Dec 2005

Thanks very much Peter..I´ll take a look at that thread you recommended and I am definitely going to try out your advice for framing the shot and waiting...I´m sure it wouldn´t take long to get something great!

Yes, Barcelona has been wonderful...a very exciting mixture of cultures...compared with Sevilla, Malaga and Granada, it has had the tendency to make one feel like they are in a city that could be in Spain or in another country altogether...but it also has the tendency to make one feel very at home because of this...

Take care!

Savannah

Hola everyone,

I am sitting in the best/worst Internet cafe in Barcelona I think...I don´t know the name of it, but I will find out and recommend it anyway...it´s 50 centimos for a half hour which is pretty cheap for this city as far as I can tell, but in a dungenous basement with no air circulation and smoking a la the 70´s in N.American Dairy Queen´s...so I decided that even though I wrote yesterday, it´s too good of an op. to not take up at 50 cents.

First of all, I am going to put out there to anyone reading this that might have some advice for me....I would like to get more random shots of people that I see all around me...I find that I am just not brave enough to either ask, or to photograph them outright without their permission... the other night in Sevilla, we made asses of ourselves, trying to photograph this woman sitting at a table two down from us...we would focus my Minolta SLR at the very non-exciting balcony above her head and then at the last minute bring the camera down and try to get her without her noticing...she was either very flattered or very unobservant as we had to take about 3 pictures using our "method"...how do any travellers out there get pictures of the people that make up the landscape without offending or ruining the spontanaiety that makes those pics so great to begin with??

I feel like I´ve been in Barcelona for a week instead of just under 2 days...yesterday we got in and with Alex´s cousin we headed down to Las Ramblas and went to a great restaurant that serves Galician food...we walked and walked and then gave into siesta to come back to the excellent apartment we have for a couple of days to sleep off the memories of the train ride...I can´t get over how we lucked out with this place to stay...we were told that it would be uncomfortable and I had visions of 5 pot-smoking guys walking over us sleeping on floors in a tiny room and 1 unusable washroom...this apartment is luxury though!..I have counted 5 bedrooms so far and a lot of unmarked, closed doors unexplored...huge kitchen and the best thing of all is the front enclosed sun terrace that we get as our room that spans about 24 ft across with a view of the Mediterranean, a partial view of Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia and a super deluxe 60´s couch to sleep on...today all of us ventured out in search of the ultimate "tourist" day in Barcelona...I realize our ambition when 7 hours later we had managed to see "only" the Sagrada Familia which is beyond amazing in person and the Museu Picasso...I will write a little more on these as it was very worth it to spend almost 3 hours in each...we had originally planned on doing a bus tour and seeing the Museum of Contemporary Arts, but these places deserve more attention than just visiting for the sake of visiting I think...

We will do our best to tackle more of it tommorrow before our friend leaves to head back to Canada but for now, it will be a relaxing night writing, reading and just enjoying being off our feet!

Must run, but would like to elaborate a little on the experience of being in the Sagrada Familia...here is a link for anyone who would like to see some of his amazing fantasy-like architecture...enjoy!

Adios,

Savannah

Hola everyone...

Well here we are in the land of Oz...or so it feels to me today after a somewhat bizarre and long night train from Sevilla to Barcelona...the major thing is the switch in language from Spanish to Catalan...my Spanish, by no means eloquent or perhaps even decipherable to some, did manage to get me by when I needed to, and I am now at square 1 again! I am hoping tommorrow after a good sleep will provide more mental availability to tackle this "challenge!"

For anyone taking the train to Barcelona on the route we did, I am torn between saying take a regular seat and gravol to get you thru the night, or taking the berth, which is what we did...True, you get to stretch your legs horizontally, BUT there is no common area on the train to go relax so we were limited to three options:

-hang out in your tiny bunker with 3 other people you´re sharing it with
-hang out in the K-mart 70´s era cafeteria and drink a lot of wine and be the only ones doing it (and therefore automatically the train drunkards
- or hang out in the very narrow hallway outside the door to your bunker which barely allows you to turn sideways to walk down it normally...

Three guesses which option we took! I really think all the staff on the train just thought we were these troublesome, 18 year old drunks...and I promise we are none of those! Especially 18...

But so far, after having spent just a few hours with our very gracious and funny host, Nicholas, I can see that Barcelona has so much to offer and is the cosmopolitan city everyone says it is...today is a holiday so not only were we charged double for our taxi ride (20€!!!) but the streets are bustling and it´s very energetic and lively out...but that seems like Spain to me the majority of the time...I have only one mission in Barcelona, well two actually and first one is to see my friend Krisna and then to visit some Gaudi...I have been drooling over Gaudi architecture for about 5 years, and never dreamed I would have the chance to see it in person!

I have only 4 minutes in this tiny Internet cafe, so will sign out..however, I have a feeling Barcelona will be pretty raucous over the next 10 days while I wait for my friend Tanya to fly in...I am headed "home" for a much needed nap and then Nicholas has made it his mission to have us stay up until probably 4 am from everyday here on in...even, he said, if it means banging pots by our heads should we try to sleep!

Will keep you posted with any adventures and advice on some good places to visit if you are lucky enough to make it this way!!

Adios!
Savannah

!HOla¡

Well, I couldn´t recommend a city more than Sevilla I don´t think...it´s day 2 of 3 here and I still have a lot to see of this country, but this is definitely one of those places that makes you feel like you have seen everything and could go home happy if you really had to! I am so truly in love with this place...I have a krink in my neck from looking at all the AMAZING buildings and cathedrals and palaces, I can´t walk for more than a few minutes to stop and stare....it is such a vibrant, exciting, Spanish city...We went on one of those organized bus tours today, which I have never done, but it was well worth it...you could spend forever and a day walking around in awe, but never knowing the story behind the many places you´re seeing...this gives you an insight to the jewels and exciting history of what you´re looking at...One place we visited was the old 1992 Expo grounds...I felt like I was in a perfect setting for a horror movie...for some reason, they have let almost the whole area go to pot and all these huge buildings that promoted the future of Spain are overgrown with weeds and are crumbling only 14 years later (tax dollars anyone??)...among all these decaying buildings is a very old building that houses Christopher Columbus´ tomb...I am sure he would be sad to see the state of his surroundings...but I enjoyed it!

I am tired today..all the walking we´ve been doing with all our overpacked bags in rain (in Granada) and then heat (in Sevilla), trying to find hostels day in and day out and from sightseeing...buns of steel baby! On the 6th and the 8th are two national holidays....in Spain, what this essentially means, and like in many countries, is going to church, spending time with loved ones and then some massive partying to chase it down with! And in true Spaniard style, if there is a holiday, let alone two in a week, they take the days before and after the holiday off and it´s called a puente (bridge)...it´s crazy, I have often wondered how Spain functions so wonderfully...when do people work around the puentes and siesta?(such a North American perspective, I know)

Today, we were having lunch near the awe-inspiring cathedral here and we could here cop sirens and people chanting...there was a long protest parade going by and from what I could read on their signs they were separatists showing their support for the separation of Andalucia (the province I am in) but without further investigation, I don´t know if that´s right or not??

Last night, which was our first here, we walked around all day, just checking out the myriad of twisting, fascinating streets...when it came time to drink some more and it was evening, we found an outdoor restaurant and setup camp for a couple of hours watching the hundreds of people walk by...Spain is incredible this way...everyone but everyone comes out...families, from babies to grandparents all come out together and it is so lively! Everyone dresses to the nines ( excluding Shiloh and I in our sandals, a total faux pas for style it seems here) and just walks around in all the squares, eating and drinking, going to all the outdoor bookstores, or shopping at all the outdoor kiosks and markets...it´s beautiful too here right now, because although you can tell that it´s Christmas soon, it´s not gross commercialism...it´s lights strung up on all the orange trees and singers and families and socializing...I could have stayed watching this all night...I wish I could store sleep and run off of it for a week...it seems a shame to go to sleep while I am here...

I am also, like elsewhere in Spain, enjoying how completely romantic it is...not for me , but for young and old couples...married with children or not, it feels like the public displays of affection are something we are really missing at home...you get the feeling that someone who may have been married for 20 years, just got married yesterday...everyone is playful, holds hands, kisses each other and flirts...it´s inspiring and rejuvenating...it´s the place to holiday should a relationship be on the rocks is my advice...

I see the sun hitting the cathedral from outside the window at the cafe and think I should sign off so that we can enjoy the sunset down by the river Gualdalaquivir (sp?) and do what else but have a glass of wine (I´m banking on a free tapa for supper tonight...Shiloh is is my sugar mama today and I think her cash is gone for the day)

I feel like there is so much more to say, but it´s only because I have been in a state of awe for about 27 hours...

Will write when I get to Barcelona in a couple of days...

Take care all,

Savannah