So...Courtney was supposed to be here yesterday morning, but her first flight was delayed from DC to Philly and she missed her connection. As it happens there aren't so many flights from Brussels to Philly. One, in fact. So while I've had a really long day I'm sure her day has been infinitely longer in terminal F of the Philly international airport. I just checked her flight status and she is supposed to be early, however she has to find her luggage which apparently was sent on to Brussels without her via London. Why they didn't just put her on those flights also, I'll never understand. Oh well, c'est la vie.
I'm really looking forward to seeing her now. I will be dragging her around today just trying to keep her from falling asleep too early.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Safety Last
On one of my days off in Barcelona, I decided to try and catch up with some Couch Surfers. I looked through the list of events planned for the day and saw that there were a group of folks going to see a movie in the park in a part of town I hadn't seen yet. It was up on a hill called Montjuïc. So I decided to go up before the movie started and have a look around. Now there are lots to see up there, including the National Palace and a small village, but I was near the old castell which is a fortress and the Montjuïc gardens. I didn't know what to expect as I'm a terrible tourist and never do my homework, plus my guide book was in French, so I knew it was a fortress and some other basic information but the more complicated language of the descriptions was beyond my holiday motivations to translate. Figured I'd just see it for myself. So i packed up my day pack and headed for the subway. Took the subway to the funicular and then took a gondola called the teleferic up the rest of the way. 
When I reached the top I had to wander around a bit to find where I was going but eventually found the castell. It was late in the afternoon when I made it up there, so the crowds were sparse.
these are the gardens that lined the outside of the fort walls.
The movie wasn't starting until after dark around 10pm, but the teleferic stopped running around 6 or 7 so I had some time to walk through the casteel and around the gardens outside. I circled the top of the castell enjoying the views of the city and the harbor. The city is far more massive than I'd pictured from down on the ground and from where I was sitting I could see the huge cargo boxes being moved around the shipping yard by cranes. I stood and watched that for the better part of an hour, the odd ballet of machines, boxes and ships. There was one ship coming into port while I was up there, a massive thing which in the entire time I was up there probably only moved 100 feet as it maneuvered diagonally into the dock.
Since the movie wasn't starting for a while yet, I walked long the trail circling the fort after it had closed to tourists for the day and sat down to read for a bit. It was extremely quiet and peaceful up there after the tourists left and before the movie goers arrived. I watched the most amazing sunset over the city as the sun dipped below one of the mountains in the distance.
The couch surfers were planning to meet in the city and take a special service bus up the hill, but since I was already up there, I thought I could just keep an eye out for CS looking folks and go introduce myself. Of course what I didn't count on was the crowd this event would draw. There were thousands of people who showed up all on a series of these special service buses, so I never did find the couch surfers. I bought my ticket and rented a lawn chair, found a space in the field and settled in for the movie. Most everyone brought pick nick supplies and more than a few bottles of wine, so I felt a bit out of place sitting alone without any food, but enjoyed watching friends finding one another in the crowd. I could tel that many of these people came on a regular basis to this event (so would I if I lived there)
You can see the folks gathering here. There was a local Spanish band to play musci on the stage while people were settling in. I got there early so I got a perfect spot on the lawn (they lowered the big light between me and the screen after the band was finished, before the movie started. The movie was an old silent American film called "Safety Last" so language wasn't a problem. The hand written conversation cards in the film were still written in English. The part that really surprised me is that the film society had hired a pianist to play the score to the movie, so the soundtrack was live. Every once in a while 'd forget that it was live and then look down to see the pianist on the stage there, still playing away. It was a 90 minute score that lasted from opening credits to the end. Quite astounding. He got a huge round of applause after the movie was over and a bouquet of yellow roses bigger than his arm after the film. He got another standing ovation as he left the through the crowd. The only was to get down from the hill after the movie was again on the special service buses unless you drove up there, so as the mopeds drove away we waited on the street for the buses to arrive. Finally 3 buses came and everyone piled in. I'd gone for another stroll after the movie, so I was near the end of the line. Each of the 3 buses were packed from back to front standing room only. Luckily since I was near the end of the line about 4 people got on the bus behind me, so I was near the front next to the driver. There was space to fit one more person aboard, so I had a bit of breathing space there at the front. Unlike in the other buses where people had to shift and squeeze just to shut the door. haha! All in all it was quite a spectacular night. It would have been different had I found the couch surfers, but I rather enjoyed my time alone to think and watch people.
When I reached the top I had to wander around a bit to find where I was going but eventually found the castell. It was late in the afternoon when I made it up there, so the crowds were sparse.
these are the gardens that lined the outside of the fort walls. The movie wasn't starting until after dark around 10pm, but the teleferic stopped running around 6 or 7 so I had some time to walk through the casteel and around the gardens outside. I circled the top of the castell enjoying the views of the city and the harbor. The city is far more massive than I'd pictured from down on the ground and from where I was sitting I could see the huge cargo boxes being moved around the shipping yard by cranes. I stood and watched that for the better part of an hour, the odd ballet of machines, boxes and ships. There was one ship coming into port while I was up there, a massive thing which in the entire time I was up there probably only moved 100 feet as it maneuvered diagonally into the dock.
Since the movie wasn't starting for a while yet, I walked long the trail circling the fort after it had closed to tourists for the day and sat down to read for a bit. It was extremely quiet and peaceful up there after the tourists left and before the movie goers arrived. I watched the most amazing sunset over the city as the sun dipped below one of the mountains in the distance.
The couch surfers were planning to meet in the city and take a special service bus up the hill, but since I was already up there, I thought I could just keep an eye out for CS looking folks and go introduce myself. Of course what I didn't count on was the crowd this event would draw. There were thousands of people who showed up all on a series of these special service buses, so I never did find the couch surfers. I bought my ticket and rented a lawn chair, found a space in the field and settled in for the movie. Most everyone brought pick nick supplies and more than a few bottles of wine, so I felt a bit out of place sitting alone without any food, but enjoyed watching friends finding one another in the crowd. I could tel that many of these people came on a regular basis to this event (so would I if I lived there)
You can see the folks gathering here. There was a local Spanish band to play musci on the stage while people were settling in. I got there early so I got a perfect spot on the lawn (they lowered the big light between me and the screen after the band was finished, before the movie started. The movie was an old silent American film called "Safety Last" so language wasn't a problem. The hand written conversation cards in the film were still written in English. The part that really surprised me is that the film society had hired a pianist to play the score to the movie, so the soundtrack was live. Every once in a while 'd forget that it was live and then look down to see the pianist on the stage there, still playing away. It was a 90 minute score that lasted from opening credits to the end. Quite astounding. He got a huge round of applause after the movie was over and a bouquet of yellow roses bigger than his arm after the film. He got another standing ovation as he left the through the crowd. The only was to get down from the hill after the movie was again on the special service buses unless you drove up there, so as the mopeds drove away we waited on the street for the buses to arrive. Finally 3 buses came and everyone piled in. I'd gone for another stroll after the movie, so I was near the end of the line. Each of the 3 buses were packed from back to front standing room only. Luckily since I was near the end of the line about 4 people got on the bus behind me, so I was near the front next to the driver. There was space to fit one more person aboard, so I had a bit of breathing space there at the front. Unlike in the other buses where people had to shift and squeeze just to shut the door. haha! All in all it was quite a spectacular night. It would have been different had I found the couch surfers, but I rather enjoyed my time alone to think and watch people.
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