Archive for December, 2005

My macro lens is very cool. Here is a picture of a ceiling at some outdoor plaza area in Seville, Spain:

The ceiling was some 40 feet (or so it seemed) away from me, yet the lens got a great picture of it. I really enjoy macro work, and will hopefully get a tripod for christmas.

While walking along the street in Barcelona, I saw something that astonished me. A flock of “wild” parrots in Barcelona!

I really like nature, and I really like birds, so it was cool to see them. I snapped a few pictures, but they didn’t want me to get too close.

Some of my favorite spain pictures are now on my Spain Pictures Page. Be sure to check them out. Eventually, I’ll add comments for what each picture is.

I’ve uploaded a few (3) pictures so far — tomorrow I will drop off the rest of the good ones. Here is a sneak peek:

These will be on my pictures page.

Well, I safely made it back to good ‘ol America, however, it was a long journey. I started out on a night train from Seville to Barcelona; after the 10 hour train ride (where I got to watch a gorgeous sunrise on the mediteranean coast) I spent my last day in Barcelona with Louise. We went to the aquarium, and it was pretty cool, although I’m looking forward to visiting the Montery Bay one sometime soon. Then, I took a night flight from 8pm-10pm to Frankfurt, Germany. I spent the night at the airport; that wasn’t too fun, and I slept maybe two hours and did a lot of reading in the Chronicles of Narnia. At about 1am, I was resting on two bench seats sort of half-asleep when a very nice night-cleaning worker came up to me and put two blankets over me. Some people are so nice, and I really appreciated it. It made my night a lot more comfortable. I met a lot of nice people in Spain and Germany, and it reaffirms my belief that most people are really good people. The airport was pretty dead from 10pm-4:30am, at which point it sort of came alive with people ready for their travels. So, I got up, cruised around until 8am and left for home. On the flight back, I slept a few more hours and got to watch Charlie and the Chocolate factory (the new version, which i hadn’t seen and really wanted to see, so i was happy to watch it). I sat next to two germans (I got the window, as usual; I can’t ever really remember not having a window seat on a plane — i like window seats!), but they didn’t seem to interested in chatting, but once we got to San Fran I told them some of the sights as we flew over them (Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Oakland (is that a sight??), etc). Jason picked me up from the airport, and we went to his house to pick up Sara and go to the climbing gym. I climbed w/them and JR and Ellie, and then we all went to J’s and had some yummy stir fry while drinking gin and tonic, playing card games, and finally watching happy gilmore (which I promptly fell asleep to). It was a fun, but long, day.

Pictures coming soon!

Right now, i am in sevilla, spain. it is really cool down here. i say down here..because it is southern spain — about an 8 hour train ride from barcelona, that ended up being 10 hours because trains are frequently late. there is this great cathedral that i took a ton of pictures of, and a lot of other interesting touristy things. last night, we went to a small flamanco bar with a group of varied people …3 americans, one swiss-english gal, a french girl, and a guy from moroco (well, he ended up not going out, but we were all hanging out earlier). i really wish i knew spanish, but so it goes…eventually i´ll try to learn it. two nights ago we went to a cool club and danced around for hours. it was quite smoky, but i managed to put up with it. everyone here stays out till like 3 am — it is crazy but it has been nice to sleep in until 1pm..something which i have never done in the states.

i decided i really like architecture…there have been some amazing buildings here. i really like gaudi in barcelona…some of his buildings and parks are like none other. i can´t wait until i can check out my pictures from my camera. i dropped a bunch of them onto a CD a few days back so i could take more pictures. i wish i would have brought a spare memory card –that would have made things a lot easier, but c´est la vie. and i´ve been obsessed with taking pictures. it is so fun to play around with my new camera, and i´m really glad that i got it.

many of the people in spain are really nice. people help each other a lot, and are very talkative and friendly…i am so glad that louise can speak spanish so well, as i would really be lost here without her. a lot of people do speak english, but it is better to make an attempt to speak their native language in their country. i use the four or five spanish words i know, like hola! hasta luego!