Girls Night Out

Had a good time at a party with the girls.

Note to my friends

I know it is a mess on this blog right now. It took me a few days to get my luggage back so I couldn't even start working on this until last week. Then I had to sort the photos by city and then load them all on here. That took forever!

Now I'm going to try to go back and label the photos, add historical info, talk about my experiences and stuff like that, but it will take a while for it to all gel together. Be patient with me. I want to capture as much as I can as much for myself as for my friends so they can see it all with me.

The day that never was...

I am not writing about the trip home because I would rather not remember it. Let's just focus on the wonderful time I had on the trip and hope that they soon find an alternative to flying.

Barcelona November 4

My room at the Majestic Hotel in Barcelona. So we had to leave the boat by 8am this morning. I'm not sure why they had to do that and everyone was complaining. So I checked out and hung out at the hotel for a few hours while I waited for my room to be ready.






I went up to the rooftop and took some pictures of the view. And then I took a nap for about an hour on one of the lounge chairs. It was a beautiful warm day. In the distance you can see several important sites. This is the La Sagrada Familia, which I will be walking too later today.




The penis shaped building is in a plaza called The Glories. The shape of the Torre Agbar was inspired by the mountains of Montserrat that surround Barcelona, and by the shape of a geyser of water rising into the air. Jean Nouvel, in an interview, described it as having a phallic character. As a result of its unusual shape, the building is known by several nicknames, such as "el supositorio" (the suppository), "l'obús" (the shell) and some more scatological ones. Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete. A unique feature of the building is its nocturnal illumination. It has 4,500 LED luminous devices that allow generation of luminous images in the facade. In addition, it has temperature sensors in the outside of the tower that regulate the opening and closing of the glass blinds of the facade of the building, reducing the consumption of energy for air conditioning.

The buildings in Barcelona are just wonderul and you can spend all day walking around just looking at it. It is unique.








This fountain is said to give citizenship to anyone who drinks from it.










Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect, who belonged to the Modernisme (Art Nouveau) movement and was famous for his unique style and highly individualistic designs.

Gaudí's first works were designed in the style of gothic and traditional Spanish architectural modes, but he soon developed his own distinct sculptural style. Some of his greatest works, most notably La Sagrada Família, have an almost hallucinatory power.

He integrated the catenary arch and hyperboloid structures, nature's organic shapes, and the fluidity of water into his architecture. While designing buildings, he observed the forces of gravity and related catenary principles. (Gaudí designed many of his structures upside down by hanging various weights on interconnected strings or chains, using gravity to calculate catenaries for a natural curved arch or vault.)

Using the trencadís technique, Gaudí often decorated surfaces with broken tiles, plates and other ceramics from the city. His work is EVERYWHERE!

Casa Milà was built in the years 1905–1907. Most people consider it magnificent and overwhelming; some say it is like waves of lava or a sand-dune, and today it is a landmark of Barcelona.

It could be compared with the steep cliff walls in which African tribes build their cave-like dwellings. The wavy facade, with its large pores, reminds one also of an undulating beach of fine sand, formed, for example, by a receding dune. The honeycombs made by industrious bees might also spring to the mind of the observer viewing the snake-like ups-and-downs that run through the whole building.

Built in the year 1877, the local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality. It was originally designed for a middle-class family and situated in a prosperous district of Barcelona.

The ground floor, in particular, is rather astonishing with tracery, irregular oval windows and flowing sculpted stone work. It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely.

Much of the façade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles (trencadís) that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues.

The roof is arched and was likened to the back of a dragon or dinosaur. A common theory about the building is that the rounded feature to the left of centre, terminating at the top in a turret and cross, represents the sword of Saint George (patron saint of Catalonia), which has been plunged into the back of the dragon.

At sunset I finally made it to the Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was an ardent Catholic, to the point that in his later years, he abandoned secular work and devoted his life to Catholicism and his Sagrada Família.

He designed it to have 18 towers, 12 for the 12 apostles, 4 for the 4 evangelists, one for Mary and one for Jesus. Barcelona fell on hard times, economically. The construction of La Sagrada Família slowed. Four years later, Eusebi Güell, his patron, died.

Perhaps it was because of this unfortunate sequence of events that Gaudí changed. He became reluctant to talk with reporters or have his picture taken and solely concentrated on his masterpiece, La Sagrada Família.

On June 7, 1926, Gaudí was run over by a tram. Because of his ragged attire and empty pockets, many cab drivers refused to pick him up for fear that he would be unable to pay the fare. He was eventually taken to a pauper's hospital in Barcelona. Nobody recognized the injured artist until his friends found him the next day. When they tried to move him into a nicer hospital, Gaudí refused, reportedly saying "I belong here among the poor." He died three days later on June 10, 1926, half of Barcelona mourning his death.

He was buried in the midst of La Sagrada Família. although Gaudi was constantly changing his mind and recreating his blue prints the only exsisting copy of his last recorded blue prints were destroyed by the anarchists in 1938 at the hight of Francos invasion on barcelona. This has made it very difficult for his workers to complete the cathedral in the same fashion as gaudi most likely would have. It is for this that Gaudí is known to many as "God's Architect". La Sagrada Família is now being completed but differences between his work and the new additions can be seen.

As of 2007, completion of the Sagrada Familía is planned for 2026. However, this may prove wildly optimistic if the worst fears of many eminent engineers and architects are realized. These have pointed out the structural dangers posed by a tunnel for a TGV-style high-speed rail, which would run within feet of the church’s foundations; one might note the precedent of one metro tunnel in Barcelona’s Carmel district that collapsed and destroyed an entire city block on the 27th of February 2005.

This is my sweet pup of the day. I can't believe I am seeing my little girl tomorrow.

And so my vacation draws to an end. I am going to go have a nice dinner in my hotel, then I wake up in the morning to head off to the airport and return home. I can't believe it went by so quickly. I definitely want to come back to this city. There are so many buildings to be explored. I don't even know what this one is, but some day I hope to.

At Sea November 3

Last day on the boat. I spent most of it in the casino playing poker. This is the crew. Clockwise from me, is Jaque, Henry, a disgusting guy I never wanted to know the name of, Ben, our dealer, Mike (horseshoe), a random french canadian guy, Bernard, and Rick (Jersey). It was fun and I can't believe it is almost over.










This is a picture of the floor boss, who was very nice to us. Free drinks and allowing us to stay playing late each night.

Villefranche - Eze - Monaco November 2

It's a beautiful day and we arrived at Villefranche in the French Rivera at 7am. We took a tender into the port and were welcomed by what I think is typical french fashion. In the windows of this hotel, you could see several people either having breakfast naked or in the middle of getting dressed.

Our pick up point is in an old fortress built in 1557 and the parking lot is where the moat used to be.






In fact there are several fortresses built on the surrounding hills.

We met our tour guide and boarded our bus. There are three roads that take you to the Italian border from Nice. The low Corniche is the coast road that follows the sea, the middle Corniche is just atop the cliffs that rise vertically just inside the shore line and the high Corniche is further inland, and a breathtaking work of engineering of the sort for which both the French and the Swiss are justifiably famous. But few know that the original Grand Corniche was the Roman Via Aurelia, along which Roman Legions marched from Rome to the Rhone Valley and on to their outposts in Britain and Germany. In 1806 Napoleon built the first proper road that followed this path, but with breathtaking engineering and viaducts, the modern autoroute you travel on to Italy makes the journey incredibly easy.

We started out driving along the Middle Corniche to Eze. The views from the highway were incredible. It was a gorgeous day.








Eze during Roman times was an important village. It was called with the Italian name of Eza when was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, until 1861 when passed to France.

As you climb the hilside you pass by a spice market. The smell at this spot is heavenly and you can tell it is there before you round the bend.

As you enter Eze you get a chance to look down on it's terraced gardens.

Eze is famous worldwide for the view on the sea from the top of its hill, and it is a renowned tourist site on the French Riviera. Eze is perched like an “eagle's nest” on a superb cliff located 427m above sea level which enables the village and its church (Notre Dame de l’Assomption built in 1764) to be seen from afar. Inside the church, an Egyptian cross acts as a reminder that the roots of the village dates back to the time of the Phoenicians, when they erected a temple there to honour the goddess Isis.

The small medieval village is famous for its beauty and charm. It has many shops, art galleries, hotels and restaurants that attract a large number of tourists and honeymooners. As a result Èze has become a "museum village", few local residents live here.

The motto of the village is the phrase: "Isis Moriendo Renascor" (meaning "In death I am Reborn") and its emblem is a Phoenix perched on a bone.

The oldest building in the village is the Chapelle de la Sainte Croix and dates back to 1306. Members of the lay order of the White Penitents of Eze, in charge of giving assistance to plague victims, would hold their meetings there. I loved the skull candle holder on the alter.








I loved taking pictures of the beautiful doors. Most of them I would almost have to duck to walk through.














This is my Eze pup. She was so stylish with a beautiful bow in her hair.












After I made the bus run late because I wanted to have a quick Cafe with milk, we boarded the bus to head back along the upper Corniche to Monico. The views from the highway are, of course, incredible.










The Principality of Monaco is the second-smallest independent state in the world, after Vatican City. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, 11 miles east of Nice and near the Italian border. It is surrounded on three sides by France. The principality is noted for its natural scenery and mild, sunny climate. It is also butt ass filthy stinking rich.


The Oceanographic Museum was inaugurated in 1910 by Monaco's modernist reformer, Prince Albert I. This monumental architectural work of art has an impressive façade towering above the sea, towering over the sheer cliff face to a height of 279 feet (85.04 meters).

The museum houses remarkable collections of various species of sea fauna both stuffed and in skeletal form. The museum's holdings also include a great variety of sea related objects, including model ships, sea animal skeletons, tools, weapons, etc. Including this yellow two man submarine. No word on if the beatles knew about it.

An aquarium is housed in the basement of the museum which showcases a spectacular array of flora and fauna. 4000 species of fish and over 200 families of invertebrates can be seen. It features a presentation of Mediterranean and tropical marine ecosystems. Jacques Cousteau was its director for many years, beginning in 1957.

From the museum we walked along a beautiful park with fountains and statues.

Saint Nicholas Cathedral, known also as Monaco Cathedral, is the cathedral where many of the Grimaldis were buried, including the most beloved Princess, Grace Kelly and more recently,

Rainier III. It has also been the site of a few weddings.

The cathedral was consecrated in 1875, and is on the site of the first parish church in Monaco built in 1252 and dedicated to St. Nicholas.

This beautiful building is the City Hall.










Princess Carolyn's home. It was very lovely.

And Princess Stephanie's home. Of course she rents it out because "she doesn't like it", which caused quite the uproar in the crowd. Apparently she prefers to hang out at the ski slopes.






Of course I saw more then one place that was for sale that I wish I was wealthy enough to buy. I would move to this place in a hot second given half the chance.










This is the royal palace and we stayed to watch the changing of the guards.











Of course I was much more interested in the local dogs. This is Willy.








Once we were done in Monico we drove to Monte Carlo. We were served a lovely dinner at a local restaurant in typical french fashion. Bread, wine, chicken and dessert. I was dying because all I wanted to do was to go to the casino, but she had to get us all in together to avoid the charge and if we wanted to gamble we had to register our passports. I managed to sneak away once we got our ticket so I could start playing.

There are no cameras allowed inside, but it is very nice inside. I sat down at a slot machine and almost immediately won 10,000 credits ($500 euros). So I played for a few more minutes and then took my money and ran.

While waiting outside I took some time to take a photo of the mirrored fountain in front of the casino in which you can see a reflection of the whole thing. And I took some shots of the massive numbers of very expensive cars parked in front of the casino. I have never seen so much money in one spot before in my life.










Back on the boat by the time sunset hit and the view of the hills from my balcony was beautiful. I opened some champagne and relaxed while I took a few more shots of the area.