To the Kop and beyond

As the title of this blog says, all good things must come to an end. But that is not such a bad thing really. Travelling is as much about discovering what you like about home as it is about discovering new places. After being away for two weeks to the day, I am ready to come home having had a marvelous vacation. Today I had fairly modest plans. I wanted to go for one more walk down La Rambla, see the Placa Reial, one of the grandest squares in Barcelona, and then visit Parc Guell, which is also referred to as "Gaudi's playground". It is not hard to see why. But first things first. La Rambla is a grand boulevard with a pedestrian walkway and patios down the middle -- somewhat like what University Avenue in ... read more

The tour book that I used when I was planning my trip recommended setting aside 3 hours to see the Alhambra and Generalife in Granada. They were not kidding. In fact, from the time I hopped out of my taxi (I learned my lesson the day before about successfully finding my way there on foot) until, exhausted, I hailed a taxi back to the hotel, it took just over 5 hours to see it all. So much has been said and written about the beauty of the Alhambra that you always wonder if it can live up to expectations. It certainly did, but in a somewhat different way than I had expected. I think I expected to be over-awed from the start, similar to the feeling you get when you first step inside a large cathedral. ... read more

Today was my last full day in Seville and I am left with one thought: I must come back. On Tuesday I saw many of the major attractions, or so I thought. Having risen at 6:00 yesterday morning to catch the train to Cordoba, getting up this morning at 9:30 felt like a sleep-in. After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, I set off on foot for Casa Pilatos and Iglesia San Ildefonso. Iglesia San Ildefonso sneaks up on you in the winding streets, seemingly out of nowhere. Because the streets are so narrow, with four-story buildings lining each side, you can't really see even the big monuments until you are almost in front of them. The Iglesia San Ildefonso is a bright yellow chuch that blends into the surrounding buildings. Casa Pilatos is not one ... read more

My return to Liverpool has come and gone, and it was perfect except for the rather uninspiring effort turned in by the Reds yesterday (Sunday, September 2), and a technology mishap that scuttled plans to meet up with one of Leigh's friends from Japan who is back home in Liverpool at the moment. The first part of the day went smoothly -- I met up with a friend of Barry who had a Kop ticket lined up for me, the same seat I had last time in fact. Things went a bit downhill from there...Arsenal went up 1-0 in the first half, we never really got back in the game, and not too long into the second half it was 2-0, which is how it ended up. After the game I seemingly entered a text mesage ... read more

After a very tiring 2 weeks of long hours at the office, my ride to the airport could not have come soon enough. Everything went smoothly, from beginning to end, with the possible exception of the passenger in the row ahead of me on the flight to London from Toronto. Apparently some people just need to put their arms over the back of their seat in such a way as to completely cover the screen of the passenger behind them...the poor woman next to me had to battle for 6 hours to be able to watch her movie! By the time I got into the airport van to take me from Manchester to Liverpool I was pretty exhausted, but it was great to see the familiar streets of Liverpool after the short ride down the M62. ... read more