July 18, 2011

Long Way Down

The weekend in Copenhagen was great, not so much the city, can´t say I´m a fan, but the time with everyone from the trip was exactly what I think all of us needed. When you are not with the people you share experiences with, it comes out in a torrent when you finally do meet again, and it turned into 2 days of reminiscing and reminding each other what we went through. There was a lot of catching up, drinking, dancing, and just sitting around and relaxing. The rest of it I´ll leave in my memory banks to be restored only when with the Culture Vultures. But I love them all and have no problem posting that.


Since I was leaving at 4am from Adam and Anne´s place outside Copenhagen, I decided to stay up until the cab came which meant it was the long haul from 9am the morning before. I got back to the airport around 5am and was greeted by that overwhelming stench of sausage. The flight back to Barcelona was fine and I was able to pull myself together enough to get cleaned up and head into the city for the day. I went to La Padrera to check out another of Gaudi´s feats, and ended up having to press rewind on my audio guide 1000 times as I kept blanking out and not understanding what was going on. After that I managed to down a coffee and resurrect a little, but wandering around Barcelona with no sleep for 36 hours was difficult and I´m a little surprised I wasn´t mugged as I must have looked totally vulnerable and out of it. I wanted to sleep at the airport on the way to Malaga but that didn´t happen, so by the time I landed I was on the edge and ready to rip someone´s head off. I looked for my dad or brother and when I didn´t see them, figured I had not communicated that they were supposed to get me. I had no phone number and didn´t know the address of where we were staying. I found the internet but the f"·$%ing @ key was nowhere to be found and I was cursing at the computer when I realized there was a line of sympathetic people behind me. Finally I stomped back to arrivals and saw Dad and Andrew there. Turns out people aren´t supposed to come from outside to the arrivals so they were waiting there but I never saw them. Then they start telling me about their trip from hell with the ill functioning Tom Tom GPS unit which is geared for North America and not Malaga. Took them ages to get to the apartment and I guess by the time they had to come back to get me they were at the end of their ropes. So the Block family was more like the Griswolds last night and only a long sleep could save us all.


But, we managed to get to the apartment and I´ll describe it this way although it will probably make people roll their eyes if it doesn´t give them the totally wrong impression. I have to explain that the happiest place in the world for me is definitely the lineup to the Pirates of the Caribbean in Disneyland. I love the night ´sky´, the fireflies and the slightly humid, sticky air that surrounds you before you get on the boat. Well that´s what I thought of when we got out of the car and entered the complex. The lights from the other apartments were lending a warm glow to the courtyard, the sky was dark but still luminescent, the crickets were chirping, and the air was sticky and warm. Mom was sitting on our deck waiting for us and it was just like coming home after being away a long time. I´m very grateful for this part of the trip, not just because we are staying in a great place, but because it´s where we´ll chill out and take it easy for a bit. We´ve got a few places to visit in Andalucia, but we´re all agreed that hanging by the pool, going for walks, and eating meals on a patio is what we want to do for now. And that´s fine because the end will come too quick and we´ll have to head back to our busy lives in Canada. May as well enjoy the sun and relaxation while we have it, and it´s pretty great just to be together for this time as well.


More to come when we can pry ourselves away from the water.

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