Things have been busy and I wanted to keep you guys caught up on everything but then each time I did something and didn't post, it just felt more daunting to get everything put in.
But I've changed my mind and am now just going to post about the most recent thing. Hopefully this will make me love blogging again (so read the blog, write a comment, write me an email, tweet me, something).
I am back in Norway, it is now 7:15pm and I've decided I'm done work for the day. It has been dark since about 2:30 or so, and it's my first day back after a short break. There was still hours of daylight today, so I still can't tell you about what it is like here without sunlight. Daylight and seeing the sun are two very different things, as anyone who lives in a cloudy region will tell you.
It might just be my imagination but I think that back in central Canada, home that is, it is often quite sunny, especially in the winter. Because the air is so cold in winter (its below -20C in Edmonton right now), there is not much moisture in the air, and thus fewer clouds, of course you still get clouds and snow storms and so on, but generally we get a lot of sun. Tromso on the other hand, gets a lot of cloud, at least by my spoiled prairie standards.
Anyway back to the main purpose of the blog. I just got back. From where? Spain! Nicole had some work stuff to do in Girona, Spain (near Barcelona) and so I decided to meet her there. The flights from here were cheap and I figured since she would be working each day, so could I (was a good plan in theory). We then would take a long weekend together in Barcelona and then part our separate ways.
I left here last monday night, starting my trip poorly when I was checking through my carryon back 30 minutes before the flight that my laptop wifi was off in case I wanted to use it on the plane. I discovered that I did not have my charger cable for my laptop. This was a disaster, I was a bit concerned as I had really hoped to do some work in Spain. A quick internet search on my phone showed that there was an Apple store in Barcelona. So if I could not find something at the Oslo airport or the Barcelona airport, I had a place where I should be able to easily by the correct power adapter for my computer.
I spent the night in Oslo at a hotel near the airport, I arrived well after every shop in Oslo would have closed so there was no point looking for my charger there. I spent a few hours revising my trip from Barcelona's El Prat airport to Girona so that I could stop at the Apple Store in downtown Barcelona. After a few hours sleep, I was back at the Oslo airport, waiting for my flight. One of the shops had an apple laptop charger, even providing the right wattage. However, Apple in its' ever wonderful wisdom had switched the laptop plug end last year, and this particular charger was the wrong one. I even chatted with Apple Support to see if it was possible to use this charger, but the answer was a resounding NO! Oh well, was worth a try
Lucky for me, Apple likes having prime real estate in big cities. The Apple Store in Barcelona is right on the Placa de Catalunya, near to one of the train stations. A cheap train ticket from the airport took my nearby, then it was just a short walk and I found the store! Charger in hand, I also quickly picked up a data sim card, making my life and navigation much easier.
I then refound the train station, and caught a train to Girona. Really it was pretty easy and straightforward. My plan to get to Girona was always to take a train from central Barcelona, just from a different station and a different train.
I don't want to go day by day through my time with Nicole and on my own in Girona. We upgraded Nicole's room to allow me to stay in it too, something that was very easy and cheap (10Euros/night extra). Nicole and I would have breakfast together around 8, then Nicole would be at work from 8:30 until 6:30, she would work until about 8:30pm at the hotel room and then we would go out for dinner and walk around the older part of Girona.
I had planned to work, really, I did, I brought my computer, bought a new charger, and did do some work, just not nearly as much as I had planned. Instead I found myself enjoying a long lunch in a placa (plaza) nearby the hotel. I would take my book, have a coffee, some tapas, a main and a dessert, and just sit in the sun a bit, reading and people watching.
Luckily some of the work I did do was just running code, so I could set my computer up to work for a few hours and then just come back to it.
Girona is a truly beautiful city. It is small, but old, has a very well preserved medieval section, some of the original Roman walls. It's medieval Jewish quarter is one of the best preserved in all of Europe.
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| Girona |
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| Girona, wall. |
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| The placa where I sat, read, and ate |
On Saturday we took a high-speed train to Barcelona and to a rental apartment there. We stayed in the apprentice apartment of a local fashion designer. I found the listing on Trip Adviser. The Atelier Barcelona is the name and it was GREAT! It was very conveniently located near the confluence of two major subway lines. It is located between two great shopping streets, with many excellent restaurants and tapas places nearby. I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to Barcelona.
It rained each...day...all...day in Barcelona. This kinda sucked, but that is weather, what can you do. Nicole and I still went out. We saw the La Sagrada Familia (full name is even longer), the big church designed by Anton Gaudi. We went to Park Guell (also designed by Anton Gaudi), and saw a few other Gaudi buildings. We walked around a lot, enjoyed some excellent food and still had a nice couple days.
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| Gaudi designed building |
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| Park Guell |
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| Park Guell |
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| La Boqueria Market in Barcelona |
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| La Sagrada Familia as seen from Park Guell |
La Sagrada Familia is something that pictures just cannot do justice. It is a fantastic building, a gothic style church that one really could not have built in medieval times. It is very airy, and light inside. Gaudi was very inspired by nature and it shows in all his work, it is fantastic, very smooth lines. It won't be completed for another 20 years or so, so it will only get more impressive.
Okay, well that is about all. It was really nice to get to see Nicole again, to have some time together and visit a new place. Spain has never been very high on my list of places to see, not really sure why. Though now there are all kinds of other places I'd like to go to in Spain.
I'd love to see a FC Barcelona or Real Madrid game, go to Montserrat, the Dali Museum, see a MotoGP race, see the Pyrenees. I'd love to see more of the country, maybe spend some time on a quiet beach, surfing, relaxing.
For now, it was a nice break, was hard to come back here instead of to be going home, even though I do like Tromso alot.
Okay well that is all for now. I have enjoyed writing this, though now I need to get leave for home.
