Spain

August 6-10, 2005

Sarah and I were hoping to do some serious hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees, but the transportation to get there was too difficult from Bilbao, especially since we were already planning to spend a couple of days in Barcelona. I really wanted to go to Barcelona to see the Gaudi architecture. I first learned about him a couple of years ago while taking a Design class at UW and ever since I have wanted to see his work. At first Sarah wasn’t that excited about another city, but then she had a great time and even liked the architecture!

We spent part of the first day figuring out train, buses and hotels to Barcelona and then in the afternoon we took the metro line to the last stop to hang out at the beach. Another RD, Gary, was with us and the three of us had a great time. Jim joined us for the trip to Barcelona and the four of us had a blast. We got a rough start since we took an overnight bus to Barcelona; it was about seven hours on the bus. The buses in Spain are very different from the U.S. They are much nicer and traveled by the average person. We had an interport student trying to explain this to us. She was contrasting Spain’s buses to the U.S. and she had first hand experience. While traveling in the States she took a bus from Pennsylvania to Michigan and was scared the whole time due to the odd folks aboard. On the way to Barcelona we were sitting in the second to last row and there was a very large man sitting behind us. He got up many times to use the bathroom and kept bumping Gary and I since we were had the aisle seats. He was so large he couldn’t help it, but it was tough for sleeping, especially for Gary. We arrived at the bus station at six-something a.m. and then had to wait until the bus company office opened to buy our return ticket. We had a nice breakfast of chocolate crepes and real, fresh squeezed orange juice while we waited. In the meantime we figured out the metro and bought a two-day pass. After stopping at our hotel we went to the Picasso museum since it was free that day. It was an okay museum. The security made you go through the museum in order and you weren’t allowed to just wonder, which was very annoying since we got there right when it opened so we were crowded in with everyone else. Anyway, it chronicled his life work, but didn’t have much cubism or any of his famous works. We were all glad it was free. After the Picasso museum we wondered around and stumbled upon this playground and this cool swing set thing.

Gary and Jim on the rope swing set thing

Later, walked down to the water via La Rambla to catch the sights. La Rambla is a long car-less street in the center of town. Kind of like a huge State St. in Madison. Since it was Sunday morning things were a bit quiet and we all appreciated that. We found a restaurant for lunch and then went back to the hotel for our swim suits and towels and took the metro to the beach. We were all ready for a nap so we spread out our towels on the sand amongst the locals and promptly fell asleep. Later Sarah and I went in the water. It was very warm and clear. You could see your toes even when the water was up to your chin, not what I expected for a city beach. While we were swimming a building down the way caught on fire. We heard sirens and saw lots of black smoke and big flames in the upper story window. We never did find out what it was. I just hope it wasn’t anyone’s home. The beach was so relaxing and exactly what we needed after our long night. Once we were rested up I dragged everyone to the Sagrada Familia church by Gaudi that is still not complete. It has been under construction since the late 1800’s. It was really neat, very different from the other type of art we have seen. Sarah decided not to go and enjoyed a snack outside while Gary, Jim, and I wondered around inside.

Sagrada Familia interior

For dinner we went to a tapas bar, which turned into a rather complicated and expensive meal. The biggest expense ended up being our drinks, which were way overpriced (and of course the price wasn’t listed in the menu).

The next morning Sarah, Gary, and Jim went to the Olympic stadium while I wondered around and shopped a bit. We met before lunch and Sarah and I headed off to see some more Gaudi art. We first went to the Park that has buildings that look like gingerbread houses and many, many escalators on the sidewalk leading up to the park. It was funny to see them outside like that. It was a neat place and rather revolutionary for his time (early 1900’s) since he used so many curves in his buildings. Later we went to the apartment building he did called La Pedrera. It is a very fancy place these days.

La Pedrera

Roof top of La Pedrera

Park Guell

We met Gary and Jim for dinner and then headed to the bus station. We all slept pretty well on the way back to Bilbao.

On the last day Sarah joined with a few other departing spouses and took a cab to the airport. I went back to sleep for a bit then went into town to see the Guggenheim museum and go shopping. The museum was pretty good. The building was pretty neat, very different. There was one exhibit that I liked by Serras. There was a large Aztec exhibit that I might have enjoyed more had I not been to so many museums this summer. I sort of breezed through it and went outside to take photos of the building.

I gotta say I loved Spain! Barcelona was my favorite city we went to all summer. I hope I get the chance to return and do some hiking. There is a 23 day hike in the Spanish Pyrenees that looks fun. Maybe someday I’ll return and do that.

Ireland

July 31 to August 3, 2005

We had one day on the ship between France and Ireland which is barely enough time to recover.

My mom and step-dad were meeting us in Ireland and staying on the ship while were in port. I called my mom on her cell phone while we were in France to just touch base and she was in Ireland when she answered. I am telling ya, technology is awesome. I didn’t even know she was there yet. We never know our exact docking specifics until the night before the port so I sent her an email with all the details so she could find the ship. The morning we arrived in port she was supposed to be there between 9-10am. Well shortly after 10am she still wasn’t there and I was about to call her on a borrowed cell phone when I saw them pull up in a taxi. She never got my email, but fortunately thought to call the Port Agent and ask where we were docked, so only sometimes technology is awesome. They came on board and got settled into their room. After lunch we took the bus to town to see the Book of Kells and then the Kilmanheim Gaol, which is an old jail. Both were very neat. We wondered around looking for a place for dinner and finally found a nice place that wasn’t too loud. We were all pretty tired by then and a bit bedraggled after a day of adjusting to each other’s traveling style.

Inside the Kilmanhiem Gaol

downtown Dublin

The next day we took a train to a town north of Dublin called New Grange. We saw these monoliths which were about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge - 3,000 A.D. I thought they were really neat only because they were so massive and old. They had stone etchings which were done before the Iron Age so they didn’t even have metal to do the carvings. There were a lot of spirals and circles in the carvings.

It was a long day and we got back to Dublin kind of late and after wondering around for what seemed like a long time we found a restaurant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that good and was very loud, but it was food.

One thing that I really wanted to do in Ireland was go hiking. Sarah and I wanted to go to the west coast and hike there, but I didn’t realize my mom and step-dad were staying in Ireland for about 10 days after we left to travel over there so of course they didn’t want to head west. Anyway, Sarah and I did split off on the third day and went hiking in the Wicklow Mountains, which is about an hour south of Dublin. It was absolutely gorgeous! We hiked about 11 km or so and had a great time. Because of the timing of the buses we had to stay overnight and ended up in an overpriced hostel that didn’t include towels in the price (which of course we didn’t find out until about 10pm). At least it was clean and safe. We woke up very early the next day and were back in Dublin for breakfast. We met up with my mom and step-dad and shopped around for a bit before they had to leave to pick up their rental car. Sarah and I met all the other RDs for a delicious, but slow lunch. We then just wondered around Dublin a bit. I must say Dublin was one of my least favorite cities of the summer. It was OK, but nothing really stood out for me, although the Irish countryside is gorgeous. I was looking forward to Spain.

Taking a rest on our Wicklow Mountain hike

France

Monday, July 25 to Friday, July 29

With only 48 hours notice we diverted course and headed to France. We were slated to spend 5 days in England, but due to the bombings in London it was determined we shouldn’t go there. It was probably a decision based only partly on true safety and more on perceived safety and politics, primarily to ease the parents of the students back at home. Regardless of the reason I was looking forward to France. French is the only language besides English that I know at all. I wish I had more notice so I could have brushed up on my French, but I actually did pretty well. The most frustrating times were when I had no idea what words to use or worse was when I knew I was using all the right words, but my pronunciation was so poor that they had no idea what I was saying. It was neat when I would remember words out of the blue and to feel my French getting better each day.

The biggest challenge with the last minute change was that my partner was flying into London and had to divert course and pay extra money for a flight from London to Paris. In the long-run it was worth it. She stayed until Spain and we had a great time.

We docked in Le Harve, France an industrial port about 2 hours by train from Paris. The first day I took a train to Paris with some other RDs. We booked a hotel before we left Le Harve and headed there first to drop off our stuff. We lazed around a bit figuring out what we were doing and finally, Dayna and I headed out. We went to the Lourve thinking it was open late on Mondays and Wednesdays only to find out it was open late Wednesdays and Fridays and we were there about 15 minutes shy of closing time. So we headed back to Notre Dame Cathedral since it was open until 7pm. When we arrived mass was in session so I jumped in line for communion. I felt a little funny joining mass just in time for communion, but I think it would be OK with God. Dayna is Jewish so she wondered around with the other tourists. Mass was not very crowded, but there were a lot of people milling around the edge of the church during the service. It was a gorgeous building and actually felt holy. After Notre Dame we got an ice cream cone and walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was about an hour walk and Dayna’s feet were pretty sore by the time we got there due to her high heel shoes. That morning I was in a hurry packing my things and once we got to the train I realized I forgot my camera. By the time we got to the Eiffel Tower I was feeling pretty naked without it. I love taking photos and fortunately Dayna let me use her camera for a few cool shots of the Eiffel Tower at night. Fortunately, I was able to contact my friends on the ship who were joining us the next day and they brought my camera with them. I felt so happy when they arrived the second night with my tiny camera. Anyway, the Eiffel Tower was awesome at night.

The Eiffel Tower at night

We stood in a long line and took the elevator to the top. It was a nice view, but we should have listened to the guidebook and just gone up to the second level, the third level wasn’t much different from the first, just more crowded and windy. After the trip to the top we walked across the street to the Trocodoro for an excellent view of the whole tower and some dinner, eating at the typical French time of 10:30pm. We were back at the hotel exhausted, but happy by 1am.

The next day we slept until 9am, went downstairs for breakfast, and then Dayna and I headed to the Musee d’Orsay that houses the Impressionism and Art Noveau work. It was amazing!!! I look forward to the day I get to go back. We were there for 2 hours, but I would have been happy to spend half a day there. It was awesome and is now my favorite museum in the world. It is an old train station renovated and converted to the museum. The center section where the trains come in is a huge, open sculpture room with lots of natural light. I like the work of that time period and was feeling a bit disappointed that I didn’t have my camera to record this beautiful place. After the Musee d’Orsay we brought some bread and fruit, mango juice for lunch and went to the Jardin du Luxemburg to eat. It was a gorgeous park, but we didn’t stay long since I wanted to get back to the hotel to meet Sarah. Well of course her flight was late and she finally got there about 6pm. It was so great to see her! I had been pacing the lobby and wondering around the sidewalks wondering where she was. Next time I travel to Europe I am going to adjust my cell phone so that it works wherever I go. There were so many times throughout the trip that I wished I had a cell phone. Of course, on the other hand it was a reminder of how dependent we are on our technology. As I write this on my laptop I am sitting on the deck of the ship basking in the sun and starring out at the Atlantic. I must admit that for the most part I love technology – laptops, cell phones, iPods. They have their problems, but more benefits if you ask me.

Anyway, back to France…
Sarah I finally arrived a little late and without her luggage. It was still in Chicago, but fortunately arrived the next day. That night Sarah and I joined another RD and some students for dinner and drinks. We didn’t last very long because we were so tired, especially Sarah who was experiencing jet lag.

On day three Sarah and I went to the Notre Dame and St. Chapel. I was happy to be back with my camera and with Sarah, of course. I couldn’t convince Sarah to go to the Musee d’Orsay, but we did make it to the Lourve. At that point Sarah was tired and I was a bit sick of old art so were there for all of 90 minutes, just enough time to see the Mona Lisa and the mob in front of her, the Winged Victory, and some ancient Egyptian mummies, including a mummified cat.

The Lourve courtyard

I dragged Sarah back to the Eiffel Tower and the Trocodoro for views. We had a chocolate crepe and were too tired for dinner. We made it back to the hotel pretty late. For Sarah it was a one day whirlwind of Paris since we headed back to the ship the next morning.

Our fourth day in France was a relaxing contrast to the whirlwind tour of Paris. We took the morning train back to Le Harve (after nearly missing it), napped on the ship, then took an hour bus ride to this nearby coastal town of Etretat that has these huge rock cliffs. I saw it in a guidebook and really wanted to visit. Due to the bus schedule we only had an hour to visit, but as soon as we stepped foot on the beach we looked at each other and decided to return the next day and we did.

We returned to Le Harve in time for a wonderful dinner on the beach. We had a delicious meal of mussels and wine and wondered around the beach watching the sunset. It was a wonderful evening.

Me in Etretat, France

Sarah relaxing on the beach at Etretat, France

Le Harve, France