Heineho!

I'm looking out over the Bay of Banderas in Jalisco, Mexico. Having finished my SketchUp homework for the day, I'm going to do some blog catch-up before subjecting my husband to more episodes from Season 4 Battlestar Galactica. The religious hoo-ha makes him rant a bit. But I'm determined to finish the series out...three years late.

SO! Back to Prague. To NOT visit the castle seemed absurd, so I checked the metro map and our teeny guidebook and we decided to go one stop past the castle and walk downhill. The throbbing tourist hordes were intimidating. The Prague metro was cool, but very subtle in its signage. I'm not sure I would have known where the entrances were if I hadn't stumbled into one by accident.

ALSO! One of the themes of our time in Europe has been Las Obras, street construction. We exited from our station, and followed folks up the escalators and out the doors to...6ft high plywood walls leading you through a major construction site. So we followed the crowd, and eventually came out on a sidewalk. The sky was hazy with humidity, and we were thoroughly turned around. But off we went! To the Castle! More accurately, OFF THE MAP! Things got tense as it became clear that we had wandered into the embassy district, and/or the military slash rich person enclave district. The armed guards, cars with tinted glass and flags, and barbed wire+camera combos gave it away, really. Oops. Castles we found, but not the medieval variety. Here is a street sign from our sweaty wander. Google Map it. That's right. We got some exercise and sweated off our Heineho's.

A very nice lady at a commuter train station and I had one of those German/Czech/English patois conversations that conveyed successfully to her that a) we had no idea where we were b)we didn't want to be where we were and c) we had no idea how to get to the castle. She literally walked us up a hill, across the street, and plunked us in front of a bus stop and told us to get on it. So we did, bless her. And it took us right back to where we started, but on the OTHER side of the construction. Las Obras! We then found our way to the moat, and the gardens, and the castle, and eventually back into the delicious bosom of the Cafe Gran Orient for a well earned meal. Whew!




The view from the castle wall facing the River was wonderful. I could see a massive sculpture wall on an interior courtyard, but couldn't see how to get there. If anyone knows what it is or when/why it was completed, I would love to know.



The rest of the evening was spent window shopping and admiring the decorative art of Prague, before retiring to our hotel for some vodka + strange television. We fly back to Barcelona in the morning.
OH! and a P.S. -- The Prague Garbage Men wear amazing coveralls in U. of Miami colors. We tried to find some for Sean and various members of the Miami expats, but to no avail.

Praha - Prague

OH THE HEAT!

Sean and I hadn't actually figured out our route home from Oslo when we left Barcelona. It just didn't seem as important as getting to Oslo. Which we did. So, found this airline, Wizz Air (I know, I know), that would fly from Oslo->(Prague or Gdansk)->Barcelona. We opted for Prague.

The heat and the mad crush of tourists were a foreshadowing of what awaited us back in Barcelona, we just didn't know it yet. Prague as a city is ridiculously beautiful. The curving Vltava River, bridges galore, beautiful architecture and winding streets with a Castle to boot. We bought a pocket guide in the airport on our way out of Norway, and read it on the flight there. Well, I did. It did one major thing - led us to the Cubist Cafe where we had wildly delicious food on a balcony above the throngs, and in a relatively smoke-free atmosphere. After the blandness of Spanish food, the horseradish and mustard felt heaven-sent.



The Art Nouveau decorative action on the buildings in Prague is stunning. Truly beautiful. The fact that it has survived all the Wars, has been maintained and preserved is also stunning. It made walking safely a challenge. Mostly for Sean because I kept stopping without warning or stumbling into him. Patient man.




The Vltava River was bustling, and we enjoyed the Charles bridge...from a distance, and really enjoyed strolling along it at night.



The history of Prague has intrigued me for a long time, mostly because of the very deep history in Physics associated with the city. It also has an incredibly rich (and sad) Jewish history. One very hot day I visited the cemetery solo, and several of the synagogues in the old Jewish quarter. The grave of Rabbi Lowe was very moving.

Note the depth of the cemetery; street level versus the surface inside the cemetery. Sobering.



Our epic trip to the Castle will be the next post. OH TOURIST MAPS!

Side-trip to the midnight sun! (and then some...)

Sean and I had been dithering about whether or not to take up the offer of a visit north to see Geir & Karl for awhile. Lots of reasons to stay put, lots of reasons to go. In the end, we chose the path of YES, and set about finding our route North. We had dithered a bit too long for Ryan Air (sold out) and other vendors, but we were UNDAUNTED. We found tickets on Norwegian Air which got us from Barcelona to Oslo, but had no tickets or real plan on how we would get home. But we knew when we needed to leave Oslo. Sounded good. So off we went! We even got to depart from Gate 42.


Oslo is beautiful. And very very expensive-if you aren't Norwegian. Their wages and social system kind of rule, but if you aren't getting the bennies, the sticker shock is pretty fierce. And the sky! Amazing. Clouds, blue, everything lit at crazy beautiful angles AND BRIGHT ALL THE TIME. I've never experienced or seen anything like it. It put me in a sort of euphoric exhaustion. I've spent two months in Spain and my first sunburn was in freaking Oslo.
For example, here is the skylight over our bed at 4am:

And here is the same skylight at 2pm:

The apartment which contains that skylight belongs to my brother's truly superlatively wonderful boyfriend Geir. They were both pretty wiped from hosting my sister and her co-worker just days before our arrival, but it was still nice to see them!


(it is now August, and I'm finally posting this and trying to catch up...we are currently in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, watching iguanas.)

More pictures from Oslo below, starting with the Opera House. Geir gave us a tremendously interesting tour. I brought my Holga.



Karl, Geir and I hit the Vigeland Sculpture Park during a summer storm while Sean worked from the flat. It was epic, grand, inspiring, and full of the most impressive trees I've seen in a very long time.




We also had the pleasure of a trip to Lillestrom for Papa Haraldseth's birthday! Such a delicious spread of food we hadn't seen in a looong time. Little did we know we were in for a repeat gourmet lunch at the botanical garden the next day. Norwegians know how to do summer. And it involves lots of berries, shrimp, and chocolate. No complaints here.




Picnic in the Botanical Garden with Karl's host sisters from his Rotary Exchange years. They were crazy generous, delightful and interesting!


We ended up with an extra day due to budget airline shenanigans, and so rode the ferry over to Bygdoy and wandered the museums for a day, with a goodbye dinner on the water with Karl & Geir. Highly recommend making the effort. If you are into Vikings and Polar ships, that is. Which we are. Next up, Prague!!

Day Trip to Montserrat

Sean has to rock out the tech-ness on Mondays, so after a brief repast back at the casa, I hopped on the train to Montserrat to see what I could see. I was much more interested in the actual MOUNTAIN than the Basilica, and as my time was limited, that's what I did. I rode the Aeri up, and the Cremellaria (train) down. I was wonderfully lucky to have the Aeri gondola all to myself and could hang out the window like a dog, sniffing the air. I ran into 3 wonderful Dutch women who pointed me to a trail that was 'off the beaten' path, and got some wonderful views in my 3 hour time frame. I would love to think I'll get back there again before we leave Europe. It was so wonderful to be clamboring up a canyon with wrens singing and the wind whipping around. The plant life was fascinating, the views heady indeed. Getting that sweaty felt good too. The journey is a whole different post. Oy. Here are a few images from the mountain. Apparently Montserrat was the only church which continued to hold Mass in Catalan throughout Franco's Reign. It has become a symbol of national pride almost separate from it's religious importance. All my language teachers have a family story about Montserrat -- I'm thrilled I made it up, at least once.

Busy Days! Many Friends!

June opened with a bang! Our pal Annie and Jackie were both in town for Primavera Sound, a big lovely packed-with-goodness rock festival. Sean and I got tickets for Friday and Saturday, and rolled out with Jackie to catch as much ROCK as possible. By the sea. In warm weather. One of the highlights was seeing a hometown band, Thee Oh Sees, so warmly received and playing in front of throngs of extremely pleased fans. We heard lots of new bands (to us) and some old favorites. It was a real treat to have the time to get all 'festy'.Yay!!




Our pal Annie stayed on a few extra days with us, and we packed in lots of exploring and eating, to be sure. We even hit a flamenco show at the Poble Espanyol. June 3rd was our one year wedding anniversary, and Sean & I took the day off language classes and headed to the beach at Sitges for some relaxation, waves, and delicious food. All of it was world class wonderful. We got celebratory cocktails pre-dinner at a very funny tiki bar called Pay-Pay. Sean's drink had a live sparkler in it. woot! The restaurant was a recommendation (thank you, thank you) passed on by Annie - Alfresco.




The next day my awesome brother Karl and his boyfriend Geir flew in from Oslo for a long weekend in Barcelona, overlapping Geir's birthday on the 8th! It was such good fun to have them here with us, and to get more quality time with Geir. We all rolled to the Joan Miro museum up on Montjuic followed by sunset cocktails at Miramar, and one day Karl & Sean had a beach adventure while Geir and I hit the MACBA and the Tapies museum (which had a surprise Eva Hesse exhibit!)and then regrouped for dinner and drinks. Monday Karl, Geir, and I had a Gaudi fiesta while Sean worked - Sagrada Familia, followed by excellent dinner at Flash Flash! On the 8th, Geir's Birthday, we rolled back to Sitges for a day of rest and play, and then home to BCN for delicious Nikkei food in the Born. We even threw a little party one night so that the other travelers in town (Tiffani, Jason, Claire, and her cousin Anita) could meet the Handsomes. Busy Days, Happy Days.





(there will more pictures up on flickr soon, I swear).

Tiffani and Jason, dear friends from SF, were also in town during this time, and we got to see them for foodz and drinks and it was an utter joy. I didn't take that many pictures, unfortunately. Claire, another SF friend, had a flat in the Born, and she and I had some excellent days before she left town on the 10th. Those pictures will go up soon. Casa Batllo and the Temple on Tibidabo and meeting her wonderful Catalan friend Frank and his family being big highlights -- but the main thrill was just time with a friend in a beautiful city to talk and roam. And drink lots and lots of Cava. Ha!

more soon - but there's the outline of what we've been up to...