Wednesday....Back Home

Glad to be back in my own bed again.  That trip home was a long one...we knew before hand that the day would start early and end late.  There were no disappointments in that regard.

The main ped-mall area in Barcelona...The Rambla.

The Arch 'd Triomphe in Barcelona.

 

Olympic Stadium in Barcelona

 

Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona.

 

 

 

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

 

 

Guell Park in Barcelona.

 

 

Main downtown plaza Bordeaux.

 

 

Winery in Saint Emilion.

 

 

Saint Emilion valley of vineyards.

 

 

Atlantic Ocean near Bordeaux...from Dune de Payat.

 

 

Last bike ride shot of downtown Bordeaux from across the river.

 

More commentary later.

 

BCOT

Monday in Bordeaux

This is our last full day of our trip. No big plans. I have a final ride to complete this AM, and we'll be doing a wine-tasting at a near-by, downtown shop that we stopped at earlier in our visit. And we'll need to get most of our packing done tonight as we will have to leave relatively early in the morning to get to the airport in plenty of time.




This map gives you the picture of where we were yesterday. It was about an hour drive from Bordeaux city centre to the state park where the big sand dune is located. It was a busy place. From th top of the dune, you can see the coast line of the bay and waves coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. Very cool.




After 20-30 minutes on the dune, I suited up and rode for around 2 hours on some hard-surface bike paths within the park. Much of the ride was in forested areas with little traffic. Not the most scenic track after a while, but it was great to get out of the city and away from the traffic lights.




Just to be clear, I DID NOT wear the hat while on my ride!




Once back in the city, we spent more time walking the downtown area, with wine at a couple of spots. It gets a little cool in the evening and there is usually a breeze coming off the river, so we ate inside at the restaurant that we chose rather than at the sidewalk tables. Scallops for moi, steak for 2, and duck(!) for 4. I think we are all anxious to get back to our regular meal plans in the U.S. of A.












So that's the update. I'll maybe get something done tonight, but look for news first on Twitter as we get through these last elements of our European Vacation 2015.
BCOT
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Sunday...in Bordeaux

Sunday morning here in wine country. Friday and Saturday just flew by. The combination of a foreign country, the time change, and the constant living out of a suitcase makes the days hard to manage. You're up, you grab a coffee, do a couple things, then it's dinner, and before you know it, it's bedtime.

2 did a great job of selecting our hotel here in Bordeaux. We are located right in the middle of downtown, within walking distance of everything. The room is a bit cozy for three, but the bathroom is of a nice size (the bath/shower being a small challenge to keep shower nozzle water in the tub!)
We're on the top/5th floor...which is actually the 7th floor in American-speak...given their numbering system of 0 for the ground floor...and a mezzanine floor that is a full floor as well. Whatever.

Friday was spent with a day-trip to the wine village of Saint Emilion, a one-way drive of about an hour. Google Maps got us there and back with no problem...other than the Friday afternoon rush hour mess in downtown Bordeaux upon our return. Saint Emilion is Sonoma on steroids. There really isn't ANYTHING in the area other than vineyards and chateau's displaying/processing/selling wine.


The village is very old, dense and heavily tourist-organized. We took the tourist-tram for an hour-long tour...including a tasting at one of the vineyards.



Saturday we wandered around downtown Bordeaux. This included a tour of their Beaux Arts Museum. I had expected a bigger collection, and slightly more modern. But it had a distinct regional interest, and gave a bit of the back of the hand to the Expressionists. (If you enlarge this one, you can see that they did get up a shot of the last moments of Cecil the Lion....kidding!)


After lunch yesterday, I made my standard European trip visit to the laundry. This is not something that I should ever be allowed to do on my own. After having an RCL all these years, the wash that I do on my own, in my own house has few moving parts. Here, the instructions are in a foreign language, the equipment is strange, and I have no shot on my own.


In the end, there was some washing and drying done, but it was work.





Ok. The girls are ready to take off on our day trip the the ocean. More later.

BCOT


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Wednesday - Transition Day

Departure day from Barcelona went pretty much according to plan. Got the car ok. Got outta town kinda ok. Got to Castres, France as planned. Parking once we got here? Meh.

We're staying at a nice, older hotel in the old part of town. Nice room.
I did finally get into the country for a good bike ride before dinner.








Dinñer was at a small, very French restaurant. Good wine. Good food. 2 called it a Top Ten meal. I'm maybe a little off that high of praise, but it was an excellent experience.








Bed now. Meeting 4 in 12 hours or so! She's now off to JFK...for Paris. She connects from there in the morning to Bordeaux. 2 and I leave here early in the AM to get to the Bordeaux airport for the pick-up!!! Oh, the moving parts!

Great trip.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT

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Tuesday in Barcelona - Part Ii

Ok. I don't even know what happened there. Maybe Blog Press said, "Enough is enough! Go to bed!" Regardless, I couldn't see what I was writing on my screen. Ergo..Part II.

After the tax refund strike-out, we stopped in at the big open-air market that is just off the main pedestrian mall in the center of town. Meats, fish, vegetables...you name it. Think Etaly on steroids. We actually got there a little late as some of the booths were shutting down for the day. The only things were bought we cups of some fruit. The grapes are not seedless.








We had two more stops on the schedule. The main cathedral...which was Pillars of the Earth quality, and the Picasso Museum...which I found very interesting.

















More on both of these stops at a later time.

We enjoyed a nice bottle of wine at a small place while we waited for our ticket-time at the Picasso Museum.






Now back at the hotel and ready for bed. Tomorrow is the transition day. Pick up the rental car, load up, and head to Castres, France. We'll keep the Twitterverse updated with our progress. We are anxious to meet up with @kchar24.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT


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Tuesday in Barcelona

So today was a REALLY BIG DAY for us, our last full one here in Espana. Pardon me if I come off too travelogue-ish, but there was a lot on the agenda today...and it mostly all got done. Which is a good thing, yes?

I started out with a short bike ride down to the beach, along the paths there, and then back to the hotel. Sunrise was not officially until 0738, so I was reluctant to be out before 0730. This shortened up my window for riding as we had 1030 tickets for the park we wanted to tour. Anyway, it was not a bad little ride...and the beachfront is much less hectic at that hour.




Lots of runners, a few cyclists, and your standard dog-walkers and such. The streets are very busy at that hour, of course, so I had to keep very attentive to all the traffic on the way to and return from the pseudo-Boardwalk. (I gave up fighting this software to uncapitalize boardwalk.)

After my return to the hotel and cleaning up, we took off for the subway and our venture to Parc Guell. This is another Gaudi site, which was originally conceived as a housing development. Unfortunately, there were not enough takers, and the city eventually re-established it as a park.




Gaudi was a little ahead of his time as a developer. A bunch of real estate guys learned the same lesson in 2007-2009. Just because you build it, there is no guarantee that buyers will be there to swoop-up your vision. In any event, the city has now capitalized on the tourist trade and there is literally a waiting line to view the property.

From the park, we took the subway back downtown and stopped at the bike shop to pick up the shipping box that I will need next week to bring the bike back to the states. The store was very accommodating and we walked out with the box as requested...no charge. This was a HUGELY easier effort than what 4 and I went through in 2013 when we brought bikes back from that trip. The next step will be getting the bike and box conveniently(?) in the car tomorrow.

Our next small adventure was to find the office that is supposed to refund the value-added tax that I paid on the bike. (Around $130 U.S.) we actually got to the right place, but were turned away. Their system was down...why wouldn't it be?, but I got the impression that they weren't going to fork over my change regardless. The next attempt on this effort will be at the Bordeaux airport when we actually depart for home.

The Over/Under bet for the return of this tax money is definitely the Under.
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Monday in Barcelona

So I'm not able to control the proportions in the main page of the blog. I make entries with the app BlogPress, but to change the layout pic for the home page, I go to Blogger. Seems like the Home Page pic selected on Blogger impacts the size of the print for the actual entries. Not gonna be solving that issue tonight.

I selected an online pic of the cathedral that we visited today as the new Home Page pic. The church was designed by this guy Gaudi whom 2 studied in college. Calling it a church or even a cathedral is a bit of an understatement. A master piece of architectural art may be more apt. It may be the single largest tourist attraction in all of Espana. We originally planned to see it yesterday, but found, when we got there that we needed advance-tickets to get in. Which 2 then did online when we got back to the hotel.





There are books written about this place so I won't even attempt to describe it. Check out anything named Sagrada Familia and you will get all you want to know. Suffice it to say, it is on a grand scale...and not projected to be done for another 10 years. Both 2 and I would take the Over if there was a bet on a completion date. Any date. Take the Over.





We had planned to take a tour of another local Gaudi site, Guell Parc, but got there to again find out that advance-tickets were required. So tomorrow's schedule has been adjusted to go there first. This is a place that is higher up the hillside above town with good views of the city and the Med.

It is worth noting that we have used the subway several times now. There are several lines...Barcelona is a BIG city...but 2 has read the maps, figured out our location via-a-bis where we need to go, and we have been successful thus far getting to the right spots. Not our first rodeo, eh? (Thank you NYC!!)



A few other miscellaneous observations:

1. Lots of motorbikes in town. All over the place.
2. There was a Starbucks in the block before the cathedral.
3. Subway system is pretty clean. An occasional musician playing for tips.
4. Google Maps is right on. (If you think you're below radar, you're nuts.)
5. Have seen no social protests going on of any sort. Where's OWS?
6. The world needs to ban selfie sticks. Really.
7. Have had phone calls from my pals Roy and Cal. Clear as a bell.
8. Even thought that cathedral is a construction zone, I was nicely reminded by the staff to remove my hat. Twice. Once in the below ground level crypt.
9. Coca Cole is universal.
10. The people are pretty nice. Classic pay-it-forward moment in the subway: 2 has had her card go through the slot but the bar doesn't release. A girl in the next line tells her, "It's the other one", meaning the next over passage. Very cool.

Ok. Big day tomorrow. Hope to do an early ride, then we do that park, the Picasso museum, another tourist walk area, and make.ans for our Wednesday AM departure.

Thanks for reading. Adios for today.

BCOT









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Sunday in Barcelona

I'm starting this while 2 is taking a tour of a Gaudi building here in central Barclona. It's an economic thing...21.50e a pop...I'm ok saving my fee for the wine later. This is a shot looking straight up from the front sidewalk. Whatever. I like my art, just not quite as much as my travel partner. 😀




Some details from the trip this far:

1. The flight over was relatively painless. Two hours too long for me. A Delta agent at JFK took care of us by getting us re-assigned seats across an aisle Tom each other.
2. There was a little stress at baggage claim as my bag came out first and we had to wait several minutes for 2's to appear. Baggage making it is always a good result.
3. We cabbed-it to our hotel, which was the good choice. Less than 30e with tip, and left off at the door to the hotel.
4. Our room is VERY basic, but it works. I'm not saying that it rivals the Vanderbilt YMCA, but you get the idea. Our own bathroom with nice shower does breakdown the comparison. The hotel is on a not-too-busy street within walking distance of many sights.
5. The bike shop was also within walking distance, and was in reality what was shown on the webpage...and true to the TripAdvisor comments. The sales guy spoke passable English. The purchase of the Trek was done inside of 30 minutes. A very good outcome.
6. The hotel has free wifi...that works fine.
7. Our first evening, we walked down the Rambla, a street made into a pedestrian walkway, to check out the prime gathering spot in town, and grabbed dinner at a sidewalk cafe.
8. We took the subway to the near-beach downtown last night. No probs.
9. The double-decker bus tour was the order of the day for today. Saw lots of the town. You could get on and off at your choice...which we did.
10. The town is hoppin' with people. Their celebration, Merce something, is a big deal.
11. No problem with language. As with prior trips, the people behind the counters at the hotels and restaurants can manage the Americans pretty well.
12. The costs of things hasn't been bad.

Now back at the hotel. Sitting in this open air salon.


The cycling in town has been so-so. They have a lot of bike lanes, but you have to deal with the red-lights. I had in mind to get out of the city this AM, but I lost the direction. We still deal with the absence of street signs in Europe. The primary location for signs is the second story of buildings...at intersections. Not only do I struggle with making out the signs, but here, the intersections are actually octagons as the buildings at the end of blocks are chopped-off to create a wider area. So the street sign isn't at the end of the street, but maybe 20 paces from the end. Very annoying.



Also, the ground floor of buildings is not the 1st floor. Think of it as the "0" floor. Walk up to the next floor to get to the 1st floor. Whatever.

The pro soccer team which is heavily promoted in town is sponsored by Qatar Airlines. All the pics on buildings would give the uninformed (me and 2) the impression that the local team was the Qatar Airlines team, not Barcelona. Just sayin'.

So that's about all from Espana. We're doin' ok.

BCOT




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Saturday

 

 

 

Figge stars!!

Friday

Not to get too nationalistic as to rankle my less-hawkish readers, but I've put up this iconic pic from 2001 as an expression of my love of country.

I'm proud to be an American, and proud to profess that feeling to all.

I am so tired of reading the accounts of people in responsible positions...educators, politicians, media shills, and socially-conscious disrupters of every persuasion...who choose to denigrate or diminish the actions of the brave men and women of all generations, in uniform or not, who have stood sentinel, throughout our history...and today...to protect the very freedoms that allow for dissent and debate.

On an annual anniversary that seems to continue to generate numerous perspectives, this USAF veteran chooses to stand at parade-rest with the Marines to honor the fallen...and the survivors.  OOH- RAH.

BCOT

Tuesday...more Pics