Waiting in Joburg and arrival in Cape Town

Currently waiting for my connecting flight from Johannesburg to Capetown. Sadly  not in the lounge, since I'm inadvertently booked on the Brittish Airways flight, instead of the Cathay code share. Still, that meant that I got a chance to explore the airport, which will be useful when I transit through here later. The facilities are pretty good - pretty much everything except free wifi, which is an issue largely because the systems are down in both cellphone shops so they can't activate a sim card for me.  I think this might be the furthest I've ever been from home - if not in distance, then in transit time - i think almost 40 hours with layovers? Its a bit disorienting with the time and date changes - like, i think i entirely lost Thursday this week. As much as I like the lounges in HongKong (the best showers I've ever used, noodle bars, coffee lofts, and yummy melon martinis) if I do South Africa again, I route through Europe. The crazy miles I'm earning do kinda make up for it though, and I did hoard some munchies from the other lounges to snack on now.  Anyways, trip uneventful so far - a trend that I hope continues through to meeting B in Capetown, and getting to the hotel. The only hiccups so far is that I'm not sure I packed properly - at first I was concerned I forgot my swimsuit - but now the more pressing concern is that I didn't pack warm enough... ------- Posting this from the lobby of our Cape Town hotel, waiting for the hotel car to come get us. The weather is all rainy and miserable right now, and was yesterday too. Pretty much all we've done is relax in our room, though we did head to the waterfront for dinner and some shopping. It's way too cold to enjoy the outdoor pools, so just picked up another jacket. First impression of the city beyond the rain is that its newer and cleaner than I expected, though we are right downtown. Plans for today will similarly indoors - had been considering one of the Saturday markets, but it's too wet to be outside. Maybe high tea and shopping?

Hello from sunny Palma!

Currently on the vintage train heading from Palma to Soller. Taking the day off from the conference, partly because we only got home from the gala at like 2am, so had a late start this morning. Thegala itself was kind of meh - we got there late and there wasn't a table for us, and the food was all meh. The view was spectaculor though, and the little dace party after was kind of fun.  To finish off Barcelona. After the cathedral, we had lunch at one of the buffets nearby - fun because there was a huge salad bar, refillable drinks, and also, I had gotten coupons for it waiting in line for tickets to Sagrada Familia. afterthay we wnt to Parc Guell, for the fantastic view and Gaudi's famous mosaic worth. We got off at one ofthe nearby metro stations, which is where everyone said to get off. It meantz.s walking up a hill thats only partly services by escalators, and then a fair walk to get to the more famous parts of the park. On our way back we discovered that there was a bus that pretty much went from really close to the fancy stuff to our hotel. Next time. After that, back to our room for a siesta and a quick shower, then off for dinner. We had been planning on just doing one of the restaurants down the street, but just kept walking, passin the plaza D'Espana and hitting the old city before grabbing food and coming back.  The most notable things about our second day in Barcelona was the weather and then the flight delay. In between, we visited the cathedral, passed through a Sunday market in the old city, and  during the worst part of the rain, ran from the port to the nearby maritime museum to dry up and get some shelter. Not to mention getting my dad boat themed souvenirs.  Our stay in Palma had been good so far. We ended up missing the game getting to our hotel, but had goals announced asthey happened on the plane, inthe airport and on the bus. We made it to out hotel just in time to join in the celebrations. Our hotel was kinda awesome. On a main street - intact closed of to cars for the game - but at the same time totally soundproof. After wandering around plaza Juan Carlos and Passeig born, we grabbed a pizza and called it a night.  The past two days in between conference activities - and the programming is ridicous, starting at 8:30, and me leaving at lunch means not leaving till 3:30 - we've managed to explore some f the old city and see the port. The welcome reception was in city hall, which was really impressive inside, and the gala I mentioned before was on the waterfront so all in all saw quite a bit. Still though - super excited for the day off, and being able to see outside of Palma. If we get to go to the beach even better.  ---- Posting now because heading to the airport soon to go home. Will write in the air, and post when I find wifi. 

Beginning of Granada and a note from Barcelona

So far having a really hard time in Granada. First there isn't a tourist office at the train station, and no bus straight from it, so when a train arrives the taxi lines are massive. So we walk down to the main street to get a taxi that ultimately doesn't take us to our hotel, dropping us at a nearby plaza, saying cars cant go where we are staying - which would be true, except theres an exception specifically for taxis going to hotels. Anyways, after an uphill climb on cobblestones, on what I would later find to be a lovely street beside the Darrow river with views of Alhambra but at the time was pure torture, we get to the street of our hotel. Which is even steeper and cobblestonier. And technically, it isn't a hotel  but more like a bed and breakfast, except breakfast isn't really included. So an Inn? Not sure what I was thinking booking it. I think I was swayed by proximity to Alhambra, and being in the historic district, which is nice, but not worth the inconvenience. If I ever find myself in Granada again, Im going with somewhere near the Cathedral, preferably on the Gran Via. Or, one of the handful of hotels actually in Alhambra, which though hard to get to, would atleast allow you to wander the gardens. And given how pricey the hotels there are, presumably they'd have shuttles to handle transfers? Anyways, heading out for a bite to eat now. Hopefully things start looking up. Spain vs Portugal tonight! -------- So, currently sitting at the train station in Granada waiting for our overnight train to Barcelona, after a very long two and a half days. The train station is ridiculously tiny and ill equipped to handle a steady flow of tourists. Not only is there no tourist office, as I complained about earlier, but also, no luggage storage of any type. luckily I found out about the luggage issue ahead of time, so planned our trip around needing to be in Albaycin in the evening. No facilities here meant we had dinner at a bar nearby, which actually worked out nicely. I really love this price model where you get tapas free with your drink. Not super fancy stuff like In the touristy restaurants, but sandwiches, soups, and just now, chicken wings. Easily enough food to cover the cost of your drink.  Anyways, to recap. Our first half day in Granada went ok. After resting a bit in our hotel, and chatting with a really nice Australian couple while waiting out the hottest part of the day, we wandered the downtown a bit, shopped, and ran some errands - basically getting my cell phone set up. We tried to book our tickets to Alhambra at a ticket office near Plaza Nueva, but found out that the preorder tickets for morning entry were sold out - and when the temperature climbs up over 40C, you definitely want a morning ticket. So we planned to get to Alhambra before the ticket office opened at 8am to buy a day of ticket.  After that we wandered around a bit looking for dinner, when we realized it was close to game time so went straight to a bar that the host at our inn recommended. And we had a fabulous time. It was the first time we encountered the free tapas with drinks, so it actually worked out that we didn't have dinner before. And having gotten there a bit before game time we had awesome seats. The game itself was fab, and even mom got super into it by the end. It would have been perfect if it was shorter, given the early start we'd need the next day. Anyways, almost train time. More soon.  ---- And now sitting in the restaurant car on the train. Mom is in her couchette and is watching our beds. I'm not super comfy hanging out there - need to remember to upgrade to the highest class possible for overnight train rides, especially to the first level where your group would have the car to themselves. Will probably hang here until I finish my diet coke, before sequestering myself in the room. There's aircondiioning there, but the rooms haven't chilled yet.  And back to the recap. As I mentioned earlier, our first full day in Granada started super early. Given our proximity to Alhambra, we walked up the hill to it, not stopping to have breakfast. Though we did stop many times going up the steep hill to take breaks and have water. Anyways, we get there, and mom stands in line while I grab cafe com leche for me, and a cafe cortada (just a bit of milk with the espresso) for mom, along with a sandwich. We get our tickets without any major issues, and enter the complex not long after it opens. And it's gorgeous - but I don't think I was fully properly appreciative, since it pretty much looked like Morocco. Honestly, having been to morocco, it was never in my plans to visit Granada, a city whose main attraction, but or some reason mom (who was with me in Morocco) wanted to see it, so in the itinerary it went.  ------- So - currently I'm starting my second day in Barcelona, and our schedule has been too tight to blog much, with us getting up early and staying out till late. Today wiling more of the same, with squeezing in as much time here in Barcelona for sightseeing before we fly out tonight to Palma. Where we have the Euro final, and then another early morning because of my conference presentation. Anyways - posting this incomplete recap now. More to come later, maybe after my presentation is over and done with?

From Madrid to Granada

Apparently it's been a year since I last posted, almost exactly - mainly because I didn't blog at all my last trip to Asia. Hopefully I get back into he swing of thugs this Spain trip, so am all set for my African adventure at the end of the month. Currently sitting in the train, waiting to leave Atocha station here in Madrid. A bit disappointed - turns out our window seat doesn't really have a window, so mom is currently sitting in another row, which hopefully isn't reserved. Also, the train doesn't seem to have wifi, though online it said the entire Renfe system should, and there are neither plugs at the seats nor a restaurant car that I can find. Though all that does make this a good time to start the first blog post of the trip on my iPod while conserving my laptop battery to do work later.  Though we've only been in Spain for two days so far, it feels like we've been travelling here forever.  Starting off with our flight from Toronto that was late into Heathrow making us miss our connection to Madrid. The flight we were rebooked to was also late, and notably did not have food service as our scheduled flight should have, so we had to grab a super fast snack at the terminal. Which was super necessary for me, as for the frat time ever, I actually got the low calorie meal that I have down on my expedia profile and forgot about. The dinner was fine, though super plain (lettuce and vinegar, plain chicken breast, rice, and cut fruit - everyone else had cheese cake), but my breakfast was unsweetened apple sauce, which I don't really eat. Really have to remember to change my meal request before flying home.  Anyways, our first day in Madrid started off with a siesta - both because we were super tired after our trip, and because it was really hot outside. We had taken the metro from the airport, an easy trip, but walking to the hotel after taking our suitcase up the stairs almost ended me. Our taxi driver today said it's supposed to be 42C today, and it felt atleast that hot Monday. We stayed at the Gran Hotel Conde Duque, booked off a travelzoo deal and going over my budget was totally worth it. The hotel was gorgeous, with a library, tea room and bar, and our room was well appointed even having a little sitting area. The wifi was kinda meh, limited to 2 hours not per day but per 24 hours, which made it difficult on day 2 since I had checked my email late the night before, but the quality of the quality of the breakfast more than made up for it. I'm going to miss it - besides standard stuff like eggs and bacon, there was spanish omelettes, churros, fresh squeezed orange juice, and awesome coffee. There was even a little corner with specialty foods, including stuff like pate, and Goji berries for your cereal. The places were in for Granada and Barcelona are smaller so likely won't have quite as large a spread, but are hopefully good too. I try to take into account reviews of breakfast quality when booking hotels, since I'm not a toast and cereal person. Though worst comes to worst, Mc Donalds  does have a yogurt parfait on their value menu I want to try.  Luckily, life in Madrid is built around taking a siesta, so even with a late start to the day we got a lot in. We walked from our hotel all the way to Plaza Mayor, only getting lost once enroute. On our way, we passed pretty much everything, including the Gran Via, the Plaza D'Espana, the palace and two surrounding gardens whose name I forget, the Opera, and Puerta de Sol. We ended up having food at a McDonalds enroute because I wanted one of the special cups for Euro 2012, though we did snack and have gelato at one of the bistros at Plaza Mayor. We ended up staying put much later than expected, largely because the Spanish keep such late hours - the plazas and cafes were still just filling up when we started heading home at 10.  Day 2 in Madrid had more wandering around, ending off with the Prado museum. In the morning we wandered the courtyard of the castle, and ended up attending mass at the cathedral. My fave part of the day was lunch at the Mercado San Miguel, tapas, paella, Sangria and churros con chocolate. We did some shopping in the afternoon, both to be indoors and because mom didn't quite pack for this weather. Then we were off to the Prado, which is fabulous. If I'm ever in Madrid again, I'm definitely devoting more time to museum hopping. The collection at the Prado is really well curate featuring mainly Spanish painters ad painters to the Spanish court from the 18th and 19th century in the rooms we visited. After reading the notes by almost every painting, I felt like an expert, seeing connections between the works of Titian, Rubens, Velasquez and Goya among others.  Anyways, I should probably get to work. Need to go over my notes for the conference, and also hopefully work on another paper. We have a few more days of tourist time before we hit Palma, but given how long our days have been, this might be one of my last chances to really get stuff done. Will also hopefully have a chance to just sit back and enjoy the fields, orchards, and mountains of the Spanish countryside.  More soon :)

Munich early morning.

Killing time at a coffee fellows cafe in Munich, as nothing is really open. Our overnight train from Berlin arrived super early, and it's Sunfay which is apparenty always a slow day in Germany. Are likely going to do hop on hop off tour, since the weather is crapy.

The weather actually cleared up yesterday in Berlin so we had a really pleasant day visiting Parks at Wansee, and then spending mist if te day at Museum island, which I'll recap lyre tonight. Desperately need some more coffee.

Day 10 - 15: Bit of Muenster and Berlin arrival

Currently lounging in our absolutely massive room in Berlin. I think most appartments my friends live in is smaller... And the place is purple, which is truly fabulous. The weather here is kind of rainy and miserable, but after wandering the Berlin wall (an art gallery really with beautiful paintings - I highly recommend bringing a permanent market, as some of them are interactive, and leaving your mark would be cool :) ) in the rain, we ended up buying one of those tourist passes, where you get 48 hours of transit, along with discounts on museums and attractions. It works out to be quite a good deal, though I recommend checking into what the discounts are for the specific sites you planned on visiting.

Anyways, to recap Muenster briefly. Firstly, our hotel was really fancy. And no part of the room more than the washroom, which besides being gigantic (and wheel chair accessible) had speakers from the tv, and heated floors. The heated floors came as a surprise - I had wondered what the dial did after my first shower, and pressed it, and then we realized it was heated floors in the morning. Which was a bit bad, as the lack of coutner space meant that our stuff, including pressurized bottles of mouse, were sitting on the floor....

Anyways, the hotel was also in a really nice area, within the aldstadt. On our way to the conference, held at the Schloss (part of the University, and apparently a Duke's palace previously), we pass all the main sites on a leisurely walk, including the principalmarkt, two of the many churches, and the Cathedral. interestingly enough, almost none of the buildings are original, and were all rebuilt following WW2. As much as possible using original materials, mainly for considerations of cost and availability during the reconstruction, and according to historic plans. Though the stained glass windows in the cathedral were very modern looking so perhaps they're a new design? My favourite walk was actually one morning when there was a farmers market in front of the cathedral where we stopped for breakfast one day. On the one hand, its an easy city to navigate, as long as you ignore maps, and to some extent road signs... so many of the little paths and alleys curve around in confusing ways, and some aren't even named in maps.

Muenster is a really nice city to hang out in, though there isnt that many sites to visit. Besides the afore mentioned churches and markets, we also visited the Picasso museum. As part of the conference social activities, we also went to a wesfalian beer hall, where we tried some regional foods, and also got a walking tour which gave some interesting context. It's a really good venue for a city

Anyways, have to start getting ready for the day here. May possibly add more notes on Muenster later, but it might have to wait until after Berlin. Everyone we've met has really talked about how fabulous it is here, so I'm kind of excited to get out there and explore the sites :)

Day 10: Muenster

Had a whole blog post written up on my ipod, but apparently get only wired internet in the hotel, so decided to start fresh rather than trying to transcribe it. I forgot how much easier it was to work on here. This reminds me that I've yet to post any trip photos. May possibly try to do that now, while I'm relatively stable during the conference.

Anyways, had a chll morning in Dusseldorf, mainly having breakfast, packing, and then trying to learn german off of youtube. Which went better than expected, so I atleast know enough to be polite, and also possibly ask for directions. Whether Ill be able to understand anything that people tell me is another question. Still, while not everyone speaks English, you can usually find someone to help you out when needed.

The trip down to Muenster was also pretty smooth, though the train was about 30minutes late. Still, train information people printed off the train schedule for me, so atleast I knew more or less where I was, and could estimate how far away Muenster was.

Currently in my room at the Treff Hotel Muenster. I really like it - it's all posh and modern, but still a part of the aldstadt. The room is massive. Also, don't know if this is true of all the rooms, but this one seems to be wheelchair accessible, one of the consequences of which are tonnes of floor space, and a washroom that's bigger than some hotel rooms I've stayed in. Our room has a view of a park aswell as a stabucks, which only makes me love this place more.

I wandered around the old town earlier, stopping by the cathedral and some of the other sights, and stopped at this cute bakery on the domplatz for a quiche - they serve them to go, on these little plates which was cute. Most things seem to be closed because its Sunday, so things were nice and quiet, though there were some tourists around the centre of the city.  After some more wandering around, headed back towards the train station to grab some drinks, as only the shops around there seem to be open.

Will probably rest up for a bit, then head for an icecream or something, waiting for M to arrive from Frankfurt so we can have dinner.