Barcelona, Spain

​Barcelona   —   October 10, 2021

   Today we caught a fast train and moved on to Barcelona. The last time I visited Barcelona was 1969 when my friend, Joe Price, and I did a road trip from our military post in Darmstadt, Germany before we both left for places beyond. Joe finished his military hitch and was being discharged; on his way home. I had one year  remaining; on my way to Vietnam.

   For our first day, we scheduled another free walking tour in old town. We have always enjoyed walking tours as it gives you a very good glimpse into 

 what the city used to look like. If the tour guide is knowledgeable there is much history to be learned. The walking tours are free of charge. If you think the guide was worth it, you can tip as much as you like. The tour guides we have had recently have been guiding for 15 to 30 years.

   It was interesting seeing the old buildings, some from the 12th century and hearing the stories of kings who were often ruthless and harsh to their subjects, with public killings for the bad guys, etc.  It was interesting seeing the old town with its high buildings and narrow streets. The streets in old town are too narrow for today’s vehicle.   That could be tough to fight a fire. 

   We ended at a former  

presidential  palace and a great overlook view to see the city. 

   A very unusual event happened on this tour. But it was perhaps the most pleasant memory. One of the Taurus looked exactly like my granddaughter, Alyssa. With my limited vision, detail features of the face are missing. From what I could see she could have a been a twin to Alyssa! I introduced myself and told her what I was thinking and she seemed pleased. 

We talked for a little bit and she told me I could take pictures if I wanted to. I did. I also showed her a photo of my granddaughter and she agreed that they looked a lot alike. She was from Belgium. I told her I visited Brussels back in 1969.

   From here we caught a cab and headed for our next tour. This was another walking tour but only inside of one of Barcelona‘s most incredible cathedrals, Sagrada Familiae. This Gothic style structure is a masterpiece of design and building. It is still being worked on today.  The corner stone was laid 135 years ago. More than five generations have passed and it will still take another 100 years or so to finish the project. It was created by the architect, Antoni Gaudí. 

   Inside the cathedral, the structure is incredible! Huge marble columns support the tall spires.   There is an enormous ceiling.  It’s height stretches upwards of 200 feet. Large stained glass windows line the east and west walls. The evening sunset was shining through the orange-cast windows and was reflected in the polished granite floor. It was gorgeous!  

   Following this tour we found ourselves thinking about food. Across the street were several fast food shops with familiar names, like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and I don’t know what all. Ron and I decided to have a traditional hamburger, fries and a Coke.  Five Guys Restaurant… It’s what’s for dinner!  Ron is not a very big fan of Coca Cola like he is Dr Pepper. The problem is most of Europe has no interest in Dr Pepper. Rarely did he find one in the store. The 7-Eleven stores in Europe often carry Dr Pepper, but very few other places. So he settles for Coke. 

   The next day we took a cab and visited one of Barcelona’s most unique city parks. The design structures of the park we’re also created by Antoni Gaudi. The hillside structures, staircased In marble and adorned in sculptures and water features made this appear to be drawn from a fantasy book.

   On the third level, a large gathering Place, about the size of a soccer field,  was lined with benches and seating areas to allow the visitor to look out over the city of Barcelona. This large soccer field, was supported on the second level by a myriad of large granite columns, around which were informational walls that helped the visitor learn about the area. It was an amazing setting!

   Ron, Nancy and I took a stroll along some of the walking paths and steep stairways, continuing an upward climb along this hillside. A beautiful home, belonging to the architect, adorned the hillside. We were not able to go inside but I suspect the surrounding views of the city were gorgeous.

   From here we grabbed a taxi and headed for the beach. But we thought it would be unfair if we went to Barcelona and did not take time to visit the Mediterranean.  

   Although the beach was not particularly crowded, there were a lot of people sunning themselves and relaxing on the sand. In light fashion, we relaxed on our beach towels with a cool drink and enjoyed the warm sunshine. There wasn’t much swimming going on. Most of us dipped our toes in the water and found a seashell or two. 

  Before leaving Barcelona for Paris, we took an evening stroll in the downtown area near our hotel and found a beautiful building that was also a creation of Antoni Gaudi. It was apparently well known because there were a lot of other people taking photos and selfies of this building. As I looked upon its features, I wondered how it would be to live in one of those apartments.

   Picking up our last minute souvenirs in a nearby shop, we headed back to the hotel to finish packing and take care of necessary paperwork.

   Tomorrow morning we will be up and heading for the train station on our way to Paris!

Mike Thomas 

Madrid, Spain

Madrid   —   October 8, 2021

   Leaving behind Lisbon, Portugal, we grabbed a cab and headed for the airport. After all the paperwork was complete we had our boarding passes and were soon in the air on an  Air France flight to Madrid.

   Fortunately, there were no glitches and we were soon in a taxi on our way to the Emperador Hotel.  The

Emperador is a beautiful building, ornately decorated with a feeling of luxury. Our room was comfortable and beautiful. I would like to say it was spacious but I cannot. However, it was adequate.

   For our first day in Madrid, we scheduled a walking tour through old town. We met our tour guide on this free walking tour in one of the town squares. He was a young man who can speak faster than a computer could print. He had a large folder filled with black and white and color, 8 x 10 photographs. He knew a large amount of history and made the tour interesting. He pointed out buildings that were centuries old businesses that were still doing the same business for hundreds of years. Many of those old buildings were the same hotel, bar, or restaurant all these years  and even still owned by the same family. Yes it was very interesting.

   Next we visited a local park in the central part of Madrid called Parque del Retiro . This park is Madrid’s Centeal Park and is very similar to New York City’s Central Park. The lake inside the park dates back to about the 15th century. It was made so the king and queen could watch staged battles between ships on the water as created by the people wanting to entertain their king. Today it’s used by the locals for canoeing, boating or feeding fish and ducks. 

 We found a stand selling gelato. It was very tasty!

   After dinner, our last evening, we discovered the top floor of our hotel  that contained a lounge, food and drinks and  a swimming pool, with awesome panoramic views of Madrid’s night lights.  Pretty cool!  The swimming pool looked inviting but because of the cool night air, we opted to stay dry instead. 

Mike 

   

   

The COVID Glitch

 The COVID Glitch   —   October 6, 2021                

   The health tracking nightmare, at times feels overwhelming. Health Ministers in  almost every country wants to know your life story and family history, probably under the guise of tracking your movements in and out of their country.  You know…the big brother thing.  They want to know every detail from our family secrets to our airplane seat numbers.  It’s hard on us!  We Codgers have a hard enough time trying to dial a phone number let alone fill out 7 pages of internet paperwork on a smartphone! So we needed help!  We planned to be at the airport early on the morning of our flight, to try and get some help!  we wanted to be at the Lisbon airport at least 3 hours ahead of our actual departure time to Madrid, Spain. We sat at a table in a large food service area with our sweet rolls and coffee, planning our Health Tracking paperwork for Spain. 

   The girls received a text or email explaining that we may have been exposed to COVID-19 during our recent stay in the UK, and to call a 1-866 number. It appeared to be a toll free number that originated in the United States. First of all, we did not visit the UK except to land at Heathrow, grab a chartered vehicle and driver, then go to catch our next flight to Lisbon, out of Gatwick Airport.   We had no contact with anyone except our driver. As we often receive spam calls and emails when traveling in foreign countries, London being mo exception, we thought nothing of it. We reasoned that we should not be getting COVID information texts from the US because we have bee in Iceland and Portugal the last 7 days. 

   Every place we go into to use the free Wi-Fi, we are forced to accept their cookies use policy or you can’t use the internet. We had gotten on the airport’s internet because we were trying to make contact with our driver. That was 4 days ago and we are not feeling any effects of COVID or anything. Then came another message bearing a London number and an internet link to click on. This also seemed to be suspect though I received no such email on my account. So the girls took off to find a health station in the Airport. 

   Approaching two handsome young police officers,  the girls asked for directions to the nearest health attendant. The officers asked why. Debby and Nancy explained our situation and the officers had us gather all our belongings and come with them. They took us to a secluded spot in the airport and called for an EMP type person. 

   From here things progressed along with uncertainty. We waited on the Health authorities. Two uniformed people soon showed up. The young woman EMT was loaded down with more than 60 pounds of gear, as was the young man with her. She was obviously in charge and began asking us for all the details. After much discussion, she decided it would be necessary to call her boss, the Minister of Health. 

   It soon became obvious that we would not be taking this flight to Madrid.  The officers remained with us during the whole time, except when it was shift change time. Minutes turned into hours and hours into several mort. 

   Eventually the very busy Minister of Health called in and began asking more questions. He commended us for our openness and honesty in coming to them instead of simply ignoring the emails. 

   It was still a while before we were cleared by the Lisbon Minister of Health that we could be on our way. By this time our flight had long taken off and we were stuck.   Because we did not tell the airlines that we would not make the flight (we were being detained by the health authorities), we were not allowed to reschedule another flight on our ticket. Instead, we would be required to purchase  4 more fares entirely!  

   To make this more challenging, there is no counter service in the Lisbon Airport. Every transaction must be online. So here are 4 old codgers with barely half a brain between two of us trying to figure everything out in Portuguese!   On top of it all, we are also trying to figure out how to claim our missing luggage!  Did it land in Madrid??  One of the officers assured us the luggage would have been removed from the plane when we failed to board. We just had to find where the airlines stashed it!

   I must give a lot of credit to the good character of the people of Lisbon. We were helped with the utmost kindness all the way through our ordeal. 

   After much waiting we soon had our luggage in hand and were on our way to get help with finding new tickets. A kind lady recalled a travel agent inside the airport and she was willing to help us acquire tickets and even process our health travel documents for Spain!  It took a while!  Debby stayed with her as we waited. 

   We barely made the last flight to Madrid. What a day!!!  Our appreciation to the two young police officers who showed us kindness and respect. Many thanks to the two EMTs who were very tenacious to push the Health Minister for our release and for walking with us throughout the entire process including help with retrieving our luggage and pointing us to someone to get our tickets. And thank you Lisbon for letting us visit your country. We will not be back. 

   

Lisbon Portugal

Lisbon   —   October 5, 202

   So we are staying in an older part of the city with exquisite buildings on every block.  Our hotel is a beautiful corner building at 

Jardins da Avenida da Liberdade

Rua de Alexandre Herculano

1250 Lisboa. Portugal

   Trying to give a taxi driver that kind of information to get back to our hotel was near impossible for an Arkansas boy.   Some of the taxi drivers spoke more English than we spoke Portuguese.  So we carried business cards of the hotel with us.  Letting the hotel call taxi’s for us to use was also very helpful.

   We refrained from using the subway or trolleys because of the crowded conditions aboard the ones we saw.  We did take the sightseeing busses with the open air seating on top.  These double decker busses were fine, however, not so the people who ran them.  They were among the most rude and less helpful people we have ever encountered.  I give them no thumbs up and only 1 star.  

   We used the Grey Line Company, both the Red Line and the Green Line tours.  We bought extra tickets for their river cruise but due to scheduling conflicts, misinformation and their total ignorance of their own schedules, we were not able to catch a boat.  The boats had either left an hour earlier than we were told on our schedule, or 10 minutes too late because we were told to be at the wrong pier (which we were on site more than an hour early).

  The lady ticket agent at the boat site assured us she would give us a refund because of her misinformation.  When we got back to their ticket booth, the agents there told Debby and Nancy they would NOT refund the boat cost.  It is what it is. 

   It’s too bad they treated us badly two or three times prior to asking for the refund.  It gives Grey Line a bad name and a bad review on Trip Advisor…not to mention me slamming them in this blog

   We have had other glitches with Grey Line in other countries that I have never written about, so this is not really an isolated incident.

   Dear Grey Line Tours,

   You really should educate your service attendants on how to treat customers.  Your people have not had tourists for so long you have forgotten the simple rules that will make you money.

   Traveler beware.  Taxi drivers may overcharge you.  You can ask them the rate before you get in the car.  You can also let your hotel agent set up the ride for you. Also be aware of Grey Line tours and other such organizations.  Be aware that those bread sticks or cheeses sitting on your dining table at a restaurant are NOT FREE.  You may be really surprised at the cost for those little snacks and drinks in your hotel refrigerator! Ice in your glass is rare. Water is not always free.

Traveling can be fun but parts of its where you deal with people can be difficult.

EASYJET

Easy jet.    

 

Up and out before breakfast for our taxi ride to the airport, we were eager to get out of this cold wind!

   The trouble with traveling in this COVID-19 world are the restrictions and paperwork required. Each country requires detailed information about flights, where you are staying or visiting. They want copies of passports, vaccination records, Covid tests and a full itinerary.  There would always be 7 or 8 pages needing to be filled out no sooner than 48 hours before your flight.  These forms must also include your boarding pass information.  That means you can’t finish until you get your Boarding Pass and flight information, including your seat number.

   Old people have a hard enough time trying to figure out how to turn on  a computer or smart phone anyway.  I don’t know what people without smart phones do.  Travelers must use their smart phone to fill out the documents, upload the documents, wait for the country’s approval and then download the approval email.  Really???  These countries desperately want tourism 

but they sure make it hard on people trying to get there.

   Trying to get an attendant to help us has been near impossible.  Just minutes before the gate closes will they help you get on board and tell you to get the paperwork done before you reach customs at your destination.

   To make things worse, the challenge of good WiFi or internet is hard to deal with as well.  Unreliable internet knocks you off line at a moment’s notice.  This causes you to start all over filling out the travel documents.  Even this blind guy couldn’t get help from any of the agents.  If it weren’t for Debby I think all of us would still be stuck in Iceland.  So we got to the airport in Iceland two hours early.  Good thing we did!  We barely made the gate!  Once in London we had to plead stupid and were able to get some British girls to help us finish our paperwork.

   With the exception of ticket agents helping with the electronic paperwork, my white cane often helped us out as an agent would come up to me and take us to a shortcut in those long customs lines, or boarding lines or even struggling with carrying our own luggage off the Tarmac.  Even strangers would help carry those suitcases up stairways.  People are generally kind and helpful.

In London we landed at one of the 3 major airports instead of flying straight from Iceland to Lisbon.  Easyjet had canceled that flight and diverted us to London, UK.  From that airport, Easyjet paid for a vehicle to transport us across London to another airport to catch our flight to Lisbon.  They did.  

   Looking to get aboard Easyjet to Lisbon, we struggled with our luggage because we were too cheap to check it into the Hold.  We asked the flight agent about checking our baggage for free but the lady told us it has to be 24 Pounds.  Nancy said, “How much?”  The agent girl said it would be 24 Pounds for one suitcase.  Nancy said , “I’m not sure what my suitcase weighs.  Could you weigh it?”  The agent pointed to some scales and Nancy started to put it on the scale.  I said, “No, Nancy.  She means it will cost 24 Pounds.  That’s British money.”  It was then the light came on and we all had a good laugh.

  We carried our luggage on board and got it stowed away.  Soon we were taking off and on our way to Lisbon, wondering if they would let us in the country without all that paperwork undone.

   Once at Lisbon, we entered a long line of people trying to get through Customs.  A nice man came by, looked at my White Cane and said “follow me”.  We told him that Nancy and Ron were also traveling with us and he motioned for them to also follow.  He opened a barricade strap  and let us through, then we followed him to the head of a line where only two people were ahead of us.

  All the Customs lady wanted to see were our Passports, Boarding Pass and asked  where we came from.  I said we came from the UK today.  After checking all our passports and stamping the boarder stamp, we went out to find a taxi to go to our hotel.

   Because we didn’t understand the language and customs of the country, the taxi driver charged us twice as much as we should have paid.  But how was we to know?  After all, we’re just four old duffers with signs across our forehead that say, “Go ahead, cheat me!”  Welcome to Lisbon, Portugal!

Mike 

 

Gilden Circle, Iceland

Reykjavik   October 3, 2021
             

Our breakfast was a selection of just about anything you could think of, European style.  Breads, pastry, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, eggs, sausage, cereals, juice and coffee.  Lots to pick from. 

   Our shutte Zservice picked us up at 9:00 for a ride to the main tour bus location.  There were about two dozen of us tourists.  Today we would be taking a tour of several scenic areas on a route the Icelanders call The Golden Circle.

   This all day trip took us several miles across the barren landscape of Iceland.  Years ago when the first Icelanders discovered this land, trees were abundant.  They proceeded to cut them down to make houses, barns and for firewood.  Because this country is usually cold, I’m sure they needed plenty of firewood in uninsulated homes upon which endless winds blew.

   Today there are few trees because they did not grow back.  The trees we saw on this tour were obviously planted by farmers along the road.

   The distant mountain ranges were colored with snow and looked beautiful.  Glacial snowmelt filled two or three rivers we crossed.  One scenic area we stopped at was a raging waterfall and was beautiful to see and hear.

   There is plenty of geothermal activity in Iceland.  Most houses, businesses and towns enjoy the benefits of free hot thermal groundwater.  In the Reykjavik area, a geothermal electrical plant provides cheap electricity to the residents.

   Earthquakes are plentiful.  The first day we were in a4.5 earthquake.  The latest volcano has been silent for about two weeks.  Most all of the mountains in this country were once volcanoes.  One of our stops was a large crater where a volcano once existed.  It spewed out all it’s magma and then fell in.  Now a walking trail goes around it’s crater rim and bus loads of tourists come and go all day long.  It has a pond of weather in the bottom much like my favorite hike in the Goat Rocks of Washington; Goat Lake.  However, Goat Lake is much more scenic!

   Nearby the crater, Geothermal activity has produced a wayside attraction of steam vents, boiling pools and a geyser that spouts off every 5 to 7 minutes.  It shoots up into the air about 30 feet, thrilling onlookers with scalding water and much steam.  If one stands on the downwind side of the surrounding pathway, one could get seriously burned. I’m wondering why someone needs to be reminded about that?   

  A fourth stop was where governing officials used to meet to discuss political business.  It was located ona fault line between the North American Tektonic Plate and the European Tektonic Plate.  The ground is filled with fissures of various widths and lengths.  Ron and I walked down into one such fissure, a wide gap between the rock cliffs.  It led down into the valley where our bus drove down and plucked us up at Parking Lot #2.

   Just to our north was a large lake.  The true fault line runs beneath this lake a few thousand feet underground.  It is the lake that divides the two continents.We walked in North America with the other side being in Europe.  So technically, Reykjavik , although not part of the European Union, is actually part of Europe!

   Icelandic horses are unique in the world.  They have long hair and are very short.  They must cop an attitude because one was standing along the fence holding a sign that said, “I am a horse, NOT a miniature pony!”  

   Back in Reykjavik, we walked about 4 blocks to a place where several restaurants were located.  We went into one building where a food court was bustling with many people having dinner. I enjoyed a typical Icelandic meal of Cod fish covered with cauliflower bisque , lemon sauce and grape sized potatoes with a crispy exterior.  It was delicious! Debby had some Spanish food. Ron had chicken and Nancy had Spanish, as well.

 We did not taste the Icelandic beer but did have some Gelato.  Pretty tasty!

   Back to the hotel to pack our things and get ready to vacate about 6 o’clock in the morning.  Our speedy taxi will be picking us up!  We fly out to London at 9:00.

Mike Thomas 

Reykjavik, Iceland

ICELAND   —   October 2, 2021

Our flight from XNA to CHI was uneventful. We landed in Chicago on time but with a looming 9 hour layover ahead of us. Fortunately, we were able to relax in United’s

VIP lounge where we enjoyed comfortable 

chairs and endless snacks and drinksQhad access to United’s VIP Lounge where we relaxed in comfort . We had access to all the free snacks and drinks we wanted. It was much better than sitting out there in the terminal listening to endless announcements of departing flights and CDC safety warnings.

Our flight to Iceland took about l7 hours and we landed around u AM Iceland time. After clearing in with all the entry paperwork and exiting customs, we grabbed a taxi for a short stop at a COVID testing station as required for our flight to London in two days. TYhe taxi driver was eager to wait on us because the meter kept running until we were back on the road.

The trip to Reykjavik was about 45 minutes. Our hotel was called Baron, a FOSS hotel chain. It was okay. The rooms were typical European, even though Reykjavik s not in Europe. We left our luggage in their storage room as we could not check in until 3 PM.

We took our swim suits and whatever else we wanted to carry and caught a taxi to a resort spa called the Sky Lagoon. We had originally. Inteneded to go to the Blue Lagoon but it was full. TYhe Sky Lagoon was newer and much less crowded anyway. Someone told us they liked the Sky Lagoon better than the Blue Lagoon anyway. Both are man made.

We checked in and stored our things in our lockers; then headed down the steps into the warm pool water. It was very warm and comfortable. I took my camera into the pool to check out the IPhone 12’s water resistant features. No problem.

For the next couple of hours we ventured out into the pool to experience a waterfall, ocean view and swim up bar. We took a cold plunge in the cold water pool, freezing our buns off before entering a sauna with an ocean view.

The salt scrub with fragrant oil was fun. We walked into a room that was like a misty rain coming down before the scrub. Following the scrub we walked into an even hotter sauna for a few minutes. We then went back out into the main pool for some more relaxing time.

We were allowed to remain as long as we wanted. After getting water logged , we headed for the showers and got dressed.

Our taxi arrived and took us to our hotel. We relaxed, took a nap and then walked around the city for a while.

TYhe RIFF Church had another longer name. It was a Lutheran church, quite unique and beautiful. In front was a statue of Leif Erickson, the famous explorer; a bronze statue given to Reyjivik by the United States years ago.

For dinner, we went into a little eatery called the Reyjivick Fish and Chips. We all had fish and chips. There was plenty of fish and fries; very tasty.

The weather was very cold with the wind chill factor. The wind was very strong and walking around for us was difficult.

Our evening excursion was a bus tour to a parking lot out of town thirty or forty minutes to watch for the appearance of the Northern Lights. It was so cold and windy that most of sat in the bus most of the time; venturing outside for brief moments. There were only faint Northern Lights in the distance and quite a few shooting stars. It was a long evening and we got back after midnight. We had to be up at 8:00 for breakfast and a pickup for our second day’s excursion.

Mike