Thursday May 21, 2015

Monaco as seen from our cabin's balcony

Woke up this morning to cool (upper 50's), windy conditions. In short, perfect weather for ... a ... SUMMER SCARF! Fortunately, I had several from which to choose.

Set out in late morning for streets of Monaco. Had to tender in because of Formula One race which is being held this weekend I believe. The time trials were today and man oh man are those cars loud. Holy cow, we heard them from blocks away and up close the sound was positively deafening (it made the coffee in my Starbucks cup vibrate!).

A nice "South of France"-y looking building

Of course, we couldn't actually see any of the race cars because: a.) they were moving so fast they are just a blur and b) the only place we were able to see even a glimpse of them was in a little crack between two panels of a huge and very solid fence. Rudely, "they" have put up high, not-able-to-see-through fences every place (and I do mean every place) where anyone might conceivably have a view of the "track" without having paid for it. Mind you, the "track" in this case happens to be the streets of Monaco so I am not sure how appropriate it is for "they" -- the organizers of this private, for profit event -- to be blocking the view of public streets but as I am not an expert in the finer points of Monaco jurisprudence I thought I wouldn't make a fuss. (Sorry I have no photographs of the barriers as it did not occur to me to photograph them)

Oceanographic Institute

Russell was a little disappointed with Monaco but for me it was pretty much what I expected (that is, not much). Of course it's not really fair for us to judge because race week is not a normal, every day week for Monaco.

What it's all about in Monaco

Still in all, I didn't find much that I would need to come back for. The stores were so-so. The cathedral was attractive but not terribly old. We did not go into the palace itself but we did watch a mediocre changing of the guard that is as changing of the guards go (in other words it was not terribly impressive or well executed). There were some nice gardens along the Mediterranean coast and in general Monaco was both clean and prosperous appearing. It certainly felt safe enough as there were lots of policemen standing around doing nothing. They even had a police escort for a postal truck (undoubtedly filled with Royal Mail -- haha).

Cathedral where Princess Grace and Prince Rainier were married

Police escort for postal vehicle

I suspect that if the weather had been better our assessment of the pricipality would have been different. Unfortunately the bad weather is expected to continue for another couple of days. I hope the forecasters are wrong. It certainly doesn't feel like how I imagined spring in the Mediterranean would feel. But I learned a long time ago that just because you are on vacation does not mean that the weather's going to be good.

95€ T-shirt! (at Oceanographic Institute gift shop) 

Wednesday May 20, 2015

Oh what a difference a day can make, twenty four little hours. 

Yesterday stormy and bleak.

Today sunny and lovely (although quite windy). 

Did some shopping in Saint Tropez, including a box of macarons from Laduree.

St. Tropez harbor

Afternoon tour of Provençal villages. They were absolutely lovely. I will let the photos do most of the talking. 

Olive trees

Vineyard

Bought a pear and chocolate tart here

Our ship in the distance

Coffee and pain d'epices (spice cake) here

Boat ride back to ship was tumultuous. 

Monday May 18, 2015

Our ship is the one to the right -- kind of hard to see but it has a dark blue bottom

Today we visited Antoni Gaudi's Park Guell (pronounced Gway -- don't ask me).  Park Guell was started as an upscale planned community well outside the city. Gaudi was hired to design the public spaces for the housing development. The public response to the project was disappointing and eventually it was abandoned and the land was bought by the City of Barcelona and turned into a public park.

The park is now located well inside the city. The main focus of Gaudi's attention was an area now referred to as the "Monumental Zone". Access to this area is by timed admission only. It's definitely the first time I've ever bought a ticket for a timed admission to a public park.

Don't the supports look like trimmed artichoke bottoms?

Entrance to "Monumental Zone"

As you may have already guessed given the access procedure, the park was crowded -- to my surprise (I always think that I am the only clever one to uncover these "off the beaten path" locations and then when I get there and there are other people -- I am surprised. I don't know why I should be. I mean I found the place, why wouldn't other people find it too?).

Quite possibly most famous/well photographed mosaic lizard ever!

I enjoyed the park despite the scads of Asian visitors trying to take "selfies" (with or without "selfie sticks"). I am not sure that I needed to go badly enough to spend over forty euros (out and back) on a taxi plus seven euros each on admission plus -- the coup-de-grace -- three euros for a Diet Coke (truly a major rip-off but thankfully it was a 12 ounce can and not a teeny weenie 6 oz bottle -- never mind hoping for a 16 oz bottle -- I gave up on that two countries ago!) 

Looking down on entrance to the Monumental Zone.

In the afternoon we returned to the boat and did some needlepoint, exercised, and enjoyed the spa pool and steam room. Rough life, huh? Actually, it was just what the doctor ordered and probably there will be more of the same tomorrow.

The lizard's backdrop

We are due to leave port shortly (it's ten thirty p.m. as I write to you) and being in Barcelona was different today. I've already moved on in my brain. It was like being with that friend who has announced they are moving away in a month or working with someone who is going to leave for a new job in a couple of weeks. You don't want to invest any  more energy into the relationship and you've already started pulling back emotionally (I guess to minimize the pain of separation). Strange to think of doing that with a city but that is the way it felt to me today. I've pulled back and am ready to move on.

Our "selfie" (taken with a "selfie stick"). Hey, I never said I wasn't a hypocrite.

Sunday May 17, 2015

Well, we are back on board for cruise number two. And for all of you out there who bet that we wouldn't be able to do the inside cabin/no window thing you were right! We upgraded our room at the last minute and believe me I am not sorry that we did. Thirty three nights is a long time with no window and 168 sq ft. I had hoped that we could pull it off but as so often happens with me I overestimated myself. 

Better room. No we have not started drinking. The champagne went back.

As it turns out, the ship is rather tired (though you can't tell that from these photos). It's definitely in need of a make-over so I suspect that the smaller room on the lower floor would have been rather more depressing than I could handle. And, having a nice place to come home to is important to me. It will make the trip easier and anything that will make the trip easier is much appreciated.

Jugs at right are distilled water for C-PAP machine and nasal irrigation. You asked.

That's not to say we are not having a great time because we are! But it's work. I know "Cry me a river"! I get it -- believe me I do -- I am incredibly lucky to be doing this trip at all and I've absolutely no right to complain -- ever -- about anything. So, let's not consider this a complaint, let's just call it an observation. I am tired. R is tired. That's all. We are happy. Life is good. We just need a bit of a rest after our week in Barcelona running here and there, doing all sorts of fabulous things, having incredible experiences, not working, not taking care of children or pets or yards or or or -- look I told you I get it.

Potential needlepoint-ing spots

What can I say? I wish I was Rick Steves with no bags to check, a "make it happen" attitude and a desire to learn all the local languages but I am not. The phrase books sit unused, the luggage keeps adding up and mostly I am happy to just "watch it happen". As I said in an earlier post, I wish I was more spiritually advanced than I am. But as Popeye says "I am what I am" and for me accepting my limits is important to successful travel.

Our route

Saturday May 16, 2015

Another busy day. Up early and to the train station for a high speed train ride to Figures, the hometown of Salvador Dali. We visited the Dali Theater-Museum with our favorite guide, Jessica who earlier in the week guided us through the Picasso Museum and the Gothic Quarter. 

When we got to Figures the Tramontana wind was a-blowin. These dry, cold winds come down from the Pyrenees and race through this part of Spain. Dali blamed the wind for his perceived mental instability.

The museum is immediately recognizable as it includes a geodesic dome on the roof, a cornice of giant eggs and loafs of the local bread stuck to the outside walls.

Inside things only get stranger. There is a Cadillac with a smashed window that rains inside it when you insert money. 

There is a woman with a loaf of bread on her head and a giant pixelated image of Abraham Lincoln, lots of double images (paintings which illustrate two images simultaneously), many attempts to depict the "fourth dimension" and then, of course, the famous melting clock.

I am making fun which of course is easy to do because Dali is so outrageous but for those of you who think he is nothing but outrageousness here is an example of one of his more realistic paintings.

After the Dali museum it was back on the train for the trip to Girona. This lovely town is quite old and includes Roman artifacts, original city walls, Romanesque and Gothic churches as well as traditional narrow, cobbled "streets" (really alleyways).

Note the Pyrenees in the background 

Russell touching the original Roman walls

Today they were having their annual flower festival in Girona which meant that there were installations of flower art located throughout the town. Of course it also meant that the town was quite crowded but with locals not tourists (such as ourselves). 

Jessica, our guide, asked me what I thought about my visit to Spain and I am afraid I had nothing very profound to share with her. I have to say though that I am worried about this part of Spain. It has so much to offer and so many interesting things to see that I can certainly understand why there are so many visitors. But of course with visitors come problems as the tourist industry will and I suspect already is gradually suffocating other businesses.  The tension is beginning to show. Yesterday at the food market we visited I went to take a photo of a display of chickens that were plucked but still had their heads on, something that I had never seen before. I was told "No photos" by the brusque vendor and walked off wondering to myself why no photos. Our cooking teacher later explained that some of the the vendors in the market don't like the tourists because all they want to do is snap pictures and clog the aisles making life difficult for their regular customers. Of course I can see their point but I also know that this market is truly something special and from a tourist's perspective well worth seeing. It is also located twenty five paces off the main tourist drag, The Ramblas. So what to do? Fortunately, it appears that the locals have not yet abandoned this market despite the number of tourists but how long can that be expected to continue? I guess the most profound thought that I've had with regards to this visit to Barcelona is one that occurred to me fairly early on in our visit and that is: "Is Barcelona being loved to death?" I don't have the answer and I suspect that Barcelona will not be the only place about which I ask that question this summer.

Friday May 15, 2015

Such a lot to tell you about today. We had a wonderful day at Cook & Taste. Davide was our guide/teacher and he took us on a tour of La Boqueria market. Let me tell you this was the market to end all markets. The produce was like artwork -- I mean absolutely gorgeous. And the fish! My Goodness what fish -- stuff I have never seen before. Halfway through the market I turned to Russell and said "This place makes me think I don't know anything about food!"

After purchasing the food for our lunch, the group (2 couples from Australia and two people from Pennsylvania plus ourselves) returned to the cooking school and spent the next three and a half hours cooking and eating. 

We made some antipasto and a cold soup of tomatoes with bread softened in vinegar. It was garnished with Iberico ham, hard boiled egg and onion sprouts. Delicious. Second course was flatbread with sautéed spinach, pine nuts, raisins and salt cod. Also delicious. Our main course was, of course, paella and for desert we had Crema Catalonia (similar to Creme Brûlée). It was a great experience and a good value too.

After our cooking lesson we went to Palau Guell, an early Gaudi building. It was a high-end residence in which Gaudi used many of the techniques and ideas that he would later become famous for most notably mosaic tile work and "crazy" chimney treatments. It was not our favorite Gaudi building but it was interesting and well worth the visit.

Looking up at spectacular ceiling in main room

Dinner tonight was on our own and we chose ... wait for it ... hamburgers. To be fair, they were from a local place and 100% organic. Still it was a far cry from last night's dinner at El Glop. This not so attractively named restaurant was friendly and the food was tasty. We had fried artichokes and ham followed by black rice paella (made with squid ink) and grilled meat. It was quite good and we enjoyed getting to know our tapas' tour guide Claire and her friend Mery (not a spelling error). 

Claire & me with Black Rice Paella 

Earlier in the day (yesterday) we visited Casa Mila which is also known as La Pedrera (the Rock Quarry). I am sure you've seen pictures of this wavy concrete building. The most remarkable feature of the building is its roof which is quite striking -- full of decorated chimneys some of which look like helmeted warriors.

Casa Mila -- they call it a "Casa" but it is really an apartement building

Before La Pedrera we spent several hours touring the Joan (pronounced Zho-Ahn) Miro museum and the Museum of Catalonian Art. We had an excellent guide named Bernat and he explained to us the Miro art and made sure that we didn't miss the best of the Modern Art section of the huge Catalonian art museum. It was a lot of walking so by the end of the day, well obviously I was too tired to write.

On a totally unrelated note, can we talk for a minute about how painful it is to be surrounded by great stuff to buy and not be able to buy it because you have no room in your luggage? (And this is after we went out and bought an emergency fourth suitcase!). It's almost as painful as tons of bookstores with no books in your language! Or huge, beautiful food markets and no cooking facilities. Why it's downright cruel.

At the museum gift shop -- frustrated!

Seriously though I can't believe our time in Barcelona will soon be coming to an end. Two more nights at the hotel and then two nights on the ship in port here and then no more Barcelona for us. We've really enjoyed ourselves here. Russell has said on several occasions that you need a month to explore all that this city has to offer and I am inclined to agree with him.