Friday, August 17, 2007
Get your gherk on
´My dad has a big one´ began one of the french guys. I mentioned we are rooming with some young french lads in the last post. This double entendre, which was really referring to his father´s high-tech camera, resulted in laughs and a discussion about double entendres.
Turns out, the French don´t ´really use the term double entendre´anymore. Dave got talking to the French boys and we ended up joining them for a cheap eat they´d read about in the Lonely Planet. They are really cool and suprisingly proficient English speakers. One of the boys, Guillame, has a mother who teaches English. He lives in Paris, and has offered us accommodation if we ever visit his gorgeous city. Tempting offer indeed!
Where to next?, you ask. We arrived in Girona yesterday and will be staying until the end of our trip. This fortified city is stunning, and not half as smelly as Barcelona. We fly back to Australia on August 22nd. My trip is shorter due to reasons too long to ennumerate here. On the plus side, I´m looking forward to home sweet home and catching up with you all. Yayness!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Bustle of Barcelona
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
B.b.b.barcelona!
Barcelona is abuzz with activity, boasting an effervescent street culture and a string of sexy sights. For our first few nights, we stayed in a shoebox room at the Hostal Las Ramblas which is just off the main street. It was a good access point to the craziness that is Las Ramblas, which hosts buskers, dancers, skilful folk. And yes this street 'with all its human stains' as one artist describes harbours and a few odd people with half-baked money making schemes.
Buskers include a lady dressed as a fruit stand, a green man pictured next to Dave the grim reaper, a teenage mutant ninja turtle and much more. Las Ramblas also has a fresh produce market, many a restaurant and artists who have turned to caricatures and portrait painting to make a dime.
Initially we were at a loss of how to map the city, mentally and physically. So, we jumped on a bus service called Bus Turista. For 22euro for two days, you can catch a few different routes around the city which pass the main attractions. These double decker buses make for gorgeous sightseeing and snapping from the top view. Dave was tickled when we glanced across to spot a man streaking along on his bicycle, a la naturel. Yes you read right, he was starkers, nuddy, exposed, utterly nude. How rude!
Speaking of rude things, Dave and I got down and dirty at the Erotic Museum on the main street of Barcelona, Las Ramblas. Interesting pieces include artwork blending photography of pink bits, the S & M room and a pleasure seat with inbuilt dildos and a pleasure (?) control to be operated by someone other than the user. The ancient Greek erotica was pretty cool. For those who find the place abit too overwhelming or dare I say it, naughty, there is a outdoor chillax area with bamboo sun chairs.
We are cerebral creatures too, so we were ecstatic to learn of a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition on at the maritime museum. ´Knowledge is the daughter of experience´ was a mantra of da Vinci, and this philosophy was tested in the various inventions which were showcased in the exhibition. These technical-scientific studies only showed a glint of Da Vinci´s genius as his abilities spread across many disciplines. Frenetic, a word from a plaque at the exhibition, captures the frenzy of activity that produced these inventions. The music, intense and fast classical tunes, highlighted the prodigious productive capacity of da Vinci.
I´m going to section off these posts into little Barcelonic portions, because the city is really a feast of architectural and cultural delights that can´t be dealt with easily.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
A real corker
The English family got plotting early on to make Dave a cork hat. Our participation in this scheme required copious consumption of champagne to yield the required corks. Last night, Dave was presented with the grand hat, made from corks attached to his Burberry bucket hat. We both took turns wearing it and posing for pics to be posted soon. We talked for ages as Lisa and Rick amused us with funny tales and ringtones. Dave banned me from going to bed, drank himself silly and then after a few hours, announced he was off to bed and marched away. Actually getting him to bed was a difficult affair but was eventually achieved. In the morning, he asked earnestly if he'd fallen asleep outside.
Sadly, Sam and her kids left us this morning. I got up and gave Sam a huge hug and proceeded to fall back to sleep. Dave got up and kept Sam entertained whilst she had breakfast. He released some of last night's festivities in a breakfast barf. Maisie was uber cute this morning, declaring that Finley has the brain of a monkey, Alix the brain of a doctor and likening her own brain to that of a dragon.
Dave got a ribbing today. He slept most of the day but went fishing with the kids this arvo. Alix caught a crab, and Dave managed a small fish. I read and pottered around. Earlier on Rick, Lisa, Finley and I went to a hardware store which was unfortunately located next to a smelly sewerage area. Lisa and I held our noses and sprinted back to the car. Tonight is both exciting but upsetting as it's our last night in Alicante. Boooo! We are off to a chinese restaurant to have the meal of day. Apparently it is a requirement by law that all restaurants offer a 'Meal of the Day' which is cheap and affordable so everyone could eat out.
Yesterday morning was fab. We went to the Sam Miguel markets aka shoppers heaven. This local Spanish market is located in an old housing area. Fruit, clothes and cute little Senorita dresses can be picked up at market stalls. I may have accidentally acquired shoes, souvenirs and yet another pretty dress. Sam and Lisa also got pairs of pretty flower thongs. Dave bought the kids lasers which produce patterns. Endless entertainment! He is one cool cousin/nephew/boyfriend.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Yahreepah: family fun in Spain
The adults, or Alan and Betty's big kids, waited up for us at home in Orihuela, Alicante. We met briefly Betty, Sam, Lisa and Rick and knew we were in for some laughs. 'Fireman' Rick is full of tricks and fun and makes a mean morning coffee. Sam and Lisa have a truckload of stories, also love reading and are absolute riots. Sam becomes even more amusing with some vodka concoction in her. This was to be the quietest we'd hear the house before it filled up with kiddiewinks. We are staying in the apartment next door with the big kids, and things run smoothly and efficiently between the two Spanish houses.
The big girls remember Dave's mum fondly, so Dave is filled in on tales of his mum and his big sister Bev as a youngster. On our third night in Alicante, Sam, Rick and Lisa took us out for drinks. We headed out to a strip of bars but never made it past the first Irish pub. We had an early one but it was awesome fun just chatting and enjoying the rapier English humour of our hosts.
We found out that we were destined to join in days of drinking and frolicking at the pool. The amounts of water we empty out of the pool each day with an assortment of bombies and shoves is gargantuan. The kids are just gorgeous. They adore Dave and enjoy mucking about in the pool with him. Sam's kids - Josh, Bradley and Ben are well-mannered, adorable and addicted to their nintendos. Rick and Lisa's lot - Finley, Maisie and Alix are always brimming with energy. Alix keeps up with the boys, Finley provides household entertainment and Maisie is a little bundle of cuteness who runs around catching pondskaters at the pool. The little girl Maisie even has two serves of cereal so she can have enough energy to throw Dave in the pool. Poor little Maisie doesn't realise, but we've been plotting ways to transport her back to Oz in our packs. She is uber cute!
Alan and Betty are wonderful hosts - anxious to give their nephew Dave a good time and even his tag-along girlfriend gets the hospitality. They've taken us out to a Spanish bakery and an English pub. We each got coffee and a decadent cake and it was gorgeous.
Last night though was pretty amazing - we went to Las Villas, a Spanish restaurant which had first class service that you'd pay a fortune for in Perth. The efficient waiters worked the tables, which although empty when we were arrived, filled up quickly. The food was amazing, Dave had a seafood soup and I had a seafood crepe - and that was just the appetiser. For mains, Dave and I shared a Fisherman's Paella - a Spanish seafood rice dish.
Welcome Back to Athens
We got to the airport at 9.05am, expecting to be two hours early for our 11am flight. When Dave got out the piece of paper to check where to go for the tickets he was taken aback. 'Our plane's leaving right now! We've missed it' he announced defeatedly. We rushed to find the counter in case of a delay, but alas we'd misread the arrival time as the departure. A right fix indeed - the plane had left without us. We went to the airline desk, and for a fee of 40€ each changed our details to exactly the same flight, same time next day. We knew we were in for a ribbing but all that mattered is that we were both O to the K.
We checked out some other sleeping options in Syntagma - ridiculously expensive. We looked around Omonia and discovered seriously skanky rooms, with towels draped over the floor to absorb recent sticky messes. We returned to Parnon hotel to be met by a bewildered reception attendant. He offered as a glass half-full solution, saying at least we had another day to explore Athens. All we explored was alcohol and food, but it was quality stuff.
We found a funky bar called Bretto's which professes to only stock hand-selected specialties. Dave had this rose liquer which tastes like rose turkish delight - sweet and drinkable. His second drink was potent though - a honey liquer (Rakimelo) which didn't go down well. Despite the 'don't like it, we'll get you another' mantra of Bretto's, the guy just kind of balked and said Dave had chosen it himself. I had some nice wines though.
I'll cut this short to share lots about our Spanish adventure. Good news is we got out second flight arriving in Madrid the next day. Bad news is our run in with Greek metro tranport people and the big fines they slapped us with. Ouch!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Got Milo?
We stumbled across a cluster of windmills on the way back - new ones you can hire out as rooms and older, dilapidated ones. Dave wants to make one. The child-like wonder in his eyes brimmed over as he went snap-happy. In the distance, we also spotted a trio of wind turbines on the other side of the island that Dave was desperate to explore. Alas, we never found out how to reach them.