Backtracking Just A Little

So it looks like I forgot to put in my blog posting for Barcelona, Spain. A pity that! I was doing so well so far with keeping the chronological order of my blogs. I guess screwing up once or twice is alright. God it's hot in Australia this time of year. Maybe I should ship off to the South East coast where they actually get snow? Ha ha ha, but then I wouldn't be able to catch up with Elise, so I think I'll be staying here for a while. Oh, and I must remind myself to print off some resume's in the next little while. I think I'll wait till at least monday to take care of all that jazz, so I can be better shaved, dressed, and all that before I start dropping in on people.

Right then, well, as I said, Barcelona! Great city! Cold as all heck! Didn't try the food. End of story!

Would you guys really let me get away with that?

I didn't think so either. So, let's get down to business then, shall we?

Observations are usually a good place to start off, so I think traffic laws should be a logical place to begin. Have you ever noticed that the bigger the city, the less traffic laws there appear to be? Yeah, I noticed that too. It was especially prevalent in barcelona. While cars and vehicles of all shapes and sizes did go t he correct directions on the roads, that's about the extent of order in Barcelona. There are cars, bikes, scooters, and all sorts of motorized vehicular creations basically going where they want, when they want. There's just no order to it. In a couple of cases, it seemed to me that four or five people just cruised on through the red lights, no problem there. And of course, where are the police at these times? Of course, they're reigning in the drunks at night and are invisible during the day. Maybe they're night cops only? Hmmmm, go figure.

Of course, I kid. But in all seriousness, check that out next time you go toa big city center. The larger it is, chances are the more offenders you'll get. I can't even imagine what the drinving is like in Thailand or even India for that matter. And I just thought of something else as well? Maybe it's the two extremes that cause this phenomena; the very large and the very small. In smaller towns, and being from Newfoundland I've seen my share, the same condition applys. Of course, at least in the small towns there are lower speeds and so the chances of serious accidents are lower as well. But what is really safer? In Stephenville, or almost any small town in Newfoundland, if you even stand on the side of the road, someone will stop for you. End of story, no questions asked. Now go with that, and flip it 180 degrees to a large city where no one stops for you unless you're at the cross walk and have pressed the button. On the one hand, you have courteous people driving so slowly that they'll probably not get into an accident anyways. On the other, you have the crazy speeds most large city drivers attempt to keep up with, but it forces pedestrians to follow the road laws. So I pose this question again, which is the better option?

I'm probably a bit biased, but I personally like the way the big cities operate. The reason? That's because it's predictable. If you think about it logically, you can see my reasoning. In a small city, you never know what cars are going to do. They might stop for you, they might not, and there might be Joe Redneck hurtling along and crash into the car that stopped. Frankly, ending up as another statistic is not on my list of things to do. But in a larger city, you can rely on a bunch of things. First, you will be run over if you step out into the road away from a crosswalk. End of story, well, unless you cross when the road is completely empty. Everyone is moving at such a pace to keep up with the fast pace-setters and speed demons, that most of the time they wouldn't be able to stop anyways. As well, the roadways, traffic lights, and stopping areas are well marked. In smaller cities, the roads are not as well maintained and cross-walks and stop signs sometimes don't exist. At the wrong time, you could get a non-local who doesn't know the signs or even a local who just forgets. Trust me, I've done it sometimes myself. Finally, there are just so many people that most drivers are going to stop anyhow. Unless, of course, they're going for the high score in the driving game. Then, you're pretty much screwed and you all end up on the evening national news. Fun times!

So there, that's my thoughts on the subject. Take it, leave it, or reply to it, pick one!

Right then, what I saw in Barcelona. I guess that's probably what you'd be looking for now in a travel blog. I know I would. Okay, so I guess I'll start with one of the more interesting areas, and of course touristy, of La Ramblas (LR). LR is the main shopping/market street in Barcelona. At any given time you can take in street performers, living statues, trinket shopping, as well as live animal purchases. Yeah, I said it. Live animals. Basically, they have stalls, out on the sidewalk, and sell everything from chickens, to hamsters, and right on back up to parakeets and rabbits. It's quite the show, actually. If you go out earlier in the morning, you can watch them all set up. I think I heard a goat at one point, but I could be wrong. At least they're not butchering them on the spot and all that jazz. That would just be, well, not wrong, I guess. Just different I suppose. Maybe when I go to China I'll see that in some of the outskirt areas. But, not so much in Barcelona. In any case, bottom line is, the LR strip is a real cool place to start off with.

Cut. Paste. Moving on!

Oh, I did get to see the FC Barcelona Football Stadium. The outside of it anyways. It cost money to get the tour, and I figured, I've already seen the Manchester United stadium so there can't be that much difference. Um, yeah, that's really about all I have to say on that topic.

The Magic Fountain!

Sound like a good name for a book doesn't it? And no, I didn't discover the fountain of youth or anything like that. It's actually just a big fountain with motorized jets that get set to music almost every night of the week. I think it might even happen every night. In any case, it's definitely something everyone needs to see once...and only once. Frankly, there's a lot more hype to it as a tourist attraction than there should be, but at least then it gets people in to see it. It's free, and set right below a really cool looking museum on top of a hill. I never went in though. Brent, you're probably cursing on me now for not visiting all the museums and such stuff. But come on man, those things take ages to get through, and of course, money I don't have! Maybe I'll get to the one here in Perth. I think it's free, so I'll take a day sometimes int he next week or so and get there. But back to the point at hand, the fountain is really quite a piece of engineering and colors, even if the music is all crap and not syncronized at all. The hues they manage to get from the jets of water and mist are fantastic when mised with the lighting. On a warm night, I can see why so many people pack ther area. Actually, as cold as it was, the place was still packed. I guess it's a must-see for tourists.

The Aquarium in Barcelona, unfortunately, I didn't get to see. But, as it was over 20 Euro to get in, I think I have a valid point as a backpacker. Apparently it's quite the spot to see, according to some other travel and blog sites I looked at. Maybe next time. Oh, but while I was down on the waterfront area, I did see something rather remarkable regarding to water. Ships, sailing ships to be precise. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of them all lined up in rows upon rows along the marinas. There were also yahts, rowboats, replica sailing ships (the big ones), and even the occassional tourist fishing vessel type thingy. A tour boat, I guess, is the words I'm looking for. There was even a nice beach in the area. Unfortunately, being so cold, I definitely wouldn't have been able to go swimming and all that jazz. There were some surfers out though. Man, I can't figure out how cold that would've been.

Now, ther was also this really cool church. Apparently, it's been on the build for a long time, and it's not going to be completed for another 30 to 50 years of something ridiculous like that. The pictures will be able to show you what it's all about.

But there was one really random moment when I was around, I think Poble Espanyol or Sagrada Familia, I can't remember which. In any case, I was trying to find the landmark I had travelled there to go see, when lowe and behold there was an escalator, right there between two buildings. To top it all off, it was in a residential district, with no shops or major attractions nearby, and it spanned over 150 steps that ran along side it up the hill. It was really, really weird. I mean, that's like having an escalator going up from O'Connel Drive to the Arts and Culture Center back home. It's just plain weird. And there were no covers or anything. So what happend when it rains? Wouldn't the mechanics inside get all messed up? Meh, in any case, I got pictures, so check it out!

Oh, and here's something else. Down on the waterfront, there's a little mall built on a pier or small island of land or something like that. In any case, inside this little shopping strip there's actually a Native American store. Seriously! There's pictures of guys in the feather headdresses and the works. There's even 'tribal' or 'native' jewelry. Yeah, right! Maybe loosely inspired, but certainly not Native. Trust me, I've seen Native back home. But I guess, maybe this is considered foreign and exotic to Spaniards. Kinda weird, though, to see stuff from our own history being used in a retail shop like that. Maybe that's what the Japanses feel like when they go to shops in America that are supposedly Japanese Themed? Another thought.

I'll finish off with a description of the concert I went to and the lovely Helen Miller that went with me. I should introduce her first, right? Ms Helen Miller, from the Lake of Constance area in southern Germany. I met Helen at the hostel I stayed at in Barcelona, the Albareda Youth Hostel. Actually, as a side note, this spot is really great. Even the owners would come down and chill out with the guests. The old man there was really funny too. As soon as he found out some of us could play guitar he would ask for us to play and he would sit and listen. Huh, fancy that? I wish he had his instrument there with him, apparently is some kind of Spanish traditional instrument, but much like a guitar of sorts. It would have been cool to hear him play as well. In any case, back Helen. Yeah, she's a sailor, runner, hiker, climber, and basically all-round crazy chick! Awesomely cool, though. But yeah, we went off to the Spanish Guitar concert that was advertised. I foget the performer's name, but damn was he ever good. Apparently he studied at some super-prestegious music school and is now a nationally and internationally known performed. I bought his CD afterwards as well. The venue was quite cool as well, set in a tiny old church with everyone just packed in. I gotta say though, the coolest part was getting to hear what a true classical guitar player can do. he actually gave out a history lesson while he went and played songs from the different eras, baroque, rennaisance, modern, and one other. But the truly astonishing part of it was the projection of sound. There were no microphones, no amps, nothing to get in the way. And yet, he projected both the guitars sound, and the sound of his voice in one piece, through the whole church. Mind you , it was small, but the ceilings were cathedral style and the walls all stone. Truly a marvel of both the player and the makers of the different guitars he played. Check out the song Granada, if you can, as its now my new favorite piece. (Since I found out that its the name of a piece I heard before but just never knew what to look for.)

Alright, I'm done now. Enough typing for the day. Time to chill out and wait for Elise to call me o I can set up shop in her place.

Later days,

Neal

Oh, and I'm actually looking at some ideas to write a book now. It's fleshing out rather well, actually. I'll let you know when I have a test chapter written up. Adios!

Right then, that's really about it.


Guitar concert, Granada, Tango in the sky.

Helen Miller.