Barcelona Day 1

On my first scheduled week long holiday I went to visit Barcelona, Madrid, and Lisbon. It started off pretty damn early since I had to catch a 7:15am Easyjet flight at Luton Airport. I took 24hr bus from Paddington to Baker Street and from there, the Easybus to Luton. I actually got to Baker St a bit early and the Easybus man was nice enough to let me get on the early one. The ride took slightly less than an hour and I had this grand plan to sleep on the bus except my fellow passengers had other ideas and talked (loudly) all the way to the airport. It's fricken 5am people, go back to sleep! Maybe I really should get some noise canceling headphones. I did however managed some sleep on the flight to Barcelona, and surprisingly there was no delay and we even managed to park at the bridge so we didn't have to take the bus to the terminal.

I got through immigration quite quickly and proceeded to look for first the information desk before heading to the Aerobus. The Tourist information desk was probably one of the smallest I have seen but they were quite helpful and I got one of those 2 days unlimited travel tickets on the public transport system. No issues taking the Aerobus downtown to Plaça de Catalunya and from there, I took the Metro to the BnB I was staying at. When I got to my destination, since I walked the wrong direction, it did took me a little while to find the place but I got there in the end. It turned out to be directly in front of the Metro exit but on the other side of a 8 lanes road. I must mention that the BnB (Ana's Guesthouse) is really nice and if you ever go to Barcelona you should definitely check it out as an option. When I was there, there was another group of 3 people staying there and I pretty much had the whole place to myself so even though I was suppose to share the (massive) bathroom, it wasn't an issue in the end.

After checking in, I made my way around town. Firstly down the Passeig de Gràcia and looked at some of the Gaudi buildings before heading to the Montjuic Castle. At the Montjuic Castle, I took the cable car ride up because after a 4am start, I wasn't too keen on climbing that hill. The view on top was pretty good and since it was a nice clear day, I was able to see most of the city from there.

It was late afternoon by the time I headed back towards the city and since I have some time left I went to see the Sagrada Família. It's an odd looking church and the tour guide said they estimate the entire building to be finished by 2030. Since it is funded by donations and they still have not worked out the design to parts of the structure yet this estimate is subject to change.

I ate dinner near Sagrada Família and it was OK. I headed back to the BnB first to rest a little before going to the game at Camp Nou!

Quiz result

So here it is!

Your Top Strength
Honesty, authenticity, and genuineness
You are an honest person, not only by speaking the truth but by living your life in a genuine and authentic way. You are down to earth and without pretense; you are a "real" person.

Your Second Strength
Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness
Thinking things through and examining them from all sides are important aspects of who you are. You do not jump to conclusions, and you rely only on solid evidence to make your decisions. You are able to change your mind.

Your Third Strength
Industry, diligence, and perseverance
You work hard to finish what you start. No matter the project, you "get it out the door" in timely fashion. You do not get distracted when you work, and you take satisfaction in completing tasks.

Your Fourth Strength
Citizenship, teamwork, and loyalty
You excel as a member of a group. You are a loyal and dedicated teammate, you always do your share, and you work hard for the success of your group.

Your Fifth Strength
Perspective (wisdom)
Although you may not think of yourself as wise, your friends hold this view of you. They value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to yourself.

16GB SDHC

Bought a new SDHC card from Amazon last week and it finally arrived today. Was getting a bit worried but at least it got here. Tried it out and it worked fine on the camera, but when I tried to plug it into the laptop's SD Card reader, the fricken card reader broke! Tried to update the driver and reinstalled it and it still stuffed. Luckily I can plug the camera directly into the computer.

What I found strange though was hen I first opened the box of my package I found the usual things... SDHC Card (my product), invoice type document... then I found a third item, a piece of paper with an ad for guess what? Nothing electronic related, not the company's specials, but an ad for Scottish beef? WTF is that about? I understand times are tough and you should diversify to minimise your risk... but memory card and fillet steak? That is a strange combination. The pictures looked pretty good though and they are individually packaged. Perhaps that is the only way to get decent meat in this country?

What is Arborio Rice?

Was asked to get arborio rice for dinner tonight so I decided to go to a small local "supermarket" nearby since it was probably the closest store from where I was when I received the call up. I got there and proceeded to the pasta/rice section. I couldn't see any arborio rice so I decided to ask the dude stocking the shelf. So I did and he had no fricken idea what I was talking about. So I asked him for rice to make risotto and he kinda panicked and looked for someone else to help. I assume this other guy is like a manager or something so I asked him the same questions. He had no fricken idea what was going on and tried to sell me jasmine rice or something. In the end they decided that they don't have what I wanted so I walked out and went to Sainsbury's. Probably should've in the first place but it was a lot further from where I was. Seriously, if you work at a supermarket you should at least know something about food. Maybe they don't have it in stock because they don't actually know what it is and the fact it exist?

Quarter Pounder with Cheese

Had another successful run today without hurting myself so just maybe after a year of on and off injuries my body is going to be OK. This morning's run was full of promise, a crew of 5 but I ended up running with JC and a new running buddy Debbo because the other 2 (JL and Eee) were too soft and perhaps suffering from hangover. Ran down the length of Hyde Park to Hyde Park Corner then made our way back around Kensington Garden to return to Lancaster Gate. It was a nice day with a cool breeze so even though we started at 12 it wasn't too bad.

Afterward I felt like something nasty so after the shower I made my way outside and since there were chicken nuggets request I decided I would just go to the golden arches. They are currently finishing off their Coke Glass promotion and they were doing a buy 1 get 1 free. I decided I might as well since they are probably better than the crappy glasses we have at home and they ended up giving me 3 glasses because he couldn't be bothered pulling them apart (they come in packs of 3s). 3 glasses for £1 what a bargain.

I went home with my food and new glasses and I must be hungry from exercise because my burger was BEAUTIFUL!!!! As usual, I packed my burger with chips before eating and WOW... best... burger... ever... I can't say the same for their chicken nuggets and chips but I must be really hungry and thirsty because the watered down coke tasted so good too! :D

Emotional Blog Post

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OMG :D
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Trip to Bavaria

The final Bank Holiday for the year signifies the end of Summer in London. We chose to escape by venturing to Munich. Moving to Paddington has its perks and flying in and out of Heathrow can be counted as one of them making the early Saturday morning flight not so painful any more (unless you have to go to Stansted or Luton).

The flight over wasn't too bad, my many flights for work paid off a little with access to a "fast lane" to clear security and the BA lounge for breakfast. It took around and hour and a bit to get over to Germany and by the time we took the train to the hotel it was pretty much lunch time. We got a decent deal at the Hilton Munich City and it only cost us £108 total for 2 nights including buffet breakfast.

After we dropped our bags off we decided the first site to visit was Dachau, the first concentration camp and a model for others during WWII. It was a good educational experience and we were lucky enough to just make it for the last English guided tour of the day. It was disgusting to see how evil humans can be and the video clip we watched at the end was one of the most disturbing I have ever seen.

Day 2 was a much more cheerful and happier affair. We got up early for breakfast and took the train out to Fussen. Despite the hotel giving us the wrong instruction (giving us a Monday to Friday train time rather than weekend), we were able to find our way easily printing out the required train schedule from one of the machines at the station. This is a fantastic service and should be copied in other parts of the world especially when you have to change 2-3 trains to reach your final destination. The train ride took around 2.5 hours, we then hopped onto a local bus to take us to Hohenschwangu, the town below the Schloss Neuschwanstein. It is the castle that the Disney Sleeping Beauty castle was modeled on and the sight was pure fantasy. Beautiful day with clear blue sky and a fantasy land castle sitting on a mountain overlooking its land. The most disappointing part though was the view from Marienbrucke. It would have been such a breathtaking view if it wasn't for the bloody scaffolding on that side of the castle! If you ever visit Munich and you have a day to spare, I definitely recommend going there for a visit.

Day 3 was our final day in Munich and having not seen much of the city (besides Bavarian food and beer) we decided to go on a free walking tour with Sandeman Walking Tour. They operate quite a few tours around Europe and it was a very entertaining experience. Our tour guide was a hyperactive Canadian girl who was quite knowledgeable providing some insights into the history of the city with some amusing stories to tell. I heard their Berlin tour is better so if I ever get the chance to go, I will definitely try to get onto one of their tours.

Overall, I think it was a good trip with a mix of experiences. I definitely learnt a lot about the city and managed to see some amazing scenery (both good and bad). I look forward to my next trip in a couple of week's time to Spain and Portugal.

Back and plans ahead

After going away for a month due to our move to Paddington, finally, everything is back in order. We have electricity, gas, phone, and now the internet. Thanks to our neighbour we were able to borrow his connection while we waited for everything to get setup and although it was frustrating at times, we thank him for his generosity.

I will try to catch up and make a few postings in the coming weeks as I have just returned from Munich and will soon be going to Spain which will include going to the Camp Nou to watch Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid (not quite el clasico). If I have time, I wouldn't mind visiting the Santiago Bernabeu but since I will only be there for 1 day, I'm not sure whether I can fit it in.

Since I have to use up all my leave for the year, in October I will be going to Switzerland and Italy for 2 weeks so that should be exciting as well. For now, you will just have to wait until i make a new posting!