… maybe next year. Got tickets to Rogers Cup, one of the tennis tournaments that is a precursor to the US Open and Olympics this year. For 2008, the gentlemen tournament was held in Toronto, with top 42 players in the world participating.
Decided to get bronze level tickets this year, given my super far seats last time. It was worth every penny. Today’s match was the second round. I checked the match up this morning and found that current World #1, Roger Federer, the Fed Express was playing tonight on center court! Nadal was playing in the afternoon.
Given the tremendous thunderstorms in the afternoon, the afternoon matches were delayed and Nadal’s match didn’t start until 5pm! I was totally worried that Federer’s match would be delayed until tomorrow. Fortunately, the skies cleared up by the time I got to York University and the match started without a hitch.
Today’s match pitted Roger Federer (1) against Gilles Simon. This was my first time watching a men’s match live. I’ve had seen a couple women’s matches before and KL has always told me that men’s services were so much faster. This is one of those things that you just cannot appreciate on TV until you see it live. Roger’s serve reached over 220km/h (130mph+). Holy crap.
Roger pretty much dominated the first set, taking it handedly 6-2. We were joking that this would be a quick match. Roger just seems to be in all the right places at the right time. His motion is so fluid that it was really tennis artistry at its best. KL kept on pointing out the little things that Roger does so well, perhaps most impressive to me was his aggressiveness on the ball.
The second set was much more entertaining. Simon picked up his game as he was actually holding serve! All of a sudden, Simon broke Federer’s serve. Eh? Federer would return in the next set and dominate, so everything was good. However, Federer seemed to be a bit slower. He was letting some passing shots by without giving it a challenge. Taking nothing away from Simon, as those were some really good shots, but I just somehow expected more from the master. At 5-5, KL made the bold prediction. Either Roger breaks Simon’s service in the next game, or we are seeing a tie-breaker. He has NEVER seen Federer lose a set on a break. Simon handedly won his game. 5-6, Roger’s turn to serve. This game went to deuce. Why doesn’t Roger just put Simon away with some aces, like he did whenever he got into trouble at Wimbledon. Simon somehow came through and won the deuce to take the set. Hmm. KL jinxed it for Federer.
After two sets. The number of Aces by Federer – 0. Something wasn’t right.
The third set was more or less a continuation of the second. Roger spent two of his three challenges, and at times, seemed quite frustrated. He even had a heated exchange with the referee. I was dying to know what he was saying – too bad he wasn’t wearing a microphone. He had so many chances, but seemed to be unable to put Simon away. It was eerily similar to Wimbledon’s 2nd set. Roger was just committing so many unforced errors that was so unnatural of him.
The highlight of the set was when it was 3-3. Roger and Simon got into this long rally. A barrage of long, low and fast shots both on the forehand and backhands were exchanged. It was really amazing to watch. Everyone in the stadium was on the edge of our seats. After probably 20 shots, Roger managed to finish the rally off with an amazing passer into the back corner. The crowd literally erupted after that shot. I was out of my seat with both hands in the air too (as was everyone else). Totally reminded me of the Lynah experiences.
Roger had broken serve earlier, but Simon crawled back with one of his own. All of a sudden, Simon was ahead 5-4, with Roger’s service again. Two forehands that went long. Roger had gotten under the ball too much and drew some unforced errors. Love-30. No panic yet. This is Roger. He’ll come back with Aces for sure. Another point. Love-40. Triple Set point. Uh-oh. Then another long bomb by Federer.
What?!? Roger lost another set? This is going to be a long night – a 5-setter. Wait a second, why is Simon so happy? Why are Roger and Simon shaking hands. OMG. This stupid tournament isn’t an Open. It’s best of 3 sets. WTF. No. Impossible. Roger Federer did not just lose. Two losses in a row including Wimbledon. It cannot be.
But it is. Roger is packing up. He’s leaving the court.
| Roger Federer | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Gilles Simon | 2 | 7 | 6 |
So yeah, I just witnessed an event few people have seen live. THE Roger Federer having lost a match. As KL put it, there is only one punctuation to describe this – !!!!!!!!!!! The media is going to get even crazier about Roger’s #1 status.
This experience rivals being at Brett Favre’s miracle game against Oakland 24 hours after his father passed away. Wow. What a night.
No bird box story, but this morning AB, AR and I were biking down the Leslie Street Spit towards the lighthouse when one of those funniest moments of the year happened. The three of us were riding side by side at a pretty good pace when a dumb white bird decided to cross the road on foot right in front of us. AR and I slammed on the brakes. I came to a stop within a foot of the bird.
AB was on the far side, so he didn’t see the jay-walker at first. By the time he skidded to a stop, his wheel came right over the bird’s butt! My eyes went wide seeing the collision. OH CRAP! My first thought was what to do with this injured/dead bird? Move him off to the side of the road and just leave him there? We were in the middle of one of North America’s most important breeding grounds for many birds, so this might be some rare, endangered species that we just ran over. Crap, should we report him to the conservation society here? Given that this bird was dumb enough to jay-walk across the road and NOT fly off at the incoming freight trains, I won’t be at all surprised if their species was endangered.
Anyway, AB backed up his bike and the darn bird just got up and continued walking across the street… as if nothing happened. WTF.
This was definitely one of the weirdest, closest encounters with nature in my experience. Nature never fails to surprise!
Several months before E08, I was cruising the web when I stumbled onto some photos of an amazing fortified city. A quick search on the map showed Carcassonne was close to the French-Spanish border, almost halfway between Barcelona and Montpellier, France. Fired off an email to the buds, “We have to stop here!” and added to our proposed itinerary: “Carcassonne - Giant ass Fortress on top overlooking town.”
Fast forward to two weeks before E08. We were finalizing the plans with bookings. Our schedule was very ambitious and I considered foregoing Carcassonne for an extra day in the French Riviera. After chatting with BlueOrca, she mentioned she wanted to see this fort. That was the motivation I needed. We were going to Carcassonne!
We had booked the youth hostel in Carcassonne for the night. One of the requirements for the hostel was a personal phone call for any check-ins after 6pm. We were taking the evening train from Barcelona and was not due into Carcassonne until 10:30 pm. We spent at least 15 minutes trying to call the hostel at Barcelona Sants before we needed to get on the train. How do you call +33 (0)4.68.25.23.16? Tired all sorts of prefixes but just could not connect. While on the train, I kept on trying on my cell phone. Finally, I was able to connect to the hostel (dial 011 + number, without the 0 in parentheses) only to have the train go into a tunnel. :( I did eventually manage to get in touch with the hostel long enough to tell them of our late arrival.
We had to switch trains at a small town named Narbonne. Before the trip, BlueOrca, the romantic, had raised concerns about our evening train schedules. She did not want to miss all the sunsets while sitting in a train. We found a nice little restaurant just outside the train station for dinner. We were the only patrons at the restaurant tonight. Seafood course, candlelight and a very beautiful sunset. The thing that worried me the most was accidentally knocking things over as I took off and put on my backpack inside the restaurant.
We waited around Gare de Narbonne for our Cascassonne express at 10pm. Took some photos outside the train station to pass time. Here is a shot of Avenue Pierre Semard from Gare de Narbonne.
We soon arrived into Carcassonne. We came upon one of the toughest decisions we had to make on the trip. Our hostel was inside the fort, about 1.5 miles crow’s distance from the train station. It was nearing 11pm. Should we take a taxi or hike there? For all the right reasons, we should take the taxi. It was quite late, we were tired, we did not know whether the town was safe and most importantly, we didn’t know exactly where the hostel was, only that it was inside the fortress. On the other hand, the first waypoint of the only geocache in Carcassonne was in the city – a 10 minute walk from the station. It was the most beautiful night, crystal clear skies with a FULL MOON. I had caught a glimpse of the castle on the train and it’s all LIT UP at night!!!!
If I had been alone, it would have been an easy decision. However, I had to respect BlueOrca’s wishes. I probed her with some questions and got some very non-committal responses. ugh! She looked tired but, officially, she was indifferent one way or the other. Alarm bells ring in such situations – I *must* make the right choice, lol. Anyway, we agreed to go and grab the first waypoint (geocaches always go down well with BlueOrca), and we will decide what to do from there. Of course, I knew once we started hiking, we’re going all the way. :D I think we would both wholeheartedly agree that we totally made the right decision on this fine night.
The night experience at Carcassonne is impossible to describe. Words just cannot do this place justice and even the photos fall horribly short. To say without any exaggeration, the hike to the fortress was one of the most breathtaking, most mesmerizing experiences of my life. I can only think of one instance where I've felt the same quiet amazement and wonder – my first night time landing at Hong Kong's old 啟德 airport. The emotions and feeling evoked were quite surreal.
Starting from the steps leading up to Pont Vieux, a weathered stone bridge over the Aude River that gives you the first glimpse of the fortress, I just had one thought in my mind: “We are staying in THAT fort tonight!! :D:D:D” To sit back and contemplate for a minute, there must have been thousands, perhaps millions, of travelers and pilgrims who trekked on the same road to the fortress over the past millennia. When they first laid eyes on the castle after a long journey, they must have felt the same sense of wonder. The fortress’s dominating presence must have resonated its strength, prosperity, commerce and peace. But most importantly, the fortress laid at the end of the road – the home for some, the destination for many. For me, that’s where my bed for tonight laid. How cool is it that Tochi, on this very night, carrying my life belongings in my backpack, was retracing the same steps up to Carcassonne!
“How cool is this?!?!”
“I cannot believe this”
“Wow”
“Damn!”
“This is so cool!”
I must have reiterated these phrases so often that night. At one point, BlueOrca was talking to me, but I was not listening. My eyes were fixated onto the castle, my ears lost in my own silent soliloquy, my mind caught in my own dream. The castle was just so damn awesome. It was a little embarrassing when I realized that she was speaking to me.
We had crossed the Aude River, cut across the lower town and got to the base of the hill upon which the fortress sat. After collecting all the necessary waypoint data to determine the final coordinates of the multi cache, we began the hike up to the fortress. Up the ramp with one switchback, we finally got to the arches guarding the entrance into the lower ramparts. I could not resist taking a photo of us making our way into the fort at 12:18 am. :)
I realized after the trip while browsing in a store that Carcassonne, the board game, had a nearly identical cover. This photo ranks as one of the most memorable shots on the entire trip for me.
Despite being past midnight, we decided to make an attempt at the geocache before heading inside the fortress. There wasn’t anyone around at midnight, so it should make searching a bit easier. We got to the ground zero location, and searched every nook and cranny along the wall. In one dark crevice, I saw two beetles on top of each other. This was my first lesson into primitive mating behaviour on this trip, but won’t be my last. We spent a fair bit of time climbing and searching all the possible places, but to no avail. Then all of a sudden, at 1:47am, the flood lights illuminating the outer castle walls suddenly turned off. We were thrown into pure darkness, with only the moon as our guiding light. Actually, we had our headlamps, but that was certainly the sign for us to give up for the night.
We made our way into the city, had to stop by a Best Western to ask for directions, and got to our hostel just past 2am. Good thing the guy was still at the reception to check us in. Got to my room and climbed into bed. My first ever night inside a REAL fortress. I was physically drained, but my emotions were so raw. This was so so so cool!!!! :D:D:D
Since my painful, but memorable Terry Fox run last fall, MrMonk and my sister have conquered both the 10km and half marathon. Their sheer awesomeness gave me a certain sense of pride that I was able to play a small part in their successes. It is not everyday that I can say this blog inspired someone to greatness. :)
However, after my Terry Fox run and seeing MrMonk and my sister taking it to a whole new level, I was left with a certain urge to prove myself in a real race. Talk about peer pressure, eh? But this is the positive kind, so it’s all good. I researched the local 10km races and discovered that the HBC Run for Canada race was happening in two weeks. Two weeks! That was surely NOT enough time to train! However, I finished in 53 minutes last time (and spent 4 weeks nursing my knee tendons), so I knew I had it in me to run all 10km, maybe, just maybe, in under 50 minutes. MrMonk managed to do it in 49:59, which was totally hc. Then one day, I saw on the following slogan on someone’s t-shirt: “Decide. Dedicate. Succeed.” That slogan really resonated with my philosophy. I began doing some practice runs and forked out my $50 deposit in preparation for this… one… day…
This was it, baby, the day I have been waiting for the past two weeks. I left home at 6:45am, arrived at Ontario Place at 7:10am and waited 15 minutes to get into the parking lot! Good thing I had picked up my race pack the previous day.
At around 8am, everyone had gathered behind the starting line. Some guy was trying to squeeze his way closer to the front, when one of the other runners asked him, “Are you a fast runner?”. The embarrassed look on that guy’s face was priceless.
The course starts from Ontario Place and snakes westward along Lake Shore Blvd for 5km, until just past the intersection with Windermere Ave. After which, the course turns backwards along the Martin Goodman Trail to return to Ontario Place.
The horn blasted off around 8:11am and away we went. I didn’t start that far back from the pack, but the first couple hundreds meters were a tedious navigation through the mob of slow people. Once we got out of Ontario Place, the crowd was spread out enough that I was able to get up to my racing speed. A lot of people were passing me at this stage.
For some reason, I missed the 1km marker. I had been running for over 5 minutes, so I should have seen it by now. However, I knew I was running faster than my comfortable jogging pace, so I should be good on time.
Finally, I saw the 2km marker. Checked my watch and it was 9:33. Not bad, though at the speed I was going at, I was hoping to be on pace for the 4.5 min/km. Not to despair, I was almost 30 seconds ahead of the 50 minute goal.
The blonde athletic looking lady passed me at this point, and I decided to pick it up and use her as my wabbit. During a race, the biggest problem for me was to focus mentally. If I think about how dry my throat was, I tend to uncontrollably want to vomit. I’m not sure if that’s a natural reaction to try to get more saliva into my mouth. So, I kept my eyes ahead on the course, and given the Sound of Music musical posters on all the lampposts, I tried to recall the various song from the show.
Passed 3km and 4km without too much problems. Just after the 4km mark, I saw the first runner coming back with the police motorcycle escort in front of him. He would have been approaching the 6km mark. He was a black dude, Kenyan looking too.
I was quite looking forward to the 5km mark, as that was where you turn around and start heading back. Finally hit the marker at 26:13 into the race. At that water station, I grabbed a cup, only to find that it was not water, but orange Powerade. I tried to take a sip, but ended up splashing it all over my lips. This Powerade better not be sticky!!! I tried to toss the cup back into these giant garbage cans on the side of the road, but ended up hitting the rim. I totally suck!!!
The return stretch was harder. The run was slowly taking a toll on my body. Each breath was getting shorter and more desperate. There was an uphill portion after the 7km mark. I tend to like hills, because the incline gives me the extra motivation to run faster. Once I got past the top, I started feeling a cramp on my right torso. Crap. I did not need this now. Slowed down my pace a bit, and concentrated on my breathing again. 3 steps inhale, 2 steps exhale. The run to the 9km marker took forever. After a while, the cramp went away. The 8km to 9km stretch was probably my only 5 minute plus kilometer. Once I got to 9km, I wanted to make up the time, so I focused on my breathing and gradually picked up speed. Once I got through the last turn, and could see the 200-300m stretch to the finish line, I went into turbo mode and sprinted straight towards the finish line. I was hoping one of the people would start sprinting too and race me to the finish. I heard some guy from the crowd go, “holy cow, look at him go!” Maybe he was talking about me.
I was totally zoned in onto the finish line, passing numerous people along the way. Here’s me barreling down to the end..
In the seconds approaching the finish line, I tried to time my step so my right foot, with the timing chip, will cross first. However, my legs were in fully autonomous mode, and I didn’t even have time to plan my steps. Ended up flying right over the mat with my left foot first. My right foot followed and didn’t even touch the mat. All of a sudden, I wondered whether I needed to stomp on the mat to register my time. Do I need to go back? lol.
Got my timing chip taken off after the race and had my 10k medal given to me by one of the athletes going to the upcoming Olympic Games. After that, I finally checked my watch and saw 47:52. I forgot to stop my watch after I crossed the line! I was quickly informed that unofficially, I finished in under 47 minutes! Wow wow wow.
My official time ended up being 46:50.2 (gun time), with a chip time of 46:38.2. The results were beyond my wildest expectations. Before the race, I was not even sure if I could finish in 50 minutes. This time placed me 173rd out of 1599 total runners, 151st out of 727 males, and 30th out of 138 in my gender/age group.
Replenished myself on the free drinks and food and sat around before watching the Kid’s 1km run. Our future Olympians were so cute!
This race was a lot more competitive than I expected, and in no time, the first couple runners were returning. I’m not even sure if I could run 1km that fast.
Got back to my car and fired off a “:)” to MrMonk, as I had promised. Saw his quick reply, “HCORE!!!!”. An hour later, I get another text “holy shit!!!! HARDCORE!!!!!!!!”. LOLIRL. The results must have been posted.
What a rewarding experience. It feels awesome stepping up to a personal challenge and coming away with the results that I did. I have no idea how I’ll be able to overcome this new personal best next time. My legs are sore, but in due time, they’ll recover. I walked away from this race with an awesome technical shirt, a medal, a great sense of fulfillment, and most importantly, a new challenge time for MrMonk to beat! I hope this one won’t fall as easily as the last. XD
BARCELONA, SPAIN (TochiHut) – A city strategically situated on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, Barcelona has a very storied history, influenced by many cultures, people and the rise and fall of dynasties and revolutions. Given its history, I had expected to find a very old, hot, humid, noisy and busy metropolis, as that was my general impression of much of Spain. As you’ll soon see, Barcelona is nothing like that. In fact, Barcelona was one of the more modern, vibrant cities I visited on this trip. I know I’ve been slacking on photos in the past couple posts, so I plan on making it up here. Now, hop onboard and join Tochi for a quick tour of Barcelona…
Overview
This is downtown Barcelona, taken from Montjüic. Much of Barcelona is very flat, but is rimmed with mountains. Very few skyscrapers dot its skyline. The cathedral you see there is the famous La Sagrada Familia, still under construction after 120 years. I gave this photo a sepia treatment for the aged effect.
Now, this is Passeig de Gràcia, one of the arteries through modern Barcelona. Quite a different view of Barcelona, eh? :)
Antonio Gaudi
Since I mentioned La Sagrada Familia already, I will jump into probably the best thing to have ever happened to the city – Antonio Gaudi. A famed architect with visions well before his time, his works are found throughout the city and form many of the must-visit tourist attractions.
Gaudi’s style is very difficult to describe, many of which are so out-of-this-world and unlike anything I had ever seen. Curves and conics are fundamental to all of Gaudi’s work, which is completely unheard of in the stricter, more mundane (imo) designs of his days. Even ultra-modern curvy “slick” designs of present day are unlike Gaudi’s work. The best way I can put Gaudi’s art is that there is a biological and organic feel, almost a human aspect, to a lot of his work. A lot of the curvatures resemble… people. An example is in order.
This is Casa Milà (aka La Pedrera), located a short walk from our hostel on Passeig de Gràcia. Compared to the other buildings in the area, which have more of a rectangular modernist movement feel, the parallel flow of curves on the front façade definitely makes this building stand out.
The most famous parts of this building are its rooftop chimneys / lampposts. Here’s a close up of one of them. This one reminds me of a giant gnome for some reason. :P
Gaudi other works are even more remarkable. My favourite building is Casa Batlló, another landmark on Passeig de Gràcia. The lower two levels remind of the ghost mask poster face of Scream. The part I love about this building is the little tiles used to decorate the outer wall on the upper levels. The blend of seemingly disjoint and different coloured pieces creates a really powerful mosaic of colours that fits so well with the building. Oh yeah, and this building was about the only time I made use of my 12-24mm wide angle lens on the trip.
Gaudi’s most famous architecture is definitely La Sagrada Familia, a gigantic cathedral just north of downtown Barcelona. Construction for the church started in 1882 and it is still ongoing. I seem to be repeating myself a lot here, but La Sagrada Familia has to be one of the most unique cathedrals I’ve visited, ever.
First of all, I’ve never seen such a fancy cathedral still in the process of being built. A good portion of the stone façade was still whitish, a tell-tale sign of it being a recent addition. It was actually weird to see the marked contrast in the age of different parts of the church, which is expected if construction has spanned over 120 years. Anyway, it made me think what it would have been like to be back in the days when the greatest cathedrals of the world were being built. The feeling must have been like this. La Sagrada Familia will definitely be a hallmark for centuries to come.
The sculptures and pedestals around the cathedral were very cartoonish, for a lack of better term. They reminded me of Zelda Wind Waker type art, which kind of fits such a funky looking church. It was interesting that a lot of the pieces were very planar, unlike the other Gaudi works I’ve seen so far. In fact, it wasn’t just the statues, but this building had a lot more planar aspects incorporated into as well, which I found a bit puzzling. La Sagrada Familia was the last work that Gaudi worked on till his death and his plans and models were destroyed in the Catalan anarchist war. I wonder how much of this is related to the new architects trying to finish the church. It just doesn’t feel as Gaudi to me.
Construction workers were still busy molding and sculpting various pieces that will eventually become part of the cathedral inside. It must be pretty cool to be able to contribute to such an impressive project.
The overall feel of the church was very majestic, almost dominating at times. The exterior façade, in particular, the Nativity (shown on the left) almost screams out at you with a sense of mourning and yearning (not much of the Nativity story, until you see the sculptures up close). From the moment you walk through the doors, with 3D etched letters popping out at you, to the tree-like columns supporting the grand vault, it is hard not to stand in awe. I really hope that this cathedral gets completed in my lifetime, so that I may return one day to take in the finished work.
The most fascinating part of my visit was the engineering school in a little hobbit house, which showcased the mathematics behind some of the geometric shapes in La Sagrada Familia. A lot of them were based on hyperboloids transforming into various other shapes. Made me kind of miss topology.
Gaudi has one more famous attraction in Barcelona, his Parc Güell. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit this garden, as it was a choice between this park or a virtual cache. We picked the virtual cache instead, which turned out to be the right choice. Save this Gaudi garden for my next visit to Barcelona.
Top of Barcelona
For those still reading, you might be wondering how amazing this virtual cache must have been that Tochi will actually prefer to cache (!) over visiting another Gaudi attraction. Well, on our last day in Barcelona, we decided to head up to Tibidabo, a mountain north of the city that offers a spectacular view of Barcelona and the Mediterranean coastline.
A quick aside for a second while I describe the Barcelona Metro system. While a bit old, there is a great network of trains and subways. You can buy a T-10 pass that enables you to take 10 trips for the price of 6. I brought a T-10 on my first day, which I quickly used up. And because I cannot count past 5, I kept on buying single fare bills until I realized I should have gotten a T-10 again. Finally did get another T-10 on the very last day, and ended up using like 3 trips on it. It is still valid for another 6 months, if I happen to be back! The only thing about the subways I did not like was at certain stations, you had to walk quite a distance to get to different platforms. Some of those walks were probably at least 400m, with sections where you go down some stairs only to come up another set moments later. Grr.
Okay, back to Tibidabo. We took a subway, then a train, followed by a missing tram, and finally a funky looking funicular to get up to Tibidabo. BlueOrca saw some space invaders looking signs along the way. At the top, there’s an pretty decent amusement park and a church, Temple de Sagrat Cor. The virtual cache was at the church.
Here’s a view of Barcelona from the Tibidabo amusement park. The Church is actually quite new. When you get up to the upper platform, you’ll see a small little chapel that was the original one built about 100 years ago. Beside it now stands this monolithic church soaring probably 50 times higher than its predecessor. There wasn’t too much special about this church in my opinion. Having been to quite a few during E08, church things are kind of hazy in my mind. I just remembered that we got the answer to the virtual cache from the brochure, only to realize a few days after we submitted the answer, we didn’t read the question properly. Oh well.
Besides Tibidabo, BlueOrca and I also visited another mountain that offers a great view of the city – Montjuïc. As a coastal guardian to the west of the city, a historic fort was raised at the top to “protect” Barcelona. We took the most expensive cable car ever to get to Montjuïc from the beaches area (9 Euros). The ride did offer remarkable views of the city’s waterfront and harbour. Once we got off the cable car, BlueOrca and I cached our way up to the fort. Met C C ya later family from OC, California while doing a multi cache. I’ve never met such an adorable little girl who’s so into geocaching. lol.
Castell de Montjuïc is this 18th century castle that sits on top of Montjuïc. It was almost sunset by the time we got up to the castle, but the gates were still wide open for us to stroll right in. We roamed around the fort a bit, taking in the sights from the surrounding areas. Since it was evening, the setting sun’s rays were coming through over the mountain and bathing its light onto the city. The view was quite pretty.
BlueOrca saw some Tappy cats and birds while in the castle and tried to photograph them. Eventually, the groundskeeper found us and kicked us out. Some white dude dressed in a kung-fu attire tried to hitch a ride with BlueOrca and me down the mountain, the only problem being, neither BlueOrca nor I had a car.
After that, we decided to explore the rest of Montjuïc , which means…
Olympic Park
Barcelona was the site of the 1992 Summer Games of the XXV Olympiad. The main Olympic park is situated on the lower portions of Montjuïc. The 1992 Summer Olympics was the first games that I recall really watching; not that I remember very much. However, the arrow shooting cauldron lighting opening ceremony remains engraved in my memory.
I visited this Olympic Park twice on this trip, once before BlueOrca arrived and again afterwards with BlueOrca. Got to see the main Olympic Stadium, the Swimming tank, Olympic Bell, Olympic Torch, and the very very cool looking Calatrava Tower in the Olympic Circle (Anella Olímpica). Things were quiet in the Olympic Park, probably because we were visiting in the evening.
During the second trip back with BlueOrca, we were in the Olympic Park shooting some photos. A Romanian guy came up to ask for directions to FC Barcelona’s stadium. While I was talking with him, two undercover police officers came up to us, asking for ID. They gave the Romanian guy a terribly hard time and proceeded to check our IDs. I had no idea what the heck was going on. They also asked us to show them our cash, which they rubbed to see if it’s “real”. They told us this is a very dangerous area, with people dealing drugs, etc. They saw on the CCTV the three of us hanging around in the plaza, so came out to check up on us. These Romanian guys are very dangerous.
After the "officers” left, everything was on high alert. I was like, these guys know how much money we have, let’s get the heck out of here before we get mugged. I was totally paranoid for several days afterwards. While looking at stuff online after the trip, I stumbled upon this particular encounter by another tourist. Man, we totally got off lucky.
Reading about some of the other stories on that page, this one caught my eye too:
Outside the Sagrada Familia we were approached by two women who forced a red carnation onto each of us. Mine was pushed down the front of my tee shirt! They indicated that there was to be an exhibition of flamenco and then asked us each for 1 cent. As this was such a small amount of money we both thought this would be a good way of getting rid of them and got out our purses. That was what they wanted. They tried to 'help' us find the appropriate coin by putting their fingers into the coin compartments of our purses. Later, and too late, we realised that whilst doing this, they had milked out the notes from the note compartment. The next day we returned to the same place and watched two other gypsy women pull the same scam."
We both had picked up a carnation outside Casa Batlló earlier during the day. Chills are going down my bones right now. I feel like a newbie and haven’t seen the real, dangerous world out there… I was really “很天真和很傻”.. lol. It is one thing to hear the stories, but it’s another to experience two close encounters in the same day.
Downtown Barcelona
I’ll finish off the tour back in the city – Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a major pedestrian promenade running through the heart of Barcelona. We started from its northern end near Placa Cataluyna and headed south. The boulevard is quite vibrant, with a lot of tourists meandering about and a lot of artists selling their craft.
BlueOrca needed to cash some of her traveler’s cheques on a Sunday when none of the banks were opened. We were guided to the cash exchanges on Las Ramblas. BlueOrca found two exchanges beside each other and went for the one with the better exchange rate, which happens to be really really good. Too good to be true, as we found out the hard way. The service charge/commission, written in super fine text, was an exuberant 18%. :(
Les Ramblas connects several unique districts, probably the most famous of which is the “China Town” and Red Light district. We came during the day, so not much action there. We decided to take a side journey towards the gothic area of Barcelona.
Old Barcelona is full of tight alleyways and little courtyards. Before coming to Barcelona, I saw some amazing HDR shots of the alleyways on Flickr. Unfortunately, the day was overcast and ruined all my alleyway photos. We did stumble onto a courtyard where a half dozen kids were playing football. Now, this is what I expect from Spain. The scene reminded me of this World Cup commercial by Adidas (Another funny commercial is here).
We made our way to Plaça de Sant Jaume, where we witnessed some live music and dancing performances of the Sardana, the national dance of Catalonia (Thanks to BlueOrca Galleries for this tip). The Sardana is a circular dance whereby people form a ring. While watching it, I would have loved to join in if it hadn’t been only old people dancing. :( I also wanted to stick my camera right in the middle of the circle and take a shot looking up. I found out later at a stone statue of the Sardana dance that even my 12-24mm would not have been wide enough. We watched for a while, before moving on.
The main cathedral in Old Barcelona was Cathedral Cloister. There were 13 geese roaming leisurely in the fenced in courtyard. I didn’t take very many pictures of the Cloister as it was lined with alcoves all around. It totally reminded me of the Abbey in Saltzburg and the Sound of Music. Even though there were not gravestone stuff behind the fences, I was still a bit spooked. Just walked around shooting geese and water fountains while BlueOrca captured the church with her camera.
We also visited a Basilica named Santa Maria del Mar, which was much more traditional than Cathedral Cloister. Yes, this is where I was asked not to use my tripod. Fine, if you do not want Tochi to showcase your church to all of TochiHut’s readers (free advertising), it’s your loss.
We had seen some really fancy column work in postcard photos taken at Palau de la Musica. This music palace is a really really fancy concert hall. Arriving here, we could see the balcony with the famous columns from the street. It was rather lackluster, though I'd imagine it'll look a lot more beautiful if I was actually on the balcony, or if the columns were lit up at night. The interior of the hall was quite dazzling. I loved the open marble staircase with gold railing columns and glass tiles on the ceiling. This time, BlueOrca warned me about no photography before the guy started approaching. I was thinking, I’m blind. I did not see any signs, so please do not tell me about them. I managed to take a few shots of the nice interior decor before I was requested officially to stop shooting. We promptly left afterwards.
Here’s the top of a marble fountain we saw while walking out of Old Barcelona to the waterfront. The strong sunset rays were basking the statue and buildings. For the first time in the day, I was glad to have overcast skies.
Finally, we got to Port Vell, the very modern waterfront district of Barcelona. We might not have discovered this area had it not been DAS BOOT. We took a leisurely stroll along the main pedestrian artery out towards the harbour. It really has a very peaceful, coastal broadwalk feel. We passed by the sub that was “Das Boot” and BlueOrca promptly came up with the missing piece. There was an aquarium, an IMAX theatre, a cool pedestrian bridge and a very modern looking mall that reminded me of the likes of IFC and 奧海城. I needed a restroom break, so I left BlueOrca outside with my tripod, while I hurried into the mall to look for relief. Afterwards, I took a quick stroll through some of the shops as there were many little boutiques. The mall was closing at that time, so I couldn’t shop around too much (and BlueOrca was probably worried sick and wondering why I was taking so long! XD)
While at Port Vell, we had spotted the following statue. Given that the figure was pointing westward and this is Barcelona, I surmised that we were looking at Christopher Columbus. From the map though, it was Placa de la Carbonera. You'd think if it's Christopher Columbus, they'd name the plaza after him too. Anyway, it did turn out to be Christopher.
It was twilight “zone” (lol) while we were at Port Vell, my favourite time for photography. Got a lot of cool colours and night light shots. I love this area - might rank as my favourite place in Barcelona. Kind of wish that Toronto had something similar.
Port Vell is the terminating point for Las Ramblas. I guess one last story of interest is that we found out why all the fountains in the city were.. dry. There was suppose to be a magic fountain that is said to be super spectacular. Apparently, Barcelona has a major drinking water problem for the past couple years. There are discussions of building a 200 mile aqueduct from France to feed this region of Spain. Given the water shortage, the city decided to get rid of the fountains. I guess I should also mention that we brought a fateful postcard at Las Ramblas, which I promptly lost by the next day. Some things just aren’t meant to be.
Food
In terms of food, typically on trips, I like to try local delicacies, not really caring what I eat, as long as it’s something different and not too disgusting. :) BlueOrca had two things to try in Barcelona: Paella and Tapas.
I heard on a Chinese radio show a month before the trip about Paellas – a seafood rice dish native to Spain (but not Barcelona). After I saw a picture of the dish on the menu, I realized I had Paella already at Montserrat. My brain never made the connection until now. Paella wise, I liked the seafood, but I’m more of a solid rice person, so the Paella rice was a bit soft for me. The dish was quite salty too.
The Tapas we ordered weren’t very special, as I might have had too high of an expectation for these Spanish dim-sums. I just remembered the service at this restaurant was rather subpar, so I did not leave with a very good impression.
However, during our second night, we ate at Polo Loco (or something like that), a chicken place that was really good. I was a little uneasy when we were searching for food, as we were walking into the Red Light district area at 10pm. You see weirdos rummaging through garbage cans and what not. However, we got a great waiter guy and good chicken.
The most rewarding aspect of E08 is probably getting to know your friends better. I definitely found out about some peculiar preferences on this trip concerning carnivorous habits and the dissection of everyday fowl. XD
Final Thoughts
Barcelona. 5 out of 5. I need to come back to see the fountains, watch an FC Barcelona match and visit Park Guell. Loved the atmosphere, loved the city. This post is already too long. Hope you enjoyed the tour… and definitely visit Barcelona. Well worth your time. I’d say spend at least 4 days to truly explore the city.