Madrid Street Performer (click to view)

It was a dark and stormy evening...
... and I just came in from a 7 hour train ride from Madrid through the pelting rain. Once exiting San Sebastian station, I could feel the cool night air and smell the ocean salt encrusted on the outer seal and door handle of the station exit. My overloaded bags made me move at a slower rate as i walked and ducked under shelter every 100 or so metres to escape the rain. My watch read 5:00pm. It was already dark as the wind howled. The sound is defining as she slammed into the next swell and white spray flew over my head, driven by the wind. As the rain kept pelting down, i took a chance and ran in the direction my hostel had given me. I was cold but at the same time the spray was refreshing. The water, the pain and the adrenaline are intoxicating. The cooling water mixing with the hot sweat inside my clothes. I was about 300 metres from my destination as i had to walk along the promenade. The sea walls and beach were being pounded by the storm. Cold, wet and hungry and in desperate need of a hot shower, i finally reached Olga´s Hostel. Speech was difficult. I went into my room and removed my shoes. There is no joy in being slapped in the face by wind and rain. The shower... very satisfying.

The next 2 days had really sunny but cool weather. The ocean was calmer and i had a good look around this surf/beach town. Got drenched walking on the 10 metre high sea wall as a freak wave came over the top. Got it on video footage! However my camera is now stuffed. I got to view the footage a couple of times before it now turns on and off when it wants to.

I didnt think much of Madrid. I went to a smokey blues bar which was cool and saw many street performers. (video) Not much else interested me here as it is the wrong time of year for any of the major events. But was good to check out.

Back into France until the 28th December. Bordeaux, Toulous, Paris and the surrounding towns in these areas. Merry Christmas and i hope you have a fantastic New Years Eve!

Jazzing it up in Spain

After feeling the blues in France, it was time to jazz it up in Spain going to one of the many performances at the Barcelona International Jazz Festival. "Dianne Reeves With Strings Attached" nearly put me to sleep (in a good way) at times and had me hopping and bopping through the rest of her 2 hour performance. After Avignon in France i trained it to Barcelona, then Valencia and i then went back to Barcelona. Ive spent a total of 2 weeks in Barcelona, 5 days in Valencia and 2 days at Monistrol de Montserrat climbing the mountain twice!

"Dont worry, he's from Barcelona"
Wow, i have done so many things here and i am so glad i stayed especially after wanting to leave after the first night here. So what have i done... Ive been to the 1992 Olympic Games village, visited Park Guell (Goudy's Park) (pic), went to the Dali Museum (pic) 2 hours outside Barcelona, went to an inside the human body exhibition, went clubbing at Barcelona's best club "Razzamatazz" (5 clubs in 1), went to a cop shop, went for a run along the beach and another run to the castle Montjuic, watched countless street performers down La Rambla, saw a heap of the new architecturally designed buildings as well as Goudy's, tried to grow a Spanish moustache for charity, ate expensive Tapas that was really nice, ate the best Paella and also peanut butter and coffee icecream as well as drinking heaps of Sangria, Mojito's, Cora's and Caipirinhas... and im still not fat!

Meeting two guys in my Hostel who knew and had friends in Barcelona, i was very lucky to be able to hang out with them for two nights. We went to a cafe/bar/butcher place called "Champagne". This place was down a back street in a tiny shop, it had dried meat hanging from the ceiling and it was packed full of people. Its more of a bar than anything else where you drink Cora (red champagne) and eat Loba's (bread with pork meat) but they also add their own special spices to it which makes it really tasty especially when you're hungry, thirsty and in a real lively atmosphere. Real cheap too which is why it is so popular. As this place is in a residential area, it is known that the residents throw eggs on the drunks below on the street if you are too noisy outside, so we moved on pretty quickly when the place closed. With the same group the other night, i was invited to go to a Brazilian house/flat party down the road where that turned out to be a lot of fun. I was the star of the show being the only Australian where everyone else was Brazilian and giving me their uncles, brothers friends contact details to go and stay with them when i reach Brazil. It was a really good night and really friendly bunch.

Monistrol de Montserrat
Yup, another monistary way up in the clouds, and still loving them! I climbed this mountain twice, where i climbed different routes each time. The first day i went i planned a day trip from Barcelona. Climbing with Florence whom i met on the train on the way there was great company walking around on two of the main five walks that you can do. The first time i didnt actually climb from the bottom, i took the cable car train to the Monistary and then went on the walks from there. A week later i came back and actually stayed in the small, quiet and really friendly town for two nights. Meeting Mariah in Barcelona, we climbed from the very bottom to the very top of this rocky yet foresty mountain (pic). Getting lost on the way up, we bush bashed a bit trying to figure out which way to go as the signs arnt really clear, or we just missed them. Took us most of the day to get to the top witnessing an amazing sunset. Climbing back down in the dark for 1 hour (to the cable car/train) was a bit difficult, but we made it unscathed as well as seeing the odd mountain goat. Back at the Monistary was a sculpture/monument (pic), dont think you are allowed to climb it, but hey... when in Rome. Was one of the best days i have ever had.

Valencia
Valencia was a nice town where what makes this town different is the dried up river bed that runs through it. They have converted it into a really long park with sports areas, bike riding paths and your general park layout. The old town is quite nice as well but being a smaller town to Barcelona and Madrid, there was not much going on mid week. So what did i do here... I watched Flamenco dancing at a bar drinking Sangria, saw the new funky designed buildings (pic), got a ride in a cop car, chilled out relaxing down the beach, ate a really tasteless Paella (that's why it was so cheap), walked along the river bed and went to the best kids playground IN THE WORLD! This place was amazing. It was basically a huge fibreglass giant from the story of Gulliver's Travels (pic). The 50 metre or so giant was lying on his back. You could slide down either side his jacket, his hair were also slides and you could climb all over him. It was hard fighting kids away as i wanted to go down the slides without collecting 10 of them on the way down!

Im in Madrid at the moment and then i will be off to San Sebastian very soon. The weather has been good, coolish to warm days and cold nights. The sun goes down at 5:00pm.

Feeling the blues in France

Half way! 6 months gone and 6 more to go. After Switzerland i have travelled West into France visiting the towns of Dijon and Avignon. I didnt have any real reason to go to these places, but thought i would visit them and discover what was there. Dijon is a nice smallish town which got pretty cold at night. I had heaps of the mustard as i thought i should and went to a fun fair (pic) on most of the nights as that was the main attraction during this time. Listening to the Carnival folk yelling and screaming on the loud speakers in French to get people to come on their rides was a different experience. I ate heaps of "Shocolate Cwasonts" just because i like saying that and saw the beginnings of all the Christmas decorations that were being put up all around the town.

Travelling South from Dijon to Avignon, i arrived in the late afternoon and got lost. I didnt know there were two train stations and i thought i was at the other one. Lugged my bags around for quite a while before finding a place to stay as i was out in the factory and industiral area. Avignon is another nice town, where the old town is surrounded by a city wall. I saw and drew the Pont de Avignon (from the French nursery rhyme where everyone dances on it) (pic). Walked around the Popes Palace, saw my fort (St. Andre's Fort) and went to a blues festival.

Avignon Blues Festival
I have never really listed to blues music before and thought this would be something different to do apart from the normal sightseeing. Finding out about it off a poster in town (all in French) i took a photo of it and asked the receptionist at my hostel where it was. She explained to me that it was a 30 minute bus ride outside of town and that i had to leave pretty soon to catch the last bus. So off i went in search of the bus stop at 7pm where the Blues Festival starts at 7pm. Just caught the bus in time and got to the last stop around 7.30pm. When i hopped off, i had no idea where i was. It was dark, quiet and nothing around. As i was looking around, the bus pulled away and went back in the direction we came from. I got a bit worried as that was the last bus and there were no taxis or cars around. So off i went in a direction i just picked and 5 min later i came across a car park full of cars and a big building with a sign saying "Avignon Blues Festival". Phew, dont know how that happened! Got my ticket and sat down in the 800 people concert hall and listed to 3 performances. The Coulour Gospel (French), Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges (pic) (American) and Michael Burks (American). Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges was my favourite, bought his CD and was tapping and swaying all through his 2 hour performance. Best voice according to "Soul" magazine. Michael Burks was also really impressive on his guitar, that had everyone tapping and cheering. Wow, after all 3 performances, it was 1am and time to go home. I was presuming that there would be taxis out the front as there were so many people. I waited outside for maybe 30min and there was nothing. Everyone who went to the festival drove. Looking back, i should have made friends with someone so that they could take me back to Avignon, but in the end i walked. Thinking a taxi may pass me eventually i walked in the direction the bus came from but really didnt know the way back. After a good 10 minutes of not knowing where the hell i was at around 2am, i found a main highway and a sign saying "Avignon". I had my jacket, beanie and gloves and i arrived back at the hostel at 4am... really...really tired!
I slept all the next day.

Next is Spain for about a month. I am actually already half way through, just a bit behind in my blogs. Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and San Sebastian are on my places to go before heading back into France mid December.