Barcelona

We decided to go to Barcelona for some nice weather, and to celebrate Toolmans birthday.

We booked accommodation, and some flights with Transavia. Unfortunatley, Transavias' pilots union threatened to strike on the very day we were leaving - arg! Thankfully their threat wasn't followed through, and so our plane still flew. We got in late evening and caught a bus to the hotel.

We were staying close to the Arc de Triumpf.

It bears a resemblance to its French counterpart, although we don't know the exact connection. They could be completely separate arcs of triumph.

The accompanying court sports some novel lamp posts. We decided to head down to the beach, which lines the east side of Barcelona city.

The city also has many homeless cats that are part wild, part domestic. We went and checked out the beach - dipped our toes but no swim this time. Instead we had a new plan:

Hire a weird scooter/trike combo! This is basically a 125cc scooter with 2 front wheels and a fibreglass shell that seats 2.

It (she) sits low to the ground and still has the scooter handlebars and controls - no (gas/brake) pedals. Even better, she has a GPS system that guides you around the city by speaking - she is quite funny at times!

There is no screen, just spoken directions: she told us when and where to turn, and what we should notice. A screen would have been nice, but expensive and a target for thieves when its parked up.



This is a mega kitty sculpture.

This is la Ramblas, a famous pedestrian Boulevard full of locals and tourists around visiting the performers and markets.

We drove up the hill and around the area where the Olympic games were held. The 50cc engine got us up the hill - just.

The Olympic stadium and facilities are still there, and in use.

Here is a view over the city of Barcelona.

With such a spectacular view, there are lots of ways to get up the hill. Cars, buses, 3 wheel scooter ans of course gondolas!



This is a fort/castle? that looks over Barcelona, and out over the medeteranian ocean.



The entrance over the moat.



This is a 4 shot vista from left to right:



We were given a beautiful day!

An amazing skyline and an impressive dockyard.

The port and industrial area.

Us soaking in the sun. We headed back to the scooter and went down to visit the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia.



This is the front facade, which is generally complete, but the rest of the temple is still being built. Antoni Gaudí is the original designer who spent 40+ years of his life on the project.



They started construction in 1882, and after a long pause, construction is back on. On the topic of the slow progress, Gaudi is said to have made the comment "My client is not in a hurry".

Its construction is planned to be completed in 2026.

The frontage is very finely decorated.

Once construction is complete, it will be even more impressive.

We continued out tour around the city, eventually getting to a series of narrow streets. One street that was on the path was closed for some festival. We had no choice but to go around and try and re find the trail - remember, no screen on the GPS! We drove around the city, and eventually rediscovered the trail.

With our tour finished, we returned the car and headed back to the hotel, and planned our next day - a trip out of the city.

Before boarding the train, we had a quick look around this impressive building.

We decided to visit to Montserrat, a mountain about an hour out of Barcelona.



We get out of the train, and there is this amazing mountain in front of us:



It is amazingly steep. Mountserrat is named literally, in English it would be Serrated mountain.

The rack railway track can be seen running thru the middle here. We got tickets for the Montserrat Rack Railway

The incline is reasonably steep; around 15 degrees for most of it.

Looking back down the tracks.

By the time we reached the top, the view was spectacular!

These buidings are built next to the the most amazing dropoffs.



Notice the walking track down? Steep...



This is the public square on the left, surrounded by the hotel, and the church center and to the right.

The rocks are huge and imposing over the public square..



This angular guard with an inverted face stands guard.

This is the Church; it has its own interior courtyard.

The interior courtyard.

We walked around the top paths to get some space and quiet.

Princess surveys the view.

Say cheese?

The formations vertical scale was impressive.

After a few hours of walking around up there, we made our way back down to the train to Barcelona.


The next morning, we headed to get some proper beach-time.

Down at the beach it was busy! We looked for a spot and parked up for some sun and relaxation. Toolman read eBooks on his iPhone :)

We haven't been in the sea since Mue Ni in Vietnam, so it was amazing to relax in the sun, take a dip in the Mediterranean and chill out.

Barcelona is a fun and vibrant city. We spent the evening walking around.

This is a column with Columbus standing on top, though he is clipped off.

Barcelona has some interesting buildings

St Moritz

pizza

Innsbruck

Lost sue?

Marksy

It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and I got up early to prepare for our pal Marksy to come stay. I found a single mattress stuffed in one of the communal closets. I pulled it out, and headed off to the train station.

Took a tram to Centraal and hung around to meet up. Eventually found him and took him back home. We dropped his gears off at the Van Eeghenstraat pad and then us 2 lads went for a look around town.



This is the Iguana park. "Hello Colin !?!". These brass statues look very real, especially on a grey day - I've done double-takes on the ma few times. We walked around the shops and then headed back to the pad to prepare for some drinks and food out.

We met up with the Dutch and went to a classic Dutch pub (whose name I dont know). We all tried the local favourite, Amster beer, talked some, sank a few more, talshkd, drinkded, tshalked then ...

then headed down to the cheap Italian pizza! We said goodbye to the Dutch after dinner and had a wander around the red light district. Yes, its actually pretty un-seedy. There are red lit windows and pretty girls in undies. You can wander around and window shop (so to speak). Not really our scene, but novel to wander around and observe.

Sunday we decided to try a few local foods, including some not-very-nice ones. His face says it all...



We all went for a Sunday walk thru the Vondelpark and saw all manner of doggies on their outings. Lots of great doggy-spotting in the park. I read a news article noting that the council here allow sex in Vondelpark; but dogs must be kept on a leash. Make of it what you will.

Mark felt a little ill that afternoon, so we let him rest and have a shower (ask him how he felt). We all had a lazy afternoon watching crap TV - you know, that reality TV that keeps on repeating the same clips over and over. Its like being in a infinite loop sometimes!

For the whole week, I had to go to work :( . Marksy and Princess spent the week together, looking around and taking pictures. You can read his blog post here (http://www.mechanicalmarksy.com/?p=500) and see his neat-o pictures. Some of them are quite pretty!



There is lots of junk food options here, so we sampled lots of new things. One nice treat we found was these "Fatty-Boom-Batty" cakes that are awesome. I don't know their names, but MMmmMmmmmm! We ended up drinking and nerding most nights. Lucky we had 3 laptops!



One night we went for a walk through town past this building I spotted cycling by a few weeks ago. Its all blue-lit and it looks like its hollow. We spent the 4 euro to get into the Sex Museum, and looked at all the weird and wonderful variety in sexual expression thought the ages. Plus its fun to point and giggle..



I know Mark found it amusing.

So yes, lots of computing - its much better then conversation and all that kind of thing. Why talk when we can just instant message? Or skype?



Another geek glamor shot.



This is a nice pic of Marksy checking the street below. Unfortunately he might be smoking a cigarette - thats naughty! I hear that he has given up now - hope so.



I usually take one cigarette out of his pack, out it down my pants and wiggle around a bit. Then I slip it back into the pack and give it a shake. Instant dis-incentive. I think that deep down he appreciates it even if he does get grumpy on the outside. Marksy took some nice pictures around town; check this one out:



...and in the window...



Yes, its as bad as you think it would be. But seriously, some of his pictures are very pretty.



Amsterdam has a style best summed up by my cousin, Scott:

lol, gingerbread houses!

We planned on hiring a bike for Marksy, but while we were looking for a rental shop we stumbeld across some people racing up and down the canal in bathtubs! it looked like a charity event, and looked cold!



I never found any information on why they were doing it, but I'm sure it was something very scouting-like. We got Marksy a bike and took a bike ride around a few local parks in Amsterdam: Vondelpark and Rembrantspark.



We pulled some skids and chirped a wheelie here and there. My bike survived a few bunny-hops and a jump over a ramp. I wasn't confident, but the bike has proven very solid so far.



There is a video that I'll be putting up on youTube soon with us doing some ace skids. Stay tuned. Was awesome fun to have Marksy stay - we had all manner of shennanagins!

Back in Aotearoa

So maybe some of you are wondering what we have been up to?

Well the full blog posts of our recent exploits are on their way, but in the mean time heres the executive summary.

We had Xmas with Sue in Amsterdam, then flew to Geneva for New Years. We traveled with her through Switzerland, taking the glacier express through the Alps covered in foot deep snow. Continued through to Innsbruck in Austria and said goobye to Sue - she traveled onward to Thailand to trek into the hills!

We continued through to Salzburg, and then south to Venice in Italy. Wow - crazy city! From there we headed south to Florence and saw saw the statue of David, amongst the vast amount of art there. Next, down to Rome to see the sites, including the Vatican City, Colluseum etc.

Then we flew to London and saw a few mates. Stayed with Chambers, thanks! Finally a few days in Brighton with Toolmans' Grandma, then on to heathrow and homeward. We flew home via Osaka, Japan - an 8 hour layover so we looked around the city.

Landed in Auckland, and stayed with Princess' Dad for what ended up being around a month. The first few weeks were busy, as the family was planning and then celebrating a wedding! After lots of hard work, the wedding came together magically and Chris (Princess' Dad) and Gillie (Stepmum :P ) had an excellent day. Congrats, guys!

During that time, we went down to Otaki to pick up our stuff stored at Toolmans Mums'. Princess drove the car back, while Toolman drove a truck up, loaded with the big stuff.

We have just found our own (rental) place and have moved in. Now, after some trademe deals, we have pretty much got a fully furnished and operational flat. We have also got a sweet new car...

Princess has started her Vet study, and we have got a Chinchilla cage, so next on the list is: "Aquire Chinchilla".

Now that the house is organised and wired up, Toolman is preparing for employment. We are planning to come down to Wellington next month, so looking forward to seeing all the freinds and family that we haven't seen for a while..

So there you have it guys: back to NZ, and on to the next step.