Hilton Cartagena Hotel

... to pick up a few things. After returning to the apartment, we found that everyone was home except for Lluis. Conrad chatted with Lourdes, Lluis' wife, in broken Spanish. Once Lluis arrived home, he functioned as translator for everyone. We sat down to another dinner. Conrad & I didn't eat much, as we had eaten earlier. Then we spent the rest of the night chatting with Lluis. As I type this, Conrad is still in there ...

... we enjoyed traditional Spanish tapas. The highlight of our venture into Cartagena was the visit to the Roman Theatre. Rediscovered in 1987, the Roman Theatre was originally built dring the reign of Augustus Caesar more than 2000 years ago. It has been restored partially to allow visitors a glimpse of what it would have looked like in Ancient times and there is a museum ...

... of dozen kids learning to sail, each in his or her own little mini sailboat that couldn't hold more than one person. Most stayed in a tight, timid clump, but some drifted far off, and of course there was one who was always painfully behind and couldn't see to manage a straight line (That would have been me, I thought). I'll try to post pictures later, though that isn't going so well with this SLOW and spotty Internet "service."

... Sagrada Familia church, which is one of Spain's most visited sites. The church is a work in progress. Starting in the 19th century Gaudi designed three facades; the Nativity (largely completed in Gaudi's lifetime), the Passion of Glory, and the main one (which is currently under construction). The facades surface tells the story of Christ's birth, virtues of faith, hope, and charity. The interior ceiling of the ...

... in the atmosphere. It was nice to be able to communicate in Spanish. On the last day a guy from "Canada" tried to pick me up as I was walking along. He used this "you look like a foreigner and so am I" line and tried to get me to have drinks later. I took his number and never called, he was kind of creepy. I was sad to leave Barcelona. I would like to return someday, I would love to see the Sagrada Familia when it is finished. I think it said it will be sometime in the 2020's.

... We found a little pub with a patio and hung out for most of the afternoon. Later we had dinner at a cool little restaurant in Raval but now I forget the name. When we get our first visitors - we'll take you here. It is quite funky. We found a movie theatre that just shows one film at a time and happened to be showing Blade Runner at 11:00 p.m. Because this is one of ...

... I'm not sure what exactly i immediately loved about the city. Maybe it is that is feels really grandiose in comparison with places where we have been. Dylan, Nick, and I stayed in an apartment together which was nice and helped us to save a few bucks on food. In fact, none of us really went out at night much in Barcelona, but bought some cheap wine and all stayed in together. The apartments were ...

... south of Thailand: beaches, diving, fulmoon parties.. ;-), up to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Singapore, where the 23rd of August I´ll get a plane back to my City, Barcelona (With a funny stopover at Helsinki, Finnland!). Hope you enjoy all the stuff I´ll write here, and of course the fotos! I´ll be glad to read from you too, so fee free to add a commentary or a quick note (or gossips!) onto it ...

... all different. One could catalogue all the residences in Barcelona by the design of their roofs! We eventually came across the most famous of them all. Gaudi's Casa Mila. It looked like something out of Star Wars. We had lunch next door to McDonalds from a place called Fresh 'n' Ready. It was quite the best sandwich I had had for a long time, a delicious orange juice and a donut to die for...filled with chocolate instead of jam. Anne had a fruit salad which she ...

... some time down by the port just kicking back and enjoying the city. The second night their, we met up with another Aussie couple. We made the most out of the relaxed ´drinking in European streets´ rules, and spent the night knocking back some more tinnies while sitting amongst the bums, scammers and prostitutes. I think it just beat sitting at the TAB betting on the dogs on a Thursday night...only just though, I really do miss that. Anyways, after ...