I�ve started a new category, optimistically predicting that I can put up some information on WORLDS. I’ve no idea what the Internet access from the tournament will be like. Hopefully they realise that geeks like me, will try and keep people like you informed on what’s going on. I’ve added some links on the my page’s left column where you will most likely find information focussing on teams from different parts of the globe. Hopefully the Tournament site itself will update current results and rankings.
My U-Bahn leaves at 8am, my stuff is basically packed and I am edgy with anticipation. I guess its excitement, but it feels like nerves which is strange, considering I don’t actually have any expectations other than do my best and enjoy as much as I can. If we win a game, bonus, we’ll have to see my South African team first to judge the chance of that. The schedule pits us first day against Canada and Great Britain. Maybe the nerves are fear of forgetting something rather than a first day score 0-38. We only start at 09:00 once in the first round, but judging by the events schedule only containing parties after Friday (day 6!), this may be less significant than I’m used to.
The weather (see link in left column) forecast for Turku looks cool, very wet, but not too windy. I�ve packed tights and waterproof pants, so am hopefully ready for whatever it can throw at me. 25 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud would be nice.
In that vein, I’ll continue my wish list of lush green fields, an injury free tournament, universal high spirit and a decent party or two. Packing up Munich I realised exactly how many Ultimate Tshirts one collects and have sorted things with an aim to trading some in Turku. I never seem to throw them out. On the other end of the scale, I only have one set of cleats, which doesn’t seem enough. Hopefully they and my body get through the week in good condition.
Ok, I need to hit the sack. Fingers crossed, next post from Finland.
Does anyone have info how to send stuff from a place like landlocked Munich across the waters to a place like Australia? I�m not sending enough to use a relocation company, but I�m sure I there’s better than German Post 20kg to Australia (Zone 4) for 80 Euro or double that by air. I haven�t found info on shipping containers/parts-thereof from Munich, but I imagine for the quantity it would be uneconomic.
I�ve been eMailing freight companies based at Munich Airport, but in the meantime, I�ll welcome any tips from readers and your friends. Ta.
For anyone who remembers how I got to Barcelona from Granada, the following just came through making it all very sweet.
—————
RE: Travel Claim Number - 170####
Brad,
Thank you for your email.
Below is the outcome of your claim.
MEDICAL & ADDITIONAL EXPENSES
203.96 EUR @ 1.70610 = 348.33
NIL EXCESS
SETTLEMENT $348.33
A direct deposit will be in your CBA account by the end of this week.
—————
nice one. Saved something like 8 hours and flew business class and paid
the cost of the cheapest train (�50)
Ok I’m a little more organised, its not surprising I’ve had some confused eMails. The plan is now to fly to Munich this Saturday (24.07), from there to Helsinki on 29.07 and be at Worlds in Turku from 31.7-8.8. I then have a few days until I fly back to Munich from Helsinki on Friday 13.08. Another very busy week until I return to Barcelona on 20.08 and then take The Ultimate Magic Mystery Bus to WBUC in Portugal, which should leave on the 22nd.
What happens after that? Wait and see.
Ein bisschen Information in Deutsch ist l�ngst �berf�llig (stimmt’s Tom?) und da ich bald wieder in Deutschland sein werde ist etwas �bung jetzt auch g�nstig. Die meisten meiner Deutsch Leser haben hoffentlich auch ab und zu etwas von mir in Englisch gelesen aber ich versuche trotzdem die letzte fast drei Monate kurz zu fassen. Der beste Anfang ist vielleicht meinen Fotoseite der beim letzten Bericht noch nicht existiert hat. Die Fotos sind in Albums sortiert, einige mit Englisch Beschreibungen und/oder Kommentaren die Ihr auch schreiben darf. Die besten sind vielleicht Granada und Segovia. Vielen Dank nochmals Volker, der seine Server mit mir teilt und alles f�r mich installiert hat. Seine S�damerika Fotos sind bewundernswert.
Mein Plan hat sich ge�ndert in dem ich viel mehr von Spanien gesehen habe als ich urspr�nglich vor hat. Seit Mai als ich in Seville gewohnt habe, bin ich nicht mehr in Andalusia gewesen. In Seville hatte ich ein Zimmer bei einer Familie die leider ziemlich langweilig waren aber immerhin nur Spanisch gesprochen habe. Nicht das ich sie verstanden habe. Eigentlich hatte ich ein schlechtes Gef�hl, trotz ziemlich viel m�he, kaum Verbesserungen merken zu k�nnen. Sobald ich Seville verlie�, merkte ich wieviel an der sehr schwierige Akzent dort liegte. Die Wohnung war weder nah am Fluss noch am f�nften Stockwerk (wie in beide M�nchen und Granada).
Seville selber ist eine sehr sch�ne Stadt, mit vielen Studenten und mit einem lebhaften Nightlife aber auch mehr wie ein Gro�stadt als Granada. Ein Vorteil, der ich genossen habe, war die viel Wiesn wo man in der Sonne liegen kann und Spanisch lernen. Der riesig Alamillo Park war auch sch�n um ein bisschen Ultimate zu spielen. Leider war ich zweimal Krank in Seville. Ganz am Anfang brauchte ich Antibiotikum nach fast eine Woche in Bett und dann zum Schluss habe ich Bronchitis erwischt was sehr �rgerlich war und lange Zeit sp�ren hinterlie�. Zwischen drin reiste ich nach Madrid um die Spanische Ultimate Meisterschaft (der Liga) zu spielen. Mir hat es so viel Spa� gemacht, dass ich Lust bekam das Turnier in Genf Ende Mai mit einem Spanischen Team zu spielen.
In Genf war spielen leider kaum m�glich aber viele Freunde waren dort und zum feiern war ich fast gesund genug. Danach (Anfang Juni) ging es nach einer meiner Lieblingsst�dte, Barcelona. Hier war es endlich Sommer und die Str�nde ruften. Ich habe beim Freunden gewohnt, erst beim Miquel der leider in Berlin arbeiten m�sste und dann in einem WG mit Andy (englisch), Stephan (aus Wien) und Mila (baskisch). Vor meiner Ankunft hatten die nur Spanisch gesprochen…mit mir w�rden dann Englisch, Deutsch und Spanisch gemischt. F�r ein Paar Wochen habe ich viel Zeit im Parks oder am Strand verbracht (manchmal beim lernen), mit Freunde gefeiert und sonst nicht viel zu erkl�ren gemacht. Der Forum war leider entt�uschend.
Am 16.06 sind wir zu dritt nach Madrid gefahren, zwei Freunde abgeholt und am 17.06 nach dem Strandturnier in Portugal (1Std von Lissabon) gefahren. Einfach toll wie immer, ich brauche nichts mehr schreiben. Danach fing ein Zeit an wo ich etwas mehr um gereist bin. Erst habe ich ein Paar sehr sch�nen Tage mit zwei Freunde aus Boston verbracht als wir Richtung Madrid gefahren sind. Salamanca ist eine wirklich sch�ne Stadt. Die sind zur�ck geflogen und ich hatte noch nichts vor nach Madrid. Durch Zufall habe ich dann eine Freundin bei einem schwul Strassenfest getroffen, die nach ein paar Exkursionen in Madrid, einen Sprachkurs an der Uni in Oviedo anfangen w�rde. Schlie�lich hatte ich einen kostenlosen Mitfahrgelegenheit nach einem noch unbekannten Ecke in Nordspanien. So wird meine Pl�ne gemacht. Da ich f�r Deutschen schreibe, erw�hne ich den Fu�ball EM die um dieser Zeit lief besser nicht.
Nach der �berm��ige Hitze in Madrid habe ich k�hl schlechtes Wetter nicht erwartet. Trotzdem haben wir ein Paar sehr sch�nen Tage verbracht obwohl meine Hoffnungen auf Wanderungen in Picos de Europas und herumliegen am Bay of Biscay w�rde zum nichts. Vielleicht ein anderes mal? In Backpacker Modus habe ich dann Burgos und Bilbao besucht. Burgos ist eine sch�ne kleine Altstadt, weil das einzige was mir an Bilbao interessiert hat war das Guqgenheim Museum. Die Paar Freunde die um dieser Zeit in Pamplona waren habe ich nicht erwischt.
Einige sehr interessante eMails haben letztendlich dazu gef�hrt dass ich Teams habe f�r beide die Ultimate Weltmeisterschaft in Finnland anfangs August und die Strandweltmeisteschaft in Portugal drei Wochen sp�ter. Daf�r brauchte ich dringend Training und auch ein paar Fl�ge. Mit allem bin ich nicht fertig aber von Bilbao, bin ich wieder nach Barcelona gefahren und trainiere schon eine Woche beim tollen Wetter hier. Ein Flug nach Helsinki habe ich auch gekauft und zwar aus M�nchen. Verbindungen nach M�nchen und wieder Richtung Portugal muss ich noch organisieren. Jedenfalls bin ich in M�nchen vor dem 29.07 und wieder am 13.08. Da ich in dieser Zeit viel zu tun haben werden, sollt Ihr Euch bitte bei mir melden.
Falls Du jemand kennt der Interesse haben konnte meinem O2 Genion Vertrag zu �bernehmen, bitte sag mir Bescheid. Der l�uft bis Ende 2005.
I just put up lots of posts and pictures. For those who want to read everything and were up-to-date, grab the July archive and read from the bottom up. I also got around to posting a very late Forum post. Otherwise you’ll have to wait for the summary post I haven’t written yet.
Photos to go with all that are up. Some are linked into the posts or you can browse the albums. New or changed albums are Barcelona, Madrid and surroundings, Asturias as well as Burgos and Bilbao.
That should keep you busy for a while. If you find any broken links or other stuff ups, please let me know.
I arrived in Barcelona on the night bus 6am Tuesday morning. I wasn’t sorted for accommodation, so chilled at the train station, then went and did my washing while I thought about plans. I’d considered staying at Tim’s at Casteldefells, but I couldn’t reach him for a while and it turns out to be not so convenient. Doris came to the rescue, offering some floor space (I’m getting through people’s hospitality in Barcelona one by one). By this time I’d dumped my bags at a youth hostel and met an Australian (Lucy) who was headed to Sagrada Familia. Remember me mentioning that? So back I went and took photos. At 7pm I dumped my stuff at my generous host and met the Ultimate Frisbee crew at the Port Olympique beach for some throwing and running some time after 8pm. Slow and unfit, at this stage I’m just happy to get through sprint training without dying. You think I slept well? You bet I did.
Wednesday was a slow day, getting up late and organising things via Internet. I have flights from Munich to Finland, but still no fixed plan how I’m getting to Munich or from there to Portugal. Lots of options. Back to the beach, this time only Elena, Mary-Jo and Alexa rocked up, so I didn’t have to watch sweaty men’s’ backs as we ran. Much better.
On the 13.05.2004, Bell wrote: “Think you’ll make it over to Worlds? August 1-7, 2004 in Turku, Finland… it’s only a hop, skip and a jump away…”. At the time I poo-pooed the idea (see the comments on this post
HOP: Hop over to Portugal. Play against South African Mat, who I met in Italy a couple years back at Pasticciotto. Mention I was born in Jo’burg. He comes back a while and says “Would you like to play Worlds with us?”. I thought he was talking about Beach Worlds in Portugal. He was talking about Worlds in Finland.
SKIP: Skip a heartbeat waiting for the ok from team captains. This took a while (06.07).
JUMP: Jump into action figuring out how to get there, how to get fitter and all the other things I need to do.
I’ve bought a return flight from Munich to Helsinki (29.07, returning on Fri 13.08). My first two evenings back in Barcelona were running training (1st night shuttles (sprints with turning around), 2nd night too many 400m and 8×50m sprints), joining people who’ve been doing their program for 8 weeks. Rest night tonight.
Good call Bell!
Parallel to all this ran the story of Beach Worlds in Portugal. Around the time I was playing at Bar do Peixe, Father Tongue eMailed me saying Jess in Italy was looking for Australians to fill up a team. Last I’d heard this was being organised in Australia and was too difficult, so I wrote Jess what I knew including the comment “I’d like to make it, I didn’t think I was going to be in Europe, but that’s looking more likely the more I procrastinate”. After travelling a while with Pablo and Steve, my Inbox had about 10 eMails about Team Oz at Beach Worlds. Jess had forwarded my eMail and written “And lets welcome Brad (Australian) to the team…”. I can’t wait to play for Australia. Thats a dream.
By the time I bought a ticket to Bilbao, the weather still hadn’t cleared up, Pamplona was finishing up and I wanted to see the Guggenheim museum. After a long drought I heard Australian accents. Hundreds of them. I found myself a Hostal that turned out to be the worst value I’ve had on this trip. I took it thinking that the Guggenheim might be shut tomorrow and therefore wanting to get there quickly. Despite the lady in the Hostal telling me it is shut on Mondays, its actually open in July and August. The museum was good. The architecture is simply wild and perfect for displaying art. I’m not sure why there are no comfortable seats in front of the art. The ground and first floor were excellent, the second floor had the type of modern art I just don’t get. If anyone can explain Mark Rothko to me, I’d be very appreciative. I really liked James Rosenquist’ stuff, that is the kind of modern art I can get into. The 12m high flower puppy outside is very cool. I wonder how hard it is to build a mini one in the garden?
After dinner and a very long Internet session (don’t ask, nothing worked), I tried to get into the Hostal at 3am, to find my key which I’d had problems with upstairs would not open the door at street level no matter what I tried. While considering all options before ringing the bell, a Japanese guy came up and asked for help. It was an interesting story he told. He’d come from Barcelona where he’d been robbed (“Do you know the Rambla?”, “yes, I know the Ramblas well”) and come to Bilbao where he has a friend. But his friend is now in Belgium and he has no money and nowhere to stay. The guy is not carrying any bags. What would you do? At this point there was a small chance he was legit, but you go on instinct and I didn’t trust him. I said in his situation I would try stay at the police station. He said he’d been there and they suggested the bus station. (Possible, but the police and bus stations are very far away from where he is now, in the old city full of tourists) By now I’d decided to ring the bell. I knew it was unlikely the Hostal people would come down, they would just open up, but he possibly didn’t. I told him he could talk to the Hostal people when I rang the bell and maybe they would help him. He says no, they won’t help him when they know he has no money. So I say I can’t help. Then he asks for money for a phone call, which was good because its so laughable I knew my instinct was right so I asked “who are you going to call?”. He left. They let me in. I slept. 4ish.
So why oh why did the Hostal guy bang on my door at 9am? I’d latched myself in which was good, because he was trying the key when I woke up. The day before I hadn’t had change and he wanted his money now. They had my passport number. Bastard! And the bed was too soft. I got outta there and gave him dirty looks. The weather was bad again and I wasn’t sure where to go. Eventually I decided to skip San Sebastian (I’ve been there in 1998) and got a ticket on the night bus back to Barcelona. This is the first time this trip I’ve saved a nights accommodation by travelling at night. It still sucks. We still do it. Why Barcelona makes sense now? You’ll have to keep reading.
Arriving in Burgos at 23:40 was always going to be a mistake. I’d called Chicho (Ricardo) to get some help on accommodations. Unfortunately he couldn’t help but said there’s plenty of Hostal’s and that time of night is no problem. I didn’t believe him, but it sounded easy, I’m lazy and so arrived at midnight to be locked out of all the cheaper places. Splurged on a decent hotel for the night and moved the next day. oops.
Chicho is an Ultimate frisbee player who got things started in Granada when he was studying there. Friday we met up to move my gear and have a look around town. Burgos is small and quickly seen, you only need half a day or so. So we went and had a beer with Pablo (another Pablo, this one actually Spanish), grabbed a disc and went for a throw in a park. I took some night photos of the sites and had a quiet one. Saturday morning I checked out the Cathedral which is definitely worth seeing and then went for a walk. I bought a bus ticket for Bilbao the next morning and headed out to a Monastery where I studied on the grass in the sun (it was still quite cool) and had a little look around. Can anyone still do roman numerals? Is MDCCXIV the year 1714? (ie. 1000 + 500 +2×100 +14), I’ve no idea, I’m guessing. Evenings Chicho and I grabbed a bite and then met his friends for some beers. They drink red wine mixed with coke here. Why? I stuck to Beer.
You can’t find postcards without the place name all over it anymore. That sucks. Looking through the postcards in Gijon, there was one I wanted. On a 5 for 60c rack, I figured they’d probably charge me 20c or similar. The girl behind the counter says “Its five for 60c”, I answer “Me no write much, only want one”. She grins and says just take it. Free is good.
From what I’ve written my increasing enjoyment of the little things Spanish as well as the difference between regions is not yet obvious. Since Madrid, I’m feeling far more confident with Spanish. This opens up far more rewarding encounters with strangers and reading things. Only some of these experiences are easily shared, for example:
The sign in a pastry shop window in Gijon, “se hacen tartas eroticas”, which entertains this english speaker as “we have erotic tarts”.
An Oviedo restaurant offers a �6,50 menu del dia. The drink options are sparse: water or wine. Interestingly enough wine comes in a 1L bottle, water in 33cl (330ml or 11.16 Oz for the 2 little guys). Fine by me, I had wine.
In apartment building stairwells there are buttons for light switches and buttons for doorbells. If its dark, I hit the glowing light switch. Do this late at night in Oviedo and the bell wakes up the Hostal. oops.
Its amused me for years how the Spanish react to a drop of rain. They must be raised to believe they’ll melt. Umbrellas fly up, people start running and before you can say “Monkeys wedding”, the streets are deserted and everyone’s inside. Sitting on an Oviedo park-bench enjoying a mix of cloud and sun, learning Spanish, some raindrops spat down. I looked up to see a dark cloud has almost passed, with lots of blue behind it. I shifted on the bench to take some tree cover and 3 minutes later had the park and sunshine almost to myself. The previously buzzing cafe across the path was now empty and the staff came out for a rest
The chances are good that nobody noticed, but the “most recent location” was Oviedo before I backdated this post. Truth be told, until recently I’d never heard of the place. Now you have too and I can tell you more about it. The provincial capital of the Asturias, pop200 000: its a neat, well kept, attractive small city. Asturia is in Spain’s north west; like Andalucia’s Alpujarras, between mountains and sea. I’d realised the similarities between Asturia and Austria, but when an American asked where I’m from and then told me I speak amazing English, it took a while to realise he’d misunderstood Australian as Asturian. I’d never originally considered going there, but heading north opened up the possibility of meeting Ari or Earl in/near Pamplona and a whole region of Spain I was yet to explore. Nobody told me the weather sucks. Once I’d gotten more information the plan was to spend time on the Bay of Biscay beaches (raining) and the Picos de Europas mountains (snowing). Why make plans?
I found things to do instead. Drink cider (sidre) for example. They pour it with the maximum possible vertical drop which is slightly impressive and for some reason they do this while looking away. At �2 a bottle, a little spillage isn’t the end of the world, and as we may slightly have overdone it probably not a bad thing. But distilling this part of the trip down to cider would do Oviedo an injustice. I really liked it. It has a funny layout: at first you get lost a lot despite its small size, but even after a few days you wonder how you never saw this street, plaza or bar before. The Cathedral is nice, but there’s not too much to see in town. I mainly learnt Spanish and hung out in cafe’s, while my friends were at classes and surprised myself with decent conversations at the Hostal (own TV and shower, yeah!), Tourism office and on the street. I tried waiting the weather out and seeing what Ari and Earl were doing, but it was not to be. After a daytrip to nearby Gijon on the coast, I left Asturia and backtracked to Burgos.
I just put up Barcelona and Segovia photo albums, on http://dirtmine.com/brad/gallery/Spain.
Barcelona shots are mainly from the Forum, I’ve a half written entry about that which will make it here at some point.
On the bus ride to El Escorial (01.07), my journal/log was almost up-to-date although I hadn’t finished my rant on the Forum. That night in Madrid was an even later one with Missy’s crew, namely Vanessa and Mark: one of those nights where every time you think its about to end there’s just one more bar or club to check out, or maybe a kebab that needs to be eaten. At some point we were joined by a Transylvanian and a couple Madrilenos. 11ish the next day my Hostal people woke me up to tell me I hadn’t paid for tonight and they’d just sold my room out from under me. Loverly. So I packed and moved and it was no fun. The rest of the day was pretty quiet, a few chores, some Spanish and a beer with Alex.
By now I’d decided not to go to the Tournament in Burgos with the Madrid frisbee people this weekend (4 teams and too many players….) and instead accepted the free ride with Missy’s group’s bus up to Oviedo in the north. We were having too much fun not to and it was fun being their group’s mascot. I think they thought I was weird, for example Q:”What are you going to do in Oviedo”, A:”I don’t know, I haven’t read what’s there yet”. Q:”Where are you staying?”, A:”Oh I’ll find something when I get there”.
Therefore the 3rd was my last day in Madrid and I headed to the Prado museum. I’ve been very culturally with it recently, checking out art all over the place. I think I’ve now seen more art museums in Spain than in the rest of Europe combined. From the total ignorant I was in 1998, I now…. lets just say I’m less ignorant. Goya knew the benefits of being an artist, you get the girl to pose and then take her clothes off. Now I’ve got your attention. The next few photos include some of the Prado’s famous works and some I just liked. Minus flash and without tripod, you’ll have to excuse me if they’re a bit blurred.
Saturday night and the Gay festival in Chueca was still rocking. You bet we went there. First up there was the floats procession. Pictures do say a thousand words. I checked it out incognito. Hours later we hit the streets and spent ridiculous amounts of money on ridiculous amounts of alcohol and had a pretty good time. Thanks to much Ultimate training, I was ready for the bus at 08:45 the next morning. It left late.
While staying in Madrid, the busrides on daytrips to Segovia and el Escurial generated time to fill in some weblog gaps from the past while. Rather than post one uncombersome entry I’ve done some backdating on the following posts:
Geneva
Metro Controllers
Barcelona
Bar do Peixe
Lisbon to Madrid
Then we get to nowish.
I can’t tell you much about the scenery between Madrid and Segovia, although I looked up once and saw some cows grazing. The city itself is small and uninspiring but has 3 huge tourist sites: the roman aqueduct, the cathedral and the gloriously situated Alcazar. Very impressive, you still only need a few hours here. Arrival back in Madrid coincided nicely with ex-Seville Frisbeellana Stephan�s last night in Spain (for now), which was a reasonably quiet dinner with nice folks in an english speaking place where he seemed to know everybody. Nice timing that we met up again.
Wednesday morning got the ever exciting washing done. The Reina Sof�a art museum was next on the program. The Dali exhibit was impressive and of course strange, a Lichtestein exhibit of abstract and pop-art light entertainment (unfortunately none of his “Brad” works). A monochrome exhibit that I ran through in less than two minutes reinforced my long held idea that modern art is sometimes less about art than presenting an idea that claims to be art. What is artistic about a 2×2 black canvas? White? Do a series of these or throw 50 such works together and apparently it means something different. Suffice to say I miss the point. The regular exhibits focus on Spanish works leading into modern times. With names like Dali, Picasso, Miro and a personal less well known favourite Juan Gris, there was a lot to see. The jewel in the collection, Picasso’s Guernica while no doubt brilliant, didn’t grab me the way its fame says it should. �3 well spent.
After a bit of Spanish study on a shaded grassy spot in the Retiro, I went out and had a throw with the frisbee people. Do discs fly a lot further when its hot? Maybe something has finally clicked in my backhand or I had a good day but it was sweet to toss it far. Lacrosse players were sharing the field: that looks like a hard sport to learn. A beer and the end of Portugal vs Holland followed. Back in town, Chueca was buzzing with an open air gay and all-sorts street festival. In an awesome small-world scenario, I was gawking at the transvestite on stage when the girl I was standing next to turns around and says “Braaad!”. Well if it ain’t Missy from Philly, last seen in Lisbon! Out with her school group, this chance meeting needed to be celebrated so party we did. A GOOD day.
Up relatively early I headed out to el Escorial without much clue whats there. In the mountains, any relief from the Madrid heat was welcome (Corey said it was 110F…ie43C). Set in a lovely location, the attraction is a renaisance monastery and royal residence (built by Filip II). Full of priceless art, sumptuous rooms and the tombs of most Spanish royals, history buffs will get the most out of it.
