Sunday, June 8, 2008

Montserrat and dog barf.


Good lord what a lot of public transit today. Hours of it, but well worth it to my mind.

We went back to Montserrat again today, and we had better luck with the weather, we could see for further than about 6 feet. It was quite astonishing to walk up the same trail and discover all the statuary at the side of the path that we hadn't seen!

We didn't go into the church this time, which was OK by everyone. Instead we walked in the hills, well, we took a (very) expensive funicular trip up, then walked down...with the kids along it seemed easier. The views were amazing, and let me tell you, the Russians like Montserrat...they were everywhere! Many of them spoke excellent English too.

Here's some pics....



Montserrat means serrated mountain which you can kinda see, and it is the much beloved spiritual heart of Catalonia, I have to say I love it up there too. The combination of the architecture, the paintings in the museum (we saw Monet, Picasso, Sargent, Renoir (a bad one) Degas, El Greco, etc etc etc...) and the mountains to walk in, along with good cafés all makes for a very nice day.

As they say, location location location....



There were lots of hikers and climbers there as well, something I would like to do a little more of there someday.

And to have a small world moment, I ran into one of my students from where we live! I am really starting to feel like I am slipping edgeways into a corner of the community here, running into Catalans I know in major tourist destinations, though it is a very important Catalan destination to...

A fantastic day. Too bad we can't take Chuck on some of the public transit, he would have LOVED it. Maybe barfed to, he's not so good in cars etc. I hate to imagine what he would do on our boat.

Swab the decks again me hearty's the dogs fouled them one more time!

5 comments:

elPadawan said...

Not sure I'd enjoy being part of the crew, cap'n oreneta!

But those are really nice pictures :)

Beth said...

Now this is the kind of "Oreneta Day" I'm used to reading about! Good to see things are (apparently) back to normal.
Amazing pictures.
I would have taken a ride up - kids or no kids!

Angel said...

at least Chuck on your boat would keep things "interesting" to say the least!

Great pictures Rocky!

Anonymous said...

I loved reading about your excursion to Montserrat, Oreneta! The pictures are stunning.

Now I want to see your paintings... LOL

oreneta said...

Glad you like the pictures, I think I'm not TOO bad a cap'n in person....I hope. Still married after three years on the boat anyway.

Beth, yes that was a more normal day, sorry about the post above. In many ways.

Bullwinkle, it would be 'interesting'. I once sailed with a dog that barked at waves. May I point out just how many waves there are out there, and just how relentlessly they keep coming at you? He was not a popular dog.

Carla, I had the best of intentions with the pictures, they are in the computer awaiting upload, but the day...the day...the day...and now it is after midnight and I don't think I have time to upload them to flickr...tomorrow....no, later today isn't it.