Accidentally in Code

Tag: travel

Personal Burn Rate

The assortment of currencies I had with me in NK

A while ago, I read about the concept of a “personal burn rate” and at the time I worried that mine was too high. I had a well paying job, but lived in an expensive city, and a significant proportion of my income went on “stress tax” – stuff (mostly travel) that made me feel more okay with the life I was living.

And I wondered how I would ever be able to walk away.

Eventually I realised that my major outgoings were rent, and tax. And realised that if I earned half as much and moved to another city I could pay half as much rent, and less than half as much tax. At that point, freedom started to look a lot more possible.

It’s amazing what having a goal did for my burn rate. Yes, those shoes are totally cute, but I would ask myself “is freedom more appealing” and often (although not always) it was. It would be totally great to go chill in Chiang Mai for a few weeks, but the cost of 3 weeks could easily be 2-3 months if I waited.

And so I waited. And now my burn rate is really low.

Honestly a big part of this is having no fixed address. Conferences have started covering my travel and accommodation, and when I need to be in London I can get a last minute surprise hotel. I left my stuff at my parents place, so I’m there periodically but since part of moving back to Europe after 7 years was to spend more time with my family who I still barely saw whilst living in London, this is OK for now. The last part of this year is quite broken up with conference travel, and I’ve yet to decide what to do in December (probably Romania), but next year I plan to start taking longer trips, unless I move back to Canada.

This was written at a surprise hotel in Copenhagen. Now, it’s time to explore the city.

November 3, 2014
Being an Expat

Credit: DeviantArt / dare-to-be-devil

I (still) worry my life is vastly more boring now that I’m no longer an expat… but maybe returning “home” just takes some acclimatising, just as moving to a “foreign” place did. A lot of people talk about living abroad, but it’s something that people don’t always get around to. Time. Opportunity. Whatever. Or just because it’s hard.

One of the biggest things I learned as an expat was how to be self sufficient. Especially shortly after arriving somewhere. I’d have a bad day, and there was no-one in my timezone that I could really speak to.

Making friends is scary and hard, especially after university. I learned how to put myself out there, follow up, and find people to hang out with. This was so much easier to do when I was single than when I was in a relationship [I really recommend MWF seeks BFF (Amazon) for people who are struggling with this].

Culture shock is totally a thing, Every time it happened when I least expected it, and in a slightly bizarre way. In Ottawa, it was being unable to order pizza. In KW it was being unable to buy breakfast (specifically bagels and cream cheese) within walking distance of my apartment. In Sydney it was not knowing where I could find a drugstore, because (oh the irony) I didn’t know whether I needed a chemist, or a pharmacy, or a drugstore, because I had no idea which just sold beauty products, and which sold actual medications.

Living abroad made me much more relaxed about my environment. You can’t expect everything to be the same, and after living in a few different places it’s glaringly apparent that everything has good and bad, politics, food, lifestyle. I tried to embrace the good, and travel to the things that I really missed. I learned to be more accepting of things as they are. There is no greatest country in the world, but I’d find the things that I loved and were great where I was, and really enjoyed them.

The main thing I learned was to be more OK not knowing what comes next. Stepping into the unknown, expecting it to be hard. I would give myself a time frame after which I could reconsider: a year, two years tops.

Apparently one of the things I did wrong in Sydney was not buying plates. I haven’t got around to buying plates in London, either, but I do have some knives and chopping boards. I guess that is a start.

August 11, 2014
Seattle, May 2014

People playing chess in downtown Seattle

I found myself in Seattle for the long weekend, having not known about Memorial day when I booked my flights. Still, there are worse places to be stranded (like NYC in a snowstorm when I’m supposed to be skiing in Italy).

I’m fond of Seattle, as a city. It’s the city where if I had to live in the US, then I would want to live in Seattle. Firstly, my hair is super manageable there (just the right about of humidity?). Secondly, the overcast grey suits my slightly despondent British nature. Thirdly, it’s a tax haven. What more could one want? Oh, gun control and reasonable public services. But I digress…

This was at least my 7th time in Seattle, like San Francisco I feel disorientated rather than lost when I’m there. Things look familiar, but I don’t know how to fit the pieces together. I’ve seen the tourist traps (original Starbuck at Pike Place Market), taken the boat, been to the art gallery (I saw an exhibition of Feminist art, which was cool but felt disjointed – feminism is a broad topic, afterall – but that is where I discovered the amazing Guerrilla Girls), and been out to San Juan (so beautiful, terrible food). The nice thing about having been to a place a bunch of time, and knowing I’ll be back again (possibly even next month) is that I feel no need to rush about SEEING ALL THE THINGS but am happy to mosey and hang out.

Which is good, because I was completely wrecked from giving two talks in a week, a stressful time at work, and jetlag. So in the end, I gave up doing anything tourist-ey, and mostly chilled out.

I took some long walks across town, and had some amazing breakfasts/brunches at Lola (amazing croissant from the Dahlia Bakery), Coastal Kitchen (pancakes!), Dahlia Lounge, and the Icon Grill. Other than that, I ate sushi at Wann (great happy hour, including Lychee Sake), Momjii (possibly the most delicious sushi I have had), Japonessa (magical) and Wasabi Bistro (such interesting rolls).

I stayed at the Westin, which has a nice central location and comfortable rooms with rain showers. Also had a reasonable gym and pool, although I was too exhausted to really take advantage of them.

I was lucky enough to be in town for the Seattle International Film Festival, and got to see the premier of the ENIAC Programmers Project and meet the woman who worked for over 25 years to make this documentary happen. It was absolutely amazing, the story was great and these women were so incredible – I’m so thankful that Kathy captured their stories while they were still alive to tell them. I found it really interesting how sanguine they were about being written out of history, although there was a story about not being invited to a dinner recognising the achievements of the ENIAC project! Feeling passed over is something that still comes up with other technical women I speak to today, so I guess some things don’t change. The coolest thing I learned in the documentary was that the ENIAC ran in parallel. So not only did these women figure out how to program a machine using the wiring diagrams, they ran these programs in parallel. So perhaps that diminishment of their achievements was the first instance of men dismissing women’s technical work because they hadn’t taken the time to understand it. I bought Jean Jennings Bartik’s memoir (Amazon), which I’m really looking forward to reading.

Got a much needed massage and facial at Penelope and the Beauty Bar, which was great, and picked up new jeans. My preferred way to buy jeans is to go into Nordstrom Rack, pick out every style of Joe’s jeans (Amazon) in my size, try them on, and then buy them all. I also went to Ada’s Technical Book Store which was awesome. Loads of technical books, but also cool little electronics and even Goldiblox. I was so glad it existed, I had to buy something, and ended up opting for an AdaFruit iNecklace (Amazon) with a status light – so now I have an on-switch.

All in all, a nice and relaxing weekend.

I bought myself an on switch. I’ve been needing such a thing all week.

June 2, 2014
Frankfurt, March 2014

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I went to Frankfurt for the Luminale, booked after I read about it on a design blog as I love light and electronics and digital art.

Frankfurt isn’t the liveliest of cities, but I was really happy to have a break so used the time to go for a long walk along the river (clean air!)

I stayed at the Adina Apartment Hotel, which was fine although they charged for internet which was annoying. But you buy a pass, and you can stop start it, so it wasn’t too bad. I ate where foursquare recommended, although most of them weren’t much to write home about. This place was the best. And I went up the Main Tower, which gave some good views of the city.

It took me a while to figure out what was going with the Luminale. I had to go to the centre to find the booklet with all the information about the pieces. This is where I found the bus, but I didn’t quite figure out that it was running on a loop, so having walked to meet it, discovered there was nothing there (apart from the booklet), I just rode it back to where I had started, realised that I couldn’t see most things because it was still light, stopped for dinner, got super lost… and then found my way to the heart of it, and started having a better time! A nice couple guided me to a park, which hosted lots of different pieces, so that was really nice. I love the idea of them being set all over the city! But they can be hard to find.

There were some awesome pieces, but really spread out over the city so I got lost a lot, and didn’t get to see some bits that I would have liked to see. I think with another person and more time it would be super fun, you could walk around bits all evening. But by myself with only one evening to see as much as I could it was a little creepy and frantic, rushing around alone in the dark, in a quiet city. Mostly cab drivers and people who live there didn’t even seem to know what was happening! I did meet a really sweet guy who insisted on walking me to where I was headed, it was so kind of him, but late at night alone? I felt uncomfortable and slightly afraid.

All in all, I’d go to the Luminale again. But with someone, and with more time. Because it’s not set over a weekend I had to book vacation days, so I thought one evening would be OK. It really wasn’t.

May 12, 2014
Seattle and NYC, February 2014

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Work trip so not much time to myself, I caught up with friends in Seattle but didn’t have time to see anything, really. I stayed at The Woodmark Hotel, Yacht Club and Spa which has a great location right on the water – beautiful views. It was OK, there were a couple of things that bothered me but I mentioned them in my feedback survey and they were very on top of addressing them, so I’ll give it another go next trip. The most annoying thing was the $12 “amenity fee”, which means it’s $12 more a night than advertised. For free internet, and the gym (which I expect anyway) and a local car service (not always available). I also spent a night at the airport Hilton after I decided I was too tired to take the redeye.

I had sushi at Chiso, where I had been before and they have great sushi, and at Sushi Kappo Tamura, which was fancy, but nice. In Kirkland, we went to Cactus (fine), and Trellis (nice, they sent us out free desert, which was lovely).

NYC I had a little more time to hang out, caught up with more people, and went to MOMA, which was – as ever – amazing. I love that place. We saw Isa Genzken: Retrospective, There Will Never Be Silence, Designing Modern Women and my favourite, Frank Lloyd Wright and the City which was awesome. We also saw Once The Musical which was great, although is now showing in London so I wonder if we should have seen something else. I guess most things come to London pretty quickly though! Of course when in NYC, I have to take a walk along the High Line which is gorgeous, and longer than it was last time I came.

Foodwise, I ate brunch at Good Restaurant (amazing), La Bottega (well, breakfast, I like it there – it’s reasonably priced and reasonably portioned), Cookshop (incredible, possibly the best croissant I have ever eaten) and The Grey Dog (good – not table service though). Had an incredible dinners with some girlfriends at Buddakan, sushi at Koi with a girlfriend (incredible decor), other tech-women at Morimoto (amazing as ever), colleagues at Cherry (kobe beef and foie gras gyoza – woah) and solo at Blue Ginger (chill and delicious). Mexican food at Dos Caminos (so tasty, incredible desert featuring salted caramel), tapas at Tia Pol (great sandwich) and Aria with a Sydney friend. Also cupcakes from Eleni’s perked people up during the workshop we were running!

Stayed at the achingly hip Standard Hotel, and had drinks at the Top Of The Standard – fab views, pricey cocktails, but annoyingly you can’t get the elevator straight down to your room. Thankfully the kind barman sneaked me down the stairs to the floor below (from where I could take the elevator) as it was extremely cold and I didn’t have a coat! I still prefer the Maritime hotel, the conditioner at the Standard is terrible. I kept putting more and more on and my hair just turned more and more into a giant hairball, so I think it might actually be glue. I also find the hotel just too hip. But it’s fun to go there every so often!

I found this amazing design store called Story, which was inspired by 40 Days of Dating (two designers experimented dating each other, I wrote about it here) to do a Love Story theme. I loved 40 Days, so I bought a print, and a cute necklace by another designer. Also, Royce – the Best Chocolate in the World now have a store in NYC, which was so exciting! So I picked up some amazing chocolate.

It’s always good to be in NYC, I know quite a few people there and I met some new ones, which is great. But there was too much snow, which meant my flight out got cancelled and I missed my ski trip, which was gutting. Also NYC is rubbish in the snow, the streets aren’t cleared properly, so it was hard to walk about as there were huge puddles of icy water by the sidewalks, and the wasn’t enough grit down, so I was edging over ice a lot. In the end, I decided I was too tired and it was too cold to spend the unexpected weekend in cultural exploration, so I mostly hung out in my hotel room and worked on some stuff instead.

April 28, 2014
Spa Break, January 2014

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Our Champneys spa experience starts well in advance, with the booking process. It takes 4 phone calls, two unreturned messages, and finally I get through and manage to make a reservation. No email confirmation ever arrives, but they charge my card so my mom and I turn up anyway, and have to deal then with our making of two separate reservations (thankfully for different days).

There is a huge amount of confusion, but eventually it is sorted and I find the horrendous misspelling of my name, which explains the lack of email. Thankfully the staff at the actual spa are far better than the call centre staff, and recognise us from a previous visit which helps. Aside from the minor issue of our treatments for day 3 being cancelled (for which they were incredibly apologetic, resolved with an improvement on what we had previously reserved, and gave us a little gift – all in all, net win), we went on to have a relaxing weekend.

I got a declor body wrap and facial, which was fabulous, and out package included a scrub (lovely), head massage (I had two, heaven), and a “thalassiotherapy” session.

Thallasotherapy, for all it’s grand claims of improving skin, digestion, etc etc etc is like a group hot tub session, except the hot tub isn’t that hot, and you rotate around the jets on command. The hot tub at my (fancy) gym has the better features (water jets to stick your head under, and a cage which pummels you) and is actually warm, so I’ll stick to that. There seemed to be a lot of disorganisation around it, and there were 21 people who thought they were booked into our session, and we were thankfully part of the lucky 12 who didn’t have to go and rebook. What a pain that would have been! Amusingly afterwards we’re told to drink lots of water and relax because it is an “intense treatment”. LOL.

The food is for the most part a big bland, but there was some lovely soup, lunchtime has a chef making something (pasta, wraps) to order, and both our dinners features a divine desert. There was also yummy onion bread, so that sustained me.

I book into the spa when I think I need to relax, but in retrospect, I’ve had better experiences when that wasn’t the primary goal – I had an amazing session at the spa when I was in Hong Kong for example. It’s like a treadmill of relaxation, and yet with everyone there having the exact same goal it feels constrained. The treatments are very exact in time, and good therapists don’t make you feel this, but last trip my needing nail polish removed before my pedicure became a Big Deal for the timing, and the result is that now I notice. And don’t get a pedicure. It’s also really expensive – we paid 175GBP per person, per night, plus extra treatments. This was for a standard room which was quite basic, and I wasn’t impressed with the toiletries – the conditioner (my barometer for good hotel toiletries) didn’t do much to detangle my curly hair.

Next time I’ll book a weekend city break, instead.

April 21, 2014
Yoga Retreat in Sagres, November 2013

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Photos on Flickr

For the last week of my burnout break, my parents and I went to the south of Portugal, near Sagres, for a week of yoga – my first yoga retreat. I figured it was my last time to really relax, before heading back to work. I was hoping for some time to finish some of the many, many half-finished blog posts, bits of code etc, but our schedule ended up being pretty packed with relaxing activities – something I found at times a bit stressful!

We had yoga morning and evening, but a slower than usual form that frustratingly at first didn’t give me the post-yoga high that I was getting in Bali. Although as the week went on, it got a little faster and more intense, and I started to enjoy it more.

I took a surfing lesson, which was fun. I felt no desire to stand on the surf board, but enjoyed riding the waves. I’ve never really been interested in learning to surf, but it was surprisingly fun! I would definitely be up for body boarding another time.

We were on a vegetarian diet, which was mostly very nice, although on the most active day there was no protein, which left me feeling horrible – most people picked at the jar of nuts made available to us, but I’m allergic so that wasn’t an option for me.

As the week went on, I decided to just focus on the yoga classes and spend the rest of the time doing whatever I felt like, rather than going out and about – my skin had reacted to some sunscreen, so I was not wild to spend too much time outside, and definitely not in salt water! So I spent time in the gym, went swimming, and read and wrote and coded, and did about 3 hours of yoga a day. I started to stress less – I find having my day completely scheduled difficult, especially when scheduled by someone else – and enjoy myself more.

By the end of the week my skin was brighter, and I felt healthier, and frankly, as relaxed as I am ever going to be. As a bonus, doing yoga (well, body flow) a week later, despite a stressful week at work, brought me back to feeling more centred and chilled out, and I could tell the difference in my flexibility too. Hopefully this (and Bali) have kickstarted a yoga habit for me.

I’ll definitely go on another yoga retreat at some point, although I don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to surf again!

We went with Pure Flow Motions (good crowd of people, many around my age, and lots of them had come alone), and stayed at the Memmo Baleeira, which is a gorgeous hotel. Very comfortable and spacious.

March 24, 2014
Iceland: November, 2013
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See the full set on Flickr

I should start by saying, I loved Iceland. However, there were a number of disappointments, and we were thwarted by the weather – we didn’t see the Northern Lights – but it’s such a beautiful special place, that even with that I still really enjoyed it.

Common belief is that Iceland is extremely expensive, but the exchange rate is dramatically lower than it was. We found prices to be comparable to prices in the UK or Australia.

We arranged our trip through Inntravel, but I think we would have been better to book ourselves and arrange tours at the hotel. The one tour they booked us on was with a great tour company (lovely guides), but ended up being 6+ hours in a bus with the windows iced over, for less than 90 minutes of glacier walking, and the weather was not conducive to seeing the lights. The glacier walking was cool, but the amount of time we spent on the bus, unable to see anything out the windows even, wasn’t the greatest. It would have been worth it if we’d seen the lights… but we didn’t.

Day 1

We flew Iceland Air from Heathrow, not a lot of airlines fly to Iceland and other options are Wow Air (the Icelandic budget airline), and Easyjet (nothing would induce me). We flew into Keflavik International Airport, which is about an hour from Reykjavik. There is a bus service into Reykjavik from the airport, which can take you direct to your hotel – with wifi all the way (awesome). This is the biggest tour company, so you could take all your tours with them, but we preferred to book with the smaller companies.

We stayed at the Hótel Óðinsvé, which was lovely. Comfortable beds (and they have single rooms, which is nice), nice breakfasts (ask for a teapot, the mugs are tiny) and the staff were really lovely, so helpful. We got in relatively late and we were pretty tired, so we just went to Café Paris for dinner, which was lovely.

Day 2

All day in Reykjavik – we started the day with a walk to the waterfront, where the famous Sun Voyager sculpture is. Walking around and up, past the hot springs where people used to do laundry, and through the Botanical gardens. Not the most scenic of routes but still charming! Lunch at Café Babalú (meh), and then a trip up the Hallgrímskirkjuturn (the tall Cathedral that can be seen from most parts of Reykjavik). From the top, you can see incredible views of the city. Unfortunately, we walked into the building from blue skies outside… and by the time we got to the top of the tower, there were grey clouds, driving wind, and snow/hail. We waited around for a while, decided to leave, walked out to clearer skies… and went back up again. This is Icelandic weather!

We finished with a trip to the local swimming pool, Sundhöll Reykjavíkur, which was nice. Very clean, and a nice big pool. I got some laps in before hanging out in the hot tub for a bit. It’s the hot springs water that is supposed to be great for your skin, and entry was maybe $10 for 3 people – so much cheaper than many of the tourist traps! And less than 10 minutes walk away from the hotel – win. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Snaps, which was nice (fish and meat heavy, like most local food in Reykjavik though).

Day 3

We are off on our pre-booked trip, we’ll be glacier walking, seeing a waterfall, and if we are lucky, the Northern Lights.

I gave the ending away earlier, we weren’t lucky.

The bus is cold and the windows coated in ice, so we don’t really get to see much of the scenery on-route. This isn’t a huge issue for me as I have a habit of falling asleep in any moving vehicle, but it would have been nice to see stuff en-route! We stop briefly to see the farm where the first picture of the 2010 volcano was taken.

Our guide is full of stories, and talks whilst he drives most of the time. He explains the Icelandic naming system to us, and also the winner of the most beautiful word in Icelandic. He also told us the myth of Katla (slightly different version). Along with lots of information about living in Iceland, where it’s a question not of if the volcano will erupt, but when.

The glacier was beautiful, and using crampons I found to be pretty easy. We walked up, and around, and then down. There is a light dusting of snow, but underneath it is sheet ice (hence, crampons). You have to keep to the path, because there are random holes and crevices all over, and you don’t know how thick the snow is – if you end up falling down an icy hole, you are going to have a bad time.

Afterwards, we had a brief stop at a Folk History Museum (I was too tired to appreciate it), and dinner at Hotel Anna. The hotel is named for, and has an exhibition about, Sigríður Anna Jónsdóttir, who has a great biography, of a life in pursuit of learning and adventure.

Then, we went to a waterfall which is lit up at night. It was incredibly beautiful, but so very cold! The weather was too cloudy for there to be any hope of seeing the Northern Lights, so we just had a long drive back to Reykjavik.

Day 4

We are planning to take a helicopter ride later (over sunset), to see some of the fascinating geological features that abound in Iceland. So the morning is a good time to go shopping, and there are lovely little shops will many gorgeous things created by local designers. I buy a beautiful hat, two necklaces, and two bracelets – including one that is the first piece the designer has sold from that collection – and a wonderful ceramic lamp. We have lunch at the Laundromat Cafe (good sweet potato).

Out helicopter trip has to be cancelled due to poor weather, which is disappointing, especially as we planned our whole day around it. Instead, we head to the Blue Lagoon. It’s a tourist staple, and as it’s located near the airport good for a visit immediately after arriving, or before leaving (they have a left luggage area for this). My dad got the standard experience, whist my mom and I opted to be pampered with the luxury experience. I thought this would be good as we were a little short on time, but it was really the opposite. Still lovely though! We had to wait a while for our host to show us to our private changing room, and then after we were changed we had to wait again, but once we were in, it was delightful. There’s a small private pool, and then you exit out into the main area. In the spirit of research, I swam/walked/crawled around the circumference, and then across and back. Temperatures varied, and it truly is a massive place. We applied the silica mask to our faces (my dad, for reasons known only to himself, applied it to his hair – not a particularly successful experiment, and one I don’t recommend) and relaxed. Best to find a sheltered spot for this, the cold mask and the cold wind gave me a headache! Then we went back to the private pool, where our host bought us drinks, and a lava mask and an algae mask (lava mask first, it’s exfoliating). Afterwards, we had dinner at Lava (the Blue Lagoon restaurant), which I wasn’t super excited about as the ratings were pretty low, but was in fact fantastic. Especially the cheesecake, which I photographed.

We headed out for our Northern Lights Tour, and spend 4 and a half hours on a bus trying to find clear skies only to find… no activity. So disappointing. Apparently it was the first night in days that there was even a chance of seeing any, so I could stop beating myself up about not trying to go and see them day 1! But still really disappointing. Apparently one of the groups out (the last one in) saw some, but it was just a tiny flicker.

Day 5

This is the day we are going on the Golden Circle Tour – it’s really popular, and features many of the most incredible sights of Iceland. Most tour companies have one. I’m not going to say which tour company we had, because we had the worst tour guide I have ever had. He opened with some light misogyny, took us into a church and preached at us, and also made some homophobic remarks. I was livid. Especially as the part of the point of the break I was on is a break from the misogyny of the tech industry!

Anyway, such is the spectacular beauty of Iceland, that this guy couldn’t completely ruin it. Thankfully he was also too lazy to actually come with us and talk about things (well, except the Church) so mostly we were left to our own devices.

We went to a national park, saw where the European and American tectonic plates met, an incredible waterfall, and a geyser. I was standing right next to it when it blew, on a patch of ice, and wow it made me jump!

Day 6

Our last day, well morning. We had rescheduled our helicopter ride, but once again the weather was too bad to take it. Instead, we walked down to the harbour, where we watched some sailors practise emergency rescues. It was amazing – all these men in orange suits swimming attached together, and climbing into what looked like a floating tent. There’s an area nearby with information about boat disasters, which was also interesting.

I headed to the Reykjavik Art Museum, which was small but had some interesting things. I really liked the section of work by Erró and the Zilvinas Kempinas exhibit, Fountains (fans and magnetic tape). I think I saw one of his other exhibits in Melbourne, which transfixed me.

After that, time’s up! Back to the Airport, and to London.

Suggestions for travel to Iceland (in winter)
- Book more time than you think you need (the weather will thwart you).
- Take a drivers license (if you have one) so you can quad bike/skidoo. Long story – I currently do not have one.
- Don’t book X and Northern Lights tours – just book a Northern Lights tour, if possible the night you arrive. They don’t go out every night, only when there is a chance of seeing them and if you don’t see the lights, you can go again for free (and get a 3 year voucher if you don’t get lucky). If it’s a combination tour you might end up out late for nothing.
- All tourists are entitled to Tax Free shopping, so make sure you get a tax receipt if you buy anything.
- The hotels book tours for you, and have lots of recommendations, so don’t worry about scheduling things in advance.
March 10, 2014
Barcelona, November 2013

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See the full set on Flickr

Day 1 (Monday)

I fly Swiss, and transit via Zurich – at some point, I need to go outside this airport and see the city. They make me take my kindle out at Swiss security – which seems weird! Twitter tells me normal in Europe though (Munich, LHR).

Staying at the Pullman Barcelona Skipper, which is a beautiful hotel. I have lunch at the cafe, because it’s late – and Spanish restaurants tend to open late for dinner. The food is OK, not amazing, I order some kind of cheese which there is just way to much of.

No time to go and see any museums or anything, but I take a walk along the wooden path along the beach which is stunning.

Day 2 (Tuesday)

The hotel isn’t the closest to other things, so I have breakfast there. It’s very tasty and 14 euro seems reasonable.

Start the day with a walk to Sagrada Familia, but it’s packed with incredibly long queues. You can buy tickets online, but it doesn’t work on my phone. I give up and walk to Casa Batllo instead.

Casa Battlo is incredible. So beautiful. It’s a little like the Casa Mila, which I’ve seen twice before, but more intimate. I love it. Gaudi is amazing.

Late lunch which of course has to be tapas! Foursquare leads me to Cervecería Ciudad Condal which is pretty nice, I like the asparagus and mushrooms.

Afterwards, I head towards the Picasso museum, but on the way I get side tracked by the Dali museum. This is incredible – crowded, with many lesser works, but so beautiful. Loved the melted watch over the coat hanger sculpture – I’ve seen the picture with the melted clocks at MOMA, and seeing the sculpture is amazing. Dali always pulls the same face in pictures! It’s lovely that pictures are fine to take here in this museum (note – some horrifying politics in his biography; key quote from George Orwell: “One ought to be able to hold in one’s head simultaneously the two facts that Dalí is a good draughtsman and a disgusting human being”).

It takes forever to get to Picasso Museum, I arrive and there is a queue and my legs ache from so much walking and standing, so I get a delicious hot chocolate at a nearby cafe, Lilipep. And after that, there’s no queue. I’m annoyed because they ask if you want a guide, but there is no leaflet in English so if you want to know what the pictures are you have to pay for one. Why not just charge English speakers 3 euro extra!

I worry I’m too grumpy to enjoy the exhibit but I do, the early work is interesting – almost photo-real, impressive paintings. In Picasso‘s later work his people don’t always look so people-like, but looking at his early work which is so, almost photo-real, makes it abundantly clear that is a choice. I think I have intellectually known that, but seeing it is something different. Seems like there is a lot missing though, there are only, in the end, about 2 pictures that take my breath away. Lots of studies (so much work goes into a painting!), sketches, early work… which are good, but not amazing. My favourite is a picture of his last wife, Jaqueline.

On the way home, I find some awesome boots!

Day 3 – Wednesday

Gaudi-tastic day. Walk to Parc Guell. It’s a long way from the hotel, over an hour to walk there, but so beautiful. It’s 8 euro entry, plus another 5.5 for the Gaudi House which was worth a visit. So lovely.

Then after stopping for a snack at La Nena, I head to Casa Mila, or La Pedrera – one of Gaudi’s most famous buildings, and one that I’ve seen on both my other trips here, but it wouldn’t be a visit to Barcelona without it. Good timing, as the sun is just going down as I’m on the roof. The apartment is spectacular, I love the natural light in every room.

Another longish (45 minute) walk back to the hotel. My legs hurt so much, and I’m just too late to swim – so annoying since the gorgeous pool was part of why I booked this hotel! But at least I’m out and about seeing the city. However being outdoors it shuts at 8, and isn’t open until 9am. Still, I walked well over 10k today, although the Nike Fuelband is only recording a little over 20k steps. I’m pretty sure my stride is not half a metre.

Day 4 – Thursday

I’m tired and visually overstimulated from the previous days of intense wondering and decide to keep today light, I’m aiming to be back at the hotel by 6 for a nice swim and an early night. I had wanted to go see if I could catch a show, but I’ll keep that for another time – when I’m not jet lagged and passing out at 8pm.

First stop, more Gaudi – I head to the Palace Guel (admission: 12 euro), which was one of his first commissions. It’s very cool, much grander than the others. I guess that is why it is a palace, and not a “casa”. I love it, the use of light is just as spectacular. But, unlike the others, I don’t want to live there.

Foursquare recommends a nearby tapas bar, I have some delicious tomato bread, and pork ribs, then I wonder through the Gothic Quarter – which is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. I stop in one clothes shop and try a bunch of things on, finding a miniskirt that I adore, and buy in four different colours, and then stop at Caelum for tea and chocolate cake.

Final stop of the day is the Museu Diocesà de Barcelona, admission 8 euro. A weird place by the Barcelona Cathedral. It contains a lot of religious stuff, which bores me, but has a gorgeous temporary exhibit by Julio Nieto. His work is gorgeous. And, there’s a Gaudi exhibit, and discussion of his faith.

I have a hard time reconciling the idea that a man so mathematically brilliant could be so fervently religious. I don’t even think you can argue the time, the end of the 19th, start of the 20th centuries wasn’t the dark ages?

I learn that Gaudi died after being run over by a tram, and the driver thinking he was someone of low socioeconomic status just left him there, until he was found the following morning, by a priest. Tragic in so many ways.

A whole room is devoted to Gaudi’s first designs for a church, at the Colonia Guell, which in the end wasn’t completely finished. The concept is incredible – he took chains and hung them, creating parabolic arches, and then inverted it to create the building. Amazing. The hanging chains in Casa Mila I saw yesterday make more sense – they are probably related to this. It’s just a mind-blowing example of his brilliance. I love it.

I get back to the hotel in plenty of time, and head to the pool. I dip my toes in – it’s freezing! I can’t do it, and hang out in the hot tub for a bit. It’s quiet, so I can float diagonally in it, and look at the sky. The rooftop is beautiful, and the sky is a gorgeous shade of deep blue. After a while, I go back to the pool and put a hand in it. It doesn’t feel quite as baltic, and it is supposed to be heated… pools often seem cold before you get in… I opt to go for it and jump in.

Arrgh it is that cold! Back to the hot tub – I will not be swimming laps this evening!

Day 5 (Friday)

When checking out, I comment on the temperature of the pool and I’m assured it is supposed to be about 25 degrees. It definitely wasn’t! Makes it extra disappointing that I didn’t get to enjoy the pool, but hey, the hot tub was nice.

I go to the Museum of Contemporary Art, arriving just as it opens. This is awesome, because by starting on the top floor and making my way down I have most of the rooms to myself. There’s a cool exhibit on women’s voices but other than that I don’t connect with very much. I’m not sure if I’m just a bit visually overstimulated from all the other culture I’ve been experiencing this week, or if the content is a bit meh. Probably a bit of both.

After lunch at a nearby tapas place, I’m short on time before I need to leave for the airport. I could probably fit in the Miro centre but it would be rushed and I am a bit cultured out, so I decide to skip it. I’d planned the botanical gardens for the way back, but they are further away than I thought and in the end I decide to just go to the airport early. It’s been great, I love love love Barcelona, but I’m ready to leave.

Next time, I’ll see the Sagrada Familia, the Miro Centre, and the Botanical gardens.

February 24, 2014