We tend to cop it a bit because this Blog is so sporadically updated, or so they say. THEY claim that we hardly ever write anything on here and THEY say that we can go months without an update, and yet here we have our 3rd in 2 days. And as the charter of this blog clearly states that updates will only occur in months starting with the letter A enjoy it while you can because there will be nothing again until at least Actober! Also we do this for free which is hardly an incentive to update that often, maybe if we got paid, maybe through advertising, hmm on to something here (insert subliminal message: click on google ad please). If that has worked properly, then we have made a lot of money and will happily update this blog daily if that's what it takes. Woke up, raining again, caught the train to work. Train was late, again. See, scintillating tales from suburban London. That said, we are just about one year in this country and we have made 26 completed blog posts, which is actually about one every two weeks. Pretty good going really. That equates to about 13000 words, which if laid end to end would reach from here to the moon . . . . maybe.
As the title alludes ever so subtly to, at the end of June we flew to Barcelona and saw Jack Johnson, live, in concert. And it was great. We jetted into Barcelona for about 24 hrs. Our Ryanair flight was at a reasonable 9.oo am, so we didn't have quite the 3am start that has plagued other trips. The first problem occurred when we arrived at the airport and realised that our ATM card was at home. Now we don't need to go into who's to blame for this, it really isn't important. Let's just say that the party responsible has been severely reprimanded and has been put on notice to improve their performance or face immediate dismissal. Luckily we had some left over Euros from our last visit to the continent, but knew that we would have to really on credit cards in a country that neither of us spoke the language. The next problem, really a continuation of the first was that although Ryanair tell you they are taking you to Barcelona, which is here, they actually land somewhere completely different, actually just about here. This is one of the joys of Ryanair where for what you pay that just about get you there. It was going to cost us to travel from Girona to Barcelona about 50 Euros, and we only had 70 Euros on us. Faced with a dilemma we decided to hire a car. While a little more expensive it was a great decision, though when I first jumped in the car and realised everything was on the wrong side, I don't think either of us were convinced. Particularly as the car was a manual. We took a leisurely route to Barcelona, avoiding the bland motorways that so blight the countryside and reduce every trip in every country to a single common experience, without charm or appeal.
The view of the countryside from our car, it got even better once we hit the ocean road, just trust us on that. Notice the clear blue sky though.
We instead found ourselves meandering down the Spanish coast on a bright, sunny summers day. We learnt several things on this trip. 1. Spain is a beautiful country 2. We would like to go back to the Costa Brava region again 3. Spain is much warmer the England and 4. Spain has road side ladies . . . of the night, during the day. And they get to sit and shade themselves. Must have a good union.
We arrived in Barcelona in the late afternoon and managed to find our way there without having or causing an accident, going the wrong way through a roundabout, having the aid of a GPS or speaking even a single word of Spanish, very impressive. We found our Hotel and had a look around the streets of Barcelona.
The castle wall behind our hotel. This picture was taken from our room.
One of the back streets that seem to maze their way around the city . . . . . .
before you stumble back upon a main street. Remember to look left as you cross!
The highlights here included attempting to park in the smallest car spaces ever seen in a car park, a very nice dinner in a little Spanish restaurant that had what looked like preserved meat carcasses hanging from the ceiling, the completely naked man walking down the street who had some people stop him to take a photo with him and then the realisation that we needed to go to Jack Johnson, but really had no idea where it was. Actually, that's not entirely true. We knew it was in Badalona, which we had seen signs for on our drive into the city. We knew it was being held at the Olympic Basketball Stadium, we knew that we didn't know where that was and we knew we didn't speak Spanish. I did ask at a information booth in Barcelona, but obviously all those working here when Barcelona held the Olympics back in 1992 have been sacked or moved on to bigger and better things, because they had no idea. Spain and Basketball actually have a bit of a chequered relationship - check here and here, so maybe they just didn't want to be associated with the sport.
We decided to drive to Badalona and just drive around until we stumbled on the right place. That would work at Homebush because there is nothing else at Homebush, but as we stumbled off a freeway exit to Badalona, that at that point I thought may have been the wrong exit, we weren't entirely confident our strategy would pay off real quick. Plan B was quickly enacted, whereby I went to the first servo I saw and tucked in with the intention of covertly looking up directions in a street directory and using it without paying. Unfortunately service stations in Spain don't sell maps. So I needed to ask the attendant, or representante de servicio al cliente who spoke no English. I flashed him my ticket, he gave me a knowing look that suggested I wasn't the first nor would I be the last dumb foreigner to require his assistance, calmly led me to the window at the back of the store and pointed across the street. Success!!
The show was great, the first act we particularly enjoyed. He's name is Mason Jennings and I've included a few links for those inclined to listen to good music.
- Be Here Now
- Jackson Square
The second support act was G Love and the Special Sauce, which were about as good as the name suggests. Here some songs to check out anyway, but we found the lead singer, G Love himself, really, really annoying.
- Cold Beverage
- Baby got Sauce
Jack was very good, though a little hard to see through the thick haze. In Spain, the 3rd World country that it is, smoking inside is still allowed and the venue was a smogged filled, gasping for breathe experience that leaves you wondering how anyone thinks smoking in public venues was or is ever a good idea. That aside we had saw a really good show, and so can you if you want.
- Angel/Better Together
- Go On
- Sitting Waiting Wishing
- Rodeo Clowns
- Good People
- Banana Pancakes
- Times Like These
The show was was also notable for the oppressive humidity, the like of which we haven't experienced for almost a year now. Actually, the next day when we flew out, was our first day over 30 degrees since Bangkok last August, and still our only day over 30 despite the season being summer. Because we were really only there for the one night we only had a cursory look but it looks like a very beautiful city and we are most keen to go back again.
Note: our camera run out of batteries early in our trip so we didn't end up with many photos, another reason we'll need to go back.
The view of the countryside from our car, it got even better once we hit the ocean road, just trust us on that. Notice the clear blue sky though.
We instead found ourselves meandering down the Spanish coast on a bright, sunny summers day. We learnt several things on this trip. 1. Spain is a beautiful country 2. We would like to go back to the Costa Brava region again 3. Spain is much warmer the England and 4. Spain has road side ladies . . . of the night, during the day. And they get to sit and shade themselves. Must have a good union.
We arrived in Barcelona in the late afternoon and managed to find our way there without having or causing an accident, going the wrong way through a roundabout, having the aid of a GPS or speaking even a single word of Spanish, very impressive. We found our Hotel and had a look around the streets of Barcelona.
The castle wall behind our hotel. This picture was taken from our room.
One of the back streets that seem to maze their way around the city . . . . . .
before you stumble back upon a main street. Remember to look left as you cross!
The highlights here included attempting to park in the smallest car spaces ever seen in a car park, a very nice dinner in a little Spanish restaurant that had what looked like preserved meat carcasses hanging from the ceiling, the completely naked man walking down the street who had some people stop him to take a photo with him and then the realisation that we needed to go to Jack Johnson, but really had no idea where it was. Actually, that's not entirely true. We knew it was in Badalona, which we had seen signs for on our drive into the city. We knew it was being held at the Olympic Basketball Stadium, we knew that we didn't know where that was and we knew we didn't speak Spanish. I did ask at a information booth in Barcelona, but obviously all those working here when Barcelona held the Olympics back in 1992 have been sacked or moved on to bigger and better things, because they had no idea. Spain and Basketball actually have a bit of a chequered relationship - check here and here, so maybe they just didn't want to be associated with the sport.
We decided to drive to Badalona and just drive around until we stumbled on the right place. That would work at Homebush because there is nothing else at Homebush, but as we stumbled off a freeway exit to Badalona, that at that point I thought may have been the wrong exit, we weren't entirely confident our strategy would pay off real quick. Plan B was quickly enacted, whereby I went to the first servo I saw and tucked in with the intention of covertly looking up directions in a street directory and using it without paying. Unfortunately service stations in Spain don't sell maps. So I needed to ask the attendant, or representante de servicio al cliente who spoke no English. I flashed him my ticket, he gave me a knowing look that suggested I wasn't the first nor would I be the last dumb foreigner to require his assistance, calmly led me to the window at the back of the store and pointed across the street. Success!!
The show was great, the first act we particularly enjoyed. He's name is Mason Jennings and I've included a few links for those inclined to listen to good music.
- Be Here Now
- Jackson Square
The second support act was G Love and the Special Sauce, which were about as good as the name suggests. Here some songs to check out anyway, but we found the lead singer, G Love himself, really, really annoying.
- Cold Beverage
- Baby got Sauce
Jack was very good, though a little hard to see through the thick haze. In Spain, the 3rd World country that it is, smoking inside is still allowed and the venue was a smogged filled, gasping for breathe experience that leaves you wondering how anyone thinks smoking in public venues was or is ever a good idea. That aside we had saw a really good show, and so can you if you want.
- Angel/Better Together
- Go On
- Sitting Waiting Wishing
- Rodeo Clowns
- Good People
- Banana Pancakes
- Times Like These
The show was was also notable for the oppressive humidity, the like of which we haven't experienced for almost a year now. Actually, the next day when we flew out, was our first day over 30 degrees since Bangkok last August, and still our only day over 30 despite the season being summer. Because we were really only there for the one night we only had a cursory look but it looks like a very beautiful city and we are most keen to go back again.
Note: our camera run out of batteries early in our trip so we didn't end up with many photos, another reason we'll need to go back.
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