Around the World: Nice

March 12, 1992

Spent the day in Nice.  There's not really a lot to do in Nice.  It's an expensive, posh beach town with a rocky shore.  It's a pleasant 18C degrees today, but still too cold to swim.  A few people are sunbathing and it seems that the older the sunbather is, the less they wear.

Polished stones on a beach in Nice, France.
Photo by justinsomnia.org

Found a place that didn't want top dollar for a small meal and had crepes with Roquefort, nuts and mayonnaise.  A nearby fruit stand gives me the chance to try blood oranges.  The sample was free and a great selling tactic because I bought a dozen and a half for 10 francs.

Back on the train, I skipped the reservation fee and found a couchette with a girl from England who was happy for some company.  Sarah and I shared some of our food, putting a nice little picnic together while on the way to Rome.

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"The only difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way you use them."

Around the World: Barcelona

March 11, 1992

Arrived in Barcelona at 9am, somewhat sleepy because the trip was pretty bumpy, and crowded.  Unlike India, crowded just means that all the seats were occupied. With preparations for the Olympics underway, it looks like Barcelona is attracting a lot of attention.  Checked my bag at the station and went on a search for tourist information, indicated by a carefully hidden "i".  It's always a little game trying to find it.  I have the best luck determining which part of the station is the least likely to see anybody and sure enough, there it is.

The Lisbon groceries have been consumed so my first stop is a grocery for cheese, salami, and sardines (I think they are sardines.  It's some kind of canned fish) and further down the road for croissants.  Set up a picnic in a nearby park to feast and start a day of exploring.

Casa Mila
Photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons

Wandered around Barcelona enjoying the Olympic preparations and an unexpected visual gift, the architecture of Antoine Gaudi.  His architecture reminds me of ocean waves captured in concrete.  Still under construction is the Sagrada Family Basilica, a building that was never intended to be a cathedral, just the size of one.  Work on this project started in 1882 and completion is estimated around 2026, one hundred years after Gaudi's death.

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família
Photo courtesy Wikipedia Creative Commons

While Barcelona sleeps, I seek out more pieces of Gaudi Modernism which lead me to a shoe store, soon to reopen after the daily siesta.  When the store clerk returns, I'm glad he's well rested because it doesn't take long to discover that any of the shoes I like all come in my size.  All of them.  I choose a funky pair of burgundy brogues set on chunky black soles.

 

Back at the train station, a guy from Sweden asks me if I have a plastic bag to give him.  He is an artist working on a piece constructed entirely from plastic bags from around the world.

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"Science and art belong to the whole world, and before them vanish the barriers of nationality."

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Around the World: Lisbon

March 9, 1992

Really enjoyed the three hour journey from Porto to Lisbon.  Found a pensione nice and close to the train station.  The most recognizable sign of Lisbon is the towering statue of Cristo-Rei that overlooks the city.  Shortly after the completion of Rio de Janeiro's, Christ the Redeemer, the Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon suggested duplicating Rio's statue in Lisbon "as a plea to God to keep Portugal out of WWII."

Lisbon is a city of statues, mostly located in the middle of busy round-a-bouts, making it life threatening to get close enough to take a picture.  

On the way back to the pensione, I find a little grocery store and pick up some cheese, veggies and cookies on sale for 69 cents.  It's a great deal, obviously, because the line-up to pay winds around the store and through several aisles.  On the way out, I pass a little wine bar where it seems you can have a drink to reward yourself for enduring the line up to the cash register.  The place is full of men, possibly the husbands of the women fighting for bargains in the store.

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"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue."