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When I was a kid I was a Yankees fan - I lived in NYC. My father was a NY Giants fan. We occasionally listened to games on the radio and I went with my father to several games at the Polo Grounds, Ebbets Field and the original Yankee Stadium. And to several more at Yankees games with a school friend. Then I lost interest.

One summer at camp I became a Milwaukee Braves fan (was Boston Braves, now Atlanta Braves) and listened to a few games. Then I lost interest and ignored the sport.

In 1986 I remarked to Robert (rsc) "Oh the RedSox are in the World Series - let's watch some games" and we did. Little did we know what this was going to do to us. We started paying a bit of attention to games. In 1989 we went to some games in Fenway Park and continued doing this for a few years. And in 1994 we got Season's tickets (weekday games) and shared with several other people and started going to 10-15 games each year.

We watch most games on TV - and part-time on the radio during dinner or in the car.

While travelling we have gone to games in both the completely redone old Yankee Stadium and then the new Yankee Stadiums, Giant's games in Candlestick and then Oracle park, Twins in Metropolitan Park in Minneapolis, old Tiger stadium in Detroit, Mariners at Safeco field in Seattle, Phillies at Veteran's and Citizen's Park in Philadelphia, Cubs at Wrigley field in Chicago, Mets at Shea statium (me only), Athletics at Oakland Coliseum. And the RedSox triple A team in Pawtucket. I've been in Rogers Centre in Toronto (Blue Jays) not for a game but a computer conference.

So I've seen games in 17 stadiums and been in one other.

The UserPic is for the Canterbury RedSox (New Zealand - softball) - they weren't playing when we were there.

As our Australia trip of more than two months ago drew to a close we went to Tasmania. Lots of people had reciommended going there and I certainly make that recommendation.

A one of our first things we did was to go to MONA, Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, a fascinating experience. Some people apparently call it the Museum of Not Art.

The easiest way to get to it from downtown Hobart was by boat. The boat was amusing with a cow and a bunch of sheep that were actually seats. When we got there there was this marvelous sculpture of a cement mixer outside. Inside our first view showed in interesting architecture and the beginnings a huge range of types of art.

Click here for pictures:

Melbourne was a very interesting city. There were lots of new buildings under construction - with some interesting shapes and textures. We walked around, took trams, and also a boat ride down the river to the active port area.

Melbourne has a great public transportation system - with a network of trams. In the central city zone riding is free. You use Myki cards to pay by swiping when you get on and get off. Most of the trams are articlated cars with 3 or 4 doors - each door is wide enough for two people with a machine on each side of the door so 6 or 8 people could be entering at once. The traffic signalling system gives the trams priority.

This is a lot better than the Boston MBTA with lines of people using Charlie cards (quick), Charlie tickets (slow), and cash (slower) with only one machine. The trams were all pretty modern with audible announcements and displays. There is a free circle route that goes around the edge of the free zone.

A PDF of the tram map is here:

Click for these pictures:

As you can see from some of the pictures in this set there was a small city here. The stone work is in excellent shape. A few buildings have reconstructed thatched roofs on them. There is also lots of terracing which was presumably used to grow food and to make some of the area traversable. There is an elaborate drainage system to help the water flow in an orderly fashion.

It is so much fun and so interesting to just walk around gaping at everything.

The Incas were excellent architects and engineers. The stone walls were constructed very carefully with each stone carved to fit tightly so no mortar was needed. It's not too clear exactly what tools they used for the carving. The building walls all sloped inward a bit to help preserve them over time.

You can see some workers (of several species here) doing site maintenance.

Click here for some pictures

My status and a bunch issues one encounters when in in some amount of disarray.
I'm getting slow steady improvement day after day is what I've been seeing. Right elbow and lower arm, right shoulder are the worst. Almost no pain here today from noon to 4 for example. But I still have weak coordination - I have to accompanied by some staff - mostly they are there for backup and training.

Push not pull, it's on the Side - well actually the side the front of that thing-ma-jig - thing-ma-jig is on the side of the table!

Then there are the little details of sequencing. They come in for refill of a partially filled jug and don't return for an hour so you are waterless.

The yank aural suction device on the side of my bed is noisy so it is normally off and quiet. I use it occasionally to pick up phlegm. The on-0ff switch button labels for controlling it are badly labeled. Therefore...

I could go on and on. And will try to collect more.

A few years ago (2006) I was reading the travel section of the Boston Globe and I saw an article by Alison Arnett, the then restaurant critic. It opened:

"RUPIT -- We woke to birdsong and the faint clang of a bell on a sheep. Outside the terrace window, the scene could have been from centuries ago. Mist rose from a gorge cut by a rippling river, Medieval buildings in warm stone the color of oatmeal hung over narrow streets, and the sound of villagers greeting each other in sibilant Catalan was interrupted by church bells tolling the hour."

I saved this article so that sometime when we went to Barcelona we could go to this town.  As it turned out we couldn't stay in the village - the two hotels were closed for vacation (unknown length) so we stayed in a nice B&B a few kilometers from town and spent quite a few hours in the two days we were there in this town walking around, taking a short hike to a waterfall, and just enjoying it. A church, some restaurants and couple of gift shops is the commercial aspect. A quaint swinging bridge is the main pedestrian entrance to the town.  As usual you see some nice detail such as door knockers and light fixtures.

It is in the mountains - altitude of 822 meters. There is a big rocky hill in the center of town that I think was once was part of the site of a castle - great defense. There was some new construction at the edge of the village.  The next town is called Pruit; in 1977 it was  combined administratively with Rupit and now the municipality is called Rupit i Pruit.  We drove to Pruit and all that we saw was a church.

Click here for a slideshow

Salvator Dali lived in this charming house in Portlligat, near the village of Cadaqués.  It has been turned into a museum; small groups of 8 people (you need to make reservations) are taken through it and there is something to see in every corner.  He lived there for about 50 years with his wife, Gala.  It was a small shack when he first occupied it and it was extended numerous times.   

He himself described it: 
       “like a true biological structure [...]. Each new pulse in our life has its own new cell, a room”.

I think that is a pretty good description.  

Here are a few of the pictures that I took while wandering through. We got there by a 20 minute walk from our hotel in the village of Cadaqués - through the narrow streets and up the hill and then back down again.  It took us a bit longer to return since we got slightly lost.  

Click here for pictures
 

A view of the patio in back with pool:

Casa Batiló is one of the most interesting buildings by Gaudi. It was built as a residence in 1875-77. after Josep Batiló bought it in 1904 he commissioned Gaudi to modify it and turned it into what it is now. In 2002 it  was  converted into a museum.

You can see a huge amount inside - every step reveals another interesting detail. Mosaics, fireplace, colored tiles, stairwells, furniture, windows, roof top with decorated chimneys, back yard, the elevator, lighting fixtures,... We used the audio tour and that revealed lots of interesting tidbits.

I first saw it in 1971 on my trip with Arthur Stern (deceased) to see architecturally interesting places and returned again in 1972 but you couldn't see much then.

Click here for a slideshow

Here's a look inside:

Down in the workshop there were models of components, drawings, sculputres of Gaudi himself and a lot of information about how Gaudi studied various natural formations such as beehives, plants, etc. and various geometric constructions to get ideas and work out design details.

Click here for some pictures

We're back from a wonderful trip to Barcelona, Cadaqués, Rupit, and a few hours in Zurich. The contrast of the bustle and Gaudi architecture of Barcelona, the seaside town of Cadaqués, and the medieval village of Rupit with our hotel there in the countryside inn on a sheep and cattle farm was a special treat.

I have several thousand pictures and will soon be working on selecting some for some more detailed posts.

In Barcelona we stayed in the Barri Gotic with a view out our hotel balcony (Hotel Colon) of the Cathedral. We wandered through the narrow streets many times, finding some nice restaurants and various scenes. Lots of delicious Tapas. We saw a lot of Gaudi: Sagrada Familia (construction started in 1882 and the end date is projected to be 2040), Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila, Palau Guell, the Gaudi Museum; visited the Joan Miro and the Picasso museums; walked around Montjuic: and went to Montserrat for the day. I saw some of these in 1971 and 1972; but there is much more to see these days since there is much more open to visitors. I have to dredge out my old slides for comparison. This is one incredible city; I recommend that you find time to go there if you haven't done so!

We rented a car at the end of the Barcelona part of the trip and drove up the coast to Cadaqués. This is the town where Salvator Dali lived and his house is a museum absolutely chock full of stuff to see including some Michelin Men lounging about. Our hotel there (Playa Sol) overlooked the Mediterranean. It was a nice small town and a short hike to the nearby place where the Dali museum was.

Then we went to a medieval village in the mountains that I read about in a Boston Globe article about 8 years ago. It was quiet small village with narrow streets and lots of possibilities of hiking to surrounding spots. Our hotel there (Mas la Serra) was a few kilometers away in an isolated spot (tough to find). The views there were of fields with sheep and cows.

Spain, which is currently in great financial stress, has a pretty good infrastructure. The Barcelona Metro is great - count-down signs at all stations and trains at about 3 min intervals (MBTA: they are way ahead of you); the roads are well marked with good signage, pavement in excellent condition, and well engineered merges and divides on the highways (Mass Highways: are you listening?). Drivers on the highway get out of left hand lanes, use direction signals, and everyone lowered their high beams at the right time.

Yesterday, the day we left, there was a general strike in Spain. As a result our 2:40 flight to Zurich to catch the 5:45 flight to Boston was replaced with a 9:45 flight. We stayed at Mas la Serra only one night instead of the two planned since we didn't want to have to get up so early and stayed in a near-to-the-airport hotel. The extra time in Zurich gave us the opportunity to go into Zurich (a 10-12 min train ride and a train goes about every 10 minutes). We walked around a bit, had a nice lunch in one of the many resaurants on the pedestrian street and then noticed the National Museum was right there. We went in for a short visit for a very interesting special exhibit called Kapital about the medieval/renaissance histories of Venice and Amsterdam.