August 26 Mataro Spain

Caught the train to Blanes. It is such an amazing ride. The train follows the coast line most of the way. The beaches and water are great!

Once at Blanes, walked out the train station door to the bus to Lloret de Mar. The traffic on the road was something cars lined up for miles. Never stopped but was really slow! In lloret bus station they have an information booth. Very

Convenient. And the station is only about 3 blocks from the beach.

I headed off to the Castella de Sant Joan on the top of a cliff. Path started off very nice, concrete and rocks for steps, then part of the path was gone, washed away, but that was the wrong way. Found the right way I thought but then the steps just stopped and had to scramble up the rocks.

Ended up in a nice park overlooking the Med. Found the castella (castle). Got the seniors rate! I am not old enough yet but was not going to argue! Not much left of the ruins. Some walls and a cistern, and the tower which had been rebuilt. The view from the top was very great.
Headed down and stopped at a view point and had a sandwich. Great place.

Headed off to the beach. Oh it is such a good thing we are not staying here! The beach as wall to wall towels! You had to weave your way to a spot, if you could find one. The sand was fairly coarse.

Great place if you are 20 something.....about 5 nightclubs in a 3 block span, booze cruises, banana boats and huge bars on the beach. Much to crowded for me!


August 25 Mataro Spain

Caught the train to Pineda de Mar, a town about a 30 minute train from Mataro. First impression that it is much more of a tourist place. Lots of people on the beach which is where the train station is, and many shops selling beach stuff just across from the train station.

Hit the tourist info office and then to a small art exhibition they have on the floor above. They even have a couple of Dali and Picasso's.

Then took a 2 km hike ( at least that is what we were told, seemed much longer) to a Roman bridge and a bit of an aqueduct. Nice to get out into the country side. I missed the sights at first and ended up at a couple of other ruins. Not sure how old. A mill and a fire pit for something. Not sure what. I had to back track but did find the bridge and aqueduct. Very interesting.

Then lunch and to the beach for a bit.

Had dinner at a seafood restaurant right on the beach. Very expensive at 20 euro but excellent. Sole with orange sauce - that is all you got! But then it was the whole fish. There were some fries but not very good.





August 24 Mataro Spain

Slow day. Not sure how slow this would be as most days here have been slow! Not stopped I guess that is good!

August 23 Mataro Spain

Headed off to the Tourist office this morning to see about a city tour. We hoped that it would include a tour of the inside of one of the eclectic buildings even if the tour was in Catalan. But talked to the guide and the building is closed during the summer! So headed off to the beach.

Had lunch at one of the beach bar/restaurants. What a life! Had dinner at one of the beach side restaurants.

Very nice to be down by the water as the sun went down. Apparently that is the place to be as the walkway was very busy! Had calamari again! It is so good. A very nice light batter and the calamari is so tender! Also had the toasted bread with tomato and olive oil. It was very good as well, but they bring you half a large loaf of bread. I ate way too much again!


August 22 Mataro Spain

Off to Saturday market. This one is about 2 blocks long with both sides of street selling clothing. Everything you could need. Even a few unauthorized ones, I think. They had their shoes, bags, selfie sticks on a mat with a rope to each corner, so that if the police came along they just grab the ropes in middle and everything gets scooped up at once! Very interesting.

After the afternoon at beach went on a tour of the Llouder Torre ( Llouder tower). Although the tour was in Catalan ( the local area language that is somewhat similar to Spanish and French) I was able to pick a little bit about the Roman ruins. Amazing that they were only uncovered in the early 1960s. They have done some restoration work but it does not seem to be still progressing. the mosaics are amazing and are original! It will be very interesting as this is where the jazz festival will be held that starts on Thursday!


August 21 Mataro Spain

Got lost heading to see the Torre d'en Palauet (tower in Palace) and to top it off it was all up hill! And the sad part was that it was all fenced off, I could not even get very close to it. At least it was a good walk. Easy to find way back, just keep going down the hill! Then spent the afternoon at beach. A bit cloudy today after being hot and sunny all morning for the walk up the hill. Oh well still nice, water super and it was quiet. Interesting to be on the beach and have Italian spoke on one side and French on the other side of me.

Off to a different pub for dinner. Lots of pubs to choose from. Tonight, steak dinner, salad, french fries and 2 fried eggs, 10 euro ($15) Pretty good! I certainly did not need the 2 eggs, but ate them anyway!


August 20 Mataro Spain

A warm one today, it got up to 28. This is the warmest day so far here. And only warm compared to what we have had in the past! Anything less than 30 is warm! Had a great day at the beach. Much busier today. Life is tough!

August 19 Mataro Spain

Relaxing breakfast and then off to get hair cut. I had to make an appointment so headed for the beach. Nice sunny day but a bit windy. Bigger waves on the water but it still felt great although the wind felt cool when you got out. I did not want to spend all day in sun so I hit one of the beach bars. First I had a coffee - 'largo' this time not americano or grande - one of these days I will figure it out! Then decided I needed to have a beer on the beach. It came with tapas. 2 olives and 3 filets of a small fish. Cervice (done in lemon juice) The fish was herring like but did not taste like it. Pretty good. Also had a tortilla patatas which is really a potato pancake. Very good!

Then into water again.

Had to leave early to get hair cut. This was the most expensive haircut I have had! She did a good job given I don't have Spanish and she did not have any English. She actually used a straight razor to shave the back of my neck and even shape the sides of my forehead! She then wanted to wash my hair, strange as she had just sheared most of it off. Oh well...


August 18 Mataro Spain

Raining fairly hard this morning, and was cool. Still did not need a jacket. Went out walking for a couple of hours. Looking for a barber and the laundromat. Found the laundromat but not the barber. I will have to keep looking.

Cleared off later in afternoon so headed to beach. Very quiet today compared to yesterday. A few people around. On way back to hotel stopped at a building designed by Gaudi. One of his first dating back to late 1800s. Very nice curved roof of wood. They had an art exhibition of 1960s Russian artists. Some of it very abstract and some of it seemed to be a bit on the morbid side (contorted skeletons). Not for me.

Japanese food for dinner! It was a bit of a mix. There was definitely a Spanish influence to the menu. Empanada type dishes. Still it was very good!


August 17 Mataro Spain

Raining pretty good this morning.
But stopped fairly soon.
The city provides a free audio guide and map to do a city tour. It takes you around different interesting buildings in the city. Roman, Gothic, Modern type structures. Even a couple that are a real mix of several styles! Overall a good tour.

It is disappointing that you can not get into some of the buildings. The old prison would be one for sure. It is a brick building that is shaped like a semi circle.

August 16 Mataro Spain

I actually slept in until 8 am! Don't know when that happened the last time....
Beautiful day here. Started out cool but clouds went away and sun came out and we headed to beach.

Great day laying in sun and swimming in the Mediterranean! Very nice!
Also beaches and streets much busier today than yesterday. Many more people around. Nice to see some activity. It will be very interesting tomorrow when the shops are open and we can really see what is here!




August 15 Mataro, Spain

Headed into the main shopping area to go to the tourist information office. Everything is closed today as it is a festival, or seems to be just a public holiday. Only a few people out close to noon. Most just having coffee at the many little restaurants that are open. Walked to the city park. It is much greener than Prague, but then there was a heavy downpour of rain early yesterday evening. Nice granite water fall and some budgie type birds (not sure of bird??) that have nested and are very noisy and loud. Quite a few of them and all over the city. Wandered around some of the small streets just having a look. There are some very nice apartments around. Then hit the beach. It is fairly cloudy and cool so I am without my hat and carrying a rain jacket. So as you know, the sun came out and got very nice. So spent the afternoon just walking along the beach. Got wet up to knees - just not prepared for nice weather.

There was a large black cloud heading my way so headed back to hotel. Took about an hour and made it back just in time, I really did not need the jacket. On the walk back spotted a water spout out on the water. Interesting.
Another downpour of rain about 6 pm. I was at hotel by this time but I was prepared!
Off to bar again for dinner. I had forgot that restaurants in Spain do not open for business until 8 pm whereas the bars are open all the time. When hungry, eat where ever you can!




August 14 Mataro, Spain

Did not do much today. Left the hotel about 8 am and caught the tram and bus to airport. Only took about 30 minutes. A day of planes, trains and automobiles! Caught a plane to Barcelona, Spain. It is only a 2 1/2 hour flight. Caught the train to Mataro which took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Then taxi to hotel. Hotel is fairly nice and not to fair from beach or main square.

Wandered down the street and had a burger and beer at the pub. It was pretty good. You can not beat a 5 euro burger and a 1.80 euro beer (about 7.50 and 2.70 Cdn). Then into grocery store to check things out. Beer on sale for .21 euro (about $.30) Wow! Cheapest bottle of wine - $2 euro ($3.00). Welcome to Spain!
An early night

August 13 Prague, Czech Republic

Last day in Prague! I walked through the park to the metronome. This sits on the site where there was a large statute of Stalin. There is just a cobble stone area now with lots of graffiti. Nice views of the city and down the street that runs from the river to the old town hall. Walked through the rest of the park and into the city. Just walked today around the outskirts of the old town. Very nice. Lots of small little streets. Stopping for coffee at a small bakery - resisted all the goodies! Just kept walking. Not sure how far but a long ways. Nice to get away from the crowded old town.


August 12 Prague, Czech Republic

I spent the day at Prague Castle. I arrived about 9 am and there were already a lot of people around. This is such a busy place. At least there was not a large line up moment. There certainly was later in the day. There is a lot to see. Went to the old palace, the first palace to be built in about 1000 AD. t palace was wood and burned down and the currently stone is from about 1300. The main hall had very nice wood floors and vaulted ceilings.

Then to the Golden Lane. This areas was originally little shacks built along the wall for housing for the guards. Later became

The place to live and the houses became very expensive. The houses are very small, the bed looked about 4 feet long and the rooms not much bigger. Many had 3 rooms - bedroom, kitchen and sitting rooms.

Visited St George's basilica and St Vitus Cathedral. The cathedral is huge and completed over 500 years starting in about 1400. The oldest part if very Gothic in style. On my way to the Powder Tower the Castle Guard band was playing. The Powder Tower had an exhibition of Guard uniforms and weapons.

In one palace they had an exhibition of the History of Prague showing each 100 years from about 1000. Although they did a a little on the 3800 to 2800 BC. There is not much know. The best part was the
building itself and the scale models of the castle grounds for each 100 years. Very interesting to see how it had changed over the years. Unfortunately I could not take pictures.



August 11 Prague, Czech Republic

Vysehrad Castle/fortress is believed to have started about 3800BC as they have found some pottery and tools. Most of the history started about 1000AD. Very nice as it is really quiet compared to the old town section of Prague. Lots of gardens and buildings but unfortunately you can not go inside.

Stopped for lunch at a little restaurant below the complex on way to tram stop. Food was excellent, service great and so much cheaper than anything in town. They have a great little hotel as well.

Then to King Charles botanical gardens started in about 1300. The gardens are part of the university now and are very well kept. One greenhouse has carnivorous plants.

Caught the tram along the river back to the old town. Got a coffee and waited and watched people until the night tour of Prague castle. This was a hour walking tour from the old town square to the castle. This is the largest castle complex in world and was started in 600 AD.

Although we did catch the tram up the hill we walked down the stairs. Stopped for a break at a monastery that has been producing beer for hundreds of years! More blessed beer.

They has several kinds. I had the wheat beer and it was quite good. This was the start of the craft brewing, we thought it was new! Continued on through the the small town surrounding the castle and then across the bridge. The bridge crosses the Stag moat as apparently lots of deer lived there. Through one of the squares an to the edge of a garden. Here if you stand on the circle in the middle and speak it comes back at you like an echo, but only to you no one else. We walked by many palaces, churches and fountains.. We had some great views at night of the city. Then a walk down some long steps to catch tram/train back to hotel. It was a long day, back at 11 pm.

August 10 Prague Czech Republic

Took a Communism and Bunker Tour late this morning. Great tour. The tour was supposed to be about 3 hours but ended up closer to 4. A small group of 8 so was nice not to be herded around. The guide walked us through many small streets and talking about events that have shaped the politics of the Republic. The most notable is Nov 17, 1989 when the wall came down. Once again a Velvet revolution, no blood shed in the separation from Russia. Interesting that under communism that they did no have to use ration cards but there were shortages of some food at times. Grocery stores closed at 5 but most people have to work until 5 leaving no time for shopping so the kids had to do the shopping.

In 1993 Czech and Slovakia were split. The countries split without any blood shed.

Went into a bunker under the Hotel Jalta. This hotel was built for senior Communist party officials. The bunker is large enough to hold 150 people for 2 weeks but up to 500 people for a short period of time. It was build for a nuclear attach. It is not that big, it very crowded. Some displays set up including which hotel rooms were bugged, the picture does not show which rooms are bugged, but by how much they are bug. Apparently all rooms were bugged, even bugs in the hair/clothes brushes.

Then I took the 190 steps up to the top of the Powder Tower. Once again narrow circular stone steps. Great views of city!


August 9 Prague Czech Republic

By train and tram and funicular (tram that goes up hills) I made way up to the top of the hill. The city built a replica of the Eiffel Tower around 1900. There are just a few steps to go up. The views were pretty good although it seems a bit hazy. The park area is really dry. The grass is brown and the roses garden is not looking very good.

I walked down through the park area. All down hill! There is a nice breeze so not that hot and mostly in the shade. The trails and the sidewalks are all 3 inch by 3 inch cobbles stones. What a job laying those!

About half way down there was a nice little pond. A bit green but he quiet and peacefulness is a nice change from the busy city. The pond even had a bronze seal shooting water out its mouth!

Walked the rest of the way down and ended up at the lock. Not that big of a difference in water levels but the lock held 3 of the big river touring boats. Walked along and then over the Charles Bridge. The only pedestrian bridge. Very busy with people and character artists.

Took the Ghost tour in the old town. Some great stories, one about the alchemist that had his lab under ground and the fumes may have been causing hallucinations at the street level People were seeing goats so the square became known as Goat Square. By the old hospital in the Jewish section where you needed to select you doctor based on how bloody his jacket was because he would have much more experience doing amputations. It was interesting and gave a different look to the city. Even at 10.30 at night the old town square is still very busy


August 8, Prague Czech Republic

Caught the metro into town and found the tourist information. The city is packed with people. There is even a 3 on 3 FIBA world tour tournament going on. Very interesting and very busy. Walked around the old town. Amazing place. All the old buildings. The national museum is closed for another 3 years for renovations, the Opera house is closed for most of August, and the State theater is having renovations done as well.

Heard the astronomical clock go off. Crow and all. Death rings the bell, and the miser, vain and Turk playing an instrument all shake their heads. The clock is about 500 years old, originally but with a few added bits. The clock shows the time, date and moon period. I did not figure out how to read it all. There is a curse for anyone that looks at it, which is going to include a lot of people as the square is packed with people to watch the bell ring each hour.

It is cursed by the clock maker as his eyes were burned out so that he could not make another one. In retaliation he cursed the clock. Had lunch at one of the restaurants. We will have to be more careful, as the coke cost $6! Outrageous.

Then did a tour of the old city hall. Climbed the Powder Tower for a view of the city and then into the underground area. It used to be the street level, but then they built up the streets due to flooding and used the area as a jail. Interesting to see the lay out of the old shops form the 14 century.
Wander around a bit and then back to hotel.


August 7, Prague, Czech Republic

Relaxed at hotel until 1 pm train to Prague. Caught the tram to main train station and then a 1 hour train to Dresden. Here we had to catch a 2 1/2 hour train to Prague. Problem was it was 15 minutes late and then a few minutes into the trip, the train stopped. Apparently the engine was broke. We sat on the tracks for about 1 hour. The temperature outside was above 35 and felt like the same inside. It was a long 3 1/2 hour trip. Everyone was soaked with sweat.

They actually brought around free water! The country side was interesting. We past through one area that had very tall lime stone rocks up the river bank. One house on the top even had to build a bridge across two of the rocks. We arrived at about 7 and caught taxi to hotel. This hotel is attached to a university dorm complex. A few students around.

Walked down the street a bit to one of the local restaurants. Subway like but way better! Very nice bread and fillings of meat and cheese.

August 6 Leipzig Germany

Off this morning to the Panometer. It is a huge round building where they have a display showing the history around the Battle of the Nations in 1813. There are several displays and then you enter a 30 metres high 130 metres long. It is in a circle showing the city in 1813 from the roof of the Thomas Church. The detail of the picture is amazing

It was created from thousands of photos and many videos and then digitally printed into a panormic photo. They used several international battle replicating clubs as they had the armory and the original costumes.

Then using the tram and bus system made our way to the 1813 War Memorial. This is a huge 90 metre high stone and concrete monument to the soldiers of 1813. It was built in the late

1800s and completed in 1913. Only in 2013 did they instal an elevator and access to the Choir level and the roof.
Only a few stairs left to be climbed to get to the roof. 500 in total on the trip down.
Another amazing structure.


August 5 Leipzig Germany

Off the to Leipzig Sports Centre again today. Watched 2 games of field hockey where Heather playing and 1 game of Liz's. Sort of understanding it! Just a little, as my first game was on Monday!

Then walk through the Moritz Bastion. A lower level complex of connected stone rooms. During the building of a new music building they discovered a hole full of old rocks. It was donated to university and using volunteer student labour they laid about 40 tons of stones to create the area. Now bars and restaurants. Very interesting.
Then to dinner with Heather.
Another late night but a great one!


August 4 Leipzig Germany

Spent the morning working on a place to stay and transportation to Prague.

Then joined tour, 1 hour walking and 1.5 hours by bus around the city. The tour was conducted in English and German by the same guide. He changed so easily from English to German and back. The tour was interesting as it filled in some details of some sights we had looked at before but also some new ones. The best was the trading crossroads built into passageways in a building. The ceramic tile pictures were great. One of the them depicted a 'day in the life' which covered all occupations, even prostitution!

Drove by the huge park area as well as the old yarn/spinning factories on the river. These have been coverted to Euro 1 milliion apartments! But they have water front!
Also the 91 meter high memorial to the the soldiers of the 1813 war against Napoleon and his French army. It was a huge memorial. Apparently the graves of many soldiers is beside the momument.

Went to the top of the EEX building (Europeon Economic Exchange for oil and gas) to the 29th floor look out. It is the tallest building in the city.

Then to the Bach museum. A great museum, but then it was free today! It is a very well done museum with an audio guide with several menus for narratives.
Leipzig is a surprise. There is a huge connection to many of the big classic music composers - Bach, Wagner, Johann Wolfgang Geothe.


August 3 Leipzig Germany

Off to the city centre. We are about 3 km away but the tram line is just around the corner. We figured out how to get to the field hockey and headed out. About a 15 minute tram ride and 15 minute walk and we had arrived.

Caught the last half of Heather's game and then caught up with her for a bit. Then caught up with Liz in the beer garden. She had a game a bit later which we watched. Still do not know really what is going on! Watch another of Heather's games.

Met up with Heather and 2 of her team mates at a restaurant close to the Thomas church where a free concert was being held. Excellent food, music and company. Back to hotel late!

St Thomas church, where Bach conducted the choir and wrote most of his work.


August 2 Leipzig Germany

Another lazy morning. It is so nice not having a schedule. Did some computer work in morning and then caught a 1.30pm train to Leipzig. Only a 3 hour ride. It went by very fast as we ended up talking to a young girl that has just got back from a trip from Australia.

Nordic Hotel is about 3 km from city centre but right on a tram line. It is quite nice. As we missed lunch and no food on train, off for dinner. Went to Alexandros, a Greek restaurant across the street. Lots of food and very good. They start you with a shot of ouzo, dinner and then finish with metaxa, a flaming brandy. Very nice!
A short walk around the neighbourhood and off to bed.