Barcelona Day 4

After last night today was a fairly laid back day. We headed off to the centre of Barcelona to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. It's the first one I've been to and I was very impressed; the place in general is awesome, the food is great, the service is brilliant, the music has a decent variety (including, surprisingly, Amy MacDonald t one point), and the collections of memorabilia are awe-inspiring. The only downside really is that the prices most certainly reflect this quality. However I had no complaints on leaving and can happily say "been there, done that, got the t-shirt". Right next to the Cafe is La Ramblas, the long street famous for culture and pickpockets. Luckily we only experienced the former, with living statues and similar oddities. Taking a tour of the other end of Barcelona we saw the Olympic venues of 1992 and went to Barri Gotic, the gothic quarter. It was really nice here and even though it was getting late there was still a lot of activity. After having dinner we went back to La Ramblas and with it now being nearly 11pm it was buzzing with activity. Not in the Scottish sense of drunkards shouting at passers by, but people of all ages milling around looking at the different attractions which had multiplied by many times since the afternoon. A massive crowd was drawn to breakdancers, there was a greater array of mimes and living statues, and various crafts were being sold. All of these were clearly random people who had decided to try and make a few Euros which made it really cool. It was a great last evening, topped off by returning to our hotel to find a group of Americans discussing Manowar. Speaking to them, we discovered they were Holyhell's road crew. We nearly fainted on the spot from the possibility of the ridiculously attractive singer being present in the building but the band are staying elsewhere. Still cool though.

Barcelona Day 3

Here's last night's blog - was far too tired to post last night.

The day started with more touring of the city, getting off the bus at Parc Guell; another of Gaudi's famous works. It's another one that I studied a lot at school so being there was incredible. It was much bigger than I thought and except for the ridiculous amount of tourists, it was a really nice place. After Parc Guell we headed for an older part of Barcelona called Sarria. It was much quieter and we came across an amazing victorian style ice cream shop. It wasn't tacky, it was genuinely awesome. The evening was spent at the Olympic Stadium where we saw Manowar and Holyhell. First was Holyhell who were incredible. They were equally as good as any band I've seen, and the (female) lead singer was extremely hot. Their second encore was Holy Diver in Tribute to Dio: they played it amazingly. Once their set was over (and everyone had waited ages, screaming at any movement on stage in case it was the band), Manowar started. It was incredible. The set lasted two and a half hours and they were brilliant. Eric Adams and Joey Demaio had amazing presence, and Joey Demaio's bass solos were far beyond anything I've seen. An amazing gig, by the end of which I felt like I was going to die from the heat and exhaustion. Nonetheless we were forced to walk through Barcelona aimlessly in search of a taxi. Luckily a Travelodge receptionist was kind enough to phone us one and on return to the hotel we collaped onto our beds and that was the end of the day.

Barcelona Day 2

Today was the first proper day in Barcelona with Matt and JMur, and it is an amazing place. The architecture is unlike any city I've been to. Our first destination was JMur's choice of Barcelona FC's Camp Nou. It's a pretty impessive stadium, and instead of going for a tour of the place we discovered that tonight a match was being played, for which there was still tickets left. After buying them we got on one of the tour buses and saw some of the sights. I was so pleased to see Casa Battlo and Casa Mila, two of Antoni Gaudi's most famous buildings. This meant a lot to me as all through art at high school, whenever I had to do a design project I would study Gaudi. I have a huge fascination for his work and seeing the buildings in person was incredible. However, afterwar these we went to the Sagrada Familia; Gaudi's still-in-progress masterpiece. It's been a wish of mine to visit it for years but to actually fulfill it was mind-blowing. Even with the main, larger spires as yet non-existent, it is an awe-inspiring sight. It's so intricately carved all over, inside and out, and on a scale that shows how it has taken 130 years and is still incomplete. It was a completely surreal moment sitting at the foot of it eating a subways. A further tour of the City lead us back to the stadium for the Barcelona v. Hercules match. Even though I'm not hugely into football it was a great atmosphere and the stadium was enormous. Barcelona unexpectedly lost 2-0 but it was still an awesome experience. Tomorrow is planned to be more sightseeing before we see Manowar live: ridiculously excited.

Hola Barcelona!

Well, yesterday I missed a day on this because my phone decided it couldn't get a signal even though I was looking at the t-mobile mast at the time.

Today was totally spent travelling, leaving my house not long past 6AM, getting the bus to Glasgow, Train to Prestwick, Flight to Girona, and Bus to Barcelona. Our journey to our hotel only took us through more run down areas of Barcelona but brief glimpses give the appearance of a beautiful city. Our hotel is incredible; somehow we got it at a very good price but it's so great: when you walk into the massive reception area you are greeted by a lounge pianist. A LOUNGE PIANIST. Later on, as we were eating our dinner in his vicinity we noticed that some of his songs weren't just classical, but included pop songs including 80's power ballads. Also the meal was amazing.

So it's been an awesome start to the holiday. Tomorrow is going to be exploring Barcelona more, so there'll be more to report.

Pfft

Today was mostly uneventful with work again being totally dead. This evening picked up though as I spent it with Drew and Steven around Drum. It'll probably end up being the last night before Drew moves to Perth; its not like ill never see him again but ill be pretty gutted when he's gone. Song of the day is Stayin' Alive by the Bee-Gees because drew constantly played it tonight and im unable to think of another song with it stuck in my head.

PLAY BALL!

Today work ended up being completely dead again, though sky movies provided entertainment for the majority of the day with the hilariously atrocious Dragonball Evolution and the vaguely acceptable, but entertaining Terminator Salvation. Looking out across Inverness high street I noticed a group of folk a couple of years younger than me screaming and swearing at someone, with the guys lolloping backwards and forwards threateningly in a manner that reminded me strongly of wildlife documentaries. After work I went to the smoothie bar in eastgate where an incredibly attractive female made me an incredibly tasty drink: definitely a highlight of my day in town. Tonight i went to Drews to engage in kitchen banter. after about half an hour we decided to something more interesting so bullied darroch into driving us to Tesco, via Abriachan (a.k.a. the long way). It ended up being an amazing night: after Tesco we were driving through town and noticed the river looked amazing as it was very near still so formed a mirror image of all the lights on the riverfront and bridges. We just stood there for a while talking which was cool. As we were leaving there Jonathan remarked on a guy walking past with a taller female and yelled "Look; he's totally getting laid tonight and HE'S short" referring to a previous conversation about short guys. What he didn't immediately realise was that the window was wide open and he heard every word. Luckily he carried on walking so we survived getting home, in the process seeing two badgers; an animal I've never seen in the wild. So its been a mediocre day made up for by an outstanding night. Song of the day is Boy Meets Girl - Waiting for a Star to Fall. Its another amazing 80's song that I rediscovered today. It was fairly recently sampled in some dance song but you can't beat the original.

Pop idol dies in tragic accident

Today work was almost unbearably quiet. This lead to the day going by very slowly, filled with little more than wandering around the store and checking gadget sites for any interesting news. There was none. After work I was raised out of my boredom-induced apathy on seeing my bus was a double decker. After getting off I met Steven mould who is back for a few days; our discussion somehow focused on Michelle McManus in HD when STV HD is launched. Naturally this lead to considering various horrible ways she could die as result of her massive frame: being smothered in her sleep by one of her breasts, being knocked out whilst jogging, or a fatal trampolining incident. Yes, they were morbid boob jokes in essence. Tonight I watched Kick Ass again as I bought the blu ray today; its just as good the second time and my parents loved it too. Hit Girl is hilarious. Song of the day comes from MTV Classics Electronic 80's hour tonight, of which I loved every song. But one that stood out was Flock of Seagulls: Run. Great song and I was mesmerised by the poor production values, yet mind blowing obscurity of the video. I love the 80's.

Pop idol dies in tragic accident

Today work was almost unbearably quiet. This lead to the day going by very slowly, filled with little more than wandering around the store and checking gadget sites for any interesting news. There was none. After work I was raised out of my boredom-induced apathy on seeing my bus was a double decker. After getting off I met Steven mould who is back for a few days; our discussion somehow focused on Michelle McManus in HD when STV HD is launched. Naturally this lead to considering various horrible ways she could die as result of her massive frame: being smothered in her sleep by one of her breasts, being knocked out whilst jogging, or a fatal trampolining incident. Yes, they were morbid boob jokes in essence. Tonight I watched Kick Ass again as I bought the blu ray today; its just as good the second time and my parents loved it too. Hit Girl is hilarious. Song of the day comes from MTV Classics Electronic 80's hour tonight, of which I loved every song. But one that stood out was Flock of Seagulls: Run. Great song and I was mesmerised by the poor production values, yet mind blowing obscurity of the video. I love the 80's.

Inverness; you never fail to disappoint.

It was unusual to be at work today as I haven't worked a Sunday since transferring to the high street. Walking around town before I started it was like a ghost town; it took me most of my spare time to find an open shop that sold newspapers. Work was extremely quiet, apparently completely as expected on a Sunday. Still there was activity outside to keep me entertained; a polish guy was staggering around, drunk, but unlike the usual jakey behaviour of shouting at passers by or fighting each other, he was randomly helping strangers, such as an old man busking, for whom he got a carrier bag from me (after superdrug refused to give him one) and put all the man's money into it and sat the bag next to him as he was convinced the police would make him move and take the money because he didn't have a licence. It was unusually nice to see, but any good thoughts of Inverness were destroyed by a woman rummaging through the bins, eventually finding a half full bag of crisps and sat with a triumphant look as she ate them. Afterwards she went back to the makeshift vending machine, rummaging through discarded McDonald's bags, alas to no further avail. It was disgusting. Also there wasn't a pang of sympathy because that is totally unnecessary no matter the difficulty she is in: there are people and places that can help if need be. Work was highly stressful for a short time as I was processing a mobile broadband contract; something I haven't been trained on how to do, yet is very important to do right as if not, you can leave the customer with hundreds of pounds of bills coming through from Vodafone and everyone pointing the finger at you. Luckily, perhaps skillfully, I got it done without major hitches and the customer left happy allowing me to learn how to breathe again. I read the news today that the sex pistols are to release... no, not a new album... a perfume. The reasons for my disgust are pretty obvious I feel: if time travel is ever possible I'd love to go back and show them that in 30 years they'll be selling butter and releasing their own perfume. Atrocious. This evening I saw the last part of secret britain, covering Scotland. It was really interesting but one thing that struck me was the excellent taste of whoever picked the music; about half of the featured music was stems from Bat for Lashes and I also heard a Noah and the Whale song. This brings lot to song of the day which now has to be by Bat for Lashes. I'll go for Moon and Moon because I specifically remember it featuring in the program and its a lovely, relaxing song. It's fairly simple, with piano and the odd keyboard undertone, with the singer-whose-name-I'm-ashamed-to-admit-I've-forgotten's voice giving it a really unique raw yet professional sound that sums up what I love about their music.

Poor cat...

Another day was spent at work today. It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday, but I actually had a pretty good time because a guy from Waykis was playing on the high street. Waykis are the south American band that play there occasionally, I have no idea why it was only one guy but nonetheless I love the music so had a great time lietening to it for most of the day. My colleagues found it rather comical that I bought both their CDs last time I saw them, but I'm not ashamed. After work I. discouraged went home before heading back to town for the cinema with Danny and Lou. Angus, Liam and Megan were also there but they saw the Expendables. We saw The Last Exorcism. We were bitterly disappointed. The first half was very involving, creating good characters in a good plot, but at the halfway point the scares come in and it immediately starts going downhill to the point that it offers very little reward for enduring the events unfolding on screen. Plot becomes very thin and clichéd, until the final scene which was the last straw; the use of clichés reached a point that was nearing self-parody. I don't put spoilers here but I am tempted to do so just to warn people not to see it. Scary scenes certainly have a strong sense of tension and effective scares. However, these are achieved through very cheap tactics of lunges at the camera and such. To put it in context, I found myself enjoying the movie far too little to warrant terrifying myself with the goings-on so didn't watch at times a shock was imminent but kept glancing back and listening for the sole purpose of seeing how it ends to fulfill my curiosity, fuelled entirely by the first half. Great acting but my lasting thoughts are nothing other than crushing disappointment and actually anger at the laziness of it. I give it 4/10. Song of the day is Sonquoyman by Waykis. I doubt if it'll be on YouTube but if you find it, its lovely. That is all.