Barcelona

Gaudi. He was an architect that colored out of the lines. He painted nature's math into buildings. His most famous work is the basilica of La Familia Sagrada in Barcelona. Started 1883, the basilica is still not completed. The current estimate to completion is 2036 or 2040. On approach to the building, the spires raise in latticed grandeur while the facades tell the stories of the Christ's youth and crucifixion. Various spires hold enormous collections of fruit. The characters on the facades are in different styles, from realistic to cubist, even including a cubist version of Rodin's "Thinker". Instead of gargoyles, Gaudi carved lizards and snakes. The flying buttresses so common to cathedrals look more like gangling spider legs supporting the heavens-reaching edifice.

The inside of the bulding is even more impressive. The ceiling soars high above as sunlight pours through the numerous skylights. Even the concrete surrounding skylights and lights is edged with rays of light. Interior columns are topped with capitals unlike any in the world. The museum describes these capitals via nature's mathematical interpretation of cones and cylinders. Sprouting from them, girders grow like branches to hold up the ceiling far above us. Gaudi's masterpiece contains familiar cathedral highlights: a beautiful stain-glassed rose window, a pipe organ, a choir. However, his artistic flair shows through in a choir that is high above the ground, the use of rolling, wave-like lines instead of straight and a wall-sized plaque with "Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread" in multiple languages. Buy the La Familia Sagrada + Museo pass; and, you'll also get entrance into the museum that was once Gaudi's house in Guell Park.

Spanish food. In just over 24 hours, I managed to eat all my favorite Spanish food. If you're lucky enough to travel to Spain, try the paella. Since Spain is a peninsula, the seafood is fresh and flavorful. Paella is made with seafood and rice. We ate paella with mussels, crawfish, and shrimp. Delicious! A simple breakfast or lunch in Spain consists of a bocadilla with jamon iberica (Spanish ham) and queso (cheese). You'll specifically want to ask for the jamon iberica. This thinly sliced, cured pork is unlike anything that I can find in the States. Finally, for the sweet tooth, Spain provides chocolate (hot chocolate) con churros (long, donuty columns). The chocolate is dark and thick. Dip your churros into the chocolate for a great sweet, any time of the day.

Hotel. Adding this in as an after thought. However, Bonanova was in a great location to the sites. However, I remember thinking that it was too expensive. My idea of "expensive" has probably changed since then. https://www.bonanovasuite.com/

Ouarzazate, Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou and Marrakech

We left our camels in the morning for a twenty four hour whirwind of stops before leaving Morocco. First, we stopped at Ouarzazate, the leading city for Morocco's movie industry. "Ouarzawood's" first famous film was Lawrence of Arabia, produced by the Atlas Corporation Studios. Upon our arrival at Atlas, we passed the actors and actresses from the BBC TV series Atlantis. They were just heading for an offsite shoot. We toured the sets of several movies and TV series, including Gladiator, The Mummy Returns, Journey to Mecca, Kun Dun, Ben Hur and Cleopatra. The props and sets looked so amazing; but, on closer inspection, those thick stone walls were really bamboo pools with a thin layer of plaster; temple pillars were hollow; the Gladiator chariots were rusted iron piping. In the noon day sun, the set was sweltering; and, it was only May. I don't envy the actors and actresses who shoot scenes here.

From Ourzazate, we drove 30 km outside of the city to the kasbah made famous in Lawrence of Arabia, Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou. Originally, it was a fortress for approximately 50 middle class and six upper class families with a total of 166,000 inhabitants. However, today, only a few families still live in the kasbah. Most have moved across the flooding riverbed to the small town, which has access to a main road. We climbed the straits and steps to the very top of the kasbah, which used to be the final fortress and storehouse, if the kasbah came under siege. Beautiful view!

Finally, we drove to the exotic city of Marrakech. We thought about simply stopping for a couple of hours and then flying straight to Barcelona. However, our tour company insisted that we needed to see the central square at night in Marrakech. We stayed in the medina, or old city, in Marrakech and wandered through the souks, or shopping areas, until we came to the main square: Jemaa al-Fnaa. Due to tourism, the entire area is very well signed with areas pointing to Jemaa al-Fnaa and various areas within the souks. The Jemaa al-Fnaa was a beehive of activity. There were street performers--snake charmers, magicians, dancers. If we stopped for more than 60 seconds, roving vendors would approach us. Fresh produce (dates, almonds, tangerines) booths lined one section and restaurants lined another. The greetings of "Bonjour, Hola, Hello" filled the air as we strolled past the sensory overload. What a great way to end our tour of Morocco!

For those who would like to travel to Morocco, I highly recommend our tour company, which provided us with a private van and driver and created an itinerary for our timeframe and places we wanted to see: http://www.thetravelsource.net/

Desert

We journeyed 9 hours from Fez through the snowy Middle Atlas Mountains down to the desert to meet the four wheel drive Land Cruiser that would take us to our camels. The drive to the Kasbah with our camels took about 45 minutes over gravelly sand. At the Kasbah, we and our backpacks mounted our camels for a one hour meander over endless sand dunes.

I've heard that camels spit; but, thankfully, none of them did. Our group was 5 camels tied together.  The guide led our 'caravan' with a rope tied through the nose of the first camel. Camels are amazingly well built for the desert with their soft padded feet sloshing through the sand. However, riding a camel is not as comfortable as it appears. Going up hill went well. Going downhill, I clung to the hand holds and braced myself not to catapult over the camel's neck. It was a long hour ride. On the way back the next day, I decided I would walk with our guide.

When we arrived and dismounted at our tents (camels have some tough front knees), the guides encouraged us to quickly summit the highest dune in order to see sunset. As we attempted to scurry, we discovered how exhausting it was to walk in the sand. I reneged on walking with the guide the next day. Several times, I stopped to catch my breath. Yet, we still summitted in time to see sunset. Swiftly, the air cooled as the sun disappeared. We cruised down the slope to waiting mint tea and dinner.

I haven't written much about Moroccan cuisine. The signature dish is the tajine, which is a clay pot with meat and vegetables. Usually, this is preceded by Moroccan salad, which is a variety of cooked veggies (beets, carrots, eggplant, zucchini) and beans (fava). And followed with either fruit or cookies. No meal is complete without a flat, soft bread. Our tajine in the desert was a tajine to end all tajines. Chicken, eggplant, and zucchini all in one big pot, followed by wonderfully sweet watermelon, accompanied by two guides providing some after dinner drumming.

Finally, our guides led us to our tents, which were heavy blankets on wooden frames. The doors were heavy, woven rugs. Our beds were small twin mattresses with sheets and heavy woolen blankets. Although I'd planned on sleeping outside, the large moon shone so brightly, we didn't even need flashlights. I curled up under the warm blankets inside the dark tent and fell asleep to the sounds of drumming and clapping from a nearby group.

Morning light crept through the blanket tent; and, I hurried out to see the sun crest the eastern sand dunes. We only hiked about halfway up the western dune for a vantage point this morning. Neither sunset nor sunrise provided brilliant colors. Perhaps the air is too clean to prism any sunlight. After the sun crested, we ate a light breakfast of bread and tea. Then, we mounted our camels for our return to the kasbah and our waiting Land Cruiser.

Fez

Fez. It's a word that brings back childhood memories of our small town parade. Shriners in little red hats drove tiny vans in circles and figure eights through the street. However, the city of Fez has a much richer tradition. It was founded around 800 A.D. and has served off and on as a capital city. For a word so synonymous with a red felt hat, we saw only one vendor selling a total of four fezes during our entire day walking the Medina.

The Medina is the original, 'old' part of Fez, from the 800s. Its not to be confused with 'new' Fez, which was built in the 1400s. I highly recommend hiring a guide for a tour of the Medina. It's labyrinth of 9600 streets is an enigma for even the most seasoned traveler. We started our walking tour just outside the Medina in the Mellah, or old Jewish Quarter. From there, we wove in and out among shops, homes, and restaurants in streets sometimes not more than shoulder width. The entire area is free of motorized vehicles. Goods are transported via hand cart or small horse. Often, we squeezed against the walls to get out of the way of both.  Whether shopping for dates, artichokes, almonds or fava beans, there is an abundance of fresh food, including shark and sheep brains. There are tanners, copper smiths, spice vendors, rug makers, and weavers. The Medina also boasts one of the oldest universities in the world.

Tannery: the sprig of mint that you're given upon entrance does little to mask the smell. We moved past exquisite leather work to the back windows. Outside, hides are soaking in limestone vats or being dyed manually by men standing in large vats full of colored water.

Coppersmith: need to cook in bulk for your next big party? Here, you can rent a large copper pot to do your cooking.

Spice vendors: Moroccan has that most expensive and exotic of spices, saffron. It also boasts the argot nut. The oil of this nut is used in expensive cosmetics internationally.

Weavers: scarves and djellabis (long robes with hoods) are worn everywhere. Handmade ones are still woven on wooden looms from cotton, wool and vegetable silk (agave fibers).

Rugs: you'll shop three types of rugs here: Arabic, Berber and nomadic. Each is distinctly different. Arabic rugs look most like flying carpets. Berber rugs have distinct symbols or tattoos. Nomadic rugs are made from either 'live' or 'dead' wool, depending on if the animals are shorn when they're alive or dead. No dyes are used in nomadic rugs.

Kaireoune Mosque and University: founded by a woman, Fatima, in the 800s, this continues as a university to this day.

Gibraltar

flying into Gibraltar is not for the faint of heart. The plane cruises past the Rock, descends over the Straight toward the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, and turns back for a short taxi on a runway built on the water. While the runway stretches ahead, from the windows you see the traffic waiting to cross the one road into Gibraltar. Cars, cyclists and pedestrians all pass from Spain into Gibraltar on the road crossing the runway. The planes land, turn 360 degrees and taxi back to the terminal. Traffic is stopped for four flights per day.

Gibraltar is definitely a day trip. This rock has been owned and coveted by many nations. Currently, its owned by the UK. It's very unique to experience a little bit of Britain, attached to the Spanish mainland. We heard just as much Spanish as English spoken.

The attractions on the Rock include some old fortresses, a cave and Barbary monkeys. Options to summit the rock include stairs as well as a gondola. The Nature Reserve pass will get you entrance to all attractions (we paid 18.50 pounds for gondola up plus nature reserve). There are signs posted everywhere not to touch or feed the monkeys and to keep everything secure. Yet, even verbal warnings did not prevent one couple from losing their snack (It's a 500 Euro fine to feed the monkeys) nor a family from letting their toddler son run up to pet a monkey (& subsequently get slapped by the monkey).

The fortresses include old batteries, several tunnels built for the Great Siege in the 1700s and expanded through WWII, and a Moorish fortress originally constructed in 1333. St. Michael's Cave is tastefully lit to highlight the rock formations. From there, its a short walk uphill to the start of the Mediterranean Steps down and around the west side of the Rock.

On our descent by stairs back to the main plaza, we met a resident of Gibraltar. He walks the stairs 5-6 times per day. My quads and calves are on fire after only one day of stairs.

Moto GP

We arrived to the sight of the motorcycles doing jumps, spins and tricks while above us a Red Bull stunt plane barrel rolled. And, this was just the pre-race entertainment while the three classes of motorocycles warmed up around the track. Friday and Saturday were qualifying race days, earning the riders positions in the final "grid" or starting positions.

 

 

 

Moto3 started at 11. These racers ride 250cc four-stroke, one-cylinder motorcyles. Even watching these small bikes, earplugs were a welcome sound dampener. We sat along turn 15, watching the racers come off the long straight away and then executing three turns in quick succession. After approximately 10 laps, the workers around the track started waving red flags, calling all racers to stop. A racer had crashed and looked to be injured critically. The leaders started to celebrate, thinking they had won the race. However, the injured racer was cleared quickly from the racetrack; and, the remaining racers were called on to race five more laps. Celebrations ceased and the Moto3 riders took a warm up lap to warm up their tires again. The starting grid set-up matched their current positions after the last clocked lap. Strategically, the front-runner took his time riding his warm-up lap, so that he would be one of the last to arrive at the grid and would have less wait until the start. The wait cools tires. During these last five laps, we saw several examples of the "slipstream effect", where a motorcycle riding closely behind another catches the "slipstream", which pulls it in front of the other motorcycle. The front-runners at the end of the first 10 laps had been numbers 42, 25 and 39. During the beginning of the five laps, 25 slid to 6th place but managed to regain 2nd by the finish line. A very exciting race!

 

By this time, the sun was getting quite warm on the grandstand. There is no shade and no umbrellas are allowed (except for the racers, who have umbrella girls to shade them while they wait in the grid). Thankfully, we had access to a shaded area where I was able to get a seat during the Moto2 race. Moto2 motorcycles have 600cc, 4-stroke engines. These racers completed a total of 18 laps.

 

Finally, at 2 pm, the main event, the Moto GP! These motorcycles have a maximum total engine displacement of 1000cc. For the technical details on these motorcycles, check here: http://www.motogp.com/en/MotoGP+Basics/bikes. These bikes were fast, with the fastest lap clocked at 159.7 Km/h. Now all the names and numbers made sense on the spectators hats and jerseys, they were sporting MotoGP racers. #26 Pedrosa and #46 Rossi both had fans in our section. Pedrosa and his teammate Marquez pulled ahead at the beginning of the race. Pedrosa lead for the first half of the race. But, then, Marquez slipped ahead and continued to increase his lead until the end. With Marquez's win, he became the youngest racer to ever win the MotoGP. How old is the youngest racer? Only 20.

 

More info on MotoGP: http://www.motogp.com/en

More info on the venue, Circuite of the Americas: http://cotaexperiences.com/2013-motogp-championship

 



 

 

East Austin Tour guided by Harrison Eppright

A brief background on historic East Austin African American Cultural Heritage District: after the Civil War, freed slaves, also known as freedmen, established communities around Austin. The oldest freedom town west of the Mississippi is located in Austin and named Clarksville after freed slave Charles Clark who settled there in 1871. However, in 1928, they city of Austin rolled out a Master Plan to move all African American residents to the east side of Austin. The city denied basic services to all African Americans living outside of East Austin in an attempt to force migration to the east side.

Our tour started on 11th Street, just east of Hwy 35 and Franklin BBQ, in the parking lot next to the Texas Music Museum (open weekdays), behind Ebenezer Baptist Church. This area is called Robertson Hill, from the Robertsons who moved into the French Legation in the 1850s. Across the street, closer to Franklin BBQ, is a small yellow house, which will become the visitor center for the African American Cultural & Heritage Facility. The land was purchased by Mr. Dedrick, a freed slave, who built the yellow house still on the property in 1879 or 1880. Ebenezer Baptist Church was started in 1874 by a freed woman singing spirituals from her porch. Originally named 3rd Baptist Church (Colored), it's first building was in stone in 1885, then stucco in 1915 and the imposing gothic brick structure there today was built in the 1950s.

We walk west up 11th street to a small square dedicated to Dr. Charles E. Urdy, a community activitist for the revitalization of East Austin. The square has a beautiful mural by Professor John Yancey.

As we continue up 11th street, we pass the St. Joseph Masonic Lodge. Masonic Lodges were also segregated when this one was built in 1949.

Across from the lodge, we see the Victory Grill, opened on VJ day, Victory over Japan Day, in 1945. Johnny Holmes started the music venue at a time when Austin was still segregated. Victory Grill hosted many African American musicians as a stop on the Chitlin' Circuit, including Ike & Tina Turner. Today, it is only open for special events.

On this tour, we passed several churches, both African American and Mexican American. Interestingly, East Austin was settled by several different communities, from freed slaves to Swedes, Mexicans to Jews. After the 1928 Master Plan, East Austin split at 7th street, with the Mexican American community living south of 7th and the African American community living north of 7th street. Almost all of the churches we passed (African Methodist Episcopal, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic, Wesley United Methodist), were originally located in downtown Austin but were subsequently relocated to East Austin.

We continue west on 11th street and pass Hillside Farmacy, now a sandwich shop, originally Hillside Drugs, a drugstore from 1929-1980s.

At Angelina, we turn left (north) and walk to the George Washington Carver Library. Just north of the current library is the original library, now the George Washington Carver Museum. Underneath the brick structure is the wooden frame building that was originally the Central Library (segregated) located downtown. When the new library (whites only) was built downtown, the old building was moved here, bricked over, and became the first branch library in Austin. The Austin Public Library wasn't desegragated until 1951.

We turn left at Hackberry and walk down to San Bernard Street. As the Austin Master Plan in 1928 rolled out, there was also emigration of current residents from East Austin. The nicest houses were on San Bernard Street, which become the place to live among African Americans of means. San Bernard is still a comparitively wide street today. It also boasts the first Austin church designed by an African American architect, John S. Chase.

And so ended our official tour. However, I wanted to check out a few other places that Harrison mentioned. He talked about the Doris Miller Auditorium, a log cabin and the first ever public project housing in the United States, Rosewood Courts. While I didn't make it all the way across Pleasant Valley to Rosewood Courts, the Doris Miller Auditorium was only about a mile away. The Auditorium is named for the navy messman who shot down two Japanese planes during Pearl Harbor (played by Cuba Gooding Jr in the movie Pearl Harbor). The park contains a log cabin built in 1863 by a freedman, Henry Madison and relocated to Rosewood Park during the 1960s.

Harrison Eppright is a certified Austin Tour Guide. He works at the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau. He leads walking tours of East Austin, the Driskill and downtown. http://austintourguides.org/members/151/harrison-eppright/

Austin Marathon 2013

Last Sunday was the culmination of months of training. Responsibly tucking myself in early on Friday nights so that I could get up for 7 am runs; cutting out some sweets and caffeine; drinking as much water as I probably should; training sessions before and after work. Yet, with all that training, almost a month ago, old pains returned and new pains surfaced. It was too late to take a serious recovery break and heal. But, I was too committed to call it quits. After encouragement from family and friends, I took it easier on the training while hoping that the time invested in the past months would pay off.

Sunday morning was a beautiful 50 degrees. I started off slowly jogging flat stretches and uphills but saving my knees by walking the downhills. Then, the thing that I couldn’t train for happened. My left foot slipped off the side of a curb; and, I twisted my ankle. Thankfully, I could still walk on it. After about a half block walking, I started running on it. I kept running. A friend met me at mile 10 and generously applied Biofreeze. Yet, that only helped me another mile before I had to start walking. Even though I had reassured my family and friends that I would walk if I had to, the realization that I had to was depressing. Tears threatened to spill. Somehow, I kept my head up and walked.

This was the last race of a six race series that we had started back in October. The Distance Challenge starts with shorter distances – a 10K, then a 10 mile, a couple of half marathons, then, the 30K, where all the pains started. The Austin Marathon is the final race in the Distance Challenge. Only finishers of all six races receive the Distance Challenge finisher jacket. One incomplete disqualifies the registrant. I wasn’t about to stop now during the final race!

However, without friends’ support, it would have been very tough to actually follow through. Just as I would begin internally questioning if I could really walk the whole way, there would be another friend texting that they were waiting for me, another friend on the sideline cheering me on, another friend waiting for me at the finish. And as walkers passed me by, two friends met me at mile 25 and walked me the final 1.2 miles to the finish line, where more friends were waiting for me. My first marathon completed in 6 hours and 45 minutes.