Additional Euro Trip pics

A series of additional photos for you to enjoy...

If you want to read about the Euro Trip (Running of the Bulls and Swiss Alps adventures), then check through posts for the entire month of July 2008 for full coverage.

Leaving Spain

When you enter Spain, you are given a customs card, half of which you are supposed to keep for your exit. Yeah, that didn't happen. I think I lost it on the second day. Were they going to let me leave? Did they really even want me to?!

All I could offer up was my passport, my plane ticket, and a goofy smile...

Ice Barcelona

On this night, we wanted to hit the clubs. All the guys lamed out on me, but Keith (the married guy). We headed to the beach area and stumbled upon Ice Barcelona. It is a bar with a small terrace on the beach and then the rest of the bar is in a deep freezer in the back. You have to wear a parka, hat and mittens to enter. It was about 3 degrees Celsius (whatever that means). Keith had worn shorts and sandels out so I'm sure he was real comfortable with me making him enter. Actually, he agreed that an ice bar on the beach in Barcelona(!?!)... yeah, we were doing it for sure! The place was freezing no doubt. We couldn't stay too long. Drinks were served inside ice glasses. Stools, bar, everything was made of ice. The last pic is us in front of an ice sculpture of La Sagrada Familia. Keith then headed back to the hostel and I partied until dawn with some new Spanish friends I had made.

Barcelona Bike Tour

Sorry for the blue tint, but I had the wrong light filter actuated. In any case, a pic of me on the bike, a Frank Gehry designed sculpture and then the marina near Olympic Park. He designed the Guggenheim in Bilbao that we visited and noted earlier in the blog.

At The Market

There is a good top pic of Keith at the pepper booth here. Lot's of goodies at the Barcelona market. Ted, Keith and I enjoyed some fresh squeezed juice drinks. I had kiwi. Mmmmmm, kiwi.

Party Time Barcelona

Here is a great group shot of everyone except John who took the picture. It's at the flat of the girls we met on the train to Montserrat and their roomate and her boyfriend. I don't remember the names of the others but they were affectionately referred to as "The Italians" by the girls and this included their female roommate (lower front), the roommate's boyfriend (white shirt) and several friends of their roommate.

Helena was a sweet girl standing between me and Keith (sporting the goofy face). To my right and in front of me in royal blue is CoCo, who could really melt the dance floor. It was a great evening for hanging out.

Montserrat

Here are some good pics of Montserrat, a monastery in the mountains outside Barcelona. It can only be reached by cable car or train. Second to last shot above is the basilica. The last shot is a small chapel off the basilica. It's a modern interpretation of the cross with impressions of hands, feet and a face to replicate the look of Jesus on the cross. My camera could not properly capture it, but it was incredibly interesting and moving.

We met some fun girls on the train that were from North Cali and we ended up partying with them later in the night.

Flamenco

We went on a pub crawl/flamenco dance excursion in Barcelona and it was both powerful and beautiful. Sorry for you that I don't have any pics, though.

Ted's Scratch

Here is a nice pic of a scratch that Ted got from a questionable lady... to say the least. La Rambla in Barcelona is an interesting street. Full of shady characters, families, travelers and normal people enjoying the day. However, sometimes the shady ones get upset when you tell them repeatedly that you are not interested in their goods or services and to leave you alone. Ted had a great deal of restraint this day.

Internet

Internet with USB access is sparse right now, but I will try to post some pictorial updates when I get the chance.

La Sagrada Familia

Now in Barcelona, we have taken some time to enjoy the famous Antoni Gaudi designed, Sagrada Familia. It is a church that began construction in 1882, but is still incomplete. Beautiful and amazing, with a very organic and look in tune with Gaudi's style, the building is far from complete. I understand that the Spanish Civil War certainly put some of a halt to it and construction techniques had to be developed to create portions of it. However... I mean, seriously... 1882?! Get it done already!!

We have also spent some time at the beach. I have a slight tan and no burn. Can you believe it?! I never use sunscreen. It's like the land of No Sun Burn here. Anyway, Barcelona is beautiful. It's nice to finally be in a city with sophistication again. Some parts of Spain they don't realize that mullets are NOT cool. The girls in some areas have these weird female mullet/small town/poodle doo/straight banged/Elvira/neo-punk/dirty hair styles. It's wretched and even the hot girls looked dirty and trashy. Barcelona is different. Laid back beach town with sophistication and history. I love it!

We are here for a couple more days and then everyone goes home except Keith and I who travel to Switzerland for a few last adventures. Today we're off to Montserrat, a monastery in the mountains outside Barcelona.

Update on Rob

We just heard some good news about Rob. He's getting some IV antibiotics at Methodist in Indianapolis and will be fine. He's doing great and feeling much better with his wife by his side. Hopefully, he will still be able to come out an play with us in the future! :)

More updates on Barcelona to follow, but I've been a bit lazy as of late.

Safe Return for Rob

As it turned out over the past couple of days, Rob has not felt very good after his Bull Run spill. His knee has about seven stitches and became swollen and slightly infected, probably not helped by the continued travel. John and Keith made sure he was properly taken care of and given the right antibiotics to help him fight an infection that may have set in the wound. Today, he left for home a couple of days early at the advice of John to make sure his care continues well. Also, he is not able to do much here and misses his wife, Brooke, so he's heading back home. We wish him well and will look forward to seeing him again in about a week.

Aftermath of a Bull Run

Check out pics from the local paper in Pamplona. The lighting was bad in our hostel so it doesn't look real great and I don't have Photoshop to repair it. If you click on the images, they get large enough to provide more detail. In any case, you'll notice our good friend Rob has a highlight about his injury. We didn't see any pics of the rest of us. All these pics are from our Sunday run.

We're safely in Barcelona right now and off to take a bike tour of the city.

Dinner at Casa Angel

Later that night we went to a nice restaurant, Casa Angel. One of the specialities was bull. I ordered a juicy steak while the others ordered the bull dish. It was kind of like a pot roast or stew. I had a few bites and indeed it was tender and good.

We came, ran, conquered, touched and ate a bull!!

It was tremendous.

Watching a Bull Fight

Finally, on our last day, we watched an actual bull fight. I had a killer video of the matador getting gored as he drove the sword into the bull but it somehow got deleted. Nonethless, I have some more pics and vids from these events that I will add in the coming days.

The fights are interesting. The Spanish bring food and share with everyone around them... with great offense for those that do not participate. Also, they bring buckets full of sangria and they spray, dump and squirt it all over everyone around them during the fight. I think they throw more sangria than they drink.

It's quite an experience.

After a lengthy train ride we are now in Barcelona, safely in our hostel.

I can't believe that we ran with the bulls. I can't believe how the story unfolded. All told, there were seven major injuries during our run. The course was wet and the bulls separated during the course. In fact, three of them fell at various points and became separated. This always makes a run more dangerous. We saw newspaper pics and video afterword. Five bulls/steer crashed hard into a barricade on Dead Man's Corner and there were lots of spills and overall craziness on the run.

Through the process, I can't believe I had five great friends with which to share this experience. We ran with the bulls. And I touched one!!

In the Plaza de Toros

Once the run is complete, a final rocket is fired and the bulls are hearded past the crowd now in the Plaza de Toros or stadium. They are placed into waiting areas in the back... for bull fights later in the day.

Soon after, however, they release bulls into the crowd with slightly covered horns. These bulls are smaller but much more agile. Super fast. The first one came out of the gate, charged after and straight on nailed this girl, who I later found out was an American from Atlanta. The crowd then begins to taunt and flee the bull. People dare the bull and try to touch it. They do this six times. I admit to clenching on the side fence as it streaked by, but with gaining confidence, realized this was my chance to touch a bull. They release six bulls into the arena. One at a time until it tires. I tried each time to get close, but it's a scary venture staring down a bull. I was in arm's length four times but was frozen or pushed back by the freaked out crowd. Or it would run away. Finally, the fifth bull entered. It nailed a couple of people in the crowd and then became slightly more tired. I became part of an inner circle that surrounded and faced the bull. The circle became a half circle around the bull, which backed up against a wall of the stadium. People dashed in to touch it or attempt to touch it and then ran out. The bull snorted and dug his feet into the dirt just like you see on cartoons when you are little. Suddenly the bull took off right charging (thankfully) away from me.

The crowd regrouped as the bull settled in the middle of the ring. I worked my way to the center and the inner ring again. Bracing myself against the others. I pulled off my red scarf as I faced him from the side. I dangled my scarf from my left hand and then after it got his attention I threw it to the left and ran right toward his rear end. I slapped it on the butt and then ran by as he turned quickly and charged at someone that was standing near where I had slapped him. I ran off from the rest of the circle.

"I touched a bull!! I touched a bull!! I TOUCHED A BULL!!"

Bull Run - Part 3

Gradually, we began to share stories. Rob had come so close to a bull that he had to reach up and pull himself from a fence to raise his legs from a charging bull. He dropped and ran forward, but a mass of people pushed him from behind. Another person fell into his legs and his knee planted on the cobblestone. Keith was nearby and helped him to his feet as they ran forward and into the stadium.

Shawn and Ted also charged forward where Shawn pushed his way through a crumbling mass of people to make entry into the stadium. Ted hurdled what was probably the same mass of people that I had to hurdle. John ran forward, reached down and grabbed someone's shoulder and pushed off as a springboard to help hurdle the mass. Landing on this feet, he dashed to the side, avoiding a charging bull and running into the stadium.

In the melee, we discovered that Rob had mashed open his knee pretty good. He required a medic to give him stitches just outside the stadium. The rest of us are unscathed. He will be fine but has been forced to hobble the last day and a half with a swollen and stitched knee.

The run was incredible! I think the panic of nearly not getting into the run added to the event. Most of us had been sky diving and bungee jumping among other things and agreed that those two adventures are similar in spirit, intensity and natural high, but that nothing really compared to the Running of the Bulls.

It was amazing. It was incredible. It was completely stupid. But it was amazing!

Bull Run - Part 2

What we learned next was that they would release a barricade blocking the course about five minutes before the run started, thus opening the course to the runners. Which they did.

As soon as the barricade was released people began to run forward. Everyone yelled in a multitude of languages to go slow. The police helplessly also urged caution and for us to stay slow so no one got trampled. Our group of four stayed together and began to pick up speed. Those bulls were going to be released soon and we knew we didn't want to be in the corner. We made it past Dead Man's Corner and right on to Estefeta. The goal was to start on Estefeta - a long and narrow street with little cover - so that we also had a shot of also entering the Plaza de Toros with the bulls. If we could keep up. If we didn't get gored.

We made our way past a second barricade slicing through the middle of the course and waited again nervously, but now pumped full of adrenaline. Soon after, Ted and Shawn joined us! "How the hell did you guys make it through?!" I said. "We thought you were left behind."

They explained that they worked their way through a crowd similar to us, but at the very back of the mass. They made it through both fences onto the course and after one or two others followed them, the cops turned around and cut off the course to new runners. They barely made it. And, luckily, they avoided the dangerous mass that we had been nearly squashed to death in moments earlier.

As we were rejoicing our small victory, we hear a bang. Rocket! The run has begun! Some people started to run. We waited. Too soon to start. As you looked down the entire road you could barely see the middle of the crowd starting to part. "Wait, not yet!" I yelled. "Can you see anything?" someone replied.

"I can see! I can see!" I said. And just barely, I could. I noticed that people would jump up and down as they awaited the bulls. Then when that particular head stopped bobbing up, you could assume it was because they turned around to run from the charging bulls. Closer. Closer. Someone from our group took off. "Hold the line!" I yelled, not quite knowing why or what it meant. The crowd roared. A surge parted in the middle. I looked back and Rob and Keith were gone. Next, Shawn and Ted dashed. Closer the bobbed heads stopped. Three, two... John turned and ran. I paused, looked back down the street and saw a glimpse of a horned beast. "Oh s&@#! ruunnnn!!!!!" I yelled and turned to dash as fast as possible. A roar streaked behind me and I could not see anything but a mass of panicked faces in front of me.

We all decided to stay middle left on the road so we could take the inside sweeping turn near the Telefonica building and then the sharper left into the Plaza de Toros. We hoped this would allow us to run alongside and away from the turn of the bulls. Masses of people squished against the fence in panic. "Move! Move!" Staying against the fence could get you gored straight up against it. Better to be trampled than gored. I turned to my right and saw a light brown, heavy horned steer and a deep brown, nearly black bull charging about 10 feet back and 6 feet to my right. "Oh crap, they are HUGE! ...and FAST!" I thought. (These things are about 1400 pounds on average.)

I look back forward and hit straight into someone that stopped because the person in front fell down. He was a huge hulking guy that then reached down to pull the person up and I pulled his other arm to help him keep momentum and then dashed forward without slowing down. You would reach the person in front of you and then push on their back to keep them moving forward. Around the corner and people on the side fences cheering. Faces all around you in panic. People trying to bail out over the fences. Making it closer now to the stadium entrance.

Taking time to look back could slow you down, but I still looked back immediately. The entry into the stadium is very narrow and on a downward ramp. You have to find a clear opening from bulls and dash through without hesitation. I look forward and a mass of people lay on the ground. I ran inside away from it and then hurdled another person huddled on the ground. One look back for bulls and a hurried dash through the doorway and into the stadium. I then ran off to the far left and raised my fists and yelled. The crowd poured into the stadium like water rushing through a broken dam. The crowd roared at us. The bulls continued to enter, those that had not already entered. One by one, our group found its way to each other. Fists clenched, raised and pumped. "We did it! We all made it!"

Bull Run - Part 1

"The Lord tells me he can get me out of this mess... but he's pretty sure you're f&@#%d!"

--Braveheart

So, I thought I would take some time to fill in the details.

We woke up on Sunday morning about 4 am so that we would get to the main streets in time to make the run. From our previous experience, all the good viewing spots for the 8 am bull run are taken by 6 am or sooner, so we wanted to make sure we would be in good shape to run.

One item that made the situation worse is that it had rained all night and continued to drizzle in the morning. In these scenarios the bulls tend to separate and become more dangerous. Normally, we would have passed on the run until Monday, but we realized that this was Shawn's only chance to run. So, we charged forward. Made the 1.5 mile walk to the strip and the streets were FULL of drunk people. However, it was a very gross scene. The streets were wet and filled with garbage and stank beyond belief. People were drinking and chanting in the streets. This continued for the next 2-1/2 hours or so. Intermittently, a street sweeper would break through the crowd to "clean up" one side of the main street, Calle de Estefeta.

Next, a giant truck with a water tank and hoses came to hose down the street as people partied around it. More street sweepers. This carried on for over an hour before the crowd started to dwindle. We staked out an area to start and stood nervously. Several people came to us and said that we could not run from this area. Other locals were sure to state that it is dangerous and we shouldn't run... especially after a rainy morning. At about 7:20 or so, a wall of police came by and began to shuffle everyone off the main street to the side streets. "Will we not be able to run?" we wondered. They told us we needed to enter elsewhere.

We started off in a group walking down a side street for another entrance. Then began to walk quickly because we knew the entire course is cut off to runners at 7:30am. Soon, we were rushing along the course to find entry. Then we began to separate as the mission became clear: we had to get in! I dashed forward following and then passing Rob. I followed a group of Australians as I was now in a dead sprint to make entry into the run. We were running out of time! Up the side streets near the church, near Dead Man's Corner and to a fenced barricade. I quickly crawled through the fence area and made it into the neutral zone, then passing through another fence area and onto the course. I was committed now. "Where was everyone else?"

I hear a voice not far behind me and it is John... soon after Rob caught up as well. The course was cut off as people around us were denied entry. A huge mass of people smashed together in a human corrale near Dead Man's corner. The crowd chanted at officials and girls in the windows and balconies above. Eventually, we saw Keith, who also made it. He was smashed up against a building looking toward us. Rob reached out his hand to get Keith to join our little group. He came in and by now we had to again lock arms Red Rover style to hold our place. The crowd swayed and moved like a choppy sea. We had to push our arms out so that we could create enough space to breathe. Cops sliced through, dividing the crowd in half and making entry room for some the veteran runners and participating matadors. As they backed away, the crowd moved quickly to fill the space the cops had sliced. Everyone yelled as the crowd pushed forward. We had to struggle to stay on our feet. At moments, some of us lost our footing and our feet didn't touch the ground as the sea of people swelled. It became harder to breathe and the fear of being trampled set in as people began to panic. Rob declared, "Man, our plan is screwed." I look up and asked if he knew where we were. "No!" he replied. I noted that Dead Man's Corner is straight ahead, and we absolutely needed to take a right at the no entry sign above, "That´s Estefeta... we HAVE to be on the inside right of that area when this starts because the bulls will go wide" I said.

However, no one knew what would happen next. We had not read anything about any of this scenario. Would they really keep us huddled in this smashed mass of people as they released the bulls?! It would be bloody murder!