When I last left you, we had just seen many of the sights of Barcelona...but there's so much more to this trip...almost two full weeks to go actually. Anyway, I just finished up watching the Roman Polanski movie "The Ninth Gate" starring Johnny Depp and Frank Langella. It's a goodie. Check it out...and there's SATAN!!! Anyway, back to Europe...
Day 4 - Barcelona
Nearly every morning in Barcelona, I woke up, got some breakfast in the restaurant, and watched a little BBC to catch up on how bad the US dollar is doing, the political craziness in Pakistan, date rape drugs being found in toys, and other news...but I won't bore you with all that. Because of all the walking we did on Day 3, my grandma decided to just stay at the hotel today...so Pat & I went to see the city. First stop, back to Montjuic because it's a hill and we couldn't really move about there with grandma before...so that's when I took the pictures of the Olympic Venues posted yesterday.
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya - Located just off Placa Espanaya, the National Museum of Catalonian Art bears a striking resemblance to the Museum of Art in Philadelphia (the Rocky Steps) and houses some of the great works of Catalonian sculpture and arts work, mostly Romanic, Gothic, and Baroque. A lot are walls from old cathedral that have been transported to the museum after their destruction...and some massive paintings by local artists (though not Gaudi or Picasso or anybody really famous). About half way through, I just about passed out...and I'm still not sure exactly why. It was kind of stuffy...maybe it was jetlag catching up with me a few days later...maybe it was a quick hit of the Bubonic Plague for all I know...but after I got me some cold water and a sandwich, I was good to go for the rest of the day. Anyway, no pictures were allowed inside the museum...but here are some of the exterior and the view of Barcelona from the entryway.
After the Museum, we walked around Montjuic and took the Metro across town to see the Arc de Triompf. No, not the one in Paris obviously (Paris smells like ass, by the way) but this one in Barcelona. It was pretty cool.
Here's a cool building off the Arc's park area.
Sorry for all the Spanish Palms
in the way...but it is Spain.
Near the Arc de Triompf was the Museu Picasso, displaying the works of Pablo Picasso, one of the most famous artists of all time (because I've heard of him, that's proof enough). Picasso spent a few of his early years in Barcelona...and unfortunately, pictures were not allowed in the museum, so I don't really have much of the interior to show you. Based on my observations though, he was quite the doodler. Many of the works were early sketches from his twenties and thirties. Some of them were rather risque doodles of people having coitus, a man defecating into a toilet, a curvy woman with a Chia pet between her thighs, and other stuff that caused Pat to say, "My gosh, that Picasso was a pervert." "Look Pat, these are basically doodles from when he was 21 years old. EVERYBODY draws doodles like these at that age. Hell, I'll doodle one for ya right now if you want. See this one here? This one of the guy going down to Ginatown for some Mooshu? My brother has been drawing stuff like this since he was in like 6th grade. I like it. It shows that he was an average young man once." Anyway, it was really interesting to me.
Nearby, we stumbled upon the Museu de Zoologia (Zoological Museum) and thought it'd be cool to check out (we were looking for the Museu Xocolata, but couldn't find it). It had a lot of taxodermic examples of animals from around the world...as well as a super lame exhibit on the Origins of the Universe. You know that for me to say that an exhibit was super lame...it means that it was really super duper lame...and this was fitting...but here are some of the cool stuffed animals that I took pictures of...
This looks like a wicked animal...
By the way, this was the only (bleep) I saw all vacation.
Yes, that is a stuffed Condor on the left.
Have any of you seen "Dude, where's my car?"
I'm sorry.
Anyway, we took the Metro back to Placa Espanaya to take the hotel shuttle back for free instead of spending about $20 on a taxi. Pat did her best to try to convince me that the bus would pick up somewhere else...but I knew better...and again, she's the kind of person that would rather open her mouth than her eyes & ears...or remember this morning when it dropped off at the exact spot I was standing...and the bus driver saying, "I will pick up RIGHT HERE at 6 o'clock" but my stubbornness saved her from getting lost (just barely because she started wondering off to the freeway before I ran over and stopped her from being a lost old lady.
When we got back to the hotel, we had dinner at the hotel (expensive but we wanted to have dinner with grandma). We ate Lobster Paella and a glass of Sangria. The ladies made a bit of commotion when paella came out and the lobster, clams, shrimp, etc. still had their heads, shells, exoskeleton, all intact. I explained to them that it shows that it's fresh...and that's their method of presentation...and just don't eat it if you don't want to put forth a little effort to behead or unshell it. It was delicious...and worth the effort, I assure you. Slept like a baby.
Day 5 - Barcelona and Rupit
It was kind of an early morning (so no breakfast) because we had a bit of a drive ahead of us for our tour...and daylight is sparce this time of year. We were to meet up with our guide downtown in an area known as Placa Reial, at a local travel agency. However, the address that they gave us...we went there and there was no signage, so we were a little concerned...but had no cell phone or anything to contact them. Anyway, after about 15 minutes of nervous waiting, Trevor met up with us. He honestly didn't seem to happy to see us again (it takes a lot of patience to both wait for my grandma to walk & answer Pat's sometimes silly questions...believe me...and I wasn't getting paid for it). We drove about almost two hours away through beautiful Catalonian countryside at sunrise to the secluded medieval mountain village of Rupit. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous but I haven't taken pictures from my video yet...so I really don't have any of the countryside to show you. It seemed like the perfect time of year though because the leaves were changing color and the mist was just beautiful off the hillsides. Sorry to rub it in but it was really nice. I'll try to get the pictures soon for you...but it'll be after my Dallas trip next weekend.
For breakfast, Trevor treated us to some local pastries and some juice (coffee for the ladies) then we took a stroll through the cobblestone streets of the city. Most of the 300-400 inhabitants of this city are farmers, mostly livestock, and work in the countryside that we drove through. We saw beautiful stonebuilt houses, herb gardens, flowered balconies, kind people greeting you, and...well, here are some pictures, sorry to tease you like that...
Shortly into the tour, it was obvious that grandma wasn't handling the cobblestones too well...and our journey would require a lot of climbing of both stairs and wooden paths, so she decided to sit it out at the restaurant that we'd have lunch later on. I distinctly remember pointing out to the ladies that this adventure would require climbing MONTHS ago when we decided to book it, but again, they're a little slow and stubborn. Pat didn't even bring her knee brace from the hotel either. Anyway, we walked up tiny side streets to reach the top of the city, then down into a path along the riverbed to a nearby waterfall. Allegedly, there was a much larger waterfall further down the path...but Pat's knee wasn't feeling good, so we called it short and walked back to the city for lunch. Why can't I go on vacation with people of my generation? It's frustrating sometimes...but it was still a beautiful hike. I didn't take most of these pictures. (Pat's camera battery ran out and I didn't want her to be left out...so I offered my camera while I took video. The video is much better. I'll share later on too.)
Can't you see Frodo & Sam having a tea party at this table...
and then having anal sex in the house?
What? They were totally gay in those movies.
Lunch included a wonderful collection of local appetizers and Trevor highly recommended the grilled chicken saying that it was the best that he had ever had...and it was pretty damn good. Pat insisted that I take a picture of her with her Irish Coffee. She's weird sometimes.
After the drive back (again gorgeous), Trevor dropped us off back on Las Ramblas, so we went back to Placa Reial (just off that street) and had a beverage in a beautiful local square. Heineken is a fine beer. Any objections to that statement? I didn't think so.
After our beverage, we wandered around an area called Barri Gotic ("Gothic Area?") filled with shopping and beautiful architecture. It was also a Friday night, so there was a lot of music and activity going on around us. After an hour or so of watching the ladies window shop, we decided to grab some dinner in a local square overlooking the below Casa de L'Ardiaca Cathedral.
It was a pretty good club sandwich...and another Heineken. We then took a taxi back to the hotel...and got packed...for the next day, we would board the Royal Caribbean cruiseship, the Voyager of the Seas.
Day 6 - Barcelona to the High Seas
Today was the day!!! The cruise was starting...but first, we had to board the vessel. The breakfast was the standard...with the ladies talking about water gymnastics and othersuch items that had nothing to do with me. No matter. While waiting in the lobby (because the ship didn't start boarding until a few hours after checkout) we met some lovely ladies from Los Angeles...whose luggage was lost by the airlines the day before, so that was a mild concern. It ended well. They got their luggage just before the ship left. A van took us down and I carried my grandma's stuff so she could concentrate on walking...very slowly. Eventually we were able to get to our quarters...and here are some fun pictures of those quarters.
Oh yeah, you can guess who was sleeping on the top bunk.
Please note the towel bat on the mirror and
washcloth swan on the right bed. Nice!!!
This is what they do when you leave your sunglasses in the
room when they clean. They put them on a towel monkey.
Here's me slouching in the shower...and hitting my head on
the ceiling. Just imagine what the showers were like when
I was washing my flowing locks of Brown.
This is a $teve's eye view of the mandatory evacuation drill.
My only other experience on a cruise ship was last year for my grandma's 70th birthday when me & twenty-two of my closest relatives were on a 3-day cruise to San Diego, Catalina Island, and Ensenada Mexico. It was a fun, alcohol-fueled time of debauchery and good old fashioned hootinanery. See, the thing is that they give you this Card...and it's a magical card. It's your key to your room, acts as your passport so you can leave and/or return to the ship, and is kind of like a credit card where you can charge ANYTHING on the ship to it...because they simply won't except cash (until it's tip time at the end of the cruise...but then you can charge it to the card if you want). Meals are included too...but not the reasonably priced drinks. Having said that, over the course of that 3-day (and 3 crazy night) adventure, I had run up a tab of about...four hundred dollars. Why? No, I didn't drink myself into a stupor...but I bought rounds...for twenty-one of my closest relatives...a few times...and I had my share too. This trip wasn't nearly as bad.
While everybody was boarding, we hung out in the crown of the ship at a bar called High Notes...and just gazed at the city as the sun slowly set...sipping on Mango Lava Flows...and enjoying a bird's eye view of a wedding procession. Here are some shots...
Montjuic from the boat. Castell de Montjuic on top.
Dinner was held that night and we met our table guests. There were Pat & Julianne who were elderly sisters from Mississippi & Virginia respectively. They had cruised a few times before and were sweet ladies...but they mostly talked to the ladies...because I guess they speak the same language or something. Our other guests (who only showed this first night) were Igor & Julia and their 13-year old daughter Rachel. They were from Needham, Massachusetts but Julia was from the Ukraine (I guessed it by her accent, I'm good sometimes). Rachel seemed like a very bright girl...and a little hyperactive...but very inquisitive and nice. She didn't handle herself well when Pat talked to her like a little girl though, they got in a little spat about how big (size in meters & comparative size to other ships) the ship was...so I knew it was my time to step in and calm things down a bit.
$teve: "You know, I was exchanging money earlier...and I saw that this boat...apparently has a Godmother. I didn't know that ships had Godmothers...but for this ship, the Godmother is none other than...the lovely and talented Katarina Witt."
Rachel: "REALLY? I love Katarina Witt. She's such a good skater. Hmm, if ships have a Godmother...I wonder if they have brothers & sisters..."
Julia: "Sure dey do. Dey have de other ships of de fleet."
Rachel: "Oh yeah. Wow, Katarina Witt. Cool."
Dr. Love strikes again with an excellent misdirection...and a little sleight of hand as I traded glasses of wine with Pat while she wasn't looking. As John Turturro would say, "You underestimate my sneakiness." By the way, did you know Katarina Witt was in Playboy? I did...and I still mentioned her to a 13-year old girl...because she's so much more than a hot German figure skater...she's an inspiration. Don't worry, I'm not showing those pictures...this time...
Dinner was great. Watermelon gazpacho, shrimp ravioli, and rum cake...with a few glasses of wine. Delicious. After dinner, Pat & I went to the Pig & Whistle, an pub on the ship...and sang Irish songs with the guidance of another Steve...and enjoyed a few beverages. Then the staff had a "Party around the World" parade. Here are a few shots.
This girl was really, really hot...like many employees
on the ship...but nothing happened...obviously.
After the parade, I slept on the top bunk...like a baby with the gentle rocking of the open sea...on our way to the French Riviera for Veteran's Day...but that will have to wait...until tomorrow...because I've got work to do. So until next time, have a wonderful Thanksgiving...and I'll catch you all tomorrow...on Black Friday for Part 3 of Rational Baboon's European Vacation. Gobble Gobble...
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