Saturday 10 Oct 2009
Out the door of the condo 12:30am EST...
Short metro ride to the train station. Train leave 1:21am EST...
Got to BCN around 2am EST with a million over people who know apparently just got done with a cruise. Ya!
Flight from BCN to ATL is packed. Flight leaves 4am EST and lands at 2:30pm EST (10:30 hours).
After clearing customs and rechecking my bag in for my flight to IAD I realize that Delta has "unscheduled" my original flight. So my 4:50pm flight no longer exists. I'm now scheduled for the 5:50pm flight. Excellent!
After missing the 2:51pm flight to IAD by 10 minutes. I ran to the next concourse to see if I could get on the flight going to Reagan. After short discussion with the guy at the gate, he let me on with no charge and I got an exit row. Only problem is that my luggage is still going to IAD. No big deal.
Total travel time (door to door): 18 hours!
Home... Shower... Dinner... Pickup luggage from IAD... Pass out during the Florida vs LSU game.
Spain.............. DONE!
(Next posts will be some of my obversations about our trip)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Day 9 - Last day
Friday 9 Oct 2009
The plan is to take the metro into the center of town and walk around.
Shocker we got off the metro near a church. :) Well here is the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. Have you noticed that everything in Spain worth seeing seems to have some sort of construction going on, on it?
We walked around La Rambla some more, ending up at the port again. This time we had enough time to do a boat tour of the coast.
Dinner...
The plan is to take the metro into the center of town and walk around.
Shocker we got off the metro near a church. :) Well here is the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. Have you noticed that everything in Spain worth seeing seems to have some sort of construction going on, on it?
We walked around La Rambla some more, ending up at the port again. This time we had enough time to do a boat tour of the coast.
Dinner...
Day 8 - Time to relax
Thursday 8 Oct 2009
Nothing exciting to report today. Spent the day relaxing....
We stopped by the store to pickup a few things for dinner. We've been here so long we are tired of eating out every meal.
Main ingredient for tonight sangria...
Nothing exciting to report today. Spent the day relaxing....
We stopped by the store to pickup a few things for dinner. We've been here so long we are tired of eating out every meal.
Main ingredient for tonight sangria...
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Day 7 - Time for a drive
Wednesday 7 Oct 2009
We picked up a rental car from Hertz in the mall next door. We were scheduled to pick up the car at 10 am but didn't get it until closer to noon due the slow process they have. Once on the road we quickly found out how difficult it is to drive in spain without a really good quality map. The highway signs here have a ton of information on them. To the point where you have to slow down in order to read all your options. In obviously got lost a couple of time but we eventually made it to Montserrat.
Our chariot for the day...
The ideal path for today's adventure. Clearly this is not exactly how we did it :)...
Montserrat is a mountain top monastery in Catalonia, Spain. Situated atop an unusual rock mountain. The monastery is located at a height of 700m but the rock fromation exceed 1,224 meters (4, 000 feet). There are a couple of way to get up to the monastery, a train that hugs the side of the mountains (takes about 20 minutes to reach the top) or a cable car. We choose the train primarily cause we didn't know where the cable car station was. Once at the monastery there are a ton of things to do/read. The most interesting is to take the funicular to the top of the mountain.The ride is VERY steep but when you get there its beautiful. At the top you have three trail options, each in various lengths, degree of difficulty and change in elevation.
Lots of cool pics from Montserrat...
Lets start with a "ground" level of view of where were going.
Required pictures of the monestary... but let me honest the top of the mountain is where everyone really want to be.
Now for the cool pictures...
Picture of me taking the second picture.
Frank and I on two different peaks at the same time.
Another peak...
From Montserrat we are headed to Torres winery near Vilafranca. We made it to the very last tour (5pm). The tour starts out with a 15 minute video detailing the history of the vineyard. Then you enter a "smells of the seasons" tunnel, where they project a short video of 4 distinct seasons in spain. As the seasons appear they pump in different scents for each season. Pretty cool actually. Next up is a train/trolley around the complex, kinda dissapointing. Finally it ends with a wine tasting. In general the wines are good but nothing to write home about. Although my opinion on wine doesn't mean a whole considering how little I know about them. :)
Pics from Torres...
With the winery behind us, it is time to figure out a plan for dinner. Tonight we will be dinning in Sitges. As it turns out the 42nd Annual International Film Festival was going on. The restaurant for tonight is, El Jardin. Its an Argentinean steak house. My rib eye was fantastic and finally cook properly. BTW, for some reason steaks in Barcelona almost always come out RARE, so if you don't like your meat that way figure out how to say (steak temperature) in Spanish.
The trip home from Sitges was fairly uneventful from a driving perspective. Turned the car in and the day is over...
We picked up a rental car from Hertz in the mall next door. We were scheduled to pick up the car at 10 am but didn't get it until closer to noon due the slow process they have. Once on the road we quickly found out how difficult it is to drive in spain without a really good quality map. The highway signs here have a ton of information on them. To the point where you have to slow down in order to read all your options. In obviously got lost a couple of time but we eventually made it to Montserrat.
Our chariot for the day...
The ideal path for today's adventure. Clearly this is not exactly how we did it :)...
Montserrat is a mountain top monastery in Catalonia, Spain. Situated atop an unusual rock mountain. The monastery is located at a height of 700m but the rock fromation exceed 1,224 meters (4, 000 feet). There are a couple of way to get up to the monastery, a train that hugs the side of the mountains (takes about 20 minutes to reach the top) or a cable car. We choose the train primarily cause we didn't know where the cable car station was. Once at the monastery there are a ton of things to do/read. The most interesting is to take the funicular to the top of the mountain.The ride is VERY steep but when you get there its beautiful. At the top you have three trail options, each in various lengths, degree of difficulty and change in elevation.
Lots of cool pics from Montserrat...
Lets start with a "ground" level of view of where were going.
Required pictures of the monestary... but let me honest the top of the mountain is where everyone really want to be.
Now for the cool pictures...
Picture of me taking the second picture.
Frank and I on two different peaks at the same time.
Another peak...
From Montserrat we are headed to Torres winery near Vilafranca. We made it to the very last tour (5pm). The tour starts out with a 15 minute video detailing the history of the vineyard. Then you enter a "smells of the seasons" tunnel, where they project a short video of 4 distinct seasons in spain. As the seasons appear they pump in different scents for each season. Pretty cool actually. Next up is a train/trolley around the complex, kinda dissapointing. Finally it ends with a wine tasting. In general the wines are good but nothing to write home about. Although my opinion on wine doesn't mean a whole considering how little I know about them. :)
Pics from Torres...
With the winery behind us, it is time to figure out a plan for dinner. Tonight we will be dinning in Sitges. As it turns out the 42nd Annual International Film Festival was going on. The restaurant for tonight is, El Jardin. Its an Argentinean steak house. My rib eye was fantastic and finally cook properly. BTW, for some reason steaks in Barcelona almost always come out RARE, so if you don't like your meat that way figure out how to say (steak temperature) in Spanish.
The trip home from Sitges was fairly uneventful from a driving perspective. Turned the car in and the day is over...
Day 6 - Oh no... Allergies.
Tuesday 6 Oct 2009
So I woke up this morning with a fairly severe case of allergy symptoms. I guess the pollen outside yesterday was to much for me to handle. So not only did the day not start on time, its wasn't looking like much was going to get accomplished. I went downstairs to find a pharmacy, which luckily was right around the corner from our building, but that where my luck ended. The conversation with the pharmacist did not go well. At the end of it I came away with some small 10 mg pill for something. Lets hope its for my sinuses.
Probably not a good idea to take a random pill on an empty stomach. So we went to lunch in the city. I had lamb mixed with a dices vegetables and a beef kabob. All in all, not the best but it served its need. Frank's order wasn't the best either so we order a couple more items. This time my selection was the "spicy bomb". I didn't know what it was but it sounded interesting. This things turns out to be a little piece of heaven in a ball. So its ground beef, fried and then they put processed cheese whiz on top.
After lunch we walked around for a bit before I couldn't take it anymore and went home. :(
After lounging on the couch for a little bit, it was time to hang out on the beach. Every 1/4 mile on the beach there is a small out door restaurant which serves small apps and drinks. We spent some time at the one by our place.
Dinner was at an italian place several blocks from the condo. Food was excellent. I'll have to ask Frank the name of the place.
Tonight's sangria brought to you by...
So I woke up this morning with a fairly severe case of allergy symptoms. I guess the pollen outside yesterday was to much for me to handle. So not only did the day not start on time, its wasn't looking like much was going to get accomplished. I went downstairs to find a pharmacy, which luckily was right around the corner from our building, but that where my luck ended. The conversation with the pharmacist did not go well. At the end of it I came away with some small 10 mg pill for something. Lets hope its for my sinuses.
Probably not a good idea to take a random pill on an empty stomach. So we went to lunch in the city. I had lamb mixed with a dices vegetables and a beef kabob. All in all, not the best but it served its need. Frank's order wasn't the best either so we order a couple more items. This time my selection was the "spicy bomb". I didn't know what it was but it sounded interesting. This things turns out to be a little piece of heaven in a ball. So its ground beef, fried and then they put processed cheese whiz on top.
After lunch we walked around for a bit before I couldn't take it anymore and went home. :(
After lounging on the couch for a little bit, it was time to hang out on the beach. Every 1/4 mile on the beach there is a small out door restaurant which serves small apps and drinks. We spent some time at the one by our place.
Dinner was at an italian place several blocks from the condo. Food was excellent. I'll have to ask Frank the name of the place.
Tonight's sangria brought to you by...
Monday, October 5, 2009
Day 5 - Lots of culture :)
Monday 5 Oct 2009
To keep the pattern consistent day 5 started out a lot like day 3 (see below). Coffee and pastries at the shopping center next door. Followed by an ambitious sight seeing plan...
First, Temple de Sagrada Familia. Really not that impressive (in my opinion).
Next up Castell de Montjuic....
Oh my god, the castle is on a giant hill and my knees are 32 years old... Is there another way up? Cable car is my friend. :)
The fort is AWESOME!!!!
Next up, Museu Olimpic I del L'esport. Nothing exciting, just an old unused Olympic stadium.
In foot size, I'm pretty close to Jordan.... probably not.
Ok, time to get serious about culture. We are now headed to Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya.
I love this picture!
Finally lunch time...
Somewhere along the journey today I managed to get a grain of sand lodged in my eyeball (on the right of my retina). Not a pleasurable experience but when your having as much fun as I was LEARNING you can't let that stop you.
To keep the pattern consistent day 5 started out a lot like day 3 (see below). Coffee and pastries at the shopping center next door. Followed by an ambitious sight seeing plan...
First, Temple de Sagrada Familia. Really not that impressive (in my opinion).
Next up Castell de Montjuic....
Oh my god, the castle is on a giant hill and my knees are 32 years old... Is there another way up? Cable car is my friend. :)
The fort is AWESOME!!!!
Next up, Museu Olimpic I del L'esport. Nothing exciting, just an old unused Olympic stadium.
In foot size, I'm pretty close to Jordan.... probably not.
Ok, time to get serious about culture. We are now headed to Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya.
I love this picture!
Finally lunch time...
Somewhere along the journey today I managed to get a grain of sand lodged in my eyeball (on the right of my retina). Not a pleasurable experience but when your having as much fun as I was LEARNING you can't let that stop you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)