home (if auckland counts)

in the auckland koru lounge. we had the speediest flight on record (i imagine) and arrived an hour and ten minutes early. so early and so efficiently dealt with that we got to the domestic terminal slightly before it opened - we tried slow walking but that meant we got caught in a fairly serious downpour and had to take evasive action as we walked between the terminals.

so, we waited for the travelling bag thing to start - also changed to an earlier flight to wtn - waited for the security gates to open (got to witness the milk for the coffee bar go through the xray!!) and walked straight into the koru lounge which was just open - thank goodness.

celebrated with two short blacks followed quickly by a latte (me) and flat white (G) - yum! don't do coffee in china - that's all i'll say and they do have some excellent tea

our experience of beijing, overall, left us eager for the trip home. however, it was worth it for the great wall which was fully amazing and wonderful. i couldn't help feeling that beijing has been broken and despite all the efforts they make, it has somehow lost its heart along the way - still, what would i know?

see you all at work tomorrow and variously at other places in the next few days... s and g

the (illustrated) globe

oh boy, what a day! so fabulous i can hardly decide where to start. ok, i'll be chronological:

first, we found a laundromat so got some more clean clothes - that's always a good thing in the sal and geoff book of travel. although those of you who read and digested earlier posts will know that i now have heaps of clean undies thanks to Marks and sparks... trialled a pair today - not bad for a quid (sorry Hamish, NOT).

then, we walked back through greenwich park and found a beautiful herb garden. after which, we travelled to the globe by river. that is definitely the way to arrive... took about 20 minutes, heaps of cool buildings and river activity to look at, before docking at Bankside, right next to the Globe.

Popped into the Tate and copped a great look at Monet's water lilies, a couple of Picasso's, lots of Miros (bored now), and assorted other pictures - oh, and heaps of school kids being dragged around and variously engaged (or not) by their hapless teachers.

off to the swan for lunch. Good. Then, rented a cushion each and took our seats in time to watch the groundlings gather below, and lots of them being told off (can't sit down, can't sneak into empty seats, can't open brollies, etc, etc) by the stewards, who i think are volunteers as they all looked to be retired or at uni.

anything i write will by puny but we had the most magnificent afternoon. it rained, it stopped, the sun shone (they gave us cardboard sunhats), the play - Henry VIII - which is a shakespeare collaboration by the way - the whole thing was just great. especially watching the groundlings get wet and also gently engaged and wound up by the cast. you will see in the pictures that i was very excited. great day!

we wandered along the river bank, found another pub (not difficult) near trafalgar square, then had a snack at the SMITF crypt before over-extending our day of culture at the GB romantics choral concert. weirdly, there was a free screening of Tosca going on in TS before, during and after our concert (by the elysian singers). THe concert was good. It was fun to be there - i reckon the Dorians would give them a run for their money with the howell's requiem, but it was lovely to hear it performed.

then, charing cross station to greenwich in about 20 minutes - no exaggeration. the train line is really efficient. way fewer stops than the tube.

tomorrow we have to pack up and leave for Munich and Beijing but we're in denial and still pretending that it's not happening. we have a cool new breakfast place sussed out - they made us beautifual flat whites today while we waited for the laundry. there you are - full circle.

hope you like the pics - there were actually lots of people at the play but there was a sign saying no photos so i took them early and then stopped xx sal and geoff

marks and sparks

oh yes - i found 10 pair of knickers for 10 quid at M and S - none met with G's approval... it was a relief to me tho as the laundering of my 4 pair was becoming onerous

i know, too much information

ciao

The Catford Ram

pictures will follow...
went to Catford - on the double decker bus - that was Sunday night - I was relaxed (stupidly) and Geoff was anxious that he wouldn't be able to find his former place of work.

well - we found it - the haven from Catford, Lewisham, call it what you will, it was a tiny bit scary even in daylight.
we had a half pint (young's special) to celebrate and a wee chat with the barmaid who was a bit interested but not really. she was shocked to hear Geoff's stories of what used to be done with the beer slops and was firm about that NOT being the case any more...

on the way into the bar, and after, about three times, we were approached, at first softly, but then with increasing vigour and potential aggression by a clapped out druggy who wanted 20p. we meanly declined and jogged off down the road in search of a bus for greenwich.
i have to say that greenwich is a nice middle class kind of place. The general locale of the catford ram is verging on scary. we saw a guy dressed like a pimp - just use your stereotypical imagination drinking from a bottle in a paper bag - i think i've already mentioned the strung out beggar - and i'd have to say that even the honest citizens of the neighhourhood weren't in great shape.

suffice to say, we did not extend the visit to try and rediscover geof'f's former flat.
all's well that ends well (as someone may have observed in the past) and that's all there really is to say about that.

the hope and sirloin

best lunch ever today at the hope and sirloin, near smithfield. roastbeef sandwich with horseradish. G had pork and crackling. both were delicious. washed down with a couple of half pints of a local brew called reservoir dogs.

interesting day - started with a paul rhodes' bakery breakfast - GREAT food - average coffee, tho by no means the worst coffee we've ever drunk.

jumped on an off-peak service into town and went to st martin in the fields' ticket office in the cypt to book our tickets for the tuesday concert. tomorrow will be extremely cultural...

popped into the national portrait gallery and saw some very cool stuff. wish you were here to enjoy it too.

then off for a spot of geocaching. have succesfully off-loaded all our trackables now, so that's good. it also led us to the london wall (very old, very crumbled) and the aforementioned lunch.

then for some shops. this was frankly the low point of the day - you know - they're just shops.

we regathered ourselves at a pret a manger for a snack, lemon cake, where geoff - to be on the safe side - ordered earl grey tea rather than coffee. my flat white was average and ok - his tea came with milk! oops.

we decided to go back to have another look at parliament and the abbey, both of which we saw briefly yesterday on the fat tire tour. we arrived at the abbey to discover that it was (a) closed to tourists after 3.30pm and also about 12 quid each! and (b) that if we wanted to pray we could wander on in.

a surly man at the gate wanted to know our business - i said Prayer very firmly - and we proceeded. turns out he was almost right - we were in time for evensong, so stuck around and listened to the choir boys. we were in the cheap seats so never actually saw any of the boys, but they sang very nicely indeed. got told off by the verger at the end of the service when we tried to hang around in poets' corner, but mostly stayed out of trouble. there was this crazy woman in front of us (possibly american) who every now and then tried to join in with the choir - an octave lower and not well at all - but other than that it was fine. the first lesson was all about joseph and what a prig he was etc etc and therefore how to avoid envy. altogether very uplifting (!)

sorry about that Dave. Also, they said special prayers for the anglican church in japan - turned out there was a large party of japanese anglicans in attendance - they were not in the cheap seats, but sitting around the choir stalls, so no doubt they saw many choir boys (as opposed to none).

Dave, if Michael loves singing I have an address - perhaps you could enquire before his voice breaks... and he too could be an abbey chorister?

after that we popped over the road for a restorative drink - mine was called lemony cricket and we evesdropped on some young Labour advisers or wannabes - talking about education and various other things. god, democracy should not be left to 23 year old policy wannabes! we came back to Greenwich after that - very tired, but all set to find a nice dinner. presently in our local - the mitre - having a wee drink and a read of the guardian. also this pub has free wifi, unlike our hotel (which is otherwise great).

hope you all had a good long weekend and are working hard. tomorrow, shakespeare's globe... we are toying with travelling there by river ferry... huzzah!

sorry mum

didn't mean to wake you up - just wanted to let you know we are safely (and happily) in London... won't do that again.

Did the fat tire cycle tour this morning - it was good fun and we saw lots of palaces and parks. i have the t shirt to prove it as well.

raced back to Greenwich - which is a really fantastic place to stay - so we could check out the market - Geoff bought me a lovely ring and then i sneaked back while he was catching 40 winks and bought a cute handbag as well. he will learn this when i go back...

We delivered the car in one complete piece, not even a scratch, to Bordeaux airport yesterday, before embarking on the big wait. Easyjet is an interesting experience but not necessarily one we'd be eager to repeat. Having said that, once we got on the plane the flight crew were really good and the flight was great - they almost made up all the time we'd lost on the french side and only landed a few minutes later than scheduled.

the really amazing part was queuing to board the plane - we all lined up, sort of, with speedy boarders (who'd paid extra) in their own queue. then they said they'd let families on first - tried not to snarl - but then they didn't and it became a bit of a free for all (after the speedy boarders, who got their 12 quids worth, i suppose), complete with some pommie whinging about how dare they promise families first but not deliver. G and I had our heads down and kept moving.

Even so we feared we'd be in the bowels of the plane. We chose the front steps to enter - hope springs eternal - and agreed we'd look for aisle seats across from each other. well blow me down, in row one there were two aisle seats, still empty. too good to be true? NOT! we were in the front row and almost first off at Gatwick. Then immigration. they had two types of queue. UK and EU citizens, then 'the rest of the world'. as it turned out there were about 600 people in the first and about six of us in the second. Yay rest of the world!

then it was a slight scramble onto a fairly packed train, a bit of a tortuous climb or two at the change (London Bridge if you're interested), and fetched up at Greenhich. the Ibis is great - excellent room and right next to a french bistro and spanish tapas bar, along with numerous other pubs and restaurants.

we celebrated in style with a pint each before dinner (tapas), followed by 1 1/2 further pints each after. Possibly we went a bit overboard on the pub visits, especially given we'd split a bottle of tinto over dinner. However, we felt very very pleased to be here. And we still are.

i think we might be off to Lewisham shortly - to revisit a sliver of G's past, then possibly a curry for tea. we had a slap up breakfast at an organic cafe this morning and found a really good coffee cart at the market, so are doing quite well - in fact probably undoing all the good work we did in Spain where we seemed to eat quite often, but quite lightly. hmmmm.

we have found a concert at st martin in the fields that we hope to go to on tuesday evening - have to ring tomorrow to check on tickets. if we do that it will mean shakespeare at 2pm and concert at 7.30! what a way to end our time here.

already we wish we'd chosen to stay longer in London - i can feel GB beckoning again and we're still here...

some images of San Sebastian

images of Bordeaux

the story of this sculpture ends the previous blog...

the news today mentioned a bit of a weather bomb in NSW - hoping that NZ is not next on its list, or too badly affected by its fallout.

as you can see from these pictures the weather here is stunning...

Biarritz and Bordeaux

On our way to Bordeaux we took a welcome detour to Biarritz - it was a spontaneous addtion to our itinerary! The sea was green the sky was blue, the waves were rolling in to the beautiful sandy beach... in other words, we finally got our sea swim.

It's only a couple of kms from San Sebastian to the French border - but no drama, just drive on through. The only reminder that you've changed countries is that the toll booth staff greet you with 'bon jour' instead of 'hola'.

we arrived to stinking hot weather in Bordeaux and a hotel that is handily located to town. Partly thanks to our geocaching habit we found a really cool sculpture this morning - it was unexpected to say the least... see next post

Last night in Spain

we can hardly believe it, but tonight is our last night before crossing the border back into France... the only potential drawback to the forthcoming revelry is that the last bus leaves town at 11.30. so possibly we won't be all that late.

we got horribly lost trying to find the hotel, even tho navman (Sharon) seemed sure she had found it and stopped helping. eventually we got here. there are some advantages now we've made it: free parking, free wi-fi in our room, plus our first balcony of the trip. it has a lovely view of the motorway!

last night we ate in style at Gijon. We went to a sidraria (sp?) and had the seafood paella of Geoff's dreams, along with quite a bit of the sidra (cider), which must be poured for you, into an enormous glass, but only about an inch at a time, which you have to drink in one gulp. this becomes slightly more difficult as the night goes on. we rose to the challenge... discovered when the bill came that each bottle cost the staggering sum of about 2,50 euros! we had 3 if you must know.

also our waiter, who came from the dominican republic, introduced us to percebes, which are a kind of weird mollusc-y claw-like thing that take a wee bit of technique to eat, and are delicious. sweet and only the faintest bit iodine-y. well, anyway, it was a clever upsell on his part, but no regrets from us - best meal so far and lots of fun as well.

We visited the guggenheim in bilbao this morning, which truly is amazing. the highlight was probably works by Anish Kapoor - he's worth googling (as are the percebes). especially his large yellow piece (Geoff's favourite) and a cannon, gun, thing that fired huge red wax globs that looked like bits chopped off giant lipsticks at the wall (my favourite).

will post some pics in due course. probably should make the most of free wifi in room while we have it - most of our hotels only gave us half hour bursts in the lobby. we have also driven back into the land of orange (network) which lets me post from my phone, possibly at great expense, but it's fun.

Basque country really isn't like the rest of Spain. its geography is way more hilly and green, compared with the large flat expanses that characterised much of the rest of the place. I was going to ask Geoff for his view, but he's lapsed into forty winks so you'll have to wait.

It's good to hear that Hamish and Kate have returned to full health. In fact, Hamish sounds positively bursting with enthusiasm...

we had the loveliest walk around the coast line at Gijon yesterday - they've developed it into a nearly six km stretch, punctuated with sculptures and with plenty of room for strolling, cycling, roller-blading, etc. we also saw people fishing and practising rock-climbing and the ubiquitous couples indulging in serious PDAs... if you don't see that, road works and people drinking and smoking and having fun, then you're probably not in spain...

gotta go - this post is already way too long... more later :-)

We are here

On our way to san sebastian via bilbao :-)

The beach again

Here we are on the cantabrian coast. After days of hot weather we reach spain's best beaches and it's cloudy, wet-ish and not that warm. Apparently it's sunny everywhere else in spain today!

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de compostela

If it is possible it seems that Spain just gets better. We had a stop off at A on the way for breakfast and a gander at the local Church that gaudi designed, complete with moat. It also happened that on the way out of Leon I was pulled over by an over zealous local cop for a very minor but possibly slightly dangerous manouver. Once it became apparent that I had no idea what he was saying and he of me, we parted in good company with Karen the nav woman copping the total blame.

we had fantastic tapas (again, still) last night and staggered slightly drunkenly home after visiting a few bars/restaurants along the way.

our hotel - despite being half the price of our most expensive one (cordoba, disappointing) - is 5 star and gorgeous - and also quiet compared to Madrid - or anywhere, really.

being a pilgrim destination S de C has an interesting atmosphere. we saw quite a few pilgrims walking as we drove here yesterday - 2010 is a special year so even more than the usual 70 000 do the walk. and, it became apparent on arrival, lots of cyclists do it as well. although the complete route is much longer, you have to walk a minimum of 100km or cycle 200km to qualify for the compostela (half your time off purgatory in normal years, the whole thing on a religious year such as 2010). if you are less concerned about the purgatory part you can claim a certificate rather than a compostela...

we are hungry for breakfast now so more later

an extra post please also see the other one previous

sometimes when i post twice - like now - it seems like no one responds to the first post - but maybe that's just blog exhaustion - we're feeling it a bit - although not holiday exhaustion - although there are moments when it feels like work

although i know that it's not ok to say that, when you're all freezing and trying not to become submerged in the rain. there were a few showers in madrid yesterday, causing us concern as we'd left the brollies in the hotel. luckily by the time we emerged from the thyssen museu - which is an absolutely ripping art gallery - it was warm and sunny again (still).

however, it was a wee bit cool tonight in Leon and Geoff insisted that we eat indoors as he'd left his warm top behind and was only in shirt sleeves and shorts. yes, how we suffer.

we've seen a few frazzled teachers shepherding groups of spanish teens around various cultural sites as we've tripped around. they gave us pause - and we've been sparing a thought for the STCA negotiations (about which i know nothing) - and also for union solidarity generally, thanks to witnessing a spirited protest (they had whistles) at the madrid train station yesterday... we think it was either train mechanics, or the spanish branch of service and food workers YAY

it's great to hear what's happening at home - even when it involves broken bones, floods and flu... if you can't comment for whatever reason you can still find us at geoffchilds@xtra.co.nz and we hope this finds all of you that don't have broken bones, etc, well and happy - and that those of you who are currently indisposed will soon be on the mend.

Julia - don't worry about the house being like a fridge (it will serve us right) - andnwe're confident we can warm it up quick smart when we get back - and also it involves pilot lights and fiddling about...

I have also caught Geoff checking his work emails which we both agreed would be a no go area on the holiday - so am sticking to my side of the bargain (one of the few occasions i have found moral high ground so i'm well and truly occupying it)... just in case the moral high ground proves ineffective, i have other plans (less moral, but possibly more effective).

anyhoo... it's late, we're kind of tired, and there is a high chance of sleep tonight - so i'll close - we can hear cicadas, or their local equivalents, compared with street cleaners, drunken revellers and discos (in Madrid - ok, Fuenlabrada) - plus we have twin beds at this establishment...

nighty night...

Madrid boil-up

the proper name for this dish (on the right) is cocido a la madrilena. but as far as we could tell it's a pretty flash boil up... no, make that a pretty flash, delicious, boil up.

you start with the soup - in the tureen at the right of the picture, which was chicken-y and with tiny pasta bits in it.

then we got the plate of chickpeas and assorted veges (to the back of the table, towards me) including carrot, spuds and savoy cabbage.

finally, the plate of meat - on Geoff's side of the table - which included chicken, black pudding, brisket and pork belly, oh, and a wee bit of marrow and a couple of bits of chorizo.

well, the pork belly (yes, mostly fat) was a revelation. to me, it didn't have the cloying porky taste i associate with, well, pork. it was delicious... the whole thing seemed to be made with love.

the staff were also fabulous - and gave us complimentary liqueurs and cake afterwards - which almost led to a mr creosote incident, but we coped.

you can see from the picture that the walls were elaborately tiled and decorated with slightly pornographic illustrations. all in all it added up - along with the bottle of rioja - to an extremely decadent and satisfying lunch and a great way to end our time in madrid.

today we came to Leon, via Segovia and its amazing aqueduct (everything is starting to sound like a circus act), which has become my second favourite place after Granada. Leon is fantastic and the cathedral really does have windows worth visiting.

we also saw pilgrims and pilgrim signs all over the place as Leon is one of the stops on the camino de santiago. tomorrow we expect even more of this as we are off to Santiago de Compostela. it's very gratifying to discover places that are as amazing as you hoped they'd be.

Toledo

yesterday (27th) we went to Toledo on the fast train. it was a wonderful trip, although it necessitated a c. one-hour wait to buy a ticket on the 26th. even that was kind of fun cos it was one of those "take a ticket with your number on it and run to the counter when it pops up" sort of things. i hadn't encountered that before and novelty is always good. We got A190 and it was about A160 when we arrived. Not to mention the B numbers that were also running and up to 5 counter staff. anyway, it was ok and some good advice from the rough guide to buy the ticket before the day!

Toledo itself is an amazing town, with all these buildings packed onto the outcrop that just pops out of a huge plain. We jumped on a tour bus (which we don't usually do) and got a view of the town from the outside, looking down over the river and the walls. it was worth it, as it was an open-topped double decker, with an english commentary, so it gave us a good start to our time there.

The woman at the information office helpfully placed crosses on the map showing the two places we MOST wanted to visit - the El Greco museum and the alcazar. Off we went with barely a pause for a visit to the surviving templar hostel (and dungeon) and to sample the local marzipan.

Anyway, turns out the helpful crosses signalled the fact that both El Greco and the Alcazar are closed for repairs. funny.

Toledo is the most monk-y, nun-y, priest-y place we've been so far. The highlight was the strict nun at the church where el greco is buried - well - his coffin is in the basement - who helpfully pointed out the glass viewing tile that you can use to see el greco. she also sold us some marzipan products at the end of our visit. very cool.

i need to work out how to place pictures better - anyway, you've got toledo and geoff queuing to buy tickets for toledo. more later as my voucher is expiring and we're off into madrid again.

hasta la vista!

zona deportiva, el ferial

Spaniards seem to like festivals. just down the road from us at Fuenlabrada is an open space with signs saying "zona deportiva" which i hope means place to disport yourselves. anyway, it's where they are currently having a Fiesta Mariscos Gallegos. Basically that means there are big tents and lots of NW spanish seafood dishes, wine (white only) and beer, which you buy, then sit down and eat, along with lots of other locals, and enjoy a spot of Gallego food and culture.

at the one we found in seville, which was really pumping, there was flamenco dancing and other live music. this one was quieter, with only taped music, including bagpipes, which are a specialty of that part of spain. they seem to have a blue and white flag, whereas (I think) andalucia is green and white, and catalunya is lots of red and yellow stripes. haven't worked out castille yet.

anyway, we duly disported ourselves last night and even brought some cake home - kind of like a cheese cake thing - which made a good breakfast this morning. we travelled light last night so no pics, unless we go back again later today (which is possible).

Toledo and pics in the next (last?) post...

Q and A

are you all ok? not washed away in the floods?

secondary question - is our house still clinging to the hill?

Hamish, what ails you? i had the flu jab and no side effects at all... are you sure about that analysis?

Broken wrist?? yuck. bad news, sorry to hear that

John i don't suppose there was time for rescue pictures? that sounds very dramatic. does the flood damage signal working bees yet to come at takapu? also, how are the cows?

we had rain forecast yesterday but none came - it was a relatively chilly 21 degrees when we sat down for dinner last night, about which... next post.

also, Lynette, are you still there? how's everything? :)

more pictures

you'll find these at the sagrada familia, along with quite a few cranes, diggers and construction workers... bring on 2016 which is the current proposed completion date




this is the picture from the cover of our (borrowed) rough guide to spain - how cool to find that they actually exist at odd points around the countryside - this was taken from a moving vehicle... at speed... of course!










this is a serpent, or maybe a conger eel, on the floor of a former roman residence at Merida.


more later, amigos xx

happy list

1. seeing paintings by El Greco... who knew? - obviously not me (or G for that matter)
2. picasso, picasso, picasso... guernica anyone?
3. tapas and cerveza (that's beer) - although the sangria's not bad either
4. the upside down elephant sculpture outside a bank opposite the prado
5. oh, duh, the prado
6. geocaching is still good - and still taking us slightly odd places compared with the other tourist hordes
7. NH hotels - they are bonza
8. even when our legs get rather tired and a bit sore it doesn't seem a bad way to pass a day -you know, wandering around looking at stuff and occasionally pausing for more food and drink
9. spanish bars -no one blinks if you roll a cigarette, order a boozy coffee and play some pokies at 10am (to be fair we haven't done any of those things so far, but we have more time)
10. driving in the taxi and bus only lane for approximately 3kms as we left seville and getting away with it - thanks navman, the driver's best friend :)

from Seville to Madrid

it was a big day, today...

we left Seville slightly later than we'd intended and headed for Merida - the home of Spain's largest roman remains. OMG! they were amazing. the scale and quality of the remnants was something else. you will see in the picture showing geoff standing on the stage at the teatro romana how vast they are...

also, alone of anywhere we've been to date, Merida was quiet, with an off-season feel and in some places we almost had the place to ourselves! alas, also in the traditional spanish way, most places closed between 2 and 4pm. having only arrived around 12 this put us under some pressure - as we had another 300km to Madrid.

the roads here are really good and you can make really rapid progress. we arrived in Fuenlabrada (possibly the porirua of madrid?!) just after 6pm. we're not doing much tonight. neither of us had much sleep last night due to noise, heat and goodness knows what other reasons and we shared driving today (not to mention vigorous tourist work at Merida) so we're pretty much knackered.

the second picture is a view just north of Seville as we launched into today's drive - you can see one of the viaducts we drove over in the distance.

planning on visiting the big 3 galleries in madrid tomorrow, starting with the prado. the metro station is about 2 mins from our hotel, so the plan is to leave the car firmly parked downstairs for the next 4 days...

Geoff eschews processed meat!

whoever thought this could happen? but it's true - the wealth of processed meats in Spain has caused Geoff to review his philosophy of food...

even tonight he shook his head and ordered a prawn thing, with bacalao, rolled in zucchini, in preference to the house's special jamon...

seriously, the ham is amazing, but a few nights ago even G got more than he'd bargained for, and has somewhat backed off since. the locals see no harm at all in downing a whole plate of cured meat, perhaps some bread go with it, but then again perhaps not...

to finish, another illustration of our trip... this time the feria in Cordoba - note the dresses and the horses...

picture fest, or, what you've been missing!

here are some examples of things we wanted to post, but couldn't...

the alhambra is this beautiful and more...

geoff is peddling hard as we traverse the quadalquivir river (or something)

more later - have just discovered we are about 350m from a geocache :)

sarah and geoff go to the beach... and the dept store

once upon a time it was a hot day in seville. also, it was monday so all the sites were closed.

sarah and geoff got into the car and drove to the beach. dios! so hot already at 10 in the morning. sarah was so keen she popped her bikini on under her temple shirt and scintilla skirt... ready to go.

the thing was, as they drove and drove (about 70km to the atlantic) the temperature dropped and dropped. by the time they arrived at the ocean, it was a tepid 20 degrees, with a solid on shore breeze.

sarah and geoff paddled in the atlantic. the bikini stayed firmly under the temple shirt and the scintilla skirt.

still, in the last week, we've touched both the mediterranean and atlantic seas. and that's not something you get to do every day!

what do you mean... the dept store? well, there is a lovely chain here called el corte ingles, with very obliging staff who are happy to sell stupid foreigners a netbook that will speak english.

yes, we have a netbook and free wifi access from our hotel rooms and can geocache and blog as much as we like (or even more...) YAY!

Cordoba and Seville

still in the land of crappy networks, so still no pictures. on the bright side, andalucia is gorgeous.

yesterday, in cordoba, we witnessed a feria in progress, involving lots and lots of women in flamenco-like dresses, horses, carriages, dancing and much eating and drinking.

there was also a wedding in progress in one of the chapels at the mezquita, complete with choir.

so that was all very impressive. it´s really hot here, too, for spring - with temperatures hitting the low 30s in the afternoon.

we went pedal boating on the guadalquivir today, after a great lunch overlooking the river.

tomorrow we plan to go to the beach and to visit huelva, on the atlantic coast - we might as well see the countryside as most things will be closed (being monday).

after that it´s the long haul to madrid, via merida - which is supposed to be one of the more impressive sites of the roman occupation.

geoff nearly got stuck on the metro today - some kind staff eventually let him through - so he has learned to be more fleet of foot through the turnstiles. he made me a lovely birthday card, tho, so i don´t know why the universe trapped him?!

on another expensive connection thru the hotel, so that´s all for now :)

stupid networks and no pictures

have many great pics but stupid networks still not co-operating.

am aware that the pictures are the better part, so will do my best to oblige soonest.

especially as geoff got a rippingly good haircut in Murcia and is now looking pretty damn good!

cheers, S

mc hammer pants

oops, got so tied up in the glories of the andalucian landscape that i forgot the mc hammer part of the last entry.

basically i have fallen for the whole hippy chic (?) thing and bought this really awesome black and grey pair of, well, mc hammer pants. they are cool - as in breezy - voluminous and comfortable and i´m sure i´ll be able to lounge in them at home (if not be actually seen in public)

i´m currently tossing up whether i can wear them to the alhambra tomorrow ( i think they´ll be a winner with crocs) or whether i need to wear my nikes in which case i´m not sure we have a winning partnership. i´m sure you´ll all (both of you???) be waiting with baited breath to learn the outcome, but you will have to... wait!

just off a couple of sangrias, next to the fountain, in a square. bliss.

however, to keep us honest, there was a very large group of spanish teens, clearly on a trip, with teachers, waiting to be moved to their next destination (Possibly a bus or train?) anyway, it gave us pause and we thought about collective negotiations, the cold weather in NZ, and hoped fervently that all is well and we can still afford this brilliant trip :)

car elevators and mc hammer pants

yes, our car went in an elevator today... after driving along streets so narrow one might question their suitability for pedestrians, let alone cars, we arrived at our hotel in granada, to discover that the carpark is upstairs... and they park it for you - which we thought was a good thing!

happy to report that car issues seem to be over - in general travel around spain, by car, with navman, is good.

the transition from catalunya to andalucia has been fairly spectacular - snow covered mountains (possibly sierra nevadas) and arid landscapes with patches of cultivation - and the appearance of houses built into the hillsides, along with the expected white buildings and tiled rooves.

it really is gorgeous here...

A small ode to...

rice pudding
arroz con leche
you are magnificent
te quiero

Murcia

things we love about Murcia... the sangria, the buildings and squares, the weather (it was 30 but is now merely the low 20s, being evening), the tapas, the friendly people, the fact that it's in Spain...

the only downside is that we're in a photo-upload free zone - thanks movistar network - typical telecom, partnering with the not-so-good networks.

tomorrow we're off to granada, but tonight we're in the rincon pepe hotel, with pink marble floors and a lot more fun to be had when we venture out for dinner this evening...

hasta la vista :)

why I don´t like mondays...

yesterday was a day to forget - except that we haven´t quite yet...

it all started after a trouble-free trip from Barcelona... i stupidly (so stupidly) suggested we take the car into Valencia. very bad idea.

somehow between me and the navman i got us to the outskirts of Valencia where i thought there was an arts centre (there was not). there was an events centre (no events tho). then i thought we´d solve the problem by parking there and taking a tram into the centre of town. it took ages.

then we found that, basically, spain is closed on mondays. To be fair, it was our first monday afternoon in spain, so we weren´t really to know - and the helpful staff at the hotel forgot to tell us.

being closed, there was nowhere for dinner. being parked miles out of town we took ages to get back to the car. then, being tired, stressed (well, holiday stressed, anyway) and scratchy, we missed three exits in a row trying to get back to the hotel. one minute we were 7kms from our destination; before we knew it we were 17! madre de dios how we laughed (not).

anyway, nothing really bad actually happened. eg, no gypsies robbed us. weirdly, though, yesterday felt worse...

when we finally got back to the hotel, about 10.30pm, we had a picnic in our room. it tasted delicious...

and we´ve made up for it today as reported in the Paella blog. valencia is actually ok.

as i lay on the beach today, fretting about what kind of ozone hole they have here in spain, and whether i was feeling too sandy, all my troubles seemed, well, so far away - yesterday!

with apologies to the beatles :)

Paella

according to the lonely planet spanish food book, we had lunch at a very good place today - it was certainly lovely, with nice food, an enthusiastic waiter and a beautiful fountain in the square - i tried to upload a picture but the network is not good here (or something).

today has been really relaxed - we did a spot of geocaching - ate lunch - visited the cathedral of ham (really!) - and went to the beach. this proved fairly exhausting so we had a wee drink next to the beach afterwards, before pressing on to the cheap internet cafe.

we have sussed out the metro system in valencia now (it´s a bit different from barcelona´s) and also worked out how to get the bus from Sagunto, which is where we´re staying.

Tomorrow we´ll visit the castle ruins there - they are very large and should be pretty interesting - before setting off to Murcia, our next stop.

Day of great happiness

Look what we found round the corner from our hotel. We are at a local bar on our last night in Barca and loving it. The big footy match is underway and we are enjoying it at one remove. Went to parc Guell and picasso museum today. All great. Only downside was geoff's pocket being picked on the metro. Still have wallet and cards tho, so we'll cope. We think it was a pregnant gypsy who looked about 14. Looking forward to Valencia tomorrow. Tapas here now so have to go :-)

Food

Even McDs do good coffee here - on our fruitless search for a laundromat this morning we had a donut and cortado (both delicious) for one euro each.

everyone here knows that a coffee means, unless otherwise stated, a short black so, bliss.

this morning, also in the same mall on the fruitless laundromat hunt we found this place that specialises in jamon - like a deli but only meat and cheese on the menu. We had the most delicious open sandwhich, with olive oil, a smear of passata (I think) and cheese (me) or jamon (geoff). OMG - gorgeous! the counter guy was sad that he couldn't tempt me to a glass of wine. Responsible spaniards seem to start drinking quite promptly each day (we saw some police having a quiet beer about 11am). I have a very cool photo of some of the selection of hams for sale - hoof included :)

anyways, unsurprisingly, the food is amazing and we will probably return home even fatter than we left - probably more tapas tonight - sitting at a bar, pointing at gorgeous bits of food, drinking the verre tinto, and watching the world - things could certainly be worse!

have all kinds of cool pictures to upload when i get the chance - you can never be sure if it'll work or not and so i've lost many interesting anecdotes - each painstakingly tapped into my phone before the network rejects it and they disappear forever... very frustrating.

Also, had a courtesy note from Telecom saying that our roaming usage is higher than usual (?!) but when we rang (for free) as suggested, to check, they had no details to offer. So goodness knows what this small indulgence will have cost. Still, it's fun - albeit random - and we're really enjoying your comments, so thanks for all that...

more later xx sal and geoff

Drive, baby

We love our car, even tho everything is the wrong way round. It feels very odd to be sitting on the right, with nothing but dashboard in front. Even worse, on the left, with gear stick in the middle (we really should have gone for an automatic) to be used with the right hand...

Anyway, so far so good. We have both had turns as driver - geoff for first two days, me for next two.

So he got France, I got the trip into Spain. When you get to the toll booths (which we had decided to avoid, until we discovered travel OFF the tollways, so have re-evaluated) all the many road markings disappear and you just drive towards the toll booth you prefer, all the while feeling free to change you mind at the last moment. When you emerge from the other side you do the same in reverse - speeding across the great open expanse of asphalt until you re-emerge onto the motorway.

once there, you do your utmost to exceed the speed limit (if there is one) - so far, as observed earlier, 130 seems to be the preferred number in France, and 120 in Spain.

We have both mostly grasped the need to indicate from the left - although with so much rain it doesn't hurt to operate the windscreen wiper!

had a chilling experience trying to navigate Figueres (home of Salvador Dali), find a park , find the Museu, find the park, get out of town... you get the idea. All in the rain, of course. As luck would have it we got back to the carpark moments before the attendant was about to disappear off with his lunch. God knows how long we'd have waited for release if we'd arrived only seconds later than we did!

The Dali museu was, suitably, weird, and chocka - we had to queue (in the rain) for a good 15 minutes or so, before entering and finding out that we both (still) don't really like Dali. Still it was sort of enriching and definitely memorable!

Getting to our Barcelona hotel on the motorway/s was similarly exciting and i'm not sure if we'd have coped without the navman - it has its quirks but, on the whole, is a toy to be treasured!

it rains in Spain... mainly

hello

am trying to write fast as this internet is so dear we've been toying with buying a netbook!

so far is has done almost nothing but rain heavily (if not torrentially) since we crawled across the border - yes, like Hannibal, we crossed some alps - the pyrenees, in fact.

we now have umbrellas, a detailed working knowledge of the trams and the underground - and have almost given up on the idea of the fat tire cycle tour - although if the sun comes out tomorrow it may happen...

Barcelona seems to be an amazing city - we had dinner (tapas, of course) on la Rambla last night - finally got home (drenched) due to tram holdups so we walked the last bit, after midnight - way past our usual bedtime!

today we bought a special clothes hanger (sits over the bath) and some detergent so we can do our own laundry - the hotel charges 4 euros just for a pair of undies!

Geoff is having a wee siesta - a custom he embraces - before we head back into the city for another bash...

Fort, Collioure

Having problems finding network so will write more from barcelona

Munich

Another lovely coffee cup for the collection! It was 6 degrees and cloudy this morning - and orderly! Geoff had to take his belt off at security! Will send a picture of the car soon. France is lovely and we are still having fun - some pilot/Navigator stress withstanding!

Salut!

None

Lamma island

Lovely day here today! Local rain wear $HK10; fun we're having: priceless! :-)

FIrst foreign Find!

Happy mother's day, Ma! we are having fun... went on a bit of a tour this morning - took in Victoria Peak, Stanley, Sampan tour on the harbour, that's about all there was to it...

had the best breakfast from a bakery round the corner - they make gorgeous pastries (all very healthly too, apparently). Today's effort cost us about NZ$5. Had dim sum lunch at Stanley, overlooking the harbour - also lovely.

then went back up Victoria PEak on the cable car - big queue to get on, possibly due to mother's day which is quite a big deal here, lots of women toting huge bouquets and family members - and wandered along the trail (the name of which i've forgotten and geoff never knew, beginning with L and i'll remember after i've published this i guess) and found our first foreign geocache. it was very exciting as we had to time it so the (many) people enjoying their stroll didn't see us. Triumphantly lodged our dragon geocoin inside - very fitting as it overlooks kowloon and which we now know means seven dragons.

also Hong kong means fragrant harbour - so we haven't just been lolling about drinking cheap beer (yes quite cheap) and yummy pastries (yes, very yummy) - we are being educated along the way!

Geoff has just read my mean comments above and commands that i delete them. i withdraw and apologise.

we've also been nervously watching the news reports about further airport closures in europe and are trying not to fret. but there is some fretting going on, to be honest.

this post is long because it's HK$30 for 1/2 on the internet and we don't want to waste it...
are loving the public transport - have ticked off double decker bus, harbour ferry, subway and cable car. (and sampan if that counts). i think the only form we've missed is the tram. could happen tomorrow, although we might go across to Lamma island - we'll decide in the morning.

good to know that the sun is shining and birds still singing in Karori and other parts of wellington
more later (hopefully from spain...) xx sal and geoff

Sampan

Out on the harbour amongst the house and fishing boats :-)