5 HABITS

BB, my sister send this homework to all but I haven't done it, so here we go.
My 5 weird habits (that I can think of...)

1. If I am to wake up I MUST have a shower. In the hostal that I stayed in Rome, the water boiler broke! It was very cold outside and I still had a fricking frozen shower, otherwise, I am toast, I don't wake up!

2. When I go to sleep all the doors, drawers, etc have to be perfectly closed, othewise I can't sleep, the monsters might come out of the closet!

3. I have an obsession with hand cream, everytime I wash my hands or my hands get wet I have to put hand lotion, otherwise my hands feel like dry corrugated cardboard to me, like if the skin is going to snap.

4. I don't like eating anything that has bones or reminds me that it is a dead animal, though I love meat, it has to be boneless, skinless, no veins or tendons or hairs, groossss!!

5. I only like to eat eggs if I cook them, otherwise they can make me puke!

The other day I was driving and I noticed another habit:

6. I always add up the numbers of the plates in front of me and divide them by each number and reduce the numbers to the smallest denominator

and

7. When I listen to radio, conversations, movies, basically if I am not talking I am writing everything in short hand in my brain...thanks Edna !! (Edna was the shorthand teacher in secondary school), no wonder why I can't remember things....hahaha

LONG DISTANCE FEES WARNING

To those travellers that might be reading this blog be warned about making long distance collect calls from the public phones. All over europe public phones have these stickers with an 800 number to make long distance calls. I called Dean collect twice for about 12 minutes each call, and yesterday when I opened my phone bill I almost have a heart attack to see that I owe $300.00 dollars!!!! I was expecting it to be more expensive than usual, perhpas $50, but 300?? $%^$%^#$%^#$%^&$%^&$%^, that is armed robbery as far as I am concerned, so just so you know. I should have bought the $15 euro long distance card, even if I usesd for only the 10 minutes it would have been way cheaper than this %^%^%^&((*&$&^&& bill.... be warned!!

THANK YOU

Travelling, going to new places, learning new things, seeing awesome and ugly stuff, eating new food, eating lots of chocolate pane, beer for breakfast, copious amount of wine and champagne and definately not much water, wow! how fantastic, but all this is nothing without the people one meets along the way...

...each one of those persons add to the experience, most times the contact is so short but it can be very intense and honest, sometimes is just an exchange of niceties, sometimes is a helping hand, and sometimes is just a plain, simple human exchange (OK, I am not going to write all about the endless sexual harassment by males of a certain part of the world that think women are nothing....that I hated to the max -and yes, I know that hate is a strong word!!).


x 

So, to all of you that I had the luck to meet thanks! because that made this trip even more special. The Jensens in denamark, the Botazzis in France, mi cousins Pelena and Eric and their friends and my little cute nieces Sara Elena and Isabel; Rina and husband in Amsterdam; the crazy Irish rugby fans in Venice, Sigrid and friends in Berlin, Albert, Jomelo, Lucia, Danny, Rafael, Neu, Randall, Steffy and Oscar, and all the others in Barcelona, the kind man in London that got off his train to take me to the airport train; Swiss Tom that we met in Prague and had a lot of fun together; Eduardo, a spanish guy that agreed to take part of my luggage so I didn't have to pay an exhorbitatnt amount of excess baggage, ERWIN for his amazing recommendations on where to go, all the people that read the blog, new friends like Giorgio, Alessandro, Marco, Salvatore, Elissa, Jean Michele, Chris, Corina, Anna, Paola, etc, for having seen my sis perform so well, I am sure I am forgetting many people, some I don't remember their names but they are all stamped in my mind!

So, until the next one.

GOING HOME

So now I am home. Vancouver is my home.

I was very happy when the plane landed, I came back in one piece, lost a few things along the way like the Helmut Newton poster I bought!, 3 pairs of gloves, 1 tuck, 2 umbrellas, 2 pairs of earings, an eye shadow, the rust that had been covering my mind and soul for a long time, many fears (though got new ones, like heights), but mainly I was happy because I came back recharged, reloaded, reinspired and really, really happy.


From Berlin to London 

Travelling has always been the best medicine for me, and it always will be. It is my passion and I feel so blessed and fortunate to be able to do this. I guess I started this trip trying to escape my life, but at the end I discovered that what I needed was not to let my life escape me. Travelling for me clarifies the cliche of "live each moment to the max", why? well, when a trip starts you pretty much know the day and time that you are leaving and the day that you are coming back, you have a finite, predetermined amount of time, so it's up to you to enjoy it and spend the time wisely, or to stay in the room sleeping and doing nothing, so boy , did I ever enjoyed every single minute to the max, I did, and I am so happy about it. Right now I am jet lagged, exhausted, my poor feet are in the worse condition ever..... emergency pedicure absolutely necessary!! I have so much creative inspiration, and inspiration overall.

Travelling changes you, whether you like it or not,so, we'll see how I turn out!! hahaha. I will be posting more pictures soon, and I think that I will keep this blog going, thought I don't have a clue of what I will be writing about, I'll just let it flow.

I will probably move to Europe sometime, I would really like to live there, Rome! yesyesyes, perhaps Spain or Amsterdam. Who know where the wind will take me next.

MORE BERLIN

One of my favourite photographes is Helmut Newton. For those of you who don't know him he did a lot of the advertising photographs that you have probably seen, for big brands and lots of them were published in Vogue and other high end fashion magazines. He is also well known for his nude photographs of women, I really like the work as it is really intense and classy. Anyway, the museum was excellent, to see all those images in very large format, as well as a lot of the props and letters between him and his clients, the creative process etc.

There is a German department store ZeWeBe (o algo asi jiji), que es asi como el Harrods aleman. El piso 6 es de pura comida, diario traen cosas frescas de cada lado de Europa, tienen mas de 1400 variedades de queso y mas de 2000 de panes, panecillos, etc, Vinos, dulces, chocolates, embutidos, tes, y hasta Cannabis Iced Tea que por supuesto compre unos cuantos - ni me hacen nada, jijiji, Este piso es algo que uno deber ver, que maravilla, y hay barecillos de Champagna, de martinis, de vino, de te, de chocolate caliente, 2 o 3 restaurancillos y el caso es que todo se antoja. Tambien venden aguacates de Kenya, tunas, tamarindo, todos los ingredientes apra cocinar Thai, en breve, el paraiso culinario gourmet, una maravilla!


Mmmmhhh! que rico, es buen desayuno! 


Tea anyone?? Each tag is a different tea and the containers have them, there are so many of them! cb2006 

On Saturday evening I went to see my sis Cecilia play, it was awesome!! I haven't sseen her play solo, ever, so it was a really special treat. She was accompanied by a pianist (mexican too) and they played contemporary mexican classical music. Really the music not my cup of tea (at least the first part) but the second part was excellent. It was in a very intimate setting, like when Mozart gave concerts to the King in a room with some special guests, and there was wine, and socializing, so it was quite the experience.


Cecilia about to start playing! 

Some of the people that went were other musicians, some conductors, cultural attaches of different countries and from different embassies and some just regular people. The concert was very very well received and not to brag but my sis was brilliant, I was touched and I am so proud of her. After that she abandoned me, so I ended up going to dance salsa with the pianist! hahaha, and there he met some of his classmates in Mexico that now live and study in Moscow and haven't seen each other for something like 8 years.! Imagine....it is so weird.

Sunday, just came back from Postdam, a Berlin suburb, where during tumultous times it was the most tolerant place of all Germany in terms of culture, religion and race. King Frederik had his summer palace there, beautiful grounds! It was very very cold, everything was snowed but the sun was shinning and the sky was bright blue, I think we were about -4 or so. I walked around, took pictures, enjoyed the sight seeing and went for a fancy, yummy german lunch as my farewell. For dessert I had some of the best chocolate ice cream ever (best one in Argentina and nothing compares to real Italian gelato, mmmmmhhhhh!!!).


Vista del Palacio de Prussia en Postdam. Que fillo!!! 

In Berlin I stayed with Cecilia at an apartment of someone she knows, very nice place and our hostess Sigrid was wonderful, thank you! So I went back, packed and sat down with the people that were there and had a wonderful night that ended about 4 am! I had to wake up at 6! to leave at 7 and be able to catch the metro to the airport. Well, I woke up at 7!!! so ruuuuuuush, run, but I made in with plenty of time - I tell you - German precision is NOT a myth, everythign seems to run quite smooth there! So took the plane back to London (luton airport). Once there I took the train all the way to Heathrow. Once in Heathrow I left the boarding room a couple of times, I thought, I will just go to Italy and see what happens! I almost did it, but then I am not interested in going somewhere to stay as an illegal alien and wash dishes, i don't like washing dishes! so I got in the plane with a big smile on my face....I had a fantastic adventure!

BERLIN

It is not a typical European city, it is big and occupies a large area, a car is necessary to get around or the excellent public transport. As many European cities Berlin was totally destroyed after the war, so even though many of the builings were reconstructed to be like the previous ones, the city doesn't feel old. Also, after the Wall came down and with the reunification of Germany, Berlin is going through amazing growth and redesign. There are dozens and dozens of new buildings, some really spectacular super modern constructions. Many Berliners are not that happy about it as they say that it just doesn't feel like "their" city, that foreigners might appreciate it but they don't.


Just some of the buildings! 

Right in the middle of "downtown" there is a bombed church, it was left there as a reminder of the horrors of war. It is a real downer and boy does it help to remind you of the brutality that man is capable of. Most of my trip I have been amazed and touched about the great capacity that mankind has to create, produce and live surrounded by beauty so seeing the other side, the great capability of brutality and hate, completes the picture, it's the good and bad the light and the dark, the ying and yang. I prefer to think about the good, I think most people are good.


The bombed church 

I went to Charlie's Point and went into the Wall Museum. The exhibit from the design perspective is crap, but the content is amazing, it is hard not to cry, those were really insane times and as a person that has always lived in peaceful countries is is very hard to comprehend what people went through. But, it is great to have the photographic records as well as anecdotes and documentation.


Signage. Me infront of a piece of the Wall. 


I met a few people that escaped Eastern Berlin and some people that were the "helpers" on the W.Berlin side, the stories are fantastic and at this time they sound so intersting and entertaining but the reality of that time was brutal. There is also an exhibit called "The Topography of Terror", it's an open exhibit (it hasn'b been finishe, started being designed by a swiss architect but the project has gone to tender again). The exhibit is in the underground SS quarters, it is creepy, the vibe there is strong and unpleasant. I also went to see the Jewish monument of 1000 steps.


The Wall 

GUTEN MORGEN

So, Berlin here I am! Getting here was a royal pain in the ass but I finally did. At the train station I met Piti and off we went to the place where se was staying. It was great to have a place to stay here. It is in verz nice neighbourhood and the apartment is reallz, reallz nice and big. It is a little bit a way from the Centrum but the metro system is fantastic. It has the absolute best signage anywhere I have been, in fact, if I am not mistaken that is because it was designed by a studio here in Berlin called Meta, one of the best in design in the world, specificallz for the typography. Anzway, it is so nice not to get lost for hours at a train station due to lack of proper signage!!
So the first night we went back to the main metro station and took bus 200 which drives around the main tourst sites in Berlin, it was very dark and very cold, we got out at some spot, found a really nice reataurant and had dinner, a big sausage with potates and sourkraut, excellent! and there was a very good and animated jazz band playing. After that it was almost midnight so we went back to the apartment, it was so freaking cold!!!


The night I arrive it snowed! View from the apartment where I was staying. 

on the way to BERLIN

There were no trains to Berlin or anything near so I had to fly to Frankfurt. I got a cheap flight out of the Girona airport so there I go, takes 1 hr or so to get there. The plane was delayed by more than an hour due to bad weather. As it is a cheap flight thez only let zou carry 15 kilos of luggage, so I had to empty mz suitcase, and I swear i onlz left mz towel, mz pijama and underwear in and it was 15 kilos (I have a witness to this because i know nobodz will believe it!) so i put everything else in bags and had to ask somebody to please carrz mz stuff as if it was his so i didnt to have a fortune in luggage (more than the $%&/ flight itself!), so this guz was super nice and he was also going to frankfrut and between the two of us were able to snick in all the stuff. Because the plane was late the connecting bus in Frankfurt to the train station got screwed bzy 2 hours!!! and when i got in the bus with a packaged salad the §$%&%&/ bus driver didnt let me in with it, i had to put it in the luggage, he was a total ass, even a couple of people from the bus got so mad at him and at me for not fighting with him. Anyway, I got to the train stataion and the train was leaving in 13 minutes, so I had to run with all mz monsters but took the train all right. It takes 4 hrs Frankfurt - Berlin. At my arrival Piti was waiting for me so we took the excrusion to her place.


Flying over the Swiss Alps 


So I will be posting next from Berlin, so far, so good.

More on Barcelona!!!

Well, well, I was reading the Barcelona stuff and I have not told you about a whole bunch of places I went and saw, like for example walking around the Barrio Gotik, it has some super funky shops, there are lots of little windy cobble stone narrow streets, medieval buildings and as my friend Erwin says it is important to think that there were people walking around there over 2000 years ago! The Ramblas are reallz nice, the main one which is a major turist spot has lots of different flower and bird standas. At the bird stands you can also buy chicks and roosters!! The Rambla de Catalunya has very nice and fancy stores and restaurants, and there are sections in other ramblas that just sell whole sale stuff like for example jewellery, or t shirts, or stuff like that.


One of many different living statues on the Rambla. 

At the Boqueria Market they sell fresh lobsters and crabs and humongous prawns (they have a different name) but they are so fresh that thez are still alive, and not in water but resting on ice, like at the boats in Steveston! I didnt know and the first day i saw it I thought that I was still drunk....haha, the lobsters are moving, is it me or are thez reallz?? hahaha


Candy stand at the Boqueria market 


So many different kinds of eggs!! CB2006 


Breakfast at the Boqueria Market. Mussels, papas bravas and a "clara" = michelada. It was coooold!! 

Oh, i forgot again more things, so iäll edit this post later.

ADIOS BARCELONA

Last day I went out with a girl that I met, Lucia. We are the same age and got along reallz well, went to a couple of bars and then for a great tapas dinner.

I leave this city with lots of good memories, excellent brain food, tons of inspiration and new friends. I hope that I get to show them Vancouver some time. So I will be back, and girls, the shopping here is to DIE ten times over for, mabze one day we can all come shopping together! and have a Barcelonian Girls 2 Weeks???

And Albert, Jomelo, Rafael, Lucia, Danny, Steffi, Oscar, Randall, Neu and all the others thanks for making mz staz in zour citz so special!!!

son unos lindos todos.


Rafael and Jomelo and myself after spending a really fun day. It was late, we had very alchologic coffees and I kind of stunk, so couldnt ge my coat off....to much information!!! hahaha 

BARCELONA -todavia mas que contar!

Well, well. Every night at around 2 or 3 am I went to have a hot chocolate to the Opera Cafe, the waiters got to recognize me and I would get mz choco right awaz, mmmhhh yummy... nice and rich and thick and so chocolatie, of course i think that mz ass is starting to show it, hahaha, but I swear that everz day I have gone up at least 250 steps, I should have brought a pedometer to record how much I have walked, it is insane!!


Picasso doodles and cathedral 

There was a cold front invaded Cataluna and they had the coldest winter in the last 10 years (for what thez were sayzing), it snowed in parts of it!! so about 3 days were cold like frozen hell and raining! so it was reallz hard to go visit all the outdoor places, but as a good Vancouverian zou know, get the umbrella and start walking, so I did. I wanted to go to see the Morena Virgin in Montserrat but the place was closed due to rocks falling, gondolas not working and snow, but I was luckz enough that it opened the last day I was there so I went, it was a bit of a Japanese tour as I onlz had 3 hours to walk around, my gosh!!! oooohhh so beautiful, so quiet and so impresive, the rocks used to be under water millions of years ago so the formations are really smooth and tall and round.


Montserrat mountains. 

The monasterz and the church are built withing the rocks -separate structures- and it is sooooo silent. The views are wonderful and the weather was amazing. There is a Via Crucis where you walk of a paved trail up the mountian and the 12 stations of the cruxificion are shown with big sculptures. Also, around the area athere are several religios sculpures done in very modernistic approach, and angel in the giacometi style and so on, iäll post some pictures.


Montserrat sculptures and a section of where people put their candles, mine is a red one in the bottom left hand corner. Photo. CB2006 


I didnt buy he montserrat honey as my luggage monster scared me in Venezia, everytime i have to carrz I get blisters on my hands and they hurt for 2 days.


Monastery 

I was having breakfast at the Boqueria market almost every daz and I would have beer at 10 with chorizo or fish or something weird but also Macedonia (fruit salad). The market is soooo cute, Granville Island super big and of course with all other sorts of things. I don´t care about eating weird things but I did trz a few like the Boquerones that Marga asked, so I did have a few in your honour and thez are so yzmmz, those are the kinds of food that scare me....hahaha but i liked them. Tapas is the best thing to eat and bocadillos and bikinis (ham and cheese sandwich), and arenques and all the delicios things.

I found Barcelona to be an amazing city, with amazing architecture and cultural life, thriving night life, excellent food and the people that I met were all great, and kind and generous and funny they have a very particular sense of humour that I really enjoyed.


The Falic buidling, isn't this horrendous, but it totally fits the crazy city of Barcelona 

I will be heading to Berlin, I extended my stay bz a few days so I will have the chance to se my sister Cecilia play in Berlin.

Tu bagetas.....BARCELONA BAGETA (barcelona lives, pulses or something like that)