Night view of the City tonight

West view of the city (Tribune Tower, Trump, Sears/Willis in the background)

Peace Love Om

Like this image... just posting it here so that I can link to it ....

My Wheatfield with Cypresses

I went to one of those group painting social outings today. The selection was Van Gogh's Wheatfield with Cypresses.    Painting it was nice - relaxing really.  Though I think I am going to stick to photography.   My 2 hours of effort manifested below:

Indifference

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.” 

Elie Wiesel

Fun with water

As of late, I seem to enjoy taking pics of water.  In particular, I like being able to capture the movement of water. The pic on the left  is a bit more peaceful whereas the one on the right is more aggressive.

Petronas Towers, August 2013

I came across this photo as I was clearing my laptop for the year end.  This is from my trip to Malaysia earlier this year in August.  It is of the Petronas Towers in KL.  It's actually the only photo I have from the trip - camera issues.

A La Monet

Already running late for my friend's bday party in the city, I just couldn't resist this shot.  Gloomy Chicago day.  Surprised that this is December.  In any case, the grayness and the water beading on the window just ha an appealing quality about it ...

Oak and Lasalle

Hanging out in the city tonight... decided to try out some night photography while the dogs were being walked... kinda like the way this one turned out....

Breathe....

Things can get frustrating...and I just have to remember to breathe and focus on something else... Picture of my little Simi sleeping.. well she was sleeping until I started taking her pic :)  There now, thats better....

Nonsense

Black Friday nonsense.  I trekked out to hit the sales and to my surprise, I really didn't care about any of it this year.  Unlike years past where I had the shopping route pre-planned, I went forth this year just for the hek of it.  Didn't really shop but people watched more than anything.  Its amazing how many down comforters and Pyrex people need.  (I went to Carson's)  I think I am done with this crazy commerical nonsense.

In anycase, I am exhausted from the broken sleep. 

Spent most of today drinking coffee, watching some silly European News channel on PBS (silly because I think its  European news produced for an American audience - I mean who out there calls it Soccer?) 

Now I am going through some old files (photographs, of course) and came across this one from Italy.  I have been so bad about the postings from that trip.  This ones taken in Venice - from the Guidecca side.
(Update: I finally wrote up some trip comments for Italy and added a few more pics from Siena and Venice)

Morning street

Tired.  Global business pains. Have to wake up early to make calls with the other side of the world.  However, on a positive note, I am gaining a new perspective of my neighborhood before day light.  My street this morning.... 

Good morning

Let the dogs out this morning behind the house and had to just hang out a bit longer.  Placid.  I went back and grabbed my camera, way too nice of a scene - and to think its behind my house.

Rome-Siena-Venice

These are from June 2010. I sucked at getting that trip logged. Berlin and Italy done on the same trip. Berlin was for work and Italy was because I was just so freaking close to it. We moved around quite a bit while in Italy and didn't always have an internet connection thus the sucky, unlike Spain, postings.

Center of Rome ... bumming around the colosseum / people watching.

 

We spent 6 days in Italy, started off in Rome and then on to Siena (its in Tuscany, outside of Florence) and finally, Venice.  We returned to Rome for one more night before we flew back home.  Siena was my favorite.  A bit off the path (though still touristy) and more peaceful. 

So, you know when you goto the Olive Garden an they have those big walls of scenery of the Tuscan country site, they are spot on.  We went to a Chianti wine tasting and wound up on some hill overlooking the Tuscan country side ...amazing.

 

Venice,  beautiful at times, but cheesy.  Too many tourists and their gondola rides!  Off the beaten path, kinda cool.  Bridges are nice but the boat fumes are nuaseating.  Happy hour starts early and the drink of choice is a Campari and soda.  *yum* -- acquired tasted, though.

Rome has to be seen more from a historical significance.  However, the religious overtones for me were a bit too much.  Where in NY all you see are Wall St geeks and laywers, in Rome you see a lot of Priests and Nuns. 

Berlin 2010

First pic is from the Holocaust Memorial and the second is from their government building, the Riechstag.

Hang Tight...

Nov 20, 2010: So I realize that I haven't updated anything here for awhile!  My goal is to complete my June trips (Berlin and Italy) before the year is out. 

My photographs and notes are all over the place - but I will probably spend part of this long weekend getting it all in order.

I am going to include a pic from Berlin here just for fun... very cool place (though Barcelona is still my favorite place)  Also, chaging the posting date to June 13 as that was my first day in Berlin.

Day 11: Gaudi Day, Palau de Musica & Mojitos

Last day/night in Barcelona. We didn't intend to however, we made the absolute most of it.  Today was to be Gaudi day.  We planned on checking out Parc Guell as well as walking back in such away to check out Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera and Casa Batllo. We also had hopes of getting to Boqueria market.  Since it was closed they day before we decided to go again today (there was some serious Foodie shopping to be done!)

In any case, Parc Guell is a haul!  We decided to go up the big hill way and it took some serious time.  The place is pretty but I didn't think it was all that.  I am glad I saw it however don't feel like I would have missed much had I not seen it (knowing what I know now)

On the way back, we walked down Passeig de Gracia.  We tried to grab cafe con leche at one of the cafe's there but it was busy and service sucked so we just sat there, watched some people and kept walking.  We saw the La Pedrera as well.

We didn't go into any of the Gaudi buildings.  They have tours and you can go inside and check them out.  Neither one of us were interested in this, so we passed.

Eventually making back to the Boqueria area we find out, much to our dismay, that Boqueria is partially closed on Monday as well! What the hek.  I am so glad we saw what we saw on Saturday!  Unfortunately, no foodie shopping to be done!  We walked around looking for place to eat.  Wound up in El Ravel area.  Decent (east of Las Ramblas) and finally got a chance to check out the El Menu del Dia.  This concept is fantastic.  For a very reasonable price, area restaurants offer a 3 course meal and usually include a wine/beverage for an incredibly reasonable price.  We tried to do this over the weekend but its mostly offered during the weekday.  We ate at a place called Carmelitas.  One of the options on the Menu del Dia was actually vegetarian!  Ok, so we were somewhat happier (even though we really wanted to shop at Boqueria and then head over and have a picnic somewhere - we like picnics!)

We decided to check out Olympic Village after lunch.  The 5-day transit pass truly was abused today.  We checked out the park.  Pretty viewing but not much going on.  From the Park, we hopped on a bus and headed further up the Montjuic and wound up at the Castle.  This was cool.  I actually think Montjuic is so much cooler then Parc Guell.

We basically trekked from one side of the city to the other in the same day.  The views were cool and the day was gorgeous. All and all, a very pleasant day.  You would think we were done by now... last night and all (and super early flight in the morning) oh no... we headed back to the hotel. 

Got ready for dinner.  Did a repeat at Rosa Negra (our favorite Mexican place:) had some seriously good mojitos and headed to the Palau de Music for a concert.  Wonderful end to a fabulous weekend in Barcelona.  Night over. Time for bed.  Btw, I am still sick and the plastic Netti pot wanna-be, only made it worse :(  The flight back was hell (and the Iberian air hostess' were on strike to beat)

Day 10: Colombo, Indian Food & El Tablao de Carmen

Sunday was a slow day.  The excessive smoke and wind from the nose bleeds of Camp Nou had me ill.  I was somewhat miserable but I sucked it up and we slowly made our way back into the city.  Started the day at the  Colon.  Its a statue of Christopher Coloumbus - pretty cool ...as far as statues go.

From there, we headed down the Ramblas again.  Did some shopping as we made it to our intended destination, the Boqueria.  Our thought for the day was to take it easy, head to the Market and get ourselves some serious picnic supplies and make it to one of the scenic parks (either Guell or Montjuic) unfortunately, the Boqueria is closed on Sundays!  It was a damn shame.  The place was awesome.  Foodless, we decided to grab lunch at City Gate, an Indian Restaurant that our tour guide had recommended.  The food felt good and we stayed longer than we normally would (partially because I was getting tired)

After lunch, we casually made it back to Born area where we started our Fat Tire tour on Friday.  We decided to take care of our souvenir shopping.  I had been trying to get Sangria pitcher and was determined to find just the right one.  It took some time but I found even better then the one I saw the first night near the Picasso museum.  Sangrias just taste better in there :)

After that we went back to the hotel, relaxed and got ready for the evening.  We had tickets to El Tablao de Carmen.  Its a flamenco show (ironic that we would choose to see this in Barcelona.  We just didn't have the time nor the insight to go see this in Rota or Sevilla.  Since both cities are in Andalucia, known for Flamenco, it probably would have made more sense:-)   So getting to this place as joke!  It took 30 minutes from the time we got off the train.  We didn't realize that El Poble Espnayol was whole tourist attraction in itself.  Had we known, we probably would have gotten there earlier and bummed around the place.  After like 15 minutes of walking up some big, flippen mountain (so it seemed) we made it to the place.  Only missed a few minutes of it.  We were tired but the show was amazing - passionate and vibrant.

After the show, we were starving - there was dinner portion to the show however not knowing the vegetarian options, I chose not to take part.  We decided to head to the L'Eixample neighborhood for dinner.  We walked around there for awhile.  It was kinda dead (possible because it was Sunday night?) kinda creepy.  Perhaps we weren't in the cool part of the area?  Not sure, we decided to head back to our hold stand by, Born.  We looked around the various places to eat and finally decided on Karma, another Indian restaurant (yep, we ate Indian twice in one day. I don't even think I do that in the States.) It was good, really good and I was content.


Oh forgot to mention, as we were walking around trying to figure out what to eat, we did come across (just coincidence) Gaudi's Casa Batallo.  Interesting work - he likes his waves.  At night, it looks a little on the creepy side.

Night over after dinner. Lots of walking.  Lots of excitement.  Good food and now for a peaceful, drug-infused sleep

Day 9: Las Ramblas, Boqueria & FCB v. Mallorca (4-2)

I have spent the last two days reviewing receipts and notes made on hotel notepads and I am struggling with what we did on some of the days.  Saturday is pretty spot-on but details for Sunday begin to blur.  In any case, take it as it is.  I will convey the activity perhaps the day will be a bit off.  This just tells me I shouldn't rely on the availability of the net while traveling and keep a traditional, write-in-me travel journal :)

Ok so Saturday was pretty cool.  The Fat Tire guide had told us that Cathedral - the famous Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, that everyone talks about in Barcelona - was actually free to the public at certain times (I don't remember the times) so we decided to go check it out.  The morning was spent goofing around the square outside the Cathedral and checking out the inside.  If you get a chance, Google the history of the Cathedral.  Its patron saint is a 13 year old little girl that was brutally killed for believing in Christianity.

After the Cathedral, we walked over to the Las Ramblas.  Its a touristy street and great if you enjoy people watching.  Personally, I didn't care too much for it.  It was crowded and the stalls seemed to offer similar things for sales - kinda like Chinatown in NYC. The one cool part about Las Ramblas is that the Mercat de la Boqueria is located off of there.  This place is the flipping bomb!   Hustle and bustle market place offering really fresh and regional foods.  Phenomenally clean; order in mass chaos!  This is the place where you should go, buy yourself some treats and then go picnic somewhere  (I would say Montjuic)

We eventually made it to the Zurich Cafe.  Sat down, had a cafe and beer and watched the people go by.  The day was long and we were tired so after this, we hopped back on the train and went back to the hotel for a nap.

After our much needed sleep, we got ready and went to Camp Nou Stadium.  This is where the revered FC Barcelona futbol team plays.  This plays is fantastic in size and the city loves there futbol.  Some interesting notes:

1. The game day is not finalized until 48 hours before totally sux for planning.  In our case, we could have gone to the game either Saturday or Sunday.
2. There are no souvenir shops inside  the stadium.  It is nothing like America.  Everyone is passionate about the game there is no sense of capitalism at all!
3. The place is huge and we walked up a lot of stairs and when we go there, the wind was strong.  We were cold.  So very glad that we invested in team bufondas (scarfs) outside the stadium before entering.  (Cuz no one sells anything inside!)
4. There are no concession people selling up and down the aisle.  Though people are drinking they weren't there to get drunk (sorry, my only reference is a Cubs game)
5. During half-time, everyone rushes down stairs to eat ham sandwich and drink coffee.  They then go back upstairs and ALL the concession stands close down.  Yes, the close down!

Overall, FCB won. They were playing Mallorca.  Team favorite Massey came towards the end and scored a nice goal.  (Score was 4 to 2)

Its not over yet.  We went Camp Nou back to the Born district.  We wound up at Caputxes restaurant (Italian) food was good but just like everywhere in Barcelona, the smoke like chimneys! We had a table of 4 next to us and I swear, we thought they would take turns lighting up just so they can enjoy the second hand smoke.  Needless to say, that part sucked and I got oh-so sick after tonight.

This was the veggie burger.  Resembles nothing like a burger and there was no bun but we found it amusing - possibly the bottle of wine adding to our amusement.  And yes, we took a picture of the wine because it was actually pretty good...

Day 8: Fat Tire & Picasso

(Saturday mornings are generally domestic days for me.  I spend my mornings re-setting the place and getting the monotonous but highly necessary chores out out the way.  Once that is done, I can get  to furiously squandering my day away with random musings.  This morning, as I was organizing papers (I hate administrative tasks) I came across my Barcelona box.  It’s really just a shoe box filled with various receipts, business cards, post cards, maps, etc from the Spain trip.  As I was looking through it, I realized that I hadn't finished posting all the information on here for 4 months now.  So with chores out of  the way, I sit here at Macondo (a Columbian empanadas place in the city) with my free trade coffee and a table littered with papers from my Barcelona box. So here is me trying to recount the good and bad of my trip from November...

Our first official full-day in Barcelona was idealistic.  The weather was gorgeous - sunny and warm  (neither cold nor hot.)  The morning started off with the Fat Tire bicycle tour around the city.   Fat Tire was fantastic.  We basically met at 11am in Plaza Saint Jaume, got to meet the tour guides and the 30 other random people also on the tour and went to get our bikes.  This was a great way to spend the first day as we explored the major attractions of Barcelona and had someone explaining to us why they were the major attractions.  This way, later during our trip, we could decide if want to re-visit or pass on any of the key places.  We saw pretty much everything.

We started off at Saint Jaume > Placa Reial > Cathedral > Palau de Musica > Arch de Triumf > La Ciutadella > Placa de Toros Monumental > Sagrada Familia ended at the Beach & late lunch with group.  I will try and upload a map, the ground we covered is fairly significant.  One definite plus of ending up in the beach for lunch was that we discovered an interesting twist on a grill cheese sandwich - they called a Bikini, basically a grill cheese with grilled onions and  mustard (yes, mustard) and it was yummy!

Practical information:

http://fattirebiketours.com/barcelona
Rate: 22 Euros/person
Time: 11a - 3p

So recounting all this information is hard!  I forgot to mention, later that evening, we walked around the Born neighborhood and then eventually made it to the Picasso Museum.  Ending with dinner at at place called Mosquito (the owner spoke like Chinese, English, Spanish - he was a UK transplant) In any case, this place actually had veggie dumplings! My favorite, not to mention a seriously nice selection of micro brews.
                                                                                               
Beer information: Guinea (Fox Brewery)
1. Riner
2. Antuis
3. Ales Agullons Runa
4. Montserrat Extra

Day 7: BCN

Today was a travel day.  I booked an inter-Spain flight from Jerez to BCN on Vueling.  It was definaltey cheaper then doing the whole trip via Iberia.  Key thing to keep in mind: all inter-Europe flights have tight luggage/weight restrictions.  The fees are high, Vueling was 10 Euro/Kilo and this is considered one of the cheaper fees!

We checked in with the Tourist Office at the airport.  Picked up some maps and caught a cab to City-22, a few minutes outside of the heart of Barcelona.  In retrospect, I would highly recommend purchasing the transit card from the Tourist Office as well.  (When we bought ours at the station later that night, it wouldn't take our credit cards and had to use cash.)

We stayed at the Holdiay Inn Express in City-22 and though it was clean and accomadating, the internet was not free.  The business center had two computers and there was always kids checking facebook on it - so it was never available either!

Meanwhile, the evening was low-key.  We hopped on the L4-Yellow line, Llacuna station (<5m walk from the hotel) and made it Palau de Musica, where we bought tickets for a concert for Monday night.  We walked over to get dinner at a Mexican restaurant (yes, Mexican!) - Rosa Negra was the place and they had the best Mojitos I have ever tasted!  Caught an outdoor performance for a few minutes (a dude in a bubble, playing the saxaphone) and called it an early night.