Ack!

Well we rented a mini cooper tonight and I´m a bit petrified of the fact that it´s so shiny and new, I really don't want anyone to want to steal this baby. I love it, but couldn´t we just have a dusty old yugo or something??

I certainly broke it in some tonight, re-learning to drive stick shift and learning for the FIRST time ever to finagle through one of those huge inter-city rotary things that usually go around a big arc de triomphe or something. And I got lost perdido a few times and wasn't ready to do an illegal "you-ey" here! Thankfully I do have that inner demon of being able to drive like hell in a city but the stalling and clutching and breaking and just finding the darn gears took some practice. Let´s put it this way: the rental car security guy who was letting me out the gate was like "Please... your car is smoking like a bomb. Can´t you just take the METRO or WALK!?!" (in spanish). That´s where I say thank you and charge it please, and I´ll be on my way.

It should be much easier to navigate major highways to the cities we´re going to and then just park it by the hotel and walk around but I am worried (as I say here, estoy muy nerviosa) about the theft risk. Cross your fingers por favor.

Here´s a few recent photos below. Sorry in advance that if you click on them, they´re going to be huge, I don´t have a way to compress ém here.

Believe it or not these first 2 photos of La Sagrada Familia were taken within 2 minutes of each other -- same amount of darkness in the sky, but different facades (sides of the building) with different shutter speeds and a little twirling of the lens (and craning of your neck since the computer won't let me post my photos right-side-up) made two different entire views.
typical view of a restaurant or market in Spain. lotsa carne.interiors of Casa Battlo, dozens more photos where these came from:"Apt. G" in Casa Battlo. G is for Gaudi, that's good enough for me...A very typical iron gate on an apartment in Valencia. Loads more photos coming later.

dia dos

It's day two in Spain (there was no Day Uno blog) and we've literally covered a lot of ground, walking many miles and climbing many metro stairs... I'm a bit exhausted, having had only about 4 1/2 hours of sleep on the plane, but not letting that sink in and spoil anything. You've got to just go and do when you're someplace like Barcelona. Our hotel is kind of in the boonies for Barcelona (it´s actually called Badalona...not kidding... hmm...) but it´s just a hop, skip, and a jump to the metro.

Last night Chris and I took in a show at Palau de la Musica Catalana and it wasn't exactly what I hoped: the very famous Spanish singer was fantastic (Rosario), but as part of "La Festival de Flamenco" she wasn't flamenco at all, she was completely Pop. And very it was a very lively, sold-out, unairconditioned crowd. The theater seems a lot smaller when everyone's packed in and although I had selected orchestra seats, the messanine above us blocked our view of most of the mosaics and stained glass up celing (see below) so we just walked around to take pictures afterwards.
Today I spent a chunk of the day along Passeig de Gracia and in Casa Battlo (below), the one Guadi building I skipped in 2006, and oh my gosh, that place a photographer's playground. My new camera actually ran out of batteries after 150 photos or so.

The thing that amazed me the most was I had seen photos of the house from Kate going there in 2006, but I had imagined everything to be about a quarter the size of what it really is... (like the mosaic that's on my Visa card is really as pictured below, about 12 feet tall, I always thought it was a close up of a small detail!) I´ll post more pictures luego. ¡Off to dinner! I love using that upside down exclamation point, just 'cause I can. ¡?¿!

Vamos a España

Aquí es una mapa de google de nuestro destinos en España la semana que viene. Voy a publicar algunas fotos mientras que vamos, si encontramos internet-cafes!


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We are More

This poem was the highlight for me of Vancouver's Opening Ceremony. That, and the whales under the floor gave me chills!