Halloween

We tried to replicate this event that our former pastor did tonight. http://www.jonathanbow.com/carry_the_light/2007/10/the-big-questio.html I bought 48 hotdogs and buns and 50 packets of hot chocolate for only $16 at Aldi's. It was a warm night in the 60s, so no one wanted hot chocolate. Everyone had eaten so we didn't give out any hot dogs. But we actually spoke to our next door neighbors. I know that sounds bad, but our neighborhood does not socialize. Sitting out on the driveway for two hours was worth it for that. Our church has over 4000 people. We learned that our next door neighbor goes there, too. She's a single mom of a 4 or 5 year old. It was fun to get to talk to her.

Day 6: San Diego

Today we were back in San Diego. We needed a day to rest after all that touring in LA. The only thing productive that we did all day was climb Jeff's mountain. Okay, it isn't really his mountain, but it is right across the street from his complex. Cowles Mountain's peak is the highest point in San Diego. It was about a 45 minute hike/climb both directions.(At the top of this photo, you can see downtown San Diego and the bay.)

After that, we thought we'd go to the pool. Unfortunately, the pool was freezing. We got our feet in and chickened out. Showers sounded better.

Day 5: LA

Ken got up early to go stand in line for tickets to the Tonight Show. It is really nice that all the tickets here are free. You just need to wait in lines. He was successful, but got a dose of LA traffic on the way back to the hotel. The trip that took a half hour on the way (6:30-7am) took and hour and fifteen minutes on the way back.

After breakfast, we decided to take the NBC studio tour since we were already going to be there for the Tonight Show. On the way, we had to get one of the most famous tourist photos in the entire USA.

The NBC tour was a real disappointment after the excellent Warner Brothers tour. There are only about 4 things on the tour, the Days of our Lives set, the Tonight Show, Telemundo, and Access Hollywood. The best part of the tour for me was to see Jay Leno's parking spot. Apparently, the man has over 200 cars and drives a different one each day. The tour guide stated, "Most people wake up in the morning and pick out a different outfit and drive the same car to work. Jay puts on the same outfit, jeans and a denim shirt, and picks out a different car." We also saw a star. As we were leaving, we walked past a Days star. The funny thing was that no one in our tour group watched the show and the tour guide did not even know his name.

After the tour, we got in line for the Tonight Show. Unlike the Price is Right, you don't get a number on your ticket. You have to get in line. We had heard on the tour that the sound stage holds an audience of 382. We were pleased when they did a count and we were 133 and 134. Then, as we stood their waiting to go through security, this huge group came from around the side of the building. We asked a page who they were. We learned that Jay's guests get tickets. It seemed like almost 100 people. We began to be concerned that we would get in. There were others before our 133 with "guaranteed seats". (I just learned on the Internet that you can get these at Universal Studios.)

The show was really fun. Jay came out and chatted with the audience before getting his suit on for the show. Then John Melendez warmed the audience up with free stuff and audience talent show. Our seats were in the second row of the bleachers right next to the Tonight Show Band. You can hear Ken's whistle during the monologue, but we didn't make it on camera. The guests were Drew Barrymore, Zack Effron (High School Musical) and Kenny Chesney. I used to be a Drew fan until seeing her on this show. She flipped her hair 22 times during her interview (I counted when we watched it the day after!) and just was rather ditsy.

Godliness with Contentment

I (Kristy) have been having a wonderful time on this trip. I've had quality time with both my husband and my little brother (who, for a kid brother is doing GREAT in the grown-up world of San Diego- I'm so proud) and have seen so many exciting things.

However, this afternoon my heart grew really heavy. God opened my eyes to see how greedy I was getting. I woke up early this morning and all I could think about was what I needed to say to get on the Price is Right to win something. Then through the whole game, I was thinking, "Pick Me!" so that I could win stuff. We went to Rodeo Drive and I saw all the expensive stuff that I'd never be able to afford. We drove through Beverly Hills and Santa Monica and I wondered how much each of the houses cost. Throughout the entire day, I was consumed with wealth and riches.

As we left Rodeo Drive, the Holy Spirit placed I Timothy 6:6 on my heart, "6But godliness with contentment is great gain." In this time of falling 401(k)s and unemployment, is Kristy content? Can she go to LA and be content? The answer today, unfortunately, was no.

When I got home, I read the rest of the passage:
"7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

I could type out all the thoughts that the rest of the passage brought to mind, but you can probably guess them.

Dear Lord,
Teach us all to be content...

Day 4: LA

WE WERE ON THE PRICE IS RIGHT!! We did not get called down, but on December 16, you will see us on national TV. Two contestants were picked out of the rows behind us, so you'll definitely see us on camera. You might even hear Ken's lethal whistle.

It was a long day. For a 1:00 showing, you have to pick up your line number between 6 and 8 AM. You had to have tickets from the Internet before that. We got there around 7:15 and were 134 and 135 in line. We later heard rumors that they seat 250. October is a low tourism season in CA, so the crowds were not as big as usual. The next step is to be there by 10AM for processing. We got there about a 1/2 hour early, but that is not at all needed. At 10, they line you up in order of your numbers on really hard metal benches. You get contestant cards, mug shots, and interviews.

The interview process was fun (after you finally make it through the line). There is a game show host-like guy (casting director?) that asks you questions about yourself. He makes it really fun. Two people from our group of 12 or so were contestants. That was thrilling. Of course we had to cheer really loud for them.

Once in the studio, it becomes a party. They have dance music blaring "Dancing Queen" and "YMCA". We are then briefed by the announcer and the show begins. You can learn more on December 16.

I was beat after the show. Ken suggested driving a bit. We drove to Rodeo Drive and walked by stores with names such as Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, and Coach.

After that, we drove to Santa Monica and the beach. We had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant at the end of the boardwalk and watched another sunset over the Pacific. How romantic!

Day 3: LA

We drove to LA in the morning. The Santa Ana winds were blowing strong and creating dust storms across the interstate. Add in the dry brush and we now understand how the fires spread so rapidly around here. The fires are nowhere near where we are, but we did see smoke on the mountain while we were driving around LA.

Early afternoon, we went on the Warner Brothers tour. It was an excellent tour and I would recommend it to anyone that likes TV and movies. You ride around the studio backlots. Did you know that the same fire escape that was used in Annie (It's a hard knock life... for us) and in Spiderman? We also got to see the ambulance bay for ER and Central Perk from Friends. The tours are always different. Since Two and a Half Men was taping this week, we got to go into their sound stage after their rehearsal. Had we planned a little in advance, we could have been in the studio audience. We saw the crew working on lighting for a scene in Cold Case.

After the tour, we went to Hollywood to see the star walk, the Kodak Theater (home of the Academy Awards or Oscars), and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. We were surprised to see that they were setting up the Chinese Theatre for the premiere of Max Payne. We saw Mark Wahlberg and other stars exiting their limos to walk the red carpet. Ken will post our pictures from across Hollywood Blvd. Here are the pro's pix. Our other star siting was of Guillermo, parking lot attendant to Jimmy Kimmel. He gained fame in Dancing with the Stars.

Day 2: San Diego

Jeff took us to his church today, Shadow Mountain Community Church. The pastor there is Dr. David Jeremiah.

After church, we went down to Pacific Beach to a sports bar. The Colts were on at 10am here. We were happy to finally have a home victory. It was really a great place to watch football. San Diego is home to people from all over the nation. They remain loyal to their team, so the bar was a rainbow of jerseys.

After the game, we toured the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier. It was really interesting to see how our Navy live and work on a carrier. It also got me seriously thinking about the election. Our next president will be commander in chief. (Duh, I know) However, I've been consumed with analyzing the health care and economic policies of the candidates. I did not stop to think that the man that we elect will be in charge of all those planes, carriers, and troops. After seeing this ship, I need to add that to my list.

California- Day 1: San Diego

Our lives are not very exciting back in the States- we haven't had anything to blog since June! As our faithful blog readers know, you can't keep the Lawrances from traveling for very long! That gives us something to type about. This time we are in California visiting my brother Jeff.

The trip started out with first-class upgrades for both of us. This was a big deal to me. With all of our traveling last year, we were very close to getting elite frequent flyer mile status at the end of the year. I'm a very competitive person, so getting this status was a game and I was obsessed with it. I made Ken schedule our Christmas trip home so that we returned to Germany before January 1. It was just enough to get us both a year of elite status. Then, we return to the US and I don't travel at all. Ken has traveled for work and gotten at least 2 first class upgrades due to his status, but I, the one that was obsessed with earning it, didn't use it. Then, for my first trip since returning from Europe, Ken used miles to get my ticket. It turns out that miles' tickets don't get upgraded. He bought his ticket and got an upgrade notice two days before the trip. Go figure! Vacationing with my husband and I don't even get to sit with him. Luckily, when we showed up at the airport and our flight was overbooked. They upgraded me. Kristy actually won the elite status game!! We had left very early Saturday morning, so having the extra space in first class allowed us a good nap before we got to California.

We got to San Diego around 10:30. Jeff picked us up at the airport and we went back to his house to freshen up. We went to In and Out Burger, a southern CA tradition, for lunch. After that, Jeff took us around town. It is so nice to go somewhere and have an insider there to show you around. We took a two-hour harbor book tour and then went to Sunset beach to watch the sun go down.

tornadoes in Indy

http://www2.indystar.com/autofocus/galleries/show/2355/1

Here is a link to photos of the 125 mile per hour tornado damage near us yesterday.

Ken and I were at Blake and Leigh Anne's house and headed home around 10:15. It was storming with lots of lightening (I heard a statistic that there were 10,000 touchdowns in 30 minutes) , but we didn't really think anything of it. Shortly after we left, we heard a radio announcement stating that there was a storm with tornadic potential right across the county line. Note, our drive was a mile or two inside that county line. We did the geographic calculation to realize it was traveling the other direction and drove south toward home.

On Sunnyside just south of 75th, we had to turn around because a tree was down across the road. We took a "scenic" route through a neighborhood dodging smaller trees/branches one those roads.

We finally made it back to Sunnyside only to find another tree down across the road north of 62nd. It was between the two drives of a school, so we headed into the school. We found the parking lot of the school flooded. An empty car there was halfway up its doors in the water. We were able to drive around the edge of the lot and get back onto Sunnyside.

However, as Ken was navigating the water, I could see fire engines rushing down 62nd Street. Ken's grandparents' retirement community was off of that street. I told him that we had to stop and make sure they were okay. They had trees uprooted behind their house and large branches down in their yard, but they were okay. They had heard the tornado sirens and were in their closet with pillows over their heads.

We left there and had to cross the train tracks where the stop arms were down and flashing though no train was coming. We are assuming that was a safety feature because all of the power beyond that was out. The Walmart and Kroger shopping area was all out of power. The entire area was dark. I was very weird to see that darkness. Our neighborhood was also without power. There was no damage to our house. The worst of the Indianapolis damage was about 2 miles south of us. Too close for comfort for me!

Indianapolis Mini Marathon

I did it! I survived another 13.1 mile (21km) road race, the Indianapolis Mini Marathon. I was really happy with my time. My goal was 2 hours and 5 minutes and I ran it in 1 hour 59 minutes and 58 seconds. This route goes around the 2.5 mile (4 km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I was at turn 3 (a little over halfway) when the winners were shown on the jumbo-tron winning. For the first time ever, the race was a tie. They looked at video and photos and called it a tie.

My elementary school friend, Melissa (Kanning) Moore decided in January that she wanted to become a runner. She e-mailed me and asked about it. I told her that a good place to start would be with a 5km race, so she signed up to run the mini 5km. This was her first ever road race. I'm so proud of her for taking up this challenge. Next year she'll be in the Mini!

I also ran the race for Camp Lutherhaven. The group raised over $5000 for a new village in the woods. It reminds me of the Swiss Family Robinson. The cabins are elevated with bridges in between. There are firepoles to get down. I'll see if I can get a picture.

Job and other stuff update

I have been in my new job for 4 weeks now. I love the program that I am working for. Making the health care system easier for the aged, blind, and disabled is the mission for me. It has been a little strange being in the "private sector" or "on the other side of the table" after working in state government for 7.5 years, but that has been really good for me. I have already made a public presentation and trained new staff on state and federal Medicaid policy. Last week I learned that I'm not cut out for a data entry job. We had a huge end of the month contract requirement to me and all staff were fighting to meet it. It was tough but unifying as a team.

Other news... I'm training for the Indianapolis Mini marathon. I got to run with Cassie and Jenn on Saturday, two of the ladies that I trained for the Chicago Marathon with. I didn't realize how lonely running was in Germany. I only ran with friends 5 times there. When I ran 3 times a week almost all year, that is a lot of alone running. Even running with Aggie is better than running alone. I'm also using this race to raise funds for Camp Lutherhaven. My goal is to raise $50 per mile. I wish that I could say that I will run faster if I beat that goal, but I'd be lying. (Not a good thing to do when you're raising funds for church camp!)

I also did a little yard work this past weekend. I reseeded our yard and cleaned out a few flowerbeds. The feeling of dirt under my fingernails was some that I really missed in Germany. I tried a window garden there, but failed miserably.

We've had good times with family- especially Scott and Megan and Ethan. We're starting the little guy out young. As is the rule with Bredemeiers and Sebolds, Lawrance children must learn to play cards young. Why not from birth? Look at that serious look and the furrowed brow.

Ethan's First BU Game and Job Update

I GET TO WORK TOMORROW!!! This is very good because I'm starting to go crazy being at home. Yesterday was good because Margaret came over, but today was an ice storm and I was in all day except for the 5:30am spinning (studio cycling) class Ken and I went to.

Here are the promised pictures of our adorable nephew and his daddy (Ken's brother Scott) at Ethan's first Butler game. Both Scott and Ken went to Butler and are pretty big fans.

Ethan's first visit to Uncle Ken and Aunt Kristy's house.

"More Than" time

To answer Erin's comment to the last entry, we're not going to change the name of our blog at this time. We'll just be focusing on the "More Than" part of the title now that we are back in the US. Ken and I have found that this blogging thing is a good way to communicate with our family and friends without sending mass e-mails. If you want to know what is going on with us, you can keep reading these entries. Forgive the delays between entries, though. Our lives aren't that exciting!

Here is a recap of our time back in the US.

• Our first week back was spent unpacking, discarding, donating and cleaning. We took everything out of our cupboards and closets and only put back part of the things. We had 3 boxes for Goodwill and even more for Mr. Garbage Man.
• From Thursday evening Feb 21-Sunday Feb 24, we went up to northern Indiana to visit family. The first part of the weekend was with Ken's family in snowy North Webster. Scott, Megan, and Ethan came up Friday night so the whole family was there. It was Ethan's first time at Grandma and Granddad Lawrance's The lake was frozen, so M, S, and I went out walking on it.
• On Sunday, Ken and I met Grandpa Sebold, Ellie, Mom, and her boyfriend Ron for church. We then celebrated Grandpa and Ellie's second wedding anniversary.
• On Monday, Ken returned to work and I continued to unpack and clean. Ken is returning to work under the same boss, but rather than working as a process engineer, (engineer in charge of a part of the plant) he is now working as a project engineer on projects all over the plant and in other National Starch plants.
• During the week, I visited friends and took care of things like taking the dog to the vet. The sad news was that our 7 1/2 year old dog is developing cataracts. This does not necessarily mean that she is going to go blind, but she could. I got her as a puppy, so this was a hard thing to accept.
• This past weekend, the Lawrance family went to the final regular season home Butler game. BU beat Detroit by 34 points. It was Ethan's first Butler game. Papa Scott was so proud. I'll try to post a picture of them.
• Over the weekend, I got bad news that my background check was not complete for Aetna. They are having to run an international check on me and that seems to be stalling the process. I'm not able to work tomorrow (Tuesday) either.

That should fill you in on the happenings here.

Kristy

We're home!

We arrived home safely Monday night to the big hugs of Pop and Grandma Lawrance at the airport. Our only stumble along the way was an hour delay in Detroit. This happened when we came through Detroit in December. They were both mechanical problems with the planes. I've told Ken that we need to stop using that airport as a transfer point.

Our boxes came safely from Germany yesterday. The house is a mess as we try to put everything away and get rid of things that we don't need. "If we haven't used them for a year, do we really need them?" is our guiding question.

I found out my starting day. I'll be starting my new job on March 3.

Days 12 and 13 (Thursday and Friday)- Freiburg

We traveled from Switzerland into Germany Thursday morning. Our southern Germany itinerary was pretty low-key. We wanted to see more of Germany, but we are really starting to lose steam. On Thursday, we spent a few hours walking around Freiburg. There is some interesting mosaic stonework on the sidewalks. Apparently, the pictures on the walks indicate what kind of building/store is there. For example, there was a horse on a pole outside the toy store.

On Friday, we took the train into the Schwartzwald or Black Forest. Why is it called the black forest? All I could guess is the tree density. It is a tightly packed pine forest. On a gray, winter day, the woods do look more black than green. The train was a really good deal. A 24 hour train/bus/tram card good for 2-5 people that took us well outside of Freiburg only cost 16€ ($24). This pass got us to and from Titisee, around town, and will get us to the airport tomorrow morning. To get an idea, an in-town, one-way Hamburg subway ticket costs $2.65 per way per person. This does not include regional train services.

As for our opinion of the Black Forest… We saw it. It wasn’t really any more exciting than the lake country of northern Indiana (which we’ll be seeing in a week!!). We took the 6km walk around the Titisee lake. It was cold. Only ½ of the walk was on the lake, so we spent a lot of the time on a road. If you ever go on this walk, go left around the lake rather than right. It is the nicer side. We also looked for a cuckoo clock. They were too expensive. Maybe we’ll buy one on Ebay when we get back.

Day 11 (Wednesday)- Basel

Ines took us to Basel for Fastnacht (Carnival). Ken and I were really hesitant to go after what we’d heard about Mardi Gras in the US. She convinced us that it was nothing like it. She was right. The activity during the after was a parade that was part a drum/piccolo marching band and part Halloween. I’ve never seen so many piccolo players. All the musicians are dressed up in outlandish outfits. They wear masks with mouth holes. In between the marching bands were “floats” with other dressed up characters passing out stuff and throwing confetti on the crowd. We got flowers, candy, a stuffed animal, a vegetable, a number of oranges, Vicks throat lozenges, tissues, and shampoo samples- a random assortment of junk.

I need to then say something about the confetti. It was insane. There were kids shoving it down our shirts. I had it all over me and took it back to Sursee in my shirt.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Kristy

Day 10 (Tuesday)- Interlaken to Sursee

We woke up very sore after skiing. To loosen up, we decided to take a walk to see one of the two lakes that Interlaken sits between. It was a pretty walk but very cold because we were in the mountain shadow 2/3 of the 1 hr 40 minute time. The Thuner See was pretty, but we were pooped by the time we got there. We were going to take the bus home. Unfortunately, we walked toward the bus stop to see the once per hour bus drive away. Rather than wait an hour to get another, we decided to walk back. Luckily, the way that we had come was the scenic route. The direct route was only about 45 minutes. We beat the bus back to the hotel while stopping to buy postcards and groceries. We gathered our luggage and got on the exact bus that we would have taken to the train station.

The ride back to Sursee was uneventful. We checked back into a room in Ines’s building. She asked us to go to the store to pick up dinner. Groceries in Switzerland close at 6:30!! She gets off at 6 and lives a 20 minute walk away. Ken and I think that closing time is insane for working folks. We left for the store a little before 6 but ended up taking a wrong turn. We found the store at 6:28 after running to get there. They let us in and we were able to get food for dinner, but not without a little sweat. How do working Swiss do it?

Kristy

Day 10 (Monday) – Skiing on Kleine Scheidegg

So, first thing to say is that Kristy did not run into a ski shed or do anything else to kill herself. Second thing to say is that she did really, really well, and even had a bit of fun!

For anyone that has skied in the US, European skiing is a bit different. Over here, all the ski slopes actually connect several different towns, rather than one resort feeding the whole mountain. So it is possible to ski from one town to another. Another difference is that there is usually a train or a large aerial tram that takes you from a village below the mountain (often without snow) halfway or all the way up the mountain. You can then ski to any of numerous train stops along the way up, even though the train only comes every half hour. Of course there are also the more traditional chairlifts as well.

After renting our equipment the night before in Interlaken, we took the ski bus from outside our hotel at about 8:45am to a small town called Grindelwald. From there we got on one of the aforementioned trains to the main area of Kleine Scheidegg. I chose this mountain because it seemed to have a large selection of easy runs to choose from to give Kristy some options. We went into the beginners’ park and did several runs down the small area, during which Kristy learned to ski. It was great benefit to eavesdrop on the instructors with ski school classes for tips and pointers. After we finished there we braved going down the rest of the mountain.

Throughout the day Kristy got better and more and more confidence. She only slightly freaked out when we had to go down an intermediate run that wasn’t planned because one of the lifts we wanted to use was out of service. In the end Kristy only fell a handful of times, none major, and all limbs are still operational, though a bit sore.

As for me, skiing was every bit as much fun as I remember (haven’t been in about 10 years), and it was really like riding a bike as I remembered exactly what to do. We got back to the hotel at about 6pm and both had a much needed warm bath (unfortunately, no hot tubs here). Tomorrow we will be traveling back to Sursee to meet up again with our friend Ines.

Ken

Day 9 (Sunday)- Sursee to Interlaken

<-- Kristy on Dramamine

A whole day in the mountain air wore us out, so we slept in, had breakfast with Ines and then took the train to Interlaken. We walked around town and saw some paragliders landing. Not the most exciting day to report in on, but stay tuned to tomorrow’s episode. “Kristy learns to ski” subtitle: “Kristy tries not to run into a ski shed or do anything else to kill herself.”

Day 8 (Saturday)- Central Switzerland

Ken had a number one priority to get online to find where to buy a new camera. We found the one that he wanted in Luzern and bought it. We now have pictures again. It wound up being about $50 more than what we’d pay for the same model in the US, but probably worth it to have pictures from the rest of the trip (which will be downloaded daily for the rest our time).

Ines, Ken, and I took a boat across the Vierwaldstättersee (only tourists call it Lake Luzern) to a small town, Beckenried. There we took a tram up Klewenalp and sledded down. Yes, I said “sledded”. They have a huge sledding trail. You hike about 3 km (1.8 miles) and sled the rest. You end up in another town and have to take a bus ride. It took us 2.5 hour from the time that we bought our tram ticket. It was like an amusement park ride. Amazingly, this was really, really fun. I don’t think we’ll be able to go sledding in Indy again, on the oft chance we get snow, after experiencing this!


Check out Kristy's stylish look! At least I am warm!

Beautiful sunset over the mountain.

Day 7 (Friday)- Barcelona to Sursee, Switzerland

Friday was a tough day. We got up to do some final touring of Barcelona when Ken discovered that his camera was gone. The camera could be replaced, but 4 days of pictures could not. We checked with the tour bus company and the restaurant, but neither found it. Ken was most upset at losing the photos from Gibraltar, including great views of the rock of Gibraltar.

After searching, we visited Gaudí’s last work, the Sagrada Família. It is a cathedral like none other. It is also still under construction. Ken made a good point. All of the other famous churches in Europe were built over 300 years ago. This is the only one that we’ve visited that is being built in our lifetime. Tourists many years from now will see the completed project, but we probably won’t.

We flew to Zurich and took a train to Sursee, a town relatively close to Luzern. A gal from my Hamburg small group, Ines, is doing a phase of her medical internship at a hospital there. She arranged for us to stay in a room in dormitories there. She made us dinner. It was a wonderful treat to have some “gemütlichkeit” or hominess in the middle of our trip. Hotels and restaurants begin to wear on you after a while. We also could do laundry!

Day 6 (Thursday)- Barcelona

Today was a busy day of Barcelona sight-seeing. We started with a walking tour of the Gothic district of town. There were lots of old buildings. I have to admit that I’m starting to get old building burn-out.

There were two main things that I got out of this tour. The first was a better understanding of Catalonia, Barcelona’s “autonomous community”. Spain has 17 autonomous communities and 2 cities. These all used to be separate kingdoms with their own languages until they were united into one country. Catalonia still maintains two official languages, Spanish, Catalan and Aranese. School is taught in multiple languages and most residents are bi-lingual. I had a classmate from Catalonia who spoke Spanish, Catalan, French, English, and was learning German.

The second was that geese are good guard animals. The cathedral courtyard has 13 guard geese.

After lunch, we got on the “hop on, hop off” Barcelona Bus Turistic. It is a little more expensive than city bus tours in other cities, but it was worth it. They are usually 1-2 hours. This was 4. The bus has two routes through the city (three in summer) and takes you past most of the main sights sights. The blue route takes you around the old city, the Olympic areas, and the harbor. The red route shows you the new city and much of the city’s architectural heritage.

We stopped on the shore. Barcelona has beautiful beaches. I am so used to big harbor cities having dirty beaches nearby. This is not true. Ken did some wading in the Mediterranean.

I am not an art fan. This is not good when most of Europe’s treasures are artistic masterpieces. However, I now have a favorite artist. I really enjoy Antoni Gaudí’s work here. Ken thinks it is gaudy. I have never seen buildings that are so much fun to look at. Sure they are bizarre, but that is fun part. They stand out in a continent of old buildings. We drove by the:
the Battló
the Casa Mila
the Park Güell
and the Sagrada Família (we’re going back tomorrow to tour this one on the inside).

Complicated Comida (food)

(Thursday in Barcelona)

Ken did a blog entry on driving, I’ll do one on our dramatic (at least for us) food day. We decided that we’d grab breakfast on the way to our walking tour. We grabbed a donut at “Dunkin Coffee” in the subway station, but Ken wanted a McMuffin. Fortunately, there were 2 McDonald’s on opposite sides of the Plaça de Catalunya. We went to one- no breakfast menu. We walked to the other- no breakfast menu. By that time, we were out of time for more food.

At the end of our walking tour, we were hungry again. We decided to have lunch at a Barcelona fast food chain, “Pans & Company”. We paid twice as much for half the food as an American chain. Food disappointment #2.

Dinner had to be better. At least it was available in Barcelona at 6:00! We found an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad place. Perfect… or so we thought. It turned out that all the pizza and all the pasta except plain spaghetti had seafood in it. Poor Ken. He hates seafood. I had my first shrimp pizza- not bad from my perspective. The salad bar was the best we’ve seen in Europe, so that made up for it. We did not starve. Better luck tomorrow.

Day 5 (Wednesday)- Sevilla to Barcelona

We had to turn the car in by 11:30, but our flight wasn’t until 7:15. We checked with the Vueling ticket counter to see if we could get on an earlier flight. It would have cost at least 70€ (about $105) to change flights. We decided that we could wait. It was actually really good for us. We had wireless internet, reading material, and a deck of cards. Not too bad of way to slow down and relax.

We arrived safely in Barcelona. For my family and high school friends, you’ll be proud of my husband. He got us reservations in the Silken Concordia hotel.

Day 4- (Tuesday) Gibraltar and Ronda

We proved our worth as American tourists on this day by going to 2 cities in one day. We first drove to Gibraltar along the Mediterranean Sea. The weather was beautiful. Have I mentioned that the weather all week has been gorgeous? We’ve had sun and bright blue skies everyday. The temperatures have been in the 60’s. (Low 60’s in the mountains and warmer at sea level.)

We went to Gibraltar, which is actually a British territory. We could speak English and not feel guilty about it. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a stamp in our passports crossing the border. We had to show them, but didn’t get my desired stamp. Gibraltar is a vase-shaped peninsula with the neck of the vase connected to the mainland and the base covered by the Rock of Gibraltar with buildings surrounding it at sea-level. To get to the rock, we had to take the only road, a road that crossed the airport. It was strange driving over a runway. I suppose they have to make use of the only piece of land big enough for planes.

Once there, we took a cable car to the top of the Rock. We could see Africa, only 14km away. Another interesting feature of the Rock is a population of approximately 230 Barbary Macaque monkeys (though they are call apes there). We had fun watching a family of four. The father sat picking bugs out of the mother’s fur while she nursed both an older and a younger baby. Another monkey got close to the family and daddy got defensive. It was fascinating.

After that, we drove to Ronda. Ms. Garmin Nuvi (our female Australian-voiced GPS system) chose to take the shortest route. This also happened to be the route that went up and down the mountains. I felt so sick. (For more about this, see Ken’s entry “Driving in Spain”) Ronda is a cute, historic town. The historic district is cut in half by a large gorge. Our parador was right on the edge. It was almost like being on the edge of the Grand Canyon. We were able to walk around the entire historical area in about an hour. If you choose visit there, don’t plan more than a half day there.

Day 3 (Monday)- Grenada

(Will add pictures later....)

The morning started out with a drive from the plains into the Sierra Nevada mountains. Ken mentioned the olive trees. They were EVERYWHERE. They were even on the sides of cliffs. Since these trees can grow for centuries, I was envisioning crazed farmers in the olive heyday planting every open inch of their land with the “gold” of olives. (Yes, Kristy is still in her fairy tale world.)

We visited the Alhambra in the afternoon. Rapunzel has changed her mind on which castle she wants. This one wins. It is a fortress with a series of palaces and gardens inside. It was beautiful in winter. I would love to see it when all the flowers are in bloom. So far, this is my favorite historic sight from this trip.

In the evening, we went to see flamenco dancing. It is a dance accompanied by a guitar and hand drum. Most of the “music” comes from singing, shouting, hand-clapping and stopping. It reminds me of a mix of tap dancing and belly-dancing (fully-clothed, though). Unfortunately, since the show didn’t start until 10, Ken and I were almost too tired to enjoy it. Afterwards, the tour guide took us up higher on the hill and we could see the Alhambra at night. It was gorgeous view.

Driving in Spain

Driving in Spain

Sitting in the Sevilla airport right now with time to kill, so here’s an update…

When Kristy and I decided to come to Spain, we decided to rent a car to drive around the southern part, rather than take the train like we usually do in Germany and central Europe. In all, this has definitely paid off, but not without our share of excitement. Of note:

The scenery in southern Spain is truly amazing. We drove through the mountains, along the Mediterranean coast, in big cities, and in small towns. There were times when we were going up and mountains and one side of the road was totally brown and the other was all green. All the green were olive trees and I tell you that they went on FOREVER! I think southern Spain can meet the world’s demand for olive oil and then some.

I’ve heard horror stories about driving in Rome and Paris, and I think that Spanish cities / towns have got to be just as bad. Each of the cities that we visited were built before cars existed. As such, all the buildings were piled on top of each other, only with so much room for a single horse carriage to go through the streets. I don’t know how many times I had to nearly stop to narrowly squeeze by a parked car on one side and a wall on the other. And the parking garages were just as bad, if not worse.

Roundabouts, roundabouts everywhere! I think there was one time that I went through three consecutive roundabouts within half a kilometer. These things were everywhere! Some of them were at least four lanes wide.

Speeding tickets in Spain suck. Especially when 34 km/hr over the limit nets you a 98€ fine (that’s $150), cash paid on the spot. It would have been 140€ if I would have contested it, and since Spain doesn’t seem like a very corrupt country, I paid it to the officer. Dumb speed traps!
I don’t think Kristy liked going through the mountains too much. I’m pretty sure she almost vomited. Not really, but I know she wishes that she would have taken her Dramamine!

That’s all for now, Kristy will follow with other updates when we get to another internet connection.

Ken

Day 2- Córdoba

After an early morning run (for me) and then eating really well at the Carmona parador’s breakfast buffet, we packed up and left for Córdoba. It was a little over an hour away, so we were able to check into our next parador mid-morning. The website says that this one is “Located on the ruins of the small summer palace of Abderramán I,” but you can’t really tell. It looks like a hotel. Still, we have a big corner room with a balcony. We can’t complain. The grounds are nice as well.

I didn’t mention yesterday that marrying young did me well. If you have a person in the room that is under 30 years old, you get a pretty nice discount. My young husband is as good as a coupon! (Watch out, dear… The big 3-0 hits this year…)

We drove downtown to be tourists once again. The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos looks like something out of a “knights in shining armor” story. The thing that I kept thinking was, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair…” when I looked at the tower on the left.

We then walked along the river. The old water resource manager in me was interested in that. This city is on the Guadalquivir River that flows through Sevilla and into the Atlantic Ocean. In Roman times, the river was navigable to this point. They still have an old Roman waterwheel and bridge.

After that we went to lunch. We learned a lesson from the day before that we need to make sure that we do not skimp on lunch. I had real Spanish paella, one of my goals for the trip. I have to say that Jenn C’s version tastes so much better. Jenn, can we make a paella date sometime soon?

After lunch, we visited the most famous sight of the city, the Mezquita-Catedral. It started out as a mosque but then the Christians built a cathedral in it without removing all of the mosque characteristics. Because of the multiple architects, the building seems to be 5-6 different churches in one.



That's it for now.

Kristy