M and J Adventures

2009 Red Bull Air Race in Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

The Red Bull Air Race hit Barcelona 2 weekends ago, and the airspace over the beaches and sea was filled with buzzing little planes and pursuing helicopters as the pilots tested their planes and practised on the course.

Held in conjunction with the Air Race was the 2009 Festa al Cel - Air Festival - which treated us to lots of different aerial displays by numerous interesting aircraft. It was also the 90th anniversary celebration of the first commercial flight into Barcelona which originated in Toulouse, France.

We had read that the last Barcelona Red Bull Air Race leg in 2006 had attracted 1.3 million people to the beachfront, and certainly the archived photos on the Red Bull website attested to that.

Although the air-race part of the calendar wasn't due to start until 3:30pm on Saturday 3rd Oct which was qualifying day, J and I prepared our food and drinks and set out early, determined to be in the front row on the beach. We arrived just before 11am and staked out our bit of sand with our beach mats and towels.

We were fortunate to have arrived when we did, because it didn't take long for the beach to fill. We were then treated to humanity at its finest, as one group of people after another made their way to the front of the beach, prepared to plonk themselves down in the prime positions in front of everyone else who had been waiting there for at least 2 hours longer. Thankfully, they were either removed by the excellent security personnel or shouted at by the crowds and made to retreat. It left a lot of people shaking their heads in bemusement and exasperation; incredulous at how stupid, selfish and rude some people can be.

Part of the crowd at qualifying

At mid-day, the airshow started with a few excellent parachute jumps from Spanish airforce and civilian teams, all landing on the beach about 30m away from where we were seated. They even had a couple of guys in flying squirrel suits jump out of a helicopter and glide across the sky before deploying their 'chutes.

I was a little disappointed with the altitude and distance that most of the aircraft flew at during the airshow. Flying too far off the beach and too high meant that good photos were hard to get, and an overhead sun in the 1 o'clock position meant that lighting was at its possible worst. I've been at airshows where the planes have thundered in, seemingly within touching distance which certainly adds extra excitement and thrills to the aerobatics displays and fly-bys.

Next up were vintage and classic aircraft. With Airbus just over the border in Perpignan, the EADS Historic Flight Museum flew in all sorts of aircraft. EADS (parent company of Airbus) has an excellent History of Aviation on their website. Although clumsy to navigate, it's worth it if you're an aviation buff. The Historic Flight Museum holds some of the finest examples of airworthy classic and vintage aircraft, with special emphasis on maintaining a working catalogue of Willy Messerschmidt's planes.

The first to fly in had me stumped - I had no idea what type of aircraft it was, and listening to the Català commentary didn't enlighten me at all. It took a lot of website trawling to discover that it was a Spanish-built assault/trainer - a Hispano Aviación HA-220 Super Saeta, built in the 50s and 60s (with help from one Willy Messerschmidt) and operated predominantly by the Spanish and Egyptian airforces. Little wonder that I hadn't come across it before!

Hispano Aviación HA-220 Super Saeta

Next into the beachside arena was a bevy of civilian and military workhorses - the first 3 doing duty in both modes. First up was the Douglas DC-3 - my most favourite aircraft of all time. My maiden flight was in one of these operated by Fiji Airways. This one was decked out in old Air France Livery and she was beautiful.

Douglas DC-3 in early Air France livery

The DC-3 was followed by a Junkers Ju 52 (a.k.a. Casa C-352L), an Antonov An-2, a Harvard AT-6D and a Chance Vought F4U Corsair.

German Junkers Ju 52

Russian Antonov An-2 (Hungarian registered)

AT-6D Harvard

Chance Vought F4U Corsair

Breitling received a lot of attention at this show, mainly because of their sponsorship of the Red Bull series and with their investment into the Breitling Jet Team. Stationed in Dijon, France, this is the only jet aerobatic team (flying seven Czech-built L-39 C Albatros aircraft) in the world that is flown by civilians. Their tight formations were impressive, but again, and perhaps governed by local safety constraints, they flew just that much too far away to have a real heart-stopping impact on the beachfront crowds.

360° En Canard manoevre

Avenger Formation

Percussion Manoevre

The Spanish Airforce have 2 precision aerobatics teams. Patrulla Águila is their jet team, and Patrulla Aspa is the helicopter formation team. Flying their Eurocopter EC-120 Colibrí helicopters, they put them through an impressive range of formations.

Flying into the arena in formation

Tio Vivo manoevre

Dos contra Uno manoevre

Cruce a Dos manoevre

A couple of aerobatic displays in planes similar to those flown in the Red Bull races followed, and by now, we along with a lot of others in the crowd were hot, starting to get sunburned, and just waiting for the main event to start.

Coming out of a corkscrew

Red and Blue symmetry

Breitling also have a beautiful DC-3 and she was the last plane to fly over and show her shape and colours to the crowds.

The sexiest wingspan silhouette in my opinion!

It was then time for the Red Bull pilots to thrill us. 15 pilots have been battling all season, and the last race was to be decided in Barcelona.

The championship race was also close, and there were 2 pilots with a chance to win it all. Paul Bonhomme (on 55 points) from the UK has been racing in the series since 2005 without a championship win. In both 2007 and 2008, he finished an agonising 2nd, and in 2009 he came to Barcelona only a few points ahead of defending champion, Austrian Hannes Arch (on 51 points). Arch joined the series as a rookie in 2007, and the following year, he won the event. That was pretty unheard of, as up until then, rookie pilots had generally needed at least 2 seasons to settle in before perhaps even gaining a podium finish in a couple of races.

Arch flew first, and at the 3rd gate, he hit a pylon as the next image will show. That put him out of contention for 1st place, and at the end of the first round he was in 13th.

Hannes Arch hits a pylon during his first qualifying round

Round 2 saw Arch fly beautifully and he grabbed 1st place with a flawless and very fast penalty-free round. With the win, he also gained an extra point which put him within 3 points of Bonhomme.

Bonhomme's second round was over when he hit a pylon on a relatively easy gate, and he finished in 4th behind Frenchman Nicolas Ivanoff in 2nd and Australian rookie Matt Hall in 3rd.

Nicolas Ivanoff finishes 2nd in qualifying

Australian rookie Matt Hall flying into 3rd in the qualifiers

Paul Bonhomme knifes through the quadro on his way to qualifying 4th

By now, it was past 6pm. We were tired and a little red from the sun, and our posteriors and backs were telling us that we had been sitting on hard sand for the better part of the last 7 hours. We headed for home with thoughts going through our heads that we would have to do this all again tomorrow - and arrive even earlier to secure a good vantage point.

Sunday morning, and we were not up with the lark. Still a little burnt out and sunburnt from Saturday, we decided to give the beach a miss, and instead watch the event on TV. Yes, we're getting old!

In all honesty, the main reason for not going back was so that we didn't have to argue with the stupid, rude people who tried to sit in front of those who had been there for a few hours in order to gain the best position. We had been threatened by a guy the day before, and then had to watch our backs as he sat behind us with his mates. I did disarm him in the end, as I took his photo and made sure that he knew that I had it. But it wasn't a good feeling, and lot of us in the front row were quite angry and exasperated by the selfish behaviour of a few who thought that the world owed them.

So we watched the Final Day on TV, in comfy chairs and close amenities - and vowed that if the race comes back next year, we'll buy grandstand seats!

After elimination rounds, the fastest 4 - Bonhomme, Arch, Nigel Lamb (UK) and Matthias Dolderer (German rookie) - raced for the Barcelona trophy.

Bonhomme needed to finish 1st, 2nd or 3rd in order to win. The 4 pilots were in a holding pattern and no one was told of the results until after all 4 had flown. Lamb flew first, Dolderer next, followed by Bonhomme and Arch last. After Bonhomme flew into the #1 position and secured the championship, Arch had still to fly. Another pylon hit at Gate 3 put paid to his chances, and Bonhomme celebrated his win with an exuberant roar!

You can watch the final 4 on this excellent video:

If the viewer doesn't load, go to the Red Bull Air Race website to view it.

The podium for Barcelona was Bonhomme 1st, Lamb (first podium for 2009) 2nd and rookie Dolderer 3rd.

The 2009 Championship podium was Bonhomme 1st, Arch 2nd and Australian rookie Matt Hall a distant 3rd on points, but an impressive performance in his first year of racing.

Congratulations to British Airways 747 captain Paul Bonhomme. We hope to see you again next year if the Red Bull comes back to Barcelona!

Running the Berlin Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 21:45:00 +0000

Seeing the Berlin Marathon being run yesterday for 2009 reminded me of last year's event which I never did get around to blogging about.

When J sets her mind to do something, it's often with a single-minded focus that's to be admired. A few years ago, she had run the Berlin Marathon for the first time, and decided that the 35th event in 2008 was time to do it again.

She and her business partner J-T trained for months before the actual day. Following a rigid training program given to them by a mutual friend who was into training sportspeople, they set out to complete their daily schedule. It was great to see them compare notes and times and encouraging each other as the weeks and months went by, and the marathon date drew closer.

In August 2008, J's training received a setback. Playing in a women's football tournament, she dived onto the deck to head a ball into the goal, and landed on her left hand - breaking the little finger in 2 places. When she does something, she does it well!

The cast was on for a month

Undeterred, she kept up with the training as best as she could, and in September last year, it was time to put it to the test.

The first thing we had to do was go and pick up their race numbers. On the Friday evening, we piled into the car and headed out to the Berlin Expo grounds. I have never seen so many people try to get into one pavilion! It was a bit shambolic, as there was only one door through which to enter and exit, and we all felt like salmon trying to head upstream!

Trying to get into the hall to collect race numbers and info packs

Once inside, it was a bit more organised. Sports companies had displays on the ground floor, and on the mezzanine, once up the stairs, it was turn left to collect your number if you were female, and to the right if you were male.

Numbers and info packs collected, we beat a hasty retreat to the car.

On Sunday morning, we were up before the sun and on the metro to the Brandenburg Gate where the marathon was to begin and end. Meeting J-T and his cousin K, there were small signs of nervousness as strategies were discussed before walking to the start line.

I was to meet J at 2 locations to give her food and drink. At the first, I missed her, but luckily saw J-T who told me that she was ahead of him. Diving back onto the train, I headed to our next rendezvous at the 32km mark, where luckily I managed to see her this time. She was not very amused that we had missed the first stop, but recovered quickly as the food and coca cola quickly brought up her energy levels.

Back at the Brandenburg gate, I first met J who finished ahead of the 2 guys and was feeling pretty pleased with herself - as she should!

Rightly happy, tired and with finisher medals around their necks!

J-T and K came in about 20 mins and 45 mins behind her, and there was time for a quick victory photo and to pick up the time printouts before heading home to hot baths and pasta carbo-loading!

The official paper showing position in the field as well as split distance times

Fervent Catalonian Pride

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Elsewhere in the world, the date 9/11 conjures up images of collapsing tall buildings and death. In Catalonia/Catalunya/Cataluña*, 11/9 is La Diada Nacional de Catalonia - the National Day of Catalonia, a public holiday and a memorial to another deadly September 11, almost 3 centuries ago.

In 1714 on this day, the Siege of Barcelona was lost by the home side during the War of the Spanish Succession. The laws and rights to the region held by the Crowns of Catalonia and Aragón were abolished by the Bourbon monarchy, and Catalonia was pulled kicking and screaming to be under Spanish rule. To this day, it's not to everyone's liking! Catalunya uses National Day to commemorate their history and fallen heroes - and to voice their dissent to the powerhouse based in Madrid.

I was excited, as it was to be the first national day that I will experience in this region. With J away in Berlin, I made my way to the Parc de la Ciutadella where the official ceremony was to take place. I was handed a progamme for the event, and at all the gates, there were large maps and the event programme printed on canvas for all to see.

Click on the images to enlarge them

Large maps and the event programme stationed at the gates

If people arrived early enough, (like me!), they scored one of the official programmes

The ceremonial area filled up quickly as seats were grabbed by those who arrived earlier than those who had to stand. Although I could have grabbed a seat, I elected to stand, as I thought that this would give me the freedom to move around and grab photos from different locations. This notion was quickly scotched by the 100 deep crowd that formed behind my position on the barrier located behind the VIP seating, and which effectively fenced me in on all sides. Oh well, I have learned better for next year!

Just after 11:30am, the dignitaries and invited guests took their seats on stage, accompanied by 3 members of Mossos d'Esquadra (English equivalent would be Troopers, although literal translation would be "Squad Lads") who are standing at the rear in their full dress uniform.

VIPs and dignitaries onstage. At the front in the white hat is actress Montserrat Carulla, who compered the event

The Mossos d'Esquadra has a long history beginning in the 1700s. Today, they are a civilian force and have replaced Spain's Policia Nacional and Guardia Civil within Catalunya, as well as assuming full responsibility within Barcelona. (I think that I'll have to do a separate blog post on the Mossos, as it's an interesting story.) The official Mossos d'Esquadra ceremonial troop marched in, and stood under the bare flagpole.

A representation of Mossos D'Esquadra

Their chief received the folded Catalunyan flag from the President of the Catalunya Generalitat, José Montilla Aguilera.

The Mossos chief carries the folded flag

The flag (La Senyera) was raised, and managed to flutter a couple of times in the small breeze which came through to cool us as we watched under the hot sun.

La Senyera - the 4 red stripes represent 4 Spanish autonomous communities: Catalonia, Aragón, the Balearic Islands and Valencia

The official ceremony was a mix of songs, dances, poems and readings performed by a variety of artists. Controversially, an Israeli singer, Noa (real name Achinoam Nini) was asked to sing. When she appeared on stage, accompanied by the Arab Orchestra of Barcelona, a large group of pro-Palestine demonstrators stood up, turned their backs to the stage and held up placards and keffiyehs.

The protesters for Palestine with their backs to the stage

They received a very hostile reception from the rest of the crowd who stood to applaud Noa and the Arab Orchestra as they gave a powerful rendition of El Cant dels Ocells (Song of Birds). It appears that artists can find commonality in their craft which bridges any political differences that their countries might have.

Noa accompanied by the Arab Orchestra of Barcelona

The Arab Orchestra left the stage, and Noa, together with her partner and guitarist Gil Dor remained. She first spoke in Catalan and then sang a song, also translated into Catalan called Beautiful that Way - and she did sing it beautifully.

Noa sings in Catalan accompanied by guitarist and partner, Gil Dor

There was a large press contingent to record the proceedings.

A bit of money tied up in that photographic gear - there wasn't a lens under 200mm!

Other artists included guitarist Peret and Llibert Fortuny, a brass ensemble.

Peret at front left

Llibert Fortuny

Once the ceremony was over, I walked across to Arc de Triomp where there was a large family festival area set up in the square between the arch and the Ciutadella Park. There were lots of challenging puzzles and games for the kids to do, live music and stalls set up which were selling Catalunyan clothing and flags, as well as a few booths asking people to support the cause for an independent Catalunya - separate from the rest of Spain.

Fiesta at Arc de Triomp

A lot of people and buildings sported La Senyera (the official flag of Catalunya) as well as La Senyera Estelada which is a protest flag calling for Catalunya to be a separate nation. I have assembled a slideshow of some of these photos:

Walking away from the Arc de Triomp, I wandered through the Born neighbourhood and headed for the Santa Maria del Mar cathedral. On the way, I saw many posters promoting events and polls for voting Catalunya to be independent

Long live the revolution!

On the seaward side of the cathedral lies Fossar de les Moreres - a memorial square which lies atop a burial ground where Siege of Barcelona defenders are buried. There were lots of floral wreaths laid at the base of the monument, whose steel arch bears an eternal flame burning at the top.

The memorial at Fossar de les Moreres, and on the wall behind it is inscribed a poem (titled Fossar de les Moreres) by Frederic Soler

The inscription on the arch is dedicated to those who fell in the battle.

"To those who died defending the rights and constitutions of Catalonia in the Siege of Barcelona 1713-1714"

At Plaça de Sant Jaume is the Palau de la Generalitat which is the seat of the Catalan presidency and government.

Palau de la Generalitat

I had obviously missed a demonstration outside the building, as there was a crowd of people just dispersing, but it appeared as if everything had been peaceful. The door to the palace was heavily guarded with members of the Mossos d'Esquadra - not in ceremonial dress, but dressed for trouble. I have no doubt that these guys had formidable back-up in the numerous squad vans which were parked in the alleyways. These guys take no prisoners!

The Mossos - the Lads!

By now I had been out and about for almost 7 hours. My feet were aching, as well as my neck from the weight of my camera. I walked back to the nearest metro station to catch the train home, pausing to chuckle at the pigeons resting anywhere that they could on the old Roman city walls and to gaze at the Pastis de la Diada (Cakes of the Day) in a bakery window.

Pigeons nestle in the old city wall - it's worth clicking on the photo to see how many there are!

Pastis de la Diada - adorned with the Catalunyan flag

I was pretty happy with my first National Catalunya Day. Next year, I want to go to some of the ceremonial places that I didn't get to this year.

*For my sake, as well as for everyone else who reads this blog, I'm now only going to refer to this region as Catalunya as that's how I tagged it in the first entry on this blog about it and I'm too lazy to go back and rename it as Catalonia which is the Catalan name for it!

A visit to Girona

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:20:00 +0000

Since seeing internet images of Girona, I have wanted to visit there and take photos of my own. For my birthday earlier this week, J surprised me by renting a car and driving up to the city for the day.

As we drove through the Costa Brava region, we were more than happy that we had chosen Barcelona as our home. The towns were predominantly hotels and tourist apartments which screamed "British Package Holidays" wherever we looked. We were not that impressed!

Driving into Girona, I started to wonder if I had been wrong about this city. It was more modern than I had expected and I couldn't see any of the interesting architecture that I had seen on websites. Parking the car, we emerged out of the carpark to see what we could find.

To my relief, we weren't far from the river, and this is where our true Girona experience began. The old part of the city is built along the Onyar river, and it wasn't until we ventured over one of the bridges that we found ourselves surrounded by beautiful old buildings.

Click on the images to view larger sizes

Houses line the Onyar River

We wandered into Independència Square, edged by restaurants, and chose one which offered local fare. The square is very pretty.

Apartments in Independencia Square

1 local man and 4 tourists

After a delicious meal of seafood paella, we made our way across the M. Gómez Bridge to lose ourselves in the old part of the city.

Reflections

Girona has survived 25 sieges and has been captured 7 times. It was first inhabited by Iberians (a mix of Greek and Roman), and has also lived under Moorish, Roman and French rule, before being declared as part of Barcelona and ultimately awarded its own city status. (It is now one of the 4 principle cities in Catalunya together with Barcelona, Lleida and Tarragona.) In the 12th Century, there was also a thriving Jewish community in Girona, until the Jews were expelled in 1492 by the Catholic Kings.

A house with Sant Feliu in the background

It was extremely hot, about 40°C, so we were very pleased that we had thought to bring bottles of water with us. We carry a partially-filled frozen bottle, and another filled with cold water which we use to replenish the frozen bottle as we drink from it. There's nothing like iced water on a hot day, and the salty paella had made us thirstier than usual.

A pretty courtyard entryway

First stop for us was the Arab Baths: so called, because in 1194, they were built in the Arabian style. For €2 each, we toured the inside in about 10 minutes. It's interesting, but not fascinating. For me, there were more pleasing sights to photograph outside the baths.

The vault of the Arab Baths in the foreground with the Sant Feliu steeple behind

Sant Pere de Galligants

Wandering back along the path from the baths, we came to the foot of the staircase which leads to La Catedral de Girona - an impressive Basilica which dominates the old town's skyline. The Moors had used the old church as a mosque, and when they were also driven out (circa 1015) , the mosque site was remodelled into a site for a Catholic cathedral.

The massive La Catedral de Girona

There are 86 steps up to the front door - we know, because we counted them as we climbed. No photography is allowed inside, but the cathedral has the distinction of featuring the largest single arched vault in the world - it is an impressive sight. I wouldn't have thought that it was much bigger than the one in Santa Maria del Mar cathedral in Barcelona, but apparently it is!

Coming out of the cathedral, we meandered through the narrow and pretty streets of the Sant Marti and Jewish Quarter. I took lots of images!

Sant Marti

The steps at Sant Marti - luckily we went down them

Beautiful apartment buildings were abundant

Siesta time while all the mad tourists are walking about

The old buildings were very beautiful, and there were interesting shops to peer into along the way.

A tattooed woman, with the tattoo artist, browses the catalogue for her next ink design

University starts next month!

The metal restorers discuss a project

Hot and happy, we crossed over another bridge to get back into the newer part of the city, found our car and drove back to Barcelona. We made good use of the car by driving up Tibidabo so that I could take a night-shot of the Temple de Sagrat Cor - but that's another story.

The river from the other direction

What a perfect birthday, made possible by a thoughtful and loving partner who made it even more special.

Lost: on a Painted Sky

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:02:00 +0000

When photographing clouds, it's inevitable that birds will sometimes fly into the shot - or be there, unnoticed, until closer inspection of the images during the editing process.

Upon seeing my cloud images containing birds, I instantly thought of Neil Diamond's song "Be" which starts with:

Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet's eye
You may find him
If
You may find him....

Of course, that led me to missing my vinyl recording of Neil Diamond's beautiful soundtrack for the movie Jonathan Livingstone Seagull which is somewhere in my parents' basement in New Zealand!

That got me thinking even further back to when I bought my little copy of Richard Bach's book - Jonathan Livingstone Seagull - and, at the tender age of 12, read it at least 3 times in a row, and once a month after that for the next year. I couldn't get enough of it.

The search for perfection of flight by a little seagull, who knew that he was destined for things other than being part of a flock constantly squabbling for food, appealed to my Virgo mindset! An outcast who didn't give up; whose constant efforts were recognised and rewarded by further lessons from seagulls who had already achieved nirvana; who returned to his flock in a state of forgiveness to teach other seagulls what he had learned.

It's a story about: never giving up to reach that perfect goal; earned respect; unequivocal forgiveness and abundant love.

Everyone has to read this book at least once in their lives. It's still in print today, after first being published 39 years ago in 1970. Let it become part of every school's reading curriculum for kids in the 13-15 age bracket, and give every kid their own personal copy to keep.

Here's my pictorial homage to Jonathan, and his determination to never give up in the search for perfection, while still enjoying the ride:

Also, here's a Youtube version of Neil's beautiful song, Be.

May we all find some perfection in a less than perfect world.

Clouds over Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 08:30:00 +0000

I don't fail to fall more in love with Barcelona with each day that we are here. The weather is great, the people friendly, and we have a wonderful apartment within 5 minutes walk to the beach. J and I feel at home here.

I'm fascinated by the amazing cloud formations and the variety of clouds that we see over the city - on the days when the sky isn't a clear blue dome. I can now see where painters get their inspiration from - especially Michelangelo's clouds that he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City. Of all the cities and countries that we have visited or lived in, Barcelona would have the best cloud exhibition!

I've put together a slideshow of some of the images that I've taken of clouds over Barcelona.

Enjoy!

Tour de France

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:13:00 +0000

The Tour de France became the Tour de França as it passed through Cataluña last week. On Thursday, the riders cycled down the coast from Girona to Barcelona. Of course, the only very rainy day that we have had all summer was that Thursday, and it was so heavy in the morning that I doubted that I was going to be able to take any photos. The tour battled the rain and winds before, thankfully, the weather cleared as they entered the city.

As some of the route wasn't far from our apartment, we couldn't miss the opportunity to see the race pass metres in front of us, instead of watching it on TV as we've done in past years. We caught the T4 tram down to Carrer Wellington and stood on a corner between the Arc de Triumf and Estacio França.

First through was the sponsors' wacky parade. We hadn't seen this part before, and were soon collecting hats, pens and all sorts of goodies as they were thrown from the weird assortment of vehicles.

Click on the images to enlarge

J was able to track the race on her phone's internet connection, so we learned that the peloton had been broken up by a crash on a roundabout about 5km from our vantage point.

First through was Scotsman David Millar (who lives in Girona), although he was caught by the peloton just 1600 metres from the finish line.

The peloton came through very fast and there was barely enough time to fire off a few shots before they were gone.

After the peloton came the riders who had been caught up in the crash, some bearing new wounds on arms and legs.

Shimano's Cyril Lemoine shows off his bloody knee

Euskatel's Koldo Fernandez has a new dressing on his upper left arm as he's followed by a team support car

Cervélo's Heinrich Hussler had a better day yesterday and won Stage 13 - his first ever stage win

Hussler's team-mate #2 Inigo Cuesta was also down the back

Some of the final riders come through in a small, battered and bedraggled group

We were thrilled to have our first live Tour de France experience. An American architect, resident in Barcelona, was standing beside us for the event. He has followed several tours and recommended that we also see a climbing stage as he reckons that visually, they are the best. Maybe we'll do that next year!

Report on Stage 6 from Girona to Barcelona can be found on the Tour de France website.

Hugh Masekela live in Mataró

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Whilst out Nordic walking along the waterfront near our apartment, we go past several advertising pillars adorned with posters advertising upcoming events in and around Barcelona.

One of them happened to catch my eye as I recognised a familiar name to our household. Under the 6 headline acts ran a couple of small lines with the name of other musicians who were playing at the Cruïlla de Cultures 2009 Festival of Music. Hugh Masekela's name was the second on the first line.

Excitedly, I pointed his name out to J who, as a longtime fan of Masekela's, immediately looked up the concert details when we got home.

The concert was July 10th in Mataró. We had to look up Google Maps to see where that was! It turns out to be a town further up the coast from Barcelona, and only 4 stops away from our nearest railway station. The most difficult part was returning home, as the trains would have stopped by the time the concert was over, and only hourly night buses would be running.

We took the chance. After coming home and drying off after watching a wet Tour de France go through the city, we hopped on the train and headed for Mataró, passing through seaside towns with great beaches and large marinas.

Arriving and with map in hand, we walked about 1.5kms from the station to the venue, through shopping and residential areas before crossing a major road into a light industrial zone. Just as we were beginning to think that we had made a wrong turn, we came across the venue.

Sala Clap has been in operation for 16 years and is an institution for nightlife in the region. We approached the ticket seller at the door and asked if we had the right venue for Hugh Masekela. Upon confirmation, we paid for our tickets and headed back out to the bar next door for a quick beer and something to eat before the concert started at 9pm. The hamburgers - long bread roll with some sort of processed meat pattie - were not what hamburgers usually look like, but they were ok and cheap, as was the Estrella Damm beer.

9pm, and we wandered back into Sala Clap, buying a couple of beers which cost us more than the beers and burgers at the bar next door. Ouch! Why do venues do this? If the prices were lower, they would surely sell more. During the whole concert, we saw more people not drinking than those who bought anything - it was too expensive at €4 per beer.

The opening act was Raynald Colom. An acclaimed trumpet player, Raynald was born in France but has lived most of his life in Cataluña.

He and his group performed an accomplished and polished set that, to our ears, was perhaps lacking a bit of soul and grit. Still, it was great to hear some local musicians - our first taste of this since coming to live here.

Hugh Masekela was next, and we welcomed him onto the stage with rapturous applause. I could see his bass player staring out into the venue and shaking his head in disbelief. I felt for them, because a quick scan of the venue revealed less than 100 people in the audience. For a man like Hugh, packing out Carnegie Hall in NYC and sold-out concerts to 75,000 people back in South Africa are not uncommon.

Yet, he got on with it - playing his flügelhorn with practised ease; eking the best out of the shining instrument and playing his signature notes which sent thrills running through us. J was spellbound. She couldn't believe that we were listening to and seeing her idol, and that we were standing less than 5 meters from the stage.

The septuagenarian blew the horn, bopped his body, drummed a cowbell, shook his cabaça and poured his heart into every song. Old familiars such as "Bring him back Home" (anthem for Nelson Mandela) and "Stimela" (Coal Train) sang out as true as any of his recordings - even better as we could see him as well as listen.

Nearly 2 hours later, Hugh and his band left the stage. Despite lengthy clapping, calls for more, and whistles from the small, yet fully engaged crowd, an encore wasn't given. However, we left the venue on a high, J still unable to believe that we had seen Hugh Masekela - and for only €19 per ticket.

Hurrying back to the train station, we caught the bus (the N82) back to Barcelona and were safely home by 2am.

After me seeing a longtime favourite Cesária Évora (the barefoot diva) in Melbourne last year, J has now also seen one of hers. As a plus, through our research we have discovered that J and Hugh share the same birthday and Cesária's is one day after mine. We're happy peoples!

Mercat de Sant Josep de La Boqueria

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Barcelona has a very active market culture with mercats (markets) scattered across the city. There is a very good website in Catalan - Mercats Municipals de Barcelona - which has a lot of good information on the markets.

The most popular mercat for tourists to visit is centrally located on Las Ramblas. Its name - Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria - is more commonly abbreviated to La Boqueria and it's located not far from the Liceu Metro station on the L3 line.

Click images to see sharper, bigger ones

The main entrance to the mercat off Las Ramblas

Wandering through the aisles brings the realisation that there isn't much in the way of fresh produce that isn't sold here. Interspersed with café bars selling delicious food, the market is divided into sections.

The main entrance is lined with fruit and vegetable stores; their produce stacked high in beautiful displays that must take some skill to build. Fresh fruit juices of all kinds can be bought and sipped on as you wander deeper into the market.

Delicious fruit juices

Choosing fruit and veges

Prepared fruit to takeaway or eat immediately!

The locals shop at the stores that are further into the mercat

Beautiful fruit displays

Which lettuce to choose?

Dried fruit, nuts and sweets are mixed into the fruit and vegetable section, and the amount of available produce is astounding. It all looks really delicious, but there are so many choices that I can never make a decision about what to buy.

Dried goods and candies

More stock is added

Spot the tweetie birds and smurfs!

A bewildering selection - at least to me!

Sweets of all kinds

The fish section is loud, large, wet and full of all kinds of intriguing seafood. Lots of shellfish and so many different types of shrimps and prawns are stacked on ice together with octopus, squid, and scale fish. Look, but don't touch unless you're intending to buy!

A small selection

Waiting to be served

The meat area is full of little shops offering fresh meat as well as processed varieties. Jamón Ibérico and lots of other choices hang from racks waiting to be bought.

Processed meats

Jamón Ibéricos

The butcher cuts up chops

There are even shops which specialise in selling offal - and other delicacies!

Stomachs, guts and tongues

Sheep heads

In the poultry section, there's a shop which sells all kinds of eggs including ostrich and emu.

Eggs of all sizes

On our first visit to Barcelona in January, we stopped at one of the market's cafés for a bite to eat. Finding a seat can be a challenge, but it's worth the hassle for a taste of some of the best food (and at a reasonable cost) that Barcelona has to offer. Just remember to keep all your belongings in front of you on your lap, as theft can happen quite quickly when you are distracted by the lovely food and all the activity behind the counters!

I had big prawns (gambetas)

J had calamari (sepia)

We take our guests into La Boqueria so that they can get a sense of what the market is all about. Of course, I love to wander around to take photos.

Pimientos and garlic hang in front of preserves and condiments

Cross another item off the shopping list

We do advise that you go early as the crowds start to build during the day, and at times it can be quite difficult to struggle through the masses to look at everything. Plus, some of the stalls do close between 1pm and 4pm for the traditional siesta time.

South America is represented

We have local mercats that are much closer to where we live. When we explore these, we'll also share what we find on this blog!

Videos of FC Barcelona at Camp Nou

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:00:00 +0000

I have added some videos from Barça's Saturday game to go with the below post. To make sense of them, it's probably a good idea to first read that post.

By no means am I a videographer as the clips will show you! However, I'm pretty impressed by what the Canon 5D MkII will do, and in the right hands, it's a very cool piece of equipment for videography.

Ideally, the camera would be better placed on a tripod to give it a more stable base and control when panning and zooming, but I was at a football match, seated high above the pitch and hand-holding my 5D MkII with the relatively heavy 70-200 IS f4 lens on it - at maximum zoom for most of the time.

The videos came out of the camera between 100 - 400mb in size, but I had to compress them to upload here - a video streaming server is not in my budget! As well, I was taking still images while videoing, so whenever there is a stutter in the visual and the sound of a camera shutter, that's me taking stills.

Enjoy for what they're worth - a lot of memories of a great night at Camp Nou!

The teams come on to the crowd singing El Cant del Barça

White handkerchiefs are waved furiously during la pañolada

Puyol accepts the La Liga trophy

The celebrations as the confetti cannons fire

The team takes the cups to the fans

Last night, they added another piece of silverware to the cabinet - the UEFA Champions League trophy!

We are the champions!!!

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:39:00 +0000

Barça completed the triple crown tonight with a 2-0 win over Manchester United in Rome.

Sung to the chorus of Queen's "We will, we will rock you":

Copa ~ Liga ~ Campions!

We went into the next door restaurant to watch it. They know us well in there as we go in to view all the major games on their big screens.

On TV, the best image of the team leaving the Rome Olympic stadium was of Piqué walking out with one of the goal nets draped around his shoulders and a match ball clutched tightly in his hands!

Plaça Catalunya is full of partying people in front of the entertainment stage and lots of fans are headed down Las Ramblas to celebrate by the Font de les Canaletes which is at the site of one of the first fountains in Barcelona and a traditional meeting place after FC Barcelona win major matches. It's a small fountain with a huge reputation and history.

The city is going wild - parties, fireworks, tooting horns - and a hell of a hangover tomorrow morning!

FC Barcelona's last home game for the season

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:15:00 +0000

Barça has already won La Liga (Spanish League)and La Copa del Rey (Spanish cup or King's Cup) for 2009. Tomorrow night, a win against Man U in the UEFA Champions' League Final to be played in Rome would give them a handsome triple crown.

Click on the images to enlarge them

Campions (Champions) merchandise is already very popular around here!

Originally scheduled for Sunday, Barça's last home game for the season against Osasuna was moved to Saturday so that FCB has an extra day to prepare for their UEFA match.

Camp Nou quickly filled with about 80,000 people who really weren't there to see the match, but to see their team presented with the La Liga trophy afterwards.

Messi Fan

The game wasn't a thrilling affair with FCB fielding a side made up of the second string, as well as young players from Barça Atlètic, because coach Pep Guardiola was resting his mainstream players. The only top players on the field were Abidal and Eto'o; the latter coming off in the second half to be replaced by Keita.

The customary team huddle before leaving the pitch after warm-up

To be honest, the crowd deserved a better last home game, but given that there is a chance for UEFA glory, Pep was forgiven. It was evident that the Barça team was not at full strength with some weak passing not finding team-mates, woeful freekicks and corners. They had the possession but couldn't clinch the required goals. Even Bojan was off-colour and Eto'o (who was mainly playing this match to try and increase his goal count to qualify for this year's top La Liga scorer award), just couldn't get it together.

In the 26th minute Osasuna scored from a corner, much to the delight of their fans as this keeps alive their hopes of staying in the premier division for next year.

The second half was full of action for all the wrong reasons. In the 81st minute, after a horrible Barça free kick attempt, Osasuna quickly got the ball down the pitch. Substitute Marc Muniesa, in his debutant appearance for FCB, made a sliding tackle for the ball and was a fraction late. Instead, he skittled the Osasuna player which should have earned him a yellow card and a warning, but referee Antonio Rubinos Pérez (from Madrid!) waved the red and a disgusted Muniesa stomped from the field.

Guardiola was quickly off the bench in protest and running down the sideline. To show his sarcastic appreciation for the ref, he applauded him and gave him the thumbs-up. For his trouble, he too was red-carded and sent down the stairs.

The crowd went into overdrive. Their beloved coach had been sent from the field, as well as a young player red-carded!

Extra security personnel quickly ran to guard the pitch circumference as the incensed crowd started to wave white handkerchiefs, boo, and whistle at the referee. The handkerchief waving is called pañolada and is a traditional Spanish way of showing disgust, anger or respect at football matches. In this instance, it was very much for the first two. (At bullfights, it only means appreciation, I believe.)

The pañolada in full flight

The pañolada continued for the rest of the match, pausing briefly so that the crowd could yell encouragement to a Barça fan (dressed in the player's strip), who, despite all the security, managed to run onto the pitch and stand in front of ref Pérez to ask him about his decision. He was quickly tackled by about 6 security men and taken away.

The fan gets hauled off the pitch

The three guys from London sitting beside me (who are Arsenal supporters 1st, FCB supporters 2nd and who hate Man U and Chelsea!), couldn't believe what they were seeing! They reckoned that by this time at a game in the UK, the crowd would be rioting and the game called off. Instead, here was the crowd showing their dissatisfaction by waving hankies in the air. This is what makes Camp Nou such a special place!

Match over, the ref was booed from the pitch and once he disappeared, the crowd settled down again. Here was what we had come to see.

Champions!

The La Liga cup was brought onto the pitch, and was followed by the Barça team who had changed into shirts which read "Campions 09" (Champions 09) on the backs.

The team assembles for the trophy presentation

Captain Carles Puyol was presented with the cup and he was hoisted into the air by his team-mates.

Puyol is lifted by the team as he holds the cup

A victory lap around the pitch showed off both La Liga and Copa del Rey cups, with players and crowd applauding wildly.

Goalie Pinto holds La Copa del Rey aloft while at the back, Piqué has the La Liga trophy

The team then posed for the press under 2 confetti cannons, and speeches were made by almost the entire first team and by Pep Guardiola.

Pep Guardiola is thrown into the air

Another victory lap around the field in the opposite direction followed.

Another victory lap

Curiously, not long after the second victory lap started, Thierry Henry left the team to return to the middle, where he sat by the coaching staff, stretching his legs and feet. Although he does currently have a knee injury, it was a move that made him look isolated and we hope that this isn't a sign that he is moving on. I love to watch him play.

Thierry Henry sits in solitude

Boom! Fireworks exploded into the sky behind us, so low that some of the sparks started to hit people seated in the upper rows of the stadium. The team settled down to watch and fireworks were also let off within the stadium from batteries on the pitch. It was a loud affair which lasted for about 10 minutes.

Time to say goodnight: once more, the team waved to the whole stadium and then disappeared down the tunnel.

Festivities over

The happy crowd filtered out of the gates to go home - or to head into the city for more partying.

Happy people leaving Camp Nou for the last time this season

Barça has one more away game on the 30th against Deportivo. But before then, it's Man U in Rome on Wednesday.

Vamos Barça!

Barcelona - on a Sneaker

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 25 May 2009 08:51:00 +0000

Adidas held an open competition to design a sneaker as part of their 2008 AZX series.

The winner is this, called the AZX ZX700Y:

The press release doesn't mention the winning designer's name nor where he/she is from, and says that the sneaker "features silhouettes of landmark architecture from across the globe".

I'm guessing that the designer is from Barcelona, given the high proportion of the city's landmarks on that shoe.

I can spot:
Gaudi's Sagrada Familia
Columbus Column
Torre Agbar
Olympic Park Communications Tower
Hotel Arts and Mapfre Towers
MNAC (National Art Museum of Catalonia)
Two towers at the entrance to the site of 1929 Barcelona World Fair

The limited edition shoes can be bought online at Hanon for €79.95.

Damn - I just bought a €20.00 pair of Adidas at Alcampo. I reckon that if I change the blue laces for an orange pair, and buy some black paint to draw the silhouette and paint the soles, I too can have a shoe that looks like this.

Contrails over Barcelona

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sat, 23 May 2009 08:00:00 +0000

When travelling on planes, I'm glued to the window searching for other aircraft which is fun to do in high traffic areas such as continental Europe or America.

If certain weather conditions are present, particularly at higher altitudes with just the right mix of colder temperatures and humidity, aircraft will leave contrails. The hot engine exhaust turns water vapour (present in the atmosphere) into ice crystals which show as the white trail behind the planes. The trails may disappear quite quickly; at other times they will hang around and often disperse into thin cirrus sheets across the sky - depending on the weather conditions.

While performing an internet search on what forms contrails, I came across more websites set up by people and organisations which claim that contrails are actually "chemtrails", than I did find sites explaining what contrails actually are. These chemtrail sites propose that the planes are deliberately releasing other chemicals into the skies as part of weather control experiments or other sinister plots. Reading the Wikipedia entry will give you some idea of some of the theories that are out there.

One website stands out as a voice of reason in the soup of conspiracy - Contrail Science. Calling himself Uncinus, the website owner endeavours to scientifically explain the theories behind contrails, with some interesting historical analogies and amazing images. I especially like those of the bomber and fighter squadrons in WWII. Reading some of the comments left by the non-believers can be quite entertaining, and at the same time - if you're not a conspiracy theorist on this subject - it's scary to think that there are people out there who have partaken of the Chemtrail Koolaid and believe. Each to his own - I have some particular theories about certain topics that also make people raise their eyebrows and edge for the nearest door, whilst phoning the nearest mental health institution to summon the men bearing a straitjacket in my size.

It's also interesting to read reports about recent inquiries as to what the contrails are, from people who have seemingly never noticed them before. Given the increased air traffic over the years, these people have either lived in remote areas far away from aircraft flight paths; have never looked up into the sky for any length of time, or have not travelled. A recent thread in a Dubai Forum that I follow also had a member asking what the white trails were in the sky recently over the UAE. (They're not uncommon - I used to see them over Dubai when we lived there.)

I liken this to the theory around one of Captain James Cook's encounters with the Australian aborigine. As he sailed Endeavour up the Oz east coast, and close off a beach as they performed fathoming and mapping exercises, a group of aborigines was spotted walking along the sand. Cook's crew whistled and called out to them, but the aborigines never once acknowledged the boat or the noises - it was if they couldn't see it or hear anything.

This would certainly have been their first encounter with a vessel of this size and type, as well as with white men, so how could they not see it and react in some way? It would be like modern day man being approached by a spaceship or foreign beings from another planet, or actually seeing a real USS Enterprise cruise by.

Cook's theory was, that because the boat and his crew were so alien, the aborigines' minds/brains could not get around the concept of something like this appearing in their world, and they could not interpret what was unfamiliar to them. A old time version of cannot compute.

Cook's thoughts would blow the ending of Mel Gibson's Apocalypto out of the water. It also makes me wonder if there are things in our world that we also don't see because our brains can't decipher what they are, as they don't relate to what we perceive or recognise as being "normal". In other words, some of the people on this planet who see things, that others don't, (ghosts or UFOs for example), might actually be seeing them while others cannot.

I digress - back to contrails.

Barcelona seems to be at the crossroads of a lot of high altitude aircraft movement. At any time of the day, I can look up to see jets passing at over 30,000', contrails forming behind them given the right conditions. They generally pass in an north-south direction between continental Europe and Africa, or east-west between Asia/Middle East and America, or perhaps the UK.

Last Wednesday morning, I stepped out onto our balcony to find contrails strewn across the sky. My tiny mind was quite excited by the scene, and I had to call J out as well. After oohing and aahing for 3 seconds, she headed back indoors, shaking her head; fingertips itching to reach for her phone to call for that straitjacket in my size.

Grabbing my camera, I watched 2 planes converge at roughly the same altitude; one flying north-south and the other west-east, with the west-east aircraft doing a big swerve in order for them to pass at the required safe distance.

Another 2 planes crossed over shortly after this and added to the pattern.

There was a light westerly wind blowing, but it wasn't strong enough to dissolve the contrails; instead they started to spread out to become a thin cirrus layer.

I photographed over a 10 minute period before being summonsed indoors for breakfast. The past few days have seen repeats of the contrail spreads.

As for contrails being chemtrails: that's a wee bit beyond my credible comprehension, and as a frequent traveller around this planet and a somewhat logical thinker, I believe that if planes didn't show some sort of visible exhaust, then they would be the only combustible engined vessels to do so.

Are they weather experiments? Not by design. When spread over the sky as light cirrus, contrails do have a slight effect on lowering ambient temperature and reducing the sun's direct warming and lighting effect. As a photographer, that haze produces lighting similar to one giant, glorious, diffused softbox in a studio which eliminates high contrast and dark shadow areas - perfect for photographing people in most situations. As a sunlover who loves the warmth, I hate it.

That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Above all, I'm still clinging to the girlish wonder that comes from appreciating beauty in science and technology as well as in nature.

La Feria de Abril de Cataluña

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:40:00 +0000

In the last week of April, Barcelona held its version of La Feria de Abril. Although not as big and glitzy as the key event in Seville, there is no charge to enter Barcelona's fair.

Divided into 2 areas, one is dedicated to fairground attractions such as rides and shooting galleries.

The other is where all the action really is, and the main purpose of the fair. Large marquees are set up - called casetas - in which traditional Andalucian flamenco dancing takes place. These tents are occupied by dance clubs as well as private companies and political organisations.

As we wandered past the rows of tents, it became evident that some were having a better party time. While most of the dancing was desultory and seemingly performed by people who were not having fun, there were other groups who were whooping it up and getting into the spirit of the event.

We stopped to watch one group from Isla Cristina as they performed the Sevillanas, the traditional dance of Andalucia. Out of all the tents, they appeared to be having the best time. The moves are very orchestrated and have a lot of overhead flourishes and hand movements. It was interesting to watch, but the poor lighting made it difficult to get any good quality images.

The food areas were incredible. Wine, jamón and grilled meats were on offer in this tent.

Big paellas were part of the menu in other areas. They looked so delicious that we couldn't walk past, and stopped to have a couple of plates.

It tasted as good as it looked!

Fortunately for us, the fairground at Diagonal Mar was within walking distance of our apartment, so we got a chance to walk off the food as we waddled home.

La Diada de Sant Jordi

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:33:00 +0000

The kids left us a week ago, and I reckon that it's taken us that long to recover. The good news is that they had a great time, and there was even talk, (between them during the last meal with us), of quitting school in Berlin and coming to live with us in Barcelona. Hmmm... perhaps they should ask us how we truly feel about that idea. Phrases spring to mind that include words such as dead, body, over and my, with some additional curses for embellishment and emphasis.

Catalunya celebrated La Diada de Sant Jordi on April 23rd which is known as St. George's Day in England, and celebrated in about 20 countries and cities - mostly in Europe and the fringes of the Mediterranean.

Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalunya and, in the region, the day is celebrated in much the same way as St. Valentine's Day is celebrated elsewhere. Barcelona lovers are out in force, and it's a given that every opportunity for a lingering kiss must be taken.

Legend has it that in the spot where St. George slew a dragon just south of Barcelona, a rosebush grew from the blood of the beast. He picked the prettiest rose to give to the princess he had just rescued. This tradition carried on, and each Diada de Sant Jordi was celebrated with men and women giving each other roses to signify their love.

Red roses glow in the warm spring sunlight

In 1923, a shrewd bookseller cashed in on the hype by promoting April 23rd also as the day on which 2 famous writers, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, both died in 1616. UNESCO also jumped in on the act and claimed April 23rd as World Book Day. A new tradition was born in the Catalunya region and, instead of roses, women started giving books to their men. In cafés around Barcelona, it is common to hold 24 hour readings of Cervantes' Don Quixote on April 23rd.

Book sellers were extremely busy on Las Ramblas

We had some errands to run in the city, so we decided to stroll down Las Ramblas to see some of the festivities. The avenue was packed tighter than a sardine tin with book and flower sellers lined up in booths on each side with the public trying to move down the middle.

Blue roses were also very popular

We opted to walk down the roadways on either side to avoid the crush, as well as to evade the pickpockets who we knew would be taking advantage of the crowds to increase their personal wealth.

The start of the crowds in Las Ramblas

Occasionally we'd venture into the middle if something caught our eyes - such as this flower seller who was printing little logos onto the roses that he was selling.

The flower printer

Hello Kitty logo on a white rose

FC Barcelona logo

Once we neared the bottom of La Rambla, we veered off into Plaça Reial for a break. It's a delightful square surrounded by apartment buildings with busy restaurants and cafés on the ground floor.

Plaça Reial

Just walking the beasts

Time for a sit and a smoke

Of course, our Sant Jordi day would not have been complete if we hadn't bought the traditional Pan de Sant Jordi - bread made in the colours of the Catalunya Flag.

Pan de Sant Jordi - looked better than it tasted

J needed more coffee for her Nespresso machine, so we popped into the store to replenish her supplies.

Nespresso store on Passeig de Gràcia

From the crowds, it would appear that George Clooney has marketed well for the Nespresso brand. All those people are lined up to buy boxes of single shot aluminium capsules of coffee!

From Al to El

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:45:00 +0000

After a couple of months where we tripped off to San Francisco, Italy and Barcelona, we're here to stay in Barcelona for at least 11 months - giving us our first permanent home together for the first time since we left Dubai in September 2006.

It feels good!

Between now and 2006, we've had various stops with generous friends who have lent us apartments and given us beds in Berlin, and I lived in Melbourne for a year while J commuted between Australia and Europe for work. Living out of suitcases with no places to put our own stuff has not been much fun.

We visited Barcelona twice to check it out before committing to finding an apartment and basing ourselves here, and on both occasions we felt more and more happy with our decision to make the move.

Finding an apartment didn't take us as long as we had thought that it might, once we had made contact with the lovely Eileen from Ficasso Real Estate. She only had to show us a couple of places and the second one appealed so much that we took it right away.

It's in a complex that reminds us of where we lived in Dubai. Although the apartments are a lot smaller in size, they have the same cold marble floors and there's a pool and gym, plus 2 paddle tennis courts. There's a large shopping centre across the road called Diagonal Mar, a metro station about 300m away and the beach is about the same distance in the opposite direction.

Being furnished, there wasn't much for us to do except give the place a good clean to M&J standards, buy items such as sheets, towels and some kitchen equipment, and move our personal effects (clothes etc) down from Berlin.

We've now been here for a week, and it feels like home. Spanish lessons are in the near future, but we first have to survive the kids arriving for 3 weeks over their Easter vacation on Sunday.

Thankfully, J's Spanish has been good enough to deal with Telefónica to get the internet (10mb ADSL) and phone lines connected (within 3 days of ordering!), buy phone cards and deal with shop keepers.

Our first taste of Barcelona life came last night when we went to Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona play Malaga. We were so excited! I didn't take my Canon 5D MKII as we weren't sure how the security and crowds would be, so instead I stuck with my little Canon SD400. The complex is very well-organised and the crowd was filtered in through many gates and doors all around the arena, so we were never in long lines waiting for entry into the seating area.

The teams warm up

The ground holds almost 99,000 people and it filled up nicely with about 77,000 for this game. There was a huge roar when Barça came onto the pitch to warm up, and when they officially came onto the pitch to play the game, the whole crowd sang the club anthem, El Cant del Barça which finishes in Barça, Barça, Baaarça! We were able to join in on that line!

The teams come on to the crowd's singing

The game was so exciting and Barça is a well-drilled team. They instinctively know where each player is and their passing skills are superb. I've been a fan of Lionel Messi for some time and to see him play was a dream for me, and to also see Thierry Henry was a thrill.

The Mexican Wave goes around the arena

By half time, Barça was 4-0, thanks to some awesome goals by Eto'o, Henry, Xavi and a brilliant individual run by Messi who ran past 2 defenders to score. The crowd was on its feet!

Late into the second half

It was really over by half-time. Still, in the second half, Alves scored a blinding header and Eto'o scored his second to make the final score 6-0. Malaga had a few opportunities, but their time with the ball was severely restricted by great Barça defence - especially from #2 Cáceres.

Were we happy? We were ecstatic! Our first Barça game and we were treated to a goal-fest and top class football. We hope to see a lot more through the season when our wallets permit. Oh - and J is now a Barça member so that we can get first dibs on some of the tickets!

6-0 and a minute to go!

We also haven't totally escaped the U.A.E. influence as Etisalat just became a premium sponsor of FC Barcelona for the next 4 years!

The crowd leaves the ground

Next time I'll take the Canon 5D MkII and get some better shots - and maybe some better video!

Photo Tag

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Like Pandabonium, (who nominated me for this tag), I don't often do memes unless they're short, sweet and fun. This one meets the above criteria - so I'm going to do it.

The instructions are: "Go into your photo archive, pick the 4th folder in the archive, select the 4th picture in the folder, and write about it. You then need to tag 4 other people to do the same."

Here's the image:

It's of the huge pipe organ in the Berliner Dom. The cathedral was built between 1895 and 1905. On 24th May 1944, it was bombed and heavily damaged.

A temporary roof was built over the remains and in 1975, rebuilding work started. In 1984, the interior was restored including full restoration of the organ which has 113 stops, including three ranks of 32' pipes on the pedal division, and played by a 4-manual console.

In 1993, the church reopened in a grand ceremony which was televised all over Germany.

The Dom is well worth a visit when in Berlin. There is outside viewing just below the top of the high dome and the underground crypt filled with the remains of royalty and clergy is an amazing experience.

If anyone wants to do this tag, please do so, and link to it in our comments section!

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Life has been busy and I've been learning a lot about my new camera and the image post-processing choices available to me. I still have a long way to go with the learning and it's great fun to be back doing what I used to do about 5 years ago.

We have been to Barcelona since getting back from San Francisco and we're about to jump on another plane tomorrow to go to Umbria in Italy for 10 days.

Here are some images to tide you over until my next post!

Click on them to enlarge

Golden Gate Bridge just before sunset

Nordstrom has funky curved escalators

San Francisco panorama from Twin Peaks

Barcelona cityscape

Up scary heights on Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia

Inside the Santa Eulalia Cathedral in Barcelona

I hope to be able to blog from Italy and, Pandabonium, I haven't forgotten the Guten Photo Tag!

Brown Paper Packages

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:40:00 +0000

We took a quick trip to San Francisco last week, mixing some business with mostly pleasure. We went shopping, and on one occasion, we came home with these 2 innocuous paper bags.

What's inside? Looks intriguing!

Let's unpack the bags. Looks better!

Let's unpack the boxes. Now this is awesome!

Introducing my new baby: the brand new Canon 5D MkII with 24-105 f4 L zoom, 70-200 f4 L zoom, 580EX II Speedlite, BG-E6 vertical grip and double battery holder, and the RS80-N3 remote trigger.

I also got a Manfrotto tripod and a Lowepro backpack in which to schlepp it all.

My Christmases and birthdays came at once!

San Francisco turned on some stellar weather for us to trial the camera. J quickly became adept at carrying my tripod and driving me to all the photogenic spots. She's got the makings of a good assistant!

I'm blessed to have a partner who buys me quality gifts, and I will be saying "thank you" for a long time to come!

First images from the 5D Mk II will be posted soon.

Winter Walks

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:50:00 +0000

While in Bad Karlshafen, our exercise schedule was interrupted by freezing weather, too much good food and general apathy. Well, it was the holidays!

We did manage to get out on a couple of walks with the dogs, and the boys loved having animals to order around, since their bossy attempts with the adult humans are now usually unsuccessful.

Here they are with Buffy the Golden Retriever and Boomer the Greek mutt. Bonnie, the other younger Golden, was in obedience training when we went for this walk.

We got to take our family portrait to share on this blog!

The weather was a mix of brilliant sunny days and freezing overcast conditions. This isn't snow that you see in the next 2 images, but there was a lot of fog and frost.

Bad Karlshafen can just be seen in the gloom

The castle ruins surrounded by frosty fields

We passed by the dog training facility and found the family dogs had taken refuge in the back of a Mercedes wagon to get out of the cold!

That's Bonnie lying down, Buffy behind her, little Boomer and their Mercedes owner mate, Boris. He's one of the biggest Golden Retrievers that I've seen - tall and solid. Bonnie is going to be like him, as she's only 9 months old and already much bigger than 5 year old Buffy.

Unfortunately it didn't snow until the day we left. I got these 2 images while we waited for the train.

Bad Karlshafen is really pretty when it's covered in snow. One day, I'll actually get into the village to take some photos!

Retirement Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 10:30:00 +0000

A few years ago when J bought her house in the inner Berlin suburb of Wilmersdorf, it came with a cat. The previous owners were moving abroad to an apartment where they couldn't have pets, so they asked if J would take her. We joke that she paid for the cat, and the house came free.

She goes by the rather cool name of Mata Hari, and we estimate that she's about 12 years old. In typical independent cat fashion, she is aloof most of the time; affectionate when she chooses; purrs loudly when the humans are trying to sleep, and brings in live mice at 2am so that everyone can leap out of bed to play that popular and entertaining game, "Catch that mouse", while she looks on.

After J sold the house, Mata Hari moved to live with our friend S. A series of house moves and the introduction of 2 boisterous dogs into their family meant that the stability in the cat's life was under threat. Time to take her to J's parents in Bad Karlshafen.

Mata Hari now lives in retirement heaven. She has a whole house, big back yard and even bigger apple orchard as her domain in which to live and hunt. Two humans are her servants at will, and the window sills have been cleared so that she can sit on them and stare out at the birds and the other cats on the street.

She sleeps in J's parents bed - often between them, and especially if they make any attempt to have a cuddle! In the mornings, she can be found perched on top of J's father's stomach as they wake up together.

Cat doors have been installed so that she may come and go at her discretion. She has 3 favourite daytime sleeping locales: the choice of 2 stools in the living room, or on top of J's father's desk in his study - right beside where the warm air is vented out of his laptop.

The 3 dogs, who live with J's sister and brother-in-law in an apartment above the main house, are kept in control by this tiny cat. She doesn't bother with them unless they come too close. A quick hiss and a swipe of a paw usually sends the dogs running.

J's conversations with her parents are now punctuated with updates on Mata Hari's latest exploits. The move has been good for the cat, and has provided entertainment and new focus for J's parents - another life to nurture. We'll sometimes receive a phone call filled with laughter, just to tell us what the cat has done.

While we were in Bad Karlshafen over Christmas, Mata Hari would sit on a chair in the kitchen and attempt to hypnotise me as I cooked, willing me to allow pieces of chicken or beef to fall off the counter. Of course, she never succeeded, but I often wonder how the meat did end up in her bowl.

She took a liking to my soft neoprene computer case, and would curl up as small as can be to fit onto it. If I moved it, she would be most unhappy; sitting at my feet, glaring at me and making little rumbling noises until I put it back on the sofa.

Spoiled cat!

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Happy New Year everyone!

We've just returned from 2 weeks with J's parents in Bad Karlshafen over J's mother's 70th, Christmas and New Year. We ate far too much good food and only exercised moderately, so we feel fat and I, for one, look it!

Berlin waited until our return to have its first decent snowfall last night, followed by a brilliantly clear day today, so I dressed in about 3 layers of clothing to venture out into the Schloss Chalottenburg park to take some images.

I followed my normal running route, but took it more slowly in order to take photographs. There were people everywhere. Like me some were armed with cameras, others were running or exercising dogs, but most were walking in the cold -5°C sunshine and enjoying it after so many days of gloom.

I have more posts coming up about what we little we did over Christmas, but for now I wanted to share today's shoot with you.

Enjoy!

Click images to enlarge

I love snow on trees

There were more people than I expected

The waterways in the park were frozen over

I love this bridge, although it's slippery to run over when it's wet!

Another frozen stream

Heavy with snow

Long shadows

Tiny icicles suspended from a branch

Curiously, this stream was not frozen over

The swan family which is usually in the schloss lake, took to the River Spree which was not so icy in comparison to their normal hangout

A loss in our family

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:18:00 +0000

Phyllis Kathleen Ilwina Fairfoot Gillespie Marshall.

If I haven’t remembered it correctly, forgive me, as it’s been a long time since I last heard Auntie Phyl proudly rattle off her name. Now, I won’t get to hear her say it again, as she died at 3am on Christmas morning. At the age of 84 she had still not lost her gift of impeccable timing.

Auntie Phyl came into our family by marrying my mother’s brother and my uncle, Keith. Early memories include visiting their Suva Point house in Fiji. What a huge place that was for us kids. My brother and I spent a lot of time playing in the back room while the adults talked, and I can remember gazing out the window at the circular garden in the back yard. It was a place of mystery and magic, that big round garden with its tall bushes.

I also remember the day when I was eating a chicken leg, and Lisa, their German Shepherd, jumped up and stole it out of my hand. Before I could protest my innocence, I was told off for feeding chicken bones to the dog. I held my silence, but there you go, Auntie Phyl, now you know the truth – Lisa took it from me!

Phyllis is the only person I know who has flown from Taveuni to Suva with a bucket, containing water and goldfish, wedged between her feet in the cabin. Try doing that today!

When Dad was convenor of the Fiji Trade Show, Auntie Phyl was his secretary/assistant. With glee, Dad used to tell us about how he paged her over the show’s PA system and requested that she head over to the show-jumping arena to pick up the horse poo!

When we moved to New Zealand, we joined the rest of our family who had made the move away from Fiji before us. The first Christmas in 1976 was spent in Auckland and Auntie Phyl gave white T-Shirts advertising Sea & Ski Suntan lotion to the whole family. When we walked into the Waiwera Hot Pools fo a day of swimming and BBQ and all wearing our shirts, we had people coming up to us and asking if we were part of a team!

Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties were big family events, and we had so much fun. Apollo Street in Tauranga was the time of Saturday Night Fever, and we all danced the John Travolta number which, because of one of the actions, became known to us as the “picking up coconuts” dance. Auntie Phyl would be up with us, embellishing the dance with a few new actions of her own.

One of the times that Owen and Decie Glenn joined us will forever be remembered as the dinner party where Mrs Glenn wore a white bra under her black blouse. When we got the photos back, we could see that the camera flash had penetrated the thin fabric of the blouse and Mrs Glenn’s voluptuous bra could be clearly seen! I can still hear Auntie Phyl’s peal of laughter when she saw those photos!

Our move to Whitaker Street to a bigger house with a pool meant that even more fun could be had. My Space Age 21st party had Auntie Phyl in a mini dress with leggings. I can still remember one of the photos taken of her where she has struck a pose with one arm raised above her head, and the mini skirt also rising up her legs.

Charades was a popular game after dinner with the family divided into 2 groups to act out books, movies and plays. Phyllis took to it with gusto and one particular performance produced a lifetime memory. Her title to act out was “She came in through the bathroom window”. Going out onto the verandah, and using the verandah door as a prop, she stuck one leg into the lounge and waved it around in the air. Because it was dark outside, we couldn’t see the rest of her body, so it appeared as if the leg was acting on its own. Between tears and howls of laughter, we took stabs at what she was trying to do, with neighbours walking past chipping in with suggestions of their own, such as “It’s a giraffe! No, it’s a chicken!” We never did guess what she was trying to tell us.

When work took me to Auckland, I sometimes stayed with Auntie Phyl in her Lake Road house. We would eat dinner, chat and watch TV, often accompanied by a whisky or a gin - or two. Coronation Street could not be missed. Her home was always open to us, and we were welcomed and spoiled whenever we visited. It was the venue for many family gatherings.

When she got together with Mum and Auntie Connie, it was inevitable that the conversation would soon turn to India. Such a defining time for their Marshall generation. The 3 sisters would sit; reminiscing in their clipped accents which were a legacy from so many years spent on the Asian sub-continent; cackling out loud at some of the funnier stories; regaling all within earshot. With quiet resignation, we “non-India” family members would endure the same tales retold countless times in verbatim, but always in such detail it was if they had happened yesterday. For me, times like this were special because we didn’t know when it would end, and inevitably there would come a time when Phyllis, Maureen and Connie could no longer sit together and tell us the India stories, and I would miss those moments.

That time has come. Change. Death. A loved family member no longer with us.

No longer will I hear her call me “love dove”.

As I sit on a sofa in a small town in the middle of Germany, half a planet’s distance from my side of our family, I recognise that, at times like these, the space between us may as well be to the moon and back. Phone calls and emails cannot replace being there. It’s easy to feel isolated, stranded and out of touch: a lack of connectedness with what’s going on at home.

It was exactly a year ago that I last saw Auntie Phyl. A quick trip back to NZ between Christmas and New Year in 2007 gave me 2 occasions when we were together and I was able to talk with her. How precious that time now feels.

10:30pm Monday night, Germany time, will be 12 hours behind Tuesday morning in New Zealand: when people will be coming together to farewell a friend, aunt, great-aunt, sister-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great-grandmother.

How can I best farewell my aunt when I’m on this side of the world and not able to be at her funeral?

There’s one way in which I know she will approve – with a big drink and a “Cheers!” to the best kofta curry chef that I’ve ever known!

Rikka-tik-tik Auntie Phyl.

Love always
M xoxo

Footnote: When one of my cousins rang my aunt's younger brother (Eugene) in the US to tell him about Auntie Phyl, we discovered that he had died 6 days earlier. I bet they were surprised to meet each other again so soon!

Season's Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (nzm) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Happy Hanukkah!
Hijri Greetings!

We're with J's family in Bad Karlshafen, Germany until the 3rd January, being fed so much that we feel like we're the turkeys being fattened for Christmas! Before we left Berlin, we visited some of the Christmas celebrations around the city.

Schloss Charlottenburg had a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) and illumination on the main Palace building.

There were lots of funfairs all over the city with Ferris Wheels of all sizes. This one was by the Berlin TV Tower which can be seen in the background of the following image.

The Linden Trees at Unter den Linden, just by the Brandenburg Gate, were decked out as per usual. It's a great sight but incredibly difficult to photograph well. I reckon that the best perspective would be from an above oblique angle.

The Sony Centre had the standard tree. The fully-lit building at the back belongs to Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) who appear to have money to burn as it always looks like this.

The Brandenburg Gate had a large tree beside it.

Season's Greetings to one and all.