visit La Boqueria Market for breakfast. The market is along Las Ramblas, so it was an easy walk from the hotel. Along the way, we noticed that the Metro was closed completely die to the general strike, whereas I had thought it would just be operating with reduced service. The Market was also mostly closed. It was a large place, but the majority of the stands were shuttered. There were a few open, though, and we found a woman making some delicious-looking crepes. We sat down and ate crepes. We went across Las Ramp Las to a Pan for some coffee.

Crepes!

It turns out that La Boqueria Market wasn't the one with the architecture that Barry wanted to see. So we walked the rest of the way down Las Ramblas, checking out the sites mentioned in our guide book, and made a plan to go across town to the Santa Catarina Market.

My advance research said that hailing a taxi in Barcelona is simple - just hold up your arm. We stood around for a nice long time waiting for a taxi to come by, with no luck. When we saw an occasional taxi, it was in service. We kept moving to new locations, and still had no luck. I began to get frustrated because we were making Gywen walk so far. We only wanted to make a simple trip across town and it was taking way to much time and energy. We checked on a pedicab (too expensive), and he finally pointed us toward a legitimate taxi stand near the Christopher Columbus monument.

We finally got in a cab, and by the time we did we noticed the police had closed off auto traffic to Las Ramblas. The taxi took us along Passieg de Colóm toward the market. When we got to Via Laietana, our turn toward the market, it was closed off by police. The taxi let us out and we would have to walk the rest of the way.

We started to walk up Via Laietana, seeking a lot of people hauling their luggage up and down the street. We went into a grocery to get cool drinks and sat down along the street to enjoy them as the reason for the street closures became clear: protesters were coming down the street from the direction of Plaça de Catalunya. We ventured off the main street to finish the journey to the market, and found it completely closed when we arrived. Barry and I took some photos while Gywen sat to rest. We walked back up to the main street to get a closer look at the protesters -  contrary to all guidance from the State Department. Everyone was walking from the area of the Plaça toward the sea, but the crowds were much thicker toward the northwest and we're thinning out by the time they reached us near the Cathedral and the market. Some people carried signs, and some chanted. Some were walking with their dogs and children. A lot of people seemed smiling and happy, like they were out for a walk with friends, but with a purpose. Barry remarked that it might be nice if people in the U.S. would care enough about something to show up in such numbers, and I tend to agree with him.

Being in a place inaccessible to taxis, and without the Metro running, we had no choice but to walk back to the hotel - which was only a few blocks away, but on the other side of Via Laietana. We had no choice but to walk through the protesters.

It wasn't difficult to find a break in the crowd to pass through. We were then in the Cathedral square (the Cathedral was closed ,so we couldn't visit), and we looked at some of the Roman structures on the way back to the hotel. We rested in the room the rest of the afternoon, but we did make a lunch in the hotel with the rest of our food from Montserrat, as well as a baguette Barry bought across the street.

That evening, we had reservations for dinner and the Flamenco show, which was not cancelled. We walked over to the show on Las Ramblas, noticing that the Metro was open again. The dinner was a buffet of traditional Catalan dishes, with over 40 items on the menu. The meal wasn't particularly memorable, although they did have a nice chicken dish, some good fish, and good sausages. In any case, we weren't about to starve -  after sampling most of what we wanted to, I was stuffed.

The Flamenco show itself was fantastic! We were seated in the front row, center stage, so we had a great, up-close view of everything. There were three male singers and a featured wan singer / dancer, as well as two guitar players, a percussionist, and three featured dancers (two women, one man). Everyone performed with so much strength and feeling - it was a great performamce. Their dance steps were so forceful that we could feel the vibrations through our wicker chairs. It was a really impressive and enjoyable way to end the evening.

Flamenco singer/dancer.

Flamenco musicians.

Montserrat and La Pedrera

Monday’s big agenda item was a full-day tour to Montserrat. We were still a bit dejected from the game having been cancelled on Sunday, and we headed out somberly walking to the tour company office, near the beautiful modernist Palace of Music, stopping at Starbucks on the way for some American-style coffee and a bit to eat.

We met up with the tour guide and about eight other people and walked to Plaça de Catalunya to find our bus. The guide took off quickly, seemingly not to notice Gywen’s pace, so by the time we reached the bus most of the front seats were taken. Barry and I sat in the very back, to avoid sitting over the wheel well. Our guide Lorea told us some tidbits about the city and the various sites we passed as we made our way toward the outskirts of town and further into the countryside. She was knowledgeable and interesting, but we both dozed off a bit in the back of the bus. I realized how nice it was not to be travelling with students so I could sleep through the tour if I wanted to. But I woke up as we approached Montserrat – the Serrated Mountain – and marveled at the amazing views of the countryside and the monastery as we approached.

It was an overcast day, so we didn’t have particularly clear views when we arrived, but it was still fairly spectacular viewing the surrounding hillsides from above from this dramatic setting, and seeing how the clouds blanketed them. Lorea told us what we needed to know as she guided us from the parking lot past the entrance to the boy’s boarding school, street vendors, shops, funiculars, trailheads, museum entrance, and plaça to the Basilica entrance. She then released us to explore for about three hours on our own.

Ascending the funicular.

Three hours is hardly enough time, as the museum is filled by works by many of the masters, there are days-worth of hiking trails leading to remote chapels and spectacular monastery views, and the Black Virgin – the statue discovered in a cave by children in Medieval times, and the primary reason people have studied and worshiped at this site for more than 1000 years. None of this we saw. We had to budget our time carefully to hit some of the other highlights. Our first order of business was a trip further up the mountain on the funicular to St. Joan. The funicular only travelled every 12 minutes or so, but it only took about 2 minutes to load it, so we felt like they weren’t making the most efficient use of everyone’s time. We stood in line for a bit… not a long time, but long enough for me to think about my past experience with funiculars. This was the third one of our trip (the second one being essentially a lift in a Metro station) and I suddenly realized I’ve ridden funiculars on 5 continents. We joked that it was Un-American to not make more efficient use of the time (thus allowing greater revenue creation), but before long we were on the way up the VERY long and steep railway to the top.

On the viewing platform.

At the top, we allowed ourselves just over half an hour. We were surprised to discover that trails led away from the funicular in both directions, and that hiking the length of either of them would take hours. While Gywen sat and enjoyed the view, Barry and I walked a short distance one direction, to see where the trail led, and then walked a bit further in the other direction, on a trail that fairly quickly reached the top of a ridge. We wanted the views, especially the view of the monastery below, but we were so high – and the slopes were so steep – that the monastery was completely out of view. We headed back, and just before riding back down we discovered a nice viewing platform on the top floor of the funicular building, from which the monastery was visible. Back at the bottom, it was time to walk back to the basilica to wait for the boy’s choir performance. The boys in the boarding school have a world-famous choir, and every day at 1:00 the choir sings two prayers in the basilica. When we arrived around 12:35, the line to see the Black Virgin was very long, We went directly into the already-crowded basilica, found a seat for Gywen, and marveled at the spectacular building (including the distantVirgin in her shrine) as the people kept flooding in to hear the performance. At 1:00, a priest gave a welcome and read a Bible verse in six different languages (impressive!) before the boys entered and sang two lovely hymns.

The performance complete, it was time to have some lunch before meeting the rest of the group back near the parking lot. We bought a baguette in the shop and visited the street vendors to buy some rosemary goat cheese, figs, a fig loaf, peaches, and nuts for our picnic on the terrace.

When we boarded the bus, we drove down around the other side of the mountain and south toward the coast for a tour of a cava cellar. We stopped at Cordoniu, which Lorea said was more popular with the locals than some of the nearby cellars which produce more cava for export. There was a beautiful view of Montserrat from the vineyard, but we didn’t linger there ling before heading to the beginning of the tour. I was surprised, and thrilled, to discover that the cellar and cava bar had been designed by a modernist architect – it was a beautiful space with a tall arched ceiling, stained glass, and interesting hexagonal block glass windows. Nearby was an impressive large family home, now used only as an event space, and the “museum” housing wine presses and barrels dating back to the 1600s. (Cordoniu was founded in 1551; they produced the first cava around 1876.) This large, long building originally served as a production/shipping facility and barrel storage, and I believe it may still serve that purpose, but I honestly didn’t catch a lot of what our tour guide there was trying to convey. After a wlak-through of the museum area we went downstairs – and then down again, down and down until we reached 100 feet below ground. The big surprise at the end of the twisting staircase was the real cave (“cava”) where thousand of bottles aged – approximately 23 kilometers of tunnels lined with racks of something like 100 bottles each. Each cave had its own name which, I assume, helps the workers navigate the tunnels like a street grid. The guide told us a bit about the production process, which I didn’t understand, and then we all hoped on a little “train” to take a relatively speedy ride through the caves, I assume to give us a better impression of their immensity. I thought it seemed a little “Willy Wonka,” and in my head I kept singing “There’s no earthly way of knowing, which direction we are going…”

Gywen learning the
proper way to drink cava.

At the end of the train tour, we took an elevator up to the tasting room for samples of two different delicious cavas. The guide used Gywen as a guinea pig to demonstrate what he claimed was the proper way to hold and drink from a cava glass – grasping the base of the glass between the thumb and forefinger. After finishing the enjoyable tasting, we stopped in at the shop to buy a bottle and some souvenirs before getting back on the bus and returning to Barcelona. On the way back, Lorea told us her abbreviated version of the political situation in Catalunya, her thoughts on the subject, and that she had not participated in the vote. She didn’t agree with the Spanish Government’s actions and thought there should be a referendum, but a proper referendum in which all sides agreed to the terms, and there was campaigning on both sides of the issue (as opposed to only from the “Sí´ camp). To her, there were too many unanswered questions – Would an independent Catalunya be welcomed into the European Union? What currency would they use? What would happen to her boyfriend’s residency permit? She said the Catalunyan officials leading the separatist movement hadn’t answered any such questions.

There was a lot of activity around the Plaça still, when we arrived there at 6:30, in the aftermath of the prior day’s referendum and in anticipation of the general strike that had been called for the next day, in protest of the violent police actions. Knowing that the metro service would be disrupted and that our Sagrada Familia visit had already been called off due to the strike, we decided to go that evening to La Pedrera, or Casa Milà. We had purchased open tickets valid for any day or time, and we had just enough time to get the tour in that evening.

La Pedrera rooftop.

Casa Milà is a very large home and apartment building, which is still used primarily as private apartments. For the tour we were ushered in through the impressive front gates and courtyard and taken by elevator to the famous rooftop. It was certainly a sight to see – with 30 chimneys grouped into sculpture-like mushrooms and helmet, decorated water towers, archways, and multiple levels atop a window-lined attic with wavy surfaces surrounding two courtyards and two light wells. Our next stop was the attic, which contained a museum about Gaudi’s work under an irregular, rib-like system of hundreds of wooden arches. From the museum the tour led us through an apartment with period-decoration. Compared to the confusing-looking floor plan, I thought the apartment was laid out well with large rooms, high ceilings, and plenty of natural light. The tour concluded in the front courtyard, which originally was an entrance to the underground parking – a true novelty for the time the building was constructed.

La Pedrera front courtyard.

I didn’t love La Pedrera as much as I would have hoped to. Somehow I thought we would tour the main home of the owners, but that was not on the tour. In the apartment we saw a video which I thought would be informative, but ended up being merely a slide show set to music featuring historical ads as well as photos of the neighborhood, the house at the time, and the city. I became anxious, thinking there was a lot more to the tour, and wanting to see the actual architecture as opposed to a series of meaningless (to me) slides. I thought it would never end. Just prior to that, in the museum, I missed the audio-guide descriptions of about 75% of the exhibit. The guide had said “now explore the museum…” and I never saw any more audio-guide numbers until the end. In all, I didn’t feel the audio-guide was informative as the one at Casa Battló. Perhaps I was simply tired from a long day, or still upset about the strike and the soccer game, or anxious about fitting this tour in before closing. It was an impressive and interesting place; I just wasn’t in the best of places from which to enjoy it.

La Pedrera gate.

With the tour ending as the house closed, it was late and time for dinner. We decided to walk a few block to a Tapas place that was highly rated. I felt bad about dragging Gywen that far at the end of a long day when we were all tired, but I knew it would be nice to finally sit and eat. We arrived to find the place shuttered and closed – in spite of Goggle’s claim that it would be open at that hour. Disappointed, we turned back and went into one of the first places we saw and had our dinner. We took the metro back to Plaça de Catalunya and walked back to the hotel, where we were happy to climb into bed.

La Sementera

Barry and I are doing a small load of laundry - at a high price - so it gives me an opportunity to write more. We're on our last morning in Sitges, but we need a few clean items for the return trip home. I last left off in Torrijos...

Each day in Torrijos began with a nice breakfast at Dean and Antonio's, with pastries, toast, coffee, chorizo, cheese, melons (including yummy toad skin mellon), and coffee. Fortunately we didn't need to get up particularly early Friday or Saturday. While we got ready n the morning, we could hear music from the bin heads parade, which we missed, or children's singing from the children's event at the Town Hall up the street.

As mentioned in an earlier post, we were in tn during La Sementera, the annual celebration of the harvest. Someone pointed out to us that small town festivals are much different than city festivals, which are more of a series of large events. For small town festivals, everyone returns to their hometown for the big celebrations so they take on more of a social feel. Everyone hangs out for days, greeting friends and relatives, socializing, eating, and drinking. Torrijos has a sister city in Spain, with a relationship dating back generations, so a lot of people from the other town come to la Sementera to celebrate.

Waiting for the Moors and Christians.

The town seemed to go all-out for the festival. In addition to the big heads parade, there was a main parade on Sunday, with floats, which we missed. Saturday night beginning at 10 was the Moors and Christians Parade. Thousands of people's shows up to watch. The parade itself included four bands and ranks of people coming down the street in various costumes - Moors first, then the Christians, each accompanied by two bands playing the music appropriate for the procession. The costumes were wonderful. Each group had their own prescribed way of Marching or walking down the street. A person carrying some type of weapon lead each rank, dancing and encouraging applause. After the parade we had some very large churros - apparently a very popular festival tradition.

Some of the Moors.

Some of the Christians.

Giant churros.

Making the churros.

Paella delivery.

The other big "event" we experienced ( other than the fireworks) was the delivery of the big paella. At about 1:30 on Friday afternoon, the annual paella tradition commenced. A large truck drove into the Plaza carrying a room - sized paella pan filled with rice, seafood, and chicken, and covered with foil. A crane lifted the pan off the truck, and workers guided the pan through some brick columns into  the tent set up in the interior of the Plaza. Once in place, volunteers began serving the paella free to anyone who wanted some. We watched the delivery and sat to enjoy drinks and some picked vegetables from a street vendor before getting our Paella. Dean, who had stayed home to finish some work translating a speech for the University President, joined us as we finished our meal.

Stuffed pickle.

The Festival was set up on the two main plazas in the town, with a stage for DJs or live music in each square, beer and food tents set up by various restaurants and political parties, and Street vendors. Lining one street leading away from one of the squares was a line of food trucks selling churros and chocolate. At the far end of town was a large lot or field with people selling bags, shoes, shirts, and DVDs along the street, more vendors and trucks selling churros and all kinds of fair food, plenty of Carnival rides, and an even larger stage for the main concert. Friday night we walked to that end of town to see the sights and eat churros. We walked over to they stage to catch part of the concert by a young Venezuelan pop artist. Gywen and Antonio danced while the rest of us stood there listening like Americanos.

Dancing.

During the festival we met a lot of Antonio's family, including his sister and her family, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We also met friends of their nephew, former students, and a few other people along the way. It was definitely a social occasion, with elements of U.S. traditions like a  reunion, a flea market, a festival, and a carnival or fair.

Dean and Antonnio.

Torrijos is a nice small town of about 15,000, and it's not at all touristy. I believe it has roots in agriculture, and now it appears to be a fairly active center of commerce. There aren't a lot of sites to see, other than perhaps the church, so la Sementera was a great time to visit and experience a bit of the culture and a lot of the local pride.