The Leaving Is Slow, But the Train to Madrid is Fast

We left our hotel in Barcelona two hours before our jet train to Madrid departed.  Fortunately, we allowed plenty of time.

Taylor and I like to experience everything local when we are in a new environment. Since we felt we were already familiar with the Barcelona Metro, we planned to take it to the train station to catch the Ave train to Madrid.  We knew we could take either the L1 or the L3 to Sants Estacio Station.  We randomly chose the L1.  Well, we found we needed to transfer part way there to the L3.  If we had taken the L3 in the first place we would have gone directly to our destination.  So, after 2 trains and lots of walking (and I mean lots of walking, upstairs, downstairs and cross country, with 2 suitcases) we arrived at Sants Estacio.  We found our train platform, and guess what?  We were an hour early.

It didn't matter that we were so early, because the train station was delightful.  Here's the coffee shop right out in the open.

My white coffee even came with a real cup and saucer.  I'm a happy traveler and I haven't had any allergy meds today.  Life is good.  See you all in Madrid.

"Leaving on a fast train..................

......don't know when I'll be back again." Hum along with Peter, Paul and Mary.  With regret I leave Barcelona.  I love this city.  We barely scratched the surface.  Instead of focusing on all the sights we didn't see, I have to remember everything we experienced.  After getting my allergy meds from the farmacia, I was able to enjoy myself thoroughly. Here are a few of the highlights:

To get to the Picasso Museum, we walked through the Barri Gotic  (Gothic Quarter) early in the morning.  I loved seeing young children with their parents walk to school through the narrow alleys.  As we got closer to the museum, I paused to take some photos of the charming restaurant fronts, and graffiti filled shuttered stores.

By day the shops look charming - like this one.

After the shops close they look like this.  It's hard to remember what charming shop lies hidden behind these doors.

As I took my pictures, Taylor called my attention to a shop that I missed.  Low and behold, it was a yarn store!!!  I sometimes miss these, but Taylor always seems to zero in on them.  It was too early for the shop to be open, and when we went back after Picasso, it was still closed.  It's a good thing I have my knitting with me and didn't need to make a purchase.

Later that day, we mastered the Metro to get ourselves to the Sagrada Familia -  Gaudi's unfinished cathedral.  I can't find words for it, and it was hard to fight other photographers to take decent pictures.  It was also hard to feel holy, and generous with the huge crowds of noisy tourists.

Here's the main altar.  Follow the columns up.  Notice that they branch apart like the limbs of trees.  The idea is for the worshiper to feel as if he is in a forest.  I'm not sure I felt I was in a forest, but I was in awe.

Religion is huge in Spain.  As if we didn't have enough church viewing in Barcelona, we took the train to Montserat.  This was an adventure because we took a train, a cable car and two different funiculars to visit this mountain monastery.  It was well worth the effort and we got to hike as well.  I'm afraid our walking through the streets of Portland didn't prepare us for clambering up and down these hills.  We figured if aging hermits could make it to their caves, so could we.  Can you find me in front of the Chapel of St Joan, in the top picture?  And there is Taylor getting ready to explore the actual caves where St Joan (John the Baptist) and St Onofrio were next door neighbors. We took the funicular up the mountain, and then hiked to see the caves.  Thrilling.

Chapel of Saint Joan.

Stairs to the hermits' caves are on the left.

 I'm checking out the remains of one of the two saints' caves.  It's hard to imagine that anyone would live here unless he was planning to die soon.  It would be really hard to find food and water.  The shelter was minimal.

This is what the monastery looks like from the funicular coming down from the Chapel of St Joan.

And now it's time to experience Madrid!!!

Jet Lagged in Barcelona

We left our house in Portland at 4 a.m on Sunday, and arrived in Barcelona on Monday at 8 a.m.  We are tired and punchy, but we love this city already.  We've already walked La Rambla from our hotel to the harbor and explored some side alleys.  I had to take a break due to a horrible allergy attack.  I've now taken two allergy tablets and hope to go out for more adventures once the drugs kick in.  I'm writing this from our room at the Hotel Continental.

Our room is kind of horrifying, but it's in a great location on La Rambla, it has a 24 hour source of included food, and the price is right.

We had Cappuccino at a fabulous square off La Rambla.  This is when the allergies kicked in full force.  The coffee was great and the square boasts two of Gaudi's first works - street lamps. Taylor took the photo in between my sneezes.

Here's a peek into a doorway off of one of the alleys.  It was all I could do to stay out.  I think it was an apartment building.

Mercat de la Boqueria.

Mercat de la Boqueria is like Redding Terminal Market in Philly and Pike Place Market in Seattle, but on steroids. 

Two Goals

Taylor and I leave in one week on our Grand Tour.  I've got two goals to accomplish before then:

• Learn to post efficiently on my blog using a new piece of equipment.  Since it's been 3 years since I've written on the blog, many things have changed.  In addition to Blogspot changes, Taylor and I bought this ASUS tablet that I am trying to master.  It's got a tiny little keyboard - thank goodness, because the touchscreen seems very cumbersome to me.  The touchscreen is kind of cool, but not for typing.  Everything is a little different from using my PC laptop.  The tablet doesn't have a slot for my camera's memory card, so I've had to figure out how to download photos using a cable.  I didn't even know I had a cable - that's the reason to keep the box that the camera comes in.  I guess it's good for old brains to learn new things. Here I go, I just downloaded three photos to the tablet, and now I will try to get them onto the blog.  Wish me luck. Well, it didn't work.  I found the photo, downloaded it and it's gone.  Try number two.
  

Success!!!

• Audition and select a knitting project to take on the trip.  Here are the two finalists:
  
  This is the Summer Flies shawlette, by www.hollyandellaknits.com.  The yarn is a hand dyed yarn by nerd girl yarns. This color is Caterpillar.  This is a smallish project with enough interest to keep me from going out of my mind, but not so difficult I will make mistakes. I can also picture myself wearing such a cheerful little shawlette while strolling through the alleys of Barcelona or Madrid.
  
  

The other finalist is Kate Gilbert's Clapotis.  This is an elegant drapey scarf made of blue heron yarns  rayon and gold metallic yarn.  Kate Gilbert said on her  knitty.com pattern that this is a perfect scarf/shawl to wear while in Paris.  I won't be going to Paris, but I like the idea of feeling elegant while travelling around Europe in my tourist togs. The ball of yarn is somewhat large, and the finished project will be larger than Summer Flies.  It also is extremely boring to knit, so it could be good to be trapped on a airplane with it.  

I've got a week to finalize my decision.

 I've come to the conclusion that knitters are a different breed of people.  We are the only ones who spend so much time planning knitting projects as a part of travel..

Preparing for the Grand Tour

In less than two weeks, Taylor and I will embark on our Grand Tour of Europe.  We will visit Spain, Morocco and Great Britain.  We are both very excited and have made "To Do" lists, and checked off most of our items.

As a knitter I have my own list of what to do to prepare to leave home for a month.  The first, is to complete the projects that I have on my needles.  I'm making good progress on this front.

This set of baby hat, socks and onesy is in the mail to welcome William Michael Roeder to the world.  I did not make the onsey.  This set is hand dyed by the The Twisted Sisters.  I love the way the Oracle yarn and onsey are dyed to complement each other.

This is the Gnarled Oak Cardigan designed by Alana Dakos.  It's in the Coastal Knits book.  I've been working on it since last fall.  I made a tiny version for a baby, and fell in love with it.  The yarn is Madeline Tosh Sport.  The pattern was very well written, so there are no problems to report with this.  It is a Once Knit sweater.  The yarn was a pleasure to work with.   I'm pleased with the way it turned out.  It's a warm sweater so it is ready for next fall.

My final project on my "To Do" list is this pair of two at a time, toe up socks.  I started this project with a group of new knitting friends at my local yarn shop, Yarntastic.  A handful of regulars decided to learn how to make socks two at a time.  As an additional challenge, we added the toe up technique.  My socks are not finished, but they are close.  I'm actually on the second pair of them (remember, this blog is Twice Knit).  The first pair was too tight - I couldn't get them past my ankle.  So.................I unravelled them and started again using more stitches to start.  I'm past the heel and gusset now, so it's possible that I might be able to finish them before our trip.  It would be nice to know that I don't have to come home and continue working on them.  I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of this lovely yarn -Manos Del Uruguay Alegria.

There is one more knitting item on my "To Do" list:  I have to audition and select the project that I will take with me!

Catching Up With the Times

So many things to do before Taylor and I embark on another journey.  In three weeks exactly we will be on an airplane headed for Barcelona, Spain.  Plane tickets and train tickets are purchased.  Hotels and bed & breakfasts are reserved.  I'm anxious to finish up a few knitting projects so I can select the project that I will take with me on my trip.

 It turns out that one of the biggest challenges to preparing for the journey is figuring out how my blog works.  It seems I've been remiss in posting for 3 years!!!  Well, a lot has changed here in blog land.  I've been on my new device for about an hour, and I have just now figured out how to get into my account and actually write a post.  Now, we'll see if I can publish this.  Here goes!

Oh my goodness

Oh my goodness....

I was hoping to just add my latest books and movies to my blog and here I am confronted with an entirely  new format and I can't figure out how to edit those lists that I've got going on my blog.  So, now I'm distracted and want to figure out how Blogspot works, but I have to leave the house in 10 minutes.

Suffice it to say, I'm back from China and the Road to China Shawlette is finished and it's a great reminder of our trip.  Here it is:

And now I can report that it is possible to write something, and post pictures in less than 10 minutes.  Let's see if this actually gets posted.  If it works I will say that Blogspot has made some improvements.