Carnaval and then some (and some more too)

OK ... post Carnaval posting ......
Firstly, we understand now why it is called The Extermination Parade. Pretty sure people were exterminated. Secondly, can say we have ´done´a Carnaval. Thirdly, ... well let´s explain!

So, things got off to a nice, smooth start. Because we had got to Sitges early, we were able to wander about the gorgeous, old town along the Mediterranean coast. Sat in the sun at an oceanside restaurant and had paella. And watched the children´s parade. Oh, what joyful, harmless fun. Little did we know....

Later, things started to get a little busy. We got way-laid into an interesting bar (with a Paris/Snow White theme ... ?) where the dancers were drag queens. Danced a little. Danced alongside a lady who seemed "like trouble" (remember her, she features again later). Giving us the come and dance with me eyes.... We opted not to, but if we had the following story could have been even more interesting. We headed down to the beach past Carnaval paraders getting ready, and found ourselves a great spot to watch from up on a 8 foot wall by the parade path. Seemed like a good idea at the time. All well and good. Then things started to get busy. Really busy. We started to get worried; firstly that we would loose our special spot, and then more that we would be pushed off our special spot to the crowd 8 foot below by the drunken crowd behind us. Then the riot police came in. Initially interesting, then scary! Pretty soon, the police seemed overwhelmed as we watched people opposite yelling for help as they got squashed against the metal barricades. Oh, yeah, the parade hadn´t started yet!

Well, when it did, it was fun (in a sort-of scary way). And it went on, and on - after three hours it was still going (1:45 am) and we thought maybe we should try and leave as people were getting more drunk and the pushing was getting more. So we squeezed and pushed through the crowds, hanging onto to each others hands like children on a school outing. Clearing the parade area, we thought we had made it past the worst. Oh no. Into the town, and the crowd was packed solid. An unmoving wall of people drinking, yelling, fighting. At one point, all stopped, the crowd swayed in unison in one direction and then another, and for a moment it seemed like we were all going down ....

But no, staggering on past riot police, we found a moments peace as the crowd parted ... to reveal our bar friend collapsed on a pile of trash bags with another (unidentified) woman squatting to pee by her feet. Our áquaintance´ raised a pitiful hand towards us - a friendly gesture? a cry for help? a ´hey wanna dance some more´? Who knows, as we were swept forward once more onward to the train station where a huge line of people were being controlled by the police with riot gear prepared .... Through (finally) to the platform, we were in a mad push and shove dash onto the train (2:30 am) where we collapsed, grateful to have made it. Our peace lasted about 5 minutes before a fight ensued with individuals swinging overhead kicking at rivals faces.

Oh yeah, and when we got back to Barcelona, it was to a different train station where we had a 4 mile walk back to our apartment past drug pushers and prostitutes and various other characters of the night. We locked the door behind us, finally safe and sound, at 4:20 am.

Yes, I think we can say we did a Carnaval.

After a day to recover, we headed to the monastery at Monserrat. Maybe to atone, or heap platitudes that we survived ..... Beautiful scenery, wonderful boys choir, and not a bad cup of coffee either. And we got to touch the Virgin Mary´s ball .... (I think the correct term is orb, but you get the idea...) (except Evan went the wrong way to touch the ball, and got in trouble) (the Virgin seemed unbothered, but a guide was most upset).

But LOVE Barcelona. Love it!!!
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"Nothing is exciting if you know what the outcome is going to be" (Joseph Campbell)

Full English breakfasts, drag queens and pre-Carnaval preparations

We are in the Mediterranean coastal town of Sitges awaiting the Carnaval time tonight ... already things are hotting up and it is getting exctiing. Tonight is the finale of the Carnaval week, finishing with The Extermination Parade!!!!

We arrived in Barcelona on Saturday ..... and what a gorgeous place it is. Completely blown away by the stunning architecture and the energy of the place. We have fallen in love.

Whether it has been milling around alleyways and side streets, munching on tapas at a local streetside cafe, or shopping for cheeses and fruits at the Boqueria market, it has been a blast.

The apartment we are renting is several stories above the street where there is a continual flow of street life, we views of the neighborhood and the apartment itself is way more than we expected.

Highlights so far include touring La Sagrada Familia, stopping off last night to eat pinchos, and drinking cafe con leche and watching the world go by.

But last time we posted, we were in Newcastle .. so from there to here? We had a couple of great days in York, including attending evensong at York Minster (we sat in medieval carved wooden niches decorated with the symbols of different bishops - Andy even sat next to the choir leader, and was very well behaved), attending a very dramatic (and factually questionable) ghost walk of the local haunted sights, and eating a very expensive and decadent cream tea at The tea shop in town Betty´s (very Miss Marple).

From York, we went to Manchester and stayed above an pub called The Rembrandt in the gay district. Lots of dodgy drag queens and party people .... Evan had his first (and last...) full English breakfast - lots of fried things basically). Indeed one of the more memorable moments was watching a ´seen better days´drag queen(at least 65) totter in to the bar one morning in full make up, long blonde wig and red high heeled boots order a ¨Full English breakfast love¨in a smoky barritone voice...

We toured Manchester, as well as visiting with an old school friend Helen in the town of Whaley Bridge in the Peak District. This included a chance to visit the ´plague village´of Eyam .... check this out on wikipedia ... the town has a fascinating history.
Next was Liverpool and Chester, where we met up with our friend Gina from California at the train station as planned. Liverpool is brilliant - we absolutely loved it - Evan was already checking out rental apartments! Vibrant, fun, full of cool people and just fantastic - we were surprised we loved it so much. We also toured Chester - an old Roman and Tudor town, and had another cream tea ......

Well, there so much more to tell, but it will have to wait until next time ... got to get ready for Carnaval and try some paella along the promenade. So until then, adios!

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"Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be." (Joseph Campbell)

We get stuck in a crypt, have a Yoko Ono experience, and see a newer castle.

Hello again!
It's a canny* time we're having up in Newcastle (*canny = good). After a few more days in and around London, including a bit of hob-nobbing at Harrods (The most delicious bottled water ..... :>) we got a train from King's Cross to the North of England to visit Andy's Aunt Shiela and Uncle Alf. The train went through Peterborough, York, and Darlington, and sailed through the edge of the Yorkshire Dales (Evan getting to see the area of his most loved TV show - 'All Creatures Great and Small' - which was perhaps enhanced (?) by Andy pittifully whistling the theme tune over and over ... and then announcing that he wondered if the show was more popular with adults who have an animal 'bias' in bedroom.... a new thought!) as well as past Durham cathedral (enjoyed without such enhancements).

Newcastle is a large, vibrant city on the North Sea close to the Scottish border, Hadrian's Wall and (strangely) a small sheep town called Bellingham (but pronounced Bell-in-jam) (don't know why). The "new" castle (which we saw today) is actually from the 11th century, which to us doesn't seem particularly new, but compared to the older castles (ooh, around 1st century/Roman ruins) ... well you get the idea!

So sightseeing so far has included a drive to the old Abbey town of Hexham (we took notice Diane!). Touring the Abbey was cool until we ventured into the 7th century crypt to see the altar where Saint Andrew's bits and bobs (I think they're correctly referred to as relics) were once displayed. It was dark, dismal and creepy - bricked up spots made us think of happless nuns getting en-tombed for showing an ankle to the local bishop.... but got decidely more creepy when Evan heard a clicking lock, and we discovered we had been locked in!!!! Fortunately we were discovered before we had to start eating one another or screaming, or both.

After that we went tourist-ing it around Newcastle center - seeing the bridges and various landmarks. Some of the architecture is great - we loved the Sage building (looks like a horizontal bottle) and the old stone work. Also checked out the Yoko Ono art exhibit at the Baltic art gallery ..... as the Nan on the Catherine Tate show would say, "What a load of old S**T!" Mmmm.

Tomorrow we head to York - the most haunted city in the world, and our next adventure.
More soon....

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"And of course you can't become, if you only say what you would have done" (LEN 'Steal My Sunshine')

Colchester Castle and Cups of Tea

Here we are in England sat on our friends' (Lara and John) couch ready to order a take away while we type of our visit so far. We've had a trip into London where we met our friends Helen and Pete; visited the Tate Gallery (old, not modern) where we saw Ophelia, but our favorite, Lady of Shallot, is on tour in Amsterdam. We visited the British Library- really interesting stuff: Magna Carta, Queen Elizabeth's I letter explaining why she wouldn't marry, many historic religious texts, and, of course, original copies of various Beatles lyrics.

Yesterday we were off to Colchester. It's a city about 45 minutes from Andy's hometown. Brilliantly displayed history of the city at a museum in Colchester Castle. Colchester is the oldest recorded city in all of Britain and was the site of the famous battle in which Bodicea (who was actually named Boudica) overthrew the Romans.

Tomorrow we head into London again and will end the day meeting up with a friend Andy's not seen in over 20 years... he's excited to catch up. We plan to also go the the Inns of the Court where the barristers can be seen coming and going and was the site of the filming of the Knights Templar part of DaVinci Code. We'll also visit the National Portrait Gallery and possibly go to Harrod's.

We've had good visits with family and friends and lots of nice cups of tea. Looking forward to our trip to the north of England which begins on Friday with a train journey to Newcastle-on-Tyne.

Although the weather's been cold and rainy, it hasn't been as freezing or snowy as other parts of the country. We shall continue to make these entries despite Andy's dad's opinion that it's a "bloody waste of time!"

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"She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful and life was so short." (Brian Andreas- Mostly True)

Here We Gooooooo!!!

Well, it is time for our first Big Trip of 2009. Bags are packed and hotels are reserved.


Our first trip is really more of a vacation ... well holiday. We have gone back to calling our time off holidays - from the English 'holy-day' i.e. a sacred time, rather than our more usual American vacation ('vacate') - i.e. escape from daily life. Our days are now more happy and so we have less need to escape. So now we holiday .... just a thought!





Anyway, we are long overdue a trip back to England to visit Andy's family. But, now we're freer, we decided to turn a week trip back to London to a longer trip. So a week in London (via Frankfurt, Germany) with family then moves into a week and half across the north of England visiting lots of new places - first to Newcastle, then York, Manchester, Liverpool and Chester. And then we meet up with a good friend Gina (from California) which in itself is an adventure - we plan to meet at a train station coffee shop in Liverpool in three weeks at 3:30pm .... hopefully! From here we fly to Barcelona for their Mardi Gras ('Carnaval') (most intriguing is the Debauchery parade ... on Sunday!), and where we have an apartment in the Gothic quarter (Andy relives his youth ... or not!). Then back to the UK for a few days ....







Stay tuned as always ...





Isn't it grand!
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"We are afraid of loosing what we have, whether it is our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand" (Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist)