Europe
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
There was no problem this morning making
the opening time for breakfast. A number of people were
waiting for the "Comodore" doors to open. Looks like the
French eat early also! Since our bags were packed, we were
able to be on the road by 9:15. DW drove with AD as navigator.
Since he likes to sit in the front, an issue has been made of
him reading the map and road signs. There was little traffic
to slow down our pace. At Lleida, about 40 minutes away, an
expressway started and continued longer than the map showed.
Spain is still building these highways thanks to the EU. This
road not being marked on the map, reminded me of the days when
we got new maps (for free at the gas station, unlike today) to
see where the new expressways were.
The
drive to Barcelona was much quicker than expected. We decided
to stop at the airport to get directions to a rental car
office in the city and find our hotel location. This little
detour was supposed to save us time and frustration in the
city. Armed with a city map, which the hotel sat just off of,
we drove into Barcelona. After only two missed expressway
exits, we felt we had found the area in which our hotel was
located. However, after driving around for almost an hour and
driving down the street that our hotel was supposed to be off
of a number of times, we frustratingly called them for
directions. And guess what? No one working spoke English.
AHHHHHHH! I got out of the man that the street and futbol
stadium we correct landmarks at least. One more turn down the
street and we found the block long, narrow street, of our
hotel. Going one way, out. Another long circuit on the main
one way streets and a turn down a dead end, wrong street, and
we finally pulled up in front of the hotel.
The star rating system of hotels in the world is so
inconsistent. We have stayed in two star hotels that radiate
luxury. The Alquezar was two star and beautiful, with a large
room. This hotel provided us with one of the smallest room
we've slept in, about 3 meters by 4 meters (10x13) and all
this for 90 Euros ($112). If we were a double and not a
triple, the space would have been alright, but they moved the
beds apart and pulled out the third bed from under one and
filled the space with it. How much room do you need in a room?
Let me tell you that after 9 months together a lot more room
is optimal. The night man who speaks English came on duty
before we left and his advice lifted our spirits.
Since
we had the car for the day, we decided to drive around the
city and get an overview with the freedom a car gives you.
Barcelona has a few major avenues and lots of grid designed
streets. Ave. Diagonal took us to the city's most important
landmark, Gaudi's unfinished Temple de la Sagrada Familia.
There is nothing that I can write to describe the edifice,
that could adequately give you a picture. Gaudi spent the last
30 years of his life involved in its construction and after
all that time only three walls had been erected. The spires
are taller than any church I have seen (except maybe St.
Peter's). On the top of them are his trademark, colorful
ceramic tiles. Each finished spire has the words Hosanna and
Excelsius alternating around them. Gaudi's flare for the
bizarre and unexpected has to be seen to be believed.
Construction
is proceeding in earnest again. Architects have interpreted
what Gaudi was thinking and a more modern version is being
used to finish it. The craftsman and materials of a century
ago are not available. Gaudi's genius shows in his
presentation of organic forms in geometric concepts. He uses
natural shapes called conoids, paraboloids, hyperboloids and
helicoids in his architectural designs. I know those words
need pictures to see what they are. He studied the shapes of
leaves, shells, vines, even waves to come up with his designs.
To top off his unusual shapes he covers them with a riot of
colors. Enough said!
The
ticket to the church also covers entrance to his house. We
drove out there but couldn't find a place to park. It'll have
to be another day. It wasn't difficult to find our way back
toward the Olympic Village which remains from the 1992 Summer
Olympics. It's not much to look at but is beautifully set on
the Mediterranean Sea. The seaside walks were packed with
people, walking, biking, and enjoying a lovely sunny day. Near
the marina which was full of huge yachts, we parked and walked
the boardwalk. Barcelona didn't have a beach until the
Olympics. It was packed today but only windsurfers used the
water.
Back in the car, we got caught up in the road system again,
ending up in the wrong direction. It will be a pleasure to get
rid of the car which was more difficult than it sounds. We
were told a general location of the agency office, but were
not given a street address. So we drove around and around
looking for the sign of a closed office to drop the car off
at. The office ended up being open when we found it, and we
wondered what the airport personnel was thinking.
While walking back toward the hotel, we found a Chinese
restaurant for dinner. It's always a dependable type of food
for the choosy eater in our party. We tried a few more times
to place a Mother's Day call through to my Mom but only got
busy circuits. Sunday doesn't seem to be the day to call the
USA from Europe on a calling card.
The
weather didn't look very good for a day full of walking tours.
By the time we were able to leave the hotel (because of a need
to get laundry done), it was after 10 and drizzling. There has
not been an available laundry since Fuengirola (2 weeks) and
some clothes can't be hand washed very well. We walked to the
metro station which is only a few blocks from this hotel. The
rain had stopped by the time we got there, but we had our TWO
umbrellas along anyway. The deceiving thing about subways is
"you don't know what it's like above". It was pouring when we
emerged!
Our first task was to try and find the outlet for the Forum
tickets, we had ordered online. Going from location to
location around the main square, we became discouraged. What
had appeared to be the official location for ticket sales
online, wasn't and we couldn't find out from our ID# where it
was. I bought a new set of tickets. AD purchased another
umbrella while I was busy. Thinking that the Forum 2004 would
have lots of covered exhibitions, we decided to go there
today.
Another
metro ride brought us out to the Forum where we waited outside
to get in. The continuing down pour of rain was making our
moods turn sour. The event site is vast and we found many of
the exhibits were in separate stand alone buildings. Getting
from site to site was going to be challenging in this rain.
The Forum was full of school groups who were filling the
covered area. Caged children were running around crazily,
making an unpleasant experience even more disappointing.
AD was bored. Most of the displays required lots of reading
about uninteresting subjects to a child. (no wonder the school
kids were acting wild) DW & I found the subjects "how human
being have established themselves on the planet, how we relate
to the world, and reasons behind the current
socio-environmental problems" worthwhile but you can see how a
child wouldn't. The rains let up and we found some bouncing
things and those "foam bowling pins" AD wrote about, so it did
get better.
The
main attraction of the Forum, is an exhibition of Chinese
Terracotta Warriors from Xian. The exhibition has an
introductory video about the Han Dynasty and the use of the
warriors in burial mounds of the emperors. Inside there are 10
soldiers standing in a row and many other burial items. They
are beautifully arranged and mirrored walls give the
appearance of many more statues. We feel very lucky to have
been able to see them outside of China.
With
the weather cleared up, we were able to allow AD to play in
the games area. The games for children are in separate small
buildings in a row, but not placed well for rainy days. AD
enjoyed participating in a number of regional games, competing
against some other kids his age and older. He found a
scavenger hunt late in the day which required completing tasks
to get marks. We found it too late for him to get them all.
While he became occupied with that, we went to the "Man and
his environment" and a Toyota display of futuristic cars.
A long Metro ride brought us back to the hotel for some Vino
Tinto, bleu cheese, and a rest after being on our feet all
day. We headed out for dinner and settled on Chinese again but
at a different restaurant.
From DW, here are some interesting facts learned at the Forum.
Did you know that: For every 1000 medicines a westerner takes
a non-westerner can take only 32 There are 844 million
illiterate people in the world and 2/3 of them are women 18%
of children in the world ages 5-14 work, in Asia the ratio is
1:2 and in Africa it's 1:3 Since WWII there have been 200 wars
500,000 people die yearly from war and terrorist attacks and
35 million die from curable disease and hunger Finally a few
thoughts for the day: Today's mighty oak is just yesterdays
nut that held it's ground! Of all living creatures man is the
only one who drinks when he is not thirsty, eats without being
hungry and speaks without having anything to say - John
Steinbeck
 |
AD Journal |
|
|
|
|||
 |
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2004, diblings.com ~ All rights reserved. Contact our
Webmaster |
