hmm...
it appears that it doesn't like the formatting...
will do more later...


Had toyed with the idea of blogging from my mobile when in suitable 3G areas in europe, but didn't think i'd end up doing it. now that i realise i'm not getting the quality internet cafe time i thought i'd get, i will post brief notes of what we've done and maybe elaborate later when i have time or if anyone asks a specific question.i've been keeping notes of most days of our trip in my mob so far so i could refer to them when blogging. now i'll just email them!JULY 11got into Barcelona on overnight train. looked around for a bit before heading to karen's place. karen is a canadian lass who i used to work with in japan. she left japan to head to spain to teach english there, hooked up with a very nice Spaniard called Manell (i think that's right!) and has stayed ever since! even though i hadn't seen her for about 5 years and have barely kept in touch due to my laziness, she generously accepted to put Jee and i up for a few nights! feel the love! :-)kaz and Manell live just outside Barcelona in a place called Granollers.kaz took us to lunch at a nearby restaurant. good food and a crazy old waiter! i think he was rather taken with jee!crashed at kaz's. did some washing. resurrected ipod which had not been copying the photos from my digital camera like it was supposed to.in the evening, kaz and manell took us to a funky beach with a bar in a hut on the sand. in front of the hut were bamboo mats surrounded by citronella burners on poles. the moon was huge and beautiful. twas the perfect temperature and the sea was really calm.JULY 12thstarted the morning by waiting in Barcelona's Sants station for 2 hours to buy train ticks to montpellier. spanish system to buy tickets seems pretty shitty from what we've experienced. we had to wait a total of 8 hours over 3 different occasions to buy train tickets!after that we had a day of Gaudi madness! i have to admit my ignorance. prior to heading to Barcelona, i'd never heard of Antonio Gaudi. google him for more info. he was a brilliant architect who based his designs on nature. rarely used straight lines in his buildings. everything is smooth and flowing.
went to Park Guell and Gaudi Museum then visited the Sagrada Familia (the sacred family).bloody amazing.original construction began in 1882. it\'s still being built and they don\'t know when it\'s going to be finished! the money to build it has always come from donations and sponsors, not the government! probably would\'ve sent the city council broke if they had been paying for it!kaz was saying that they will have to demolish some of the surrounding apartment buildings to build the full cathedral. and they don\'t know how to complete the main tower (170m) yet! they\'re not even sure if Gaudi himself knew how he was going to do i before he died or if he was still planning it!a highly recommended sight to see.JULY 13thwe tried and failed to book the second part of our journey from montpellier to Nice again. the spanish computers weren\'t able to connect with the french computers for some reason.decided to leave that part to fate!went to Casa Batllo, a building i think Gaudi remodelled for the Batllo family. another amazing example of Gaudi\'s work.16euro50 to get in was a bit steep but hopefully the proceeds go to building the Sagrada Familia and the audio guide was free. good to hear background info thru the audio guide, but can be a bit over-exaggerated at times (eg. "the most original fireplace you\'ll ever see in your lifetime").but Casa Batllo does show you how much Gaudi thought about natural ventilation and lighting etc. real genius.after lunch walked thru old gothic area of Barcelona and la ramblas. there was a great market along la ramblas which had various fruit and veg shops and butchers. they also had some lolly stalls where i bought some lollies in the shape of fried eggs! so sweet... so tasty...had time to kill and we were sightseeing-ed out so did a bit of window shopping.jee really wanted to see a water fountain display at 930pm that she\'d read about. twas very pretty and there were heaps of people there too! bout a 15min display with lighting and music. think i counted a total of 21 tourist buses lining up along the road leading to the fountain!well i\'ll try sending this now and see if it works!",0]
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some of his buildings remind me of buildings i've seen in animated films by Hayao Miyazaki.went to Park Guell and Gaudi Museum then visited the Sagrada Familia (the sacred family).bloody amazing.original construction began in 1882. it's still being built and they don't know when it's going to be finished! the money to build it has always come from donations and sponsors, not the government! probably would've sent the city council broke if they had been paying for it!kaz was saying that they will have to demolish some of the surrounding apartment buildings to build the full cathedral. and they don't know how to complete the main tower (170m) yet! they're not even sure if Gaudi himself knew how he was going to do i before he died or if he was still planning it!a highly recommended sight to see.JULY 13thwe tried and failed to book the second part of our journey from montpellier to Nice again. the spanish computers weren't able to connect with the french computers for some reason.decided to leave that part to fate!went to Casa Batllo, a building i think Gaudi remodelled for the Batllo family. another amazing example of Gaudi's work.16euro50 to get in was a bit steep but hopefully the proceeds go to building the Sagrada Familia and the audio guide was free. good to hear background info thru the audio guide, but can be a bit over-exaggerated at times (eg. "the most original fireplace you'll ever see in your lifetime").but Casa Batllo does show you how much Gaudi thought about natural ventilation and lighting etc. real genius.after lunch walked thru old gothic area of Barcelona and la ramblas. there was a great market along la ramblas which had various fruit and veg shops and butchers. they also had some lolly stalls where i bought some lollies in the shape of fried eggs! so sweet... so tasty...had time to kill and we were sightseeing-ed out so did a bit of window shopping.jee really wanted to see a water fountain display at 930pm that she'd read about. twas very pretty and there were heaps of people there too! bout a 15min display with lighting and music. think i counted a total of 21 tourist buses lining up along the road leading to the fountain!well i'll try sending this now and see if it works!