Author: Lmnei

WELL, every good thing must come to an end! So to a conclusion our trip of a lifetime came to at 12:45am on July 10th when we got back to our (under renovation) building in Vancouver, BC.

We had gotten up early on Saturday, July 9th, to get to breakfast at 8am when the buffet opened and we enjoyed a LARGE meal! They even sent me with some GF goodies for the road which was nice considering the fiasco the previous night. Off to the airport we drove, where we got lost as we did not know if we were Terminal 1 or 2 – our boarding pass did not tell us, and checked in just in time! That really is my motto! Nothing like traveling with Lynda at times – that Just In Time theory follows me around a bit too much sometimes!

Air Canada told me that it was quite a distance to the gate so I should take a wheelchair as that would also get us through security faster. Well, yes and NO! Yes, through security (they have a special security for accessibility) and then we waited and WAITED – basically taken hostage of the wheelchair pusher people! They had us all in a group (plus Andrew and another accompanying person) of different people for different flights. When I pointed out after 20 minutes that the Air Canada agent said our gate was going to be a distance and it was 5 minutes to boarding all of a sudden there was ACTION! Through Passport Control and from Gate 52 down to Gate 11 – basically as far as you can go in the Barcelona airport and yes, they were holding up boarding for the 2 wheelchairs that were arriving. I volunteered to walk down the jetway with my walker if it would be faster and they said “you do not do stairs it says” which confused me as this was a jetway! I was wrong. Jetways in Barcelona have 2 flights of stairs DOWN to the plane! So the elevator and wheelchair it was with Andrew pushing my walker behind us.

Got onto the plane with some issues – lets just say that the flight attendants were not too receptive to late arriving wheelchair passengers – then within 30 minutes we were on our way! It was an Airbus 330 that we were on and the captain’s name was Steve. Steve and I had a couple of chats before, during and after the flight. We determined that as I was in 1A that his seat was 0A. He likes flying Airbus planes and is yet to fly a 380- which he hopes to do even if in a simulator. He asked if I had seen one and I responded not only have I flown in one I saw them being built in Toulouse! That he had not done and he was impressed! Score one for Dad and I going out to the Airbus Plant the day we were in Toulouse in 2002 and taking the tour in French just so we could see the plane!

The flight out of Barcelona and over Spain was beautiful and then over the ocean (as we were flying with the sun) was very bright so we all had our window shades down so we could watch movies or sleep. Coming into Montreal was also very green and colourful – we arrived about 30 minutes early and had to sit in the parking lot about that same amount of time before getting to the gate. As I was traveling with limited medication in me as in theory we left at 2pm and were arriving at 9pm I was quite sore and thus used a wheelchair to get from plane, through customs and back to our next flight (or in our case the Maple Leaf Lounge for Business Class passengers). We flew through customs and ended up in the lounge for an hour prior to our 6:30pm flight. At 6pm they delayed it to 8pm. Lovely – the 777ER we were taking next was not even at the gate at 6pm! So back to the very pregnant lounge again….

At 8pm we boarded our flight home to Vancouver. I think I was asleep before it took off – already wearing the blanket so all I had to do was put back the seat. It was 5am for my body after all! Great flight – what I remember from my dreams! We landed and again were waiting for a gate at YVR as we were almost 3 hours late at that time. I was worried about our luggage considering all that we heard in Spain about the Toronto and especially Montreal airports and their luggage backups (we heard nothing about YVR on the CBC news) and sure enough – when we got to the carousel – there was our luggage already coming down the chute! Nothing like priority luggage tags 🙂

Out to the taxi line which was LONG and then even LONGER as I needed an accessible cab. There were others with lots of luggage also waiting for accessible cabs and the transportation staff kept assigning the accessible cabs to others! I am going to have to speak to YVR about this! On the other hand, I cannot complain as last time our luggage was delayed for months and this was only a moment in time to wait compared to that experience coming home from New Zealand!

So thanks for partaking in our journey – I have a few more blog pages to post about gluten free, accessibility and our actual itinerary now that we are home. It has been fun and see you on our next adventure – no idea when yet!

Prior to leaving for the Le Meridien, I made a quick solo trip (using the last 2 stamps of our family transit card) back to the area where I had gone to the Espadrille making class as across the walkway from the shop there was a shop named SARA which had lots of fun things that I could use in my Etsy store! No need to bore Andrew with shopping there so I went alone and had lots of fun! Did not spend a lot of money however got some cool beads that will make great Spanish Knitting markers! Now when I get home I will just have to put them together lickety split! Once back at the hotel, we packed our car and off we went to the Le Meridien Ra Resort. I thought it was on the beach however looking at it on Google Maps, we were a little perplexed as to what it was going to be like – did they use trick photography to make it seem like they were on the beach? It showed a road between the beach and the hotel!

As you will see in the hotel pictures below – everything promised in terms of location was true – on the beach and it was a boardwalk that Google Maps showed as a road- not allowed to drive on! It is quite a beautiful structure – the historical part was an old sanatorium and then they added a reception area behind it and on each wing, modern hotel rooms with a reflecting pool, which is where we stayed. Here is our drive and pictures of the hotel itself – most I took and a few are from the hotel website:

Our stay was started off on the right foot – once we got to our room there was a knock at the door and some gluten and champagne was delivered! After the gluten correction was done, this is what we got – gluten free items! This is a thank-you for being at the level I am in the Marriott Bonvoy program. Once we sort of unpacked, we did not do much but relax and take some walks such as to the grocery store (beer and Coke Zero run) and down the boardwalk. Yes, we did sit on the beach too! We did that twice – once in the rain – to make us feel like home and once in the hot sun so we could remember what the heat of Spain was like! We also went for dinner at the hotel and at a restaurant next to the hotel which was surprise – gluten free!

Today we are going to view Barcelona from up high! When we visited last month and May with the cruise ship we saw a cable car that went from the dock area to somewhere and we wanted to take it – it looked like fun! So today was the day! We took the Metro which was easy as it was the same line near our hotel to as close to the terminal as possible and walked the rest of the way. It was a nice but hot walk – luckily for me there were lots of market stalls along the way (which did not impress Andrew) however he did like the tall misting pipes sticking out of the ground – except they kept turning off right before he got to them! That was funny to see – babies start crying when they see him and spray poles turn off – interesting combination! Anyway, we got to the cable car and found out that on the other end (where I had made plans to take the funicular down the hill to the Gaudi House museum) there are over 40 stairs to get out of the terminal! Ah, that will not work so we took a round trip instead which they let us stay on the car – which is normally not allowed. So that was cool – we stood on the northwest side of the car going up and the east side of the car going back down! The south side of the car just shows the docks – so not the view I wanted… Here are the pictures that were taken –

Luckily, once we got off the cable car, we figured out that the bus that stops out front could take us to the Gaudi House museum – a 45 minute ride but it would be shorter than taking 3 different metro lines and perhaps getting lost! I was really happy that at the AC Forum Hotel where we stayed that I asked the front desk clerk more about the Metro system as we found that paying $2.40 Euros each for a single ride a bit steep – there were no transfers that we could figure out. This also was on a bus. The front desk clerk helped me out immensely! She suggested that we purchase a family card which allows more than one scan at a time and has 8 scans on it for $10 Euros. So a bit cheaper than $2.40 euros each! She also told me to try not to take busses as they are one scan each, however if you were in the subway system or had to go up and then down to a subway if you were within 70 minutes it was considered 1 ride. So with that knowledge that helped us a lot with how to take transit. So far we had used 4 scans! We arrived near the Gaudi House in one piece – those busses are aggressive drivers in Barcelona! I had to lift my walker onto the bus at the cable car stop but used the accessible bus stop button and the bus driver actually put the ramp down for me to get off! I was impressed – my first ramp service 🙂 It was funny though when we walked to the Gaudi House we actually passed it – sometimes Google Maps is a bit slow updating and Andrew actually made the comment “that is a pretty cook house with it’s decorations”. I then put two and two together of what street we were on and we had just passed it. Thanks Google for letting us know! The Gaudi house, which I expected Andrew would only be able to visit due to how small it looked actually had an elevator that went from the basement to the roof! So we were able to tour the whole thing AND it had wifi so that we could download a narration in English to learn about the house. Very cool place – Gaudi was a very creative person – that about summarizes it! Here are the pictures that I took of a few places in the house –

Then we hopped back on the subway and took 2 lines (first one in wrong direction – again, do not leave direction finding to Andrew – I should know better!) back to the hotel where we went for dinner at the 17th floor Suite Bar again due to it’s view! Got there early in Spanish standards (no one else was there) however as it opens early due to the pool and therefore we did not have to wait to 8pm to dine. Had a great salad (Andrew had a burger) and very relaxing time – tomorrow our last hotel – Le Meridien Ra Beach Resort which is about 45 minutes south of Barcelona.

With our cool new car which is black however still a 5 door (hatchback) and now a we decided to head north to check out the beach towns north of Barcelona in the Cataluña area of Spain. So, using the application that has gotten us around Spain for this last month, off we go with Google Maps again! First, I had an argument with it (which I did not win) as we wanted to take the lower road up the coast and take the highway back. I THOUGHT I had set it correctly and put it down on the shelf below the display area on the car and then all of a sudden I heard “There is a better route do you want to take it?” Now we have run into this prompt previously and if you do not answer it will NOT change your route. So we continued along… All of a sudden I realized we were on the highway! That darn app had changed our driving directions! Luckily I figured it out at a point where we could easily get back down to the coast! So much for knitting on this trip – I had to babysit the app as it kept trying to send us on the highway every time we got to a road that could return us up to the highway.

Here is what our journey was. We cruised through several towns on our way to Matero and then onto Lloret del Mar (hard to see on map). That was fascinating to see the buildings, the people and a glimpse of the beaches. From there, which you can see a bunch of white dots on the road (just to the right of the driving time) – those are all little towns – about 75% of them are resort towns which you need permission to access – there is a gate to enter them and they are usually down a hill. What I could not get to display below is we did not go from Tossa de Mar UP to the highway and down to Sant Feliu dee Guixios – we actually drove the road that exists between the two places. It was VERY twisty – sort of like the Crowsnest from Hope to Osoyoos. We stopped there for lunch (well Andrew had lunch – they refused to feed me due to cross contamination – I had a backup sandwich in the car) and we walked around on the beach as you will see. Then we moved onto Palamos and Palafrugell – which there is a path to walk between the two towns. From there we drove, thanks to Google Maps they sent us again down small roads, to Pertallada, which is a walled city and highly recommended to visit before we had to backtrack a bit (yup, small roads again thanks to Google! to get to the highway. See all these adventures below!

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

Sunrise over Barcelona

Well today we were to accomplish 2 things – first, I was taking a 2nd Espadrille class (more advanced than the first one 4 weeks ago) and second we were to switch rental cars as our first contract was up as they only rent for 4 weeks at a time. So we were going to say goodbye to our teal car! It had to go back too as there was an engine service warning that showed up yesterday. Again, after an EXCELLENT breakfast at the AC Marriott Forum Hotel, Andrew and I adventured out and took the subway to the Handmade in Barcelona shop so I could take my class. I was the only one in the class so the shoe decoration went quite quickly! Andrew went out on his own (this was a momentous occasion – he gets lost getting off the elevator going to hotel rooms) to get some coffee and check out the neighbourhood. Good thing – he did not get lost! He would not show me how many pictures he took though to ensure he got back to the store that I was at… every time we park somewhere in a city to go somewhere he takes a picture of where we parked (the building or street corner) so IN CASE we get lost he can ask someone how to get back to that location. Has not needed to do it so far as I have a very good sense of direction. It used to be to Nordstrom’s but I have fixed that! Anyway, back on topic – here are the shoes that I made this time!

You might say some of those good looking sandal/shoes on the shelf on the upper right have come home with me too….much to Andrew’s dismay!

So then we were off to Budget to return our car to the in city rental location that we had picked it up from. Hmmm. No location to return that car to on the street – so I ran in (and backed up traffic) to find out where to go. They said go down the lane after making a right and park in the garage. So we went around the block twice looking for the garage and on our 3rd try the rental location had closed for lunch! You got to watch these Spanish who take those afternoon siestas! So as we did not want to pay for extra hours of rental AND they had charged us about 500 Euro incorrectly on our contract we really needed to talk to someone. So out to the airport we went! Sidebar: We are going to stay at a resort south of the airport on Monday and I had been tossing around the idea of our next car rental, which was scheduled to be picked up from this Budget facility in town and returned to the airport and we were going to have to pay a drop fee for, to instead just change the car rental to the airport and we take the metro out there after dropping the car originally at the Budget location in the city. So I had made a reservation at Hertz on June 30th in case we decided to take the airport route, which I could cancel anytime. Okay, back to the story now. Arrived at airport, returned call, had a nice chat with the manager and showed her our Budget contract vs. the reservation and she fixed it all! I then asked her to cancel the Budget reservation for the city rental location and told her we decided we did not need a car and liked transit better as it is so good in Barcelona (which is true). We then took the elevator UP to Hertz (thank goodness they were not on the same floor and she would see us walk there) and rented the car and drove back to our hotel!

We then celebrated Canada Day having dinner at the 17th flood Suite Bar (and pool area) of the hotel. I wore my red Canada ball cap all day long too!

Today we are going to be a tourist in Barcelona! After a beautiful sunrise (I went back to bed after it waking me up) we had breakfast at a lovely buffet which was up to AC Hotel standards and even more as there is a conference in house, we decided to visit the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona.

Originally, it was architect Francisco de Paula del Villar started the project for this church, which was to be in a classic Gothic style. However, Antoni Gaudí in 1883, at just 31 years old was given the commission . Gaudí completely changed the original design and began building his most famous work using his own style which made him known worldwide, and gave him the title of master of modern architecture.

From the time he took over the project until his death in 1926, Gaudí worked to build this unique temple that was intended to become a masterpiece showing different symbols of Christianity.

The Sagrada Familia work is financed by donations made by visitors and the public, which explains its slow construction. Gaudí even once said “The Sagrada Familia is made by the people and this is reflected in it. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people”. While we were there the display of the timeline of the Church indicated that in 2018 construction had ended, there was a crane on top of the church and several of the cylinders were covered and being maintained/fixed or added to – we are not sure what was happening. In other places, such as online, it indicates that construction still continues today and its completion is scheduled for 2026, a date symbolic of the centenary of Antoni Gaudí’s death.

As Barcelona is a city of transit and no a city of cars, we decided to take transit to the Sagrada Familia! We were supposed to take the Metro/subway but we could not find the entrance so instead we took a bus and walked about 15 minutes to the Basilica. We also had issues getting tickets online (which you sign up for specific times to visit)- despite using 2 cell phones and my laptop I kept getting a “form error” when I selected a ticket for a person with disabilities (33%) and their companion. Luckily it was a straight shot for the bus and we arrived at the Basilica in about 30 minutes! I went up to the Individual entry security beside the entrance line and asked where I can purchase tickets as I was not able to buy them online and he said to wait and talk to the ticket taker. The ticket taker was dealing with a lady in the line who was an hour late for their 12:30pm entrance (it was 1:45pm at the time) and he said no, their group could not enter. I thought great – we are going to be turned around too for not having bought tickets! The security guard explained in Spanish what happened and the ticket taker asked me how many tickets I needed and I said we were trying to buy them for 2pm and he said wait right here and came back with 2 free tickets! If I had bought them online Andrew would have had to pay 36 Euros! So then we were whisked into the Group entrance where the accessible security check is that leads to the elevator is (which was under repair) and then escorted around normal exit and up into the church – what an awesome experience! Here are my pictures – really they do not do justice to such an enormous building!

Today we are leaving Valencia and heading up to Barcelona where we will be staying at another AC Hotel – this time the AC Barcelona Forum – which is near to the beach. I THOUGHT it was a small hotel based on the pictures, however when we arrived – it is a high rise and definitely NOT small – it has its own convention centre which is pretty large! The 4 hour drive was pretty uneventful – some of it was overlooking the coastline and some of it was inland as we tried to avoid the toll highway.

Today is the Aquarium! Again, I had read what a great aquarium that Valencia had so we decided to partake in a visit! It is also located in the former riverbed that runs through the city and is an awesome sight to see. I did not realize when we arrived just how much they had both above ground and underground there was to see – all of it accessible too! Let’s get on with the show!

Well, we have been very busy! The concert on Saturday and then the zoo yesterday! Today we took off just to relax. No pictures taken! We hung out on the terrace for the hotel – I knitted and Andrew did what he does best – sat there and pondered life!

So let’s call this post Miscellaneous with two topics. Let’s start off with:

Graffiti or Tagging

In Spain it seems there is a LARGE problem with graffiti or tagging buildings, overpasses, sides of highways – you get the drift. Mostly it is on things that are not very accessible to be cleaned off or painted over it seems. I am finding it similar to how it looks in Los Angeles – there is a LOT of tagging that goes on there too – especially in certain cities in the Metropolitan area of LA. So this is a fact of life – kids these days like to spray paint as I guess they have nothing else better to do! However when does the “tagging” turn into art? We have also seen some beautiful artwork on buildings which I have included as I have gone along – however until now I refused to include pictures of the graffiti. I have come to the realization though that it is not the true Spain that I am showing – so here are some pictures of what we have seen in the last few days – the only thing I was not fast enough to catch was a train we saw that was completely covered in tags! Not sure if that was on purpose or not – it went by pretty fast!

Having a Disability

It has been interesting having a mobility disability in Italy and Spain. I was aware before traveling (based on our trip in 2019) that both these countries provide discounted (concession) rates for people with disabilities. Over 50% of the places that we have visited list the discounted rate as such – Person with 33% or 75% disability are eligible for X discounted rate. Now, in Canada, like the USA, we do not register nor do we assign a value to people’s disability in general. I have a rating that WorkSafe used to determine my pension, however that is different calculation. So luckily when we have been here as soon as I start talking in English and they see my “strange” walker (they do not have rollators here), generally give me the discounted rate or I pay the full rate and Andrew gets in free as my companion. It is a very strange system never the less. At the Vatican was the only place I had to actually show something related to a disability that had a number on it – so I used my HandyDart card and they accepted it as it has a registration number on it! Who knew that would come in handy in Italy! In Barcelona, where the Olympics were held, the accessibility is fairly good – most of the subway system is accessible – the stations that are not are marked on the map. The busses are accessible – after the disaster bus ride in Rome, I was hesitant to try again and on our 3rd ride the driver actually put the ramp down for me! All the other times I lifted my walker onto the bus. Hotels – well that is another story. I will save that for later when I summarize my hotel stays and experiences!

We went to the Zoo! I had researched the BIOPARC Valencia to ensure it was kind to the animals that it housed. It really bothers me when I go to a zoo and see polar bears in a hot environment! The BioParc is 100,000 m2 and features primarily nature of the African continent and Madagascar – both wetlands and the savannah.  The animals, vegetation and landscape together allow the visitor to learn about the relationships between the organisms and elements that make up the ecosystems, which also helps them understand their functioning and encourages them to conserve more. It was completely wheelchair accessible throughout and in fact, I got in for a discounted price and Andrew got in for free! He did his work helping me open doors etc. as we went through different “gated” exhibits – so he worked for that admission! We thoroughly enjoyed this experience. The day was medium hot – about 30 to 32 degrees compared to some activities that we have done in 40+ degree weather!

I especially liked the lemur area visit – it was in a gated area and they give you a personal talk before going in about not touching, feeding, and letting them pass in front of you. Well, that did not work for me. One lemur was just TOO interested in my walker! They wanted to climb it! Check out the picture below!

With the birds of prey demonstration at 2pm, we decided to see part of the park before that event…

It it time for the show! Let’s see what happened during the Birds of Prey and their Animals show!

After that thrilling show – we meandered back out onto the African safari to enjoy the other half of the zoo!

Thoroughly exhausted, we then attempted to catch a taxi back to our hotel. Now that was a bit of a challenge as either people kept stealing our taxi’s once Andrew waved one down (as they had to go round the traffic circle to pick us up) or they drove off. So as I was getting a bit hot sitting in the direct sun at the taxi stand, we decided to move to a hospital a couple of streets away and try our luck there! And bingo! Within 10 minutes we got a taxi! So back to the hotel we went. After resting for a short while, we then went out for dinner to Ris8tto (the 8 is there on purpose) and can you guess what I had for dinner? You guessed it! Risotto! Nothing like a seafood risotto! It was delicious and completed a wonderful day!