Don't be a chicken, you'll upset the rabbits

Photos: Spain

map7 — Mon, 19 May 2014 02:12:00 GMT

Day 15 - Leave Spain (Barcelona) for France (Narbonne)

map7 — Fri, 16 May 2014 06:46:00 GMT

Left to France after checking out of the hotel at 12 noon.

The taxi was quick through town swapping lanes nice and quick with little notice, everyone seemed to dive out of his way. We made it alive to the train station.

We are on the Bullet train to Narbonne, France (13:20). The train station in Barcelona was very tricky to find our way around and purchase tickets, but we managed to get one and make it onto the train we wanted.

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Day 14 - Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi

map7 — Thu, 15 May 2014 06:45:00 GMT

All of the Gaudi architecture we could handle.

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- Casa Batllo
It was on the way to the La Sagrada Familia that we saw this wonderful building.

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- La Sagrada Familia
This was amazing to say the least, it was above my expectations. One guy summed it up well he just simply said 'wow' as his jaw dropped.
We walked around this for 2hrs. The trick to buying tickets is do it online, we did and were much happier than the people waiting in line for an hour.
As part of the tickets we brought we could go up one of the towers, across a bridge and walk down the other tower. This was great and a little scary.

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- La Pedrera
An apartment block by Gaudi.

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- Park Guell
It was quite a walk out of town, but well worth it, this place was a sanctuary so close to the city. It was where Gaudi lived during construction.

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Between La Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera we had a terrible lunch, we didn't think you could get bad food in Spain but we managed to find a place. To fix this problem we had a beverage & lemon tart at La Pedrera which has a cafe within it which is on th expensive side but still much cheaper than Australia.

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Spain loves the leg of meat still.

Finished the night off with the best Majito in the world in a little bar on the way back to the Hotel.

Day 13 - Travel to Barcelona

map7 — Wed, 14 May 2014 06:44:00 GMT

Got a Bus to Valencia, it was moving so naturally Amanda slept whilst I wrote the blog.

Arriving in Valencia we had 4hrs to kill, so we took a nice quick walk around town and grabbed a bite to eat. After this we caught the train, first class to Barcelona as it was only 3 euro more and you got food and drinks with extra leg room. We travelled up the coast of Spain and you could see all the beaches, Manda also spotted a nude couple on the beach which happens here.

Arriving in Barcelona we were blown away by the old buildings and cathedrals. We did a quick walk before dinner came around.

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Cathedral

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Market

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Bridges between buildings.

Dinner in Spain happens at around 10pm which we quite like.

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We had dinner at a place which was tucked away down an alley way in Bacelona. We ordered the Seafood platter for two. The meal came out in three lots, boiled seafood, battered seafood and last grilled seafood. It was seafood only, no vegies or sides, just the way we liked it. One of the best meals we had in Barcelona.

Day 12 - lazy day around Denia

map7 — Tue, 13 May 2014 06:43:00 GMT

Headed out to organise ourselves for the trip to Barcelona and spent most of the day walking around the streets of Denia.

Headed back to Sylvana & Ken's to relax around the pool and listen to music.

Day 11 - racquet ball, castles

map7 — Mon, 12 May 2014 06:42:00 GMT

Played Racquet ball in the morning with Ken & Keith while Amanda hit the market with Sylvana. The court was in great condition and it was fun.

Castles

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We got a little lost on the way home

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Day 10 - b'day paella

map7 — Sun, 11 May 2014 06:41:00 GMT

Relaxed in the pool, walked the dogs and had an early birthday party.

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Sylvana made me a cake and Ken made a paella, I was spoilt rotten. We then played 500 after watching the soccer, who knew you could watch soccer live during the day, only in europe.

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Day 9 - Mountains, Xalo & Calp

map7 — Sat, 10 May 2014 06:39:00 GMT

Travelled through the mountains and went to a town called Calp which is full of high rises. There was a part full of restaurants which approach you and discuss the specials of the day to try and get you in.

Restaurants pop up all over the place, in the middle of no where.

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There is a little bit of Australia in Spain

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We travelled back and looked at the mountain behind Ken & Sylvana's house.

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Day 8 - Montgo, Jabyar & 500 card games

map7 — Fri, 9 May 2014 06:37:00 GMT

Went up the old Montgo and checked out the view and took a picture of a lighthouse for dad.

Found some windmills and a nice cafe with pool.

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We went for a drive in the rich part of town and found a great little bar for lunch which did a seafood grill and paella. It was awesome.

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Spain loves it's rusted sculptures and you see them everywhere, watching you, waiting.

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There was some fresh seafood just arriving off the boats which we purchased.

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On the way home we went to the supermarket and I couldn't believe the prices. There was 9yr old wine for 3.60EUR which tasted very nice and is medium priced and there were slabs of beer for 9.50EUR.

Spain is not lacking olive oil

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Dinner was nibbles and a great game of 500 with Ken & Sylvana outside as it was a hot night.

Day 7 - Relaxed tour of Denia

map7 — Thu, 8 May 2014 06:42:00 GMT

First thing I noticed about Spain was the driving and the parking, it's crazy but it seems to work. The driving seems all over the place but it's not high speed so everyone can stop pretty quick if there is a problem. The parking is very creative.

We started off with a relaxing walk around Denia.

Had my first churros con chocolate.

Denia is beautiful the narrow little streets filled with bars & restaurants, it really feels alive. There is a friendly community here and people will stop for a chat with a person in the street no matter if they are busy or even driving a car, people just accept this and drive around them.

The streets and the cabling is a work of art

The markets are open 6 days a week.

We brought nice leather jackets at a good price.

I also brought a six pack of beer for $4.29AUD, pretty cheap.

Day 6 - Travel to Spain

map7 — Wed, 7 May 2014 22:12:00 GMT

Walking to the airport, just like The Castle

how's the serenity.

Last taste of Japan

In Zurch we went on a Monorail in the Airport which had sounds of cows on it, a bit weird. Everyone on the train cracked up laughing.

Ken picked us up from the airport, good on ya Ken, and we travelled directly to Denia.

I saw my first Castle

We arrived at Sylvana & Ken's.

We had a late dinner and chatted until midnight in which it was definately time for bed after a long day on planes.

Photos: Japan

map7 — Wed, 7 May 2014 06:57:00 GMT

Day 5 - Nikko temples & shrines.

map7 — Tue, 6 May 2014 03:06:00 GMT

This one's for you Danch

Time to see more of Nikko's intricate, jaw-dropping, very old gates, shrines and temples

nestled amongst the forest

One of them was built over 800 years more than 1200 years ago.

Some of the roof tops are painted in gold which shone brightly even on this grey day

This is a sacred horse

this is a sacred horse butt

It's customary to wash your hands before entering a temple. You can even rinse out your mouth and spit in the trench to cleanse your good self

After lots of walking we earned a hearty breakfast and Mick found the best doughnut in Japan

Even the drains in Nikko are something to behold

It was a much nicer day for the walk back to the station

We stayed near the airport for an early flight.

Day 4 - Nikko

map7 — Mon, 5 May 2014 02:50:00 GMT

Rode on the shinkansen out to Nikko

it goes fast and makes for very happy Mick

We arrived to some slight drizzle

which had turned into a downpour by the time we got to our accommodation

The traffic jam made the walk faster even if you had a R32 GTR VSPEC2

The inn host Naomi took pity on us and opened the onsen early so we could hop in the hot spring and warm up before our visit to the stone Buddah

Our room with a view was the perfect place to wind down after three full on Tokyo days

Then it was time to get lost again looking for somewhere to have dinner and what a place to be lost. There are shrines and temples everywhere; after 3pm the place was empty and with the fog settling in it was other worldly

This is the place to go when you're in Nikko

you get to eat whole little fishes - oy shikata! The Kaiseki-ryori is about 10 courses, some of the best food I've ever had. For 15500yen you get raw fish, sardines, soups, all of the things.

Day 3 - Park, Zoo & fancy dinner

map7 — Sun, 4 May 2014 02:39:00 GMT

Caught a train out to Kichijogi and landed in a bakery to wait for Amber, then on to meet Toru and Mika at Inokashira park. Toru makes bags and had a special present for Amber; the return gift of a bag of Caramello Koalas went down a treat.

There was a long line to Daniel's favourite Yakutori place but we hang in there per his instructions and had some really nice traditional food in a cool atmosphere

We tried liver, intestines and some other guts that Toru wasn't sure how to say in English - probably best not to know. After that we went through the park's market with live performances and market stalls

Mick was up to about six in his photos of no photography sign collection

when we headed to the zoo, which was free that day (this happens only 3 times a year, this time for Greenery Day). There were a lot of ducks

up front which had us wondering whether it was a duck zoo - see below duct vent

- but then we found turles, racoons, monkeys, foxes, deer, weird and wonderful things we'd never seen before and a very sad elephant :( who was lonely. There was something in between a kangaroo and a rabbit that we've forgotten the name of but very cute nonetheless.

- Back to the station through a market with all the fish in it and a chopstick store

We arrived at the next station with Amber and we were really pleasantly surprised to find Asami there to chaufer us to a fancy dinner at Toriyama in her shiny beamer

We were treated to a beautiful meal that just kept coming in a 450 year old house at the base of Mt Takao with manicured garden

- Asami's the best - and just look at this steak

Day 2 - Harajuku, Shinjuku

map7 — Sat, 3 May 2014 17:53:00 GMT

Day 2, sleep was good, coffee is better

Today we hit Harajuku which is known for people dressing up and this market strip

A few interesting outfits and great little gallery Amber took us to that she and Aaron used to frequent. Then off to Yayogi park and saw the Meiji temple before which stand a butt load of sake barrels that might last Daniel the week.

Amber let us loose in Shinjuku for a while so that we could get lost and try and find the Robot Restaurant. We were properly lost but found an nice park where we could try out a traditional toilet

and later some grass just planted on the side of the road - something you never see in Japan - I couldn't help but touch it

After consulting google maps, we stopped at Dalhi Bar for a beer or three after a local flagged us in. He bought us a drink and the bartender explained he had been there since the night before. His mate was sleeping on the bar beside him *light weight* so we returned the favour and we couldn't quite understand each other, except of course: Kampai.

Every now and again a door would slide open and you would be bombarded with high pitched sounds and blinding lights - these were Tokyo's casinos. We tried entering one but after a few seconds the noise and fluro lights got to be too much - don't know how people endure it in there but they seem pretty relaxed in their Pokies zombie state.

The robot restaurant was a must see, it was fantastic. We didn't bother eating there, just a few more beers, but what a show! Met Amber again after the show, who was discreetly recharging her phone from a cord that was dangling into the street from the power lines. Back to Dalhi Bar for dinner ($5 Curry & $5 beer) to refuel then on to Golden Gai. Going through all the little bars which hold a few people (2-12) was just amazing. I found one which suited us it played metal and the guy was cool. Also there was no cover charge or 'female companions' to deal with.

The publican Go also played my favorite metal band Manowar. We caught the last train home, but Amber missed hers and had to fork out for a cab to get to Asami's place.

Day 1 - Ueno, Akihabara & Shibuya

map7 — Fri, 2 May 2014 11:50:00 GMT

Got to Japan at 6am, and took a train to Ueno to find our accommodation. We found a hot coffee in a can out of a vending machine called 'fire' it's the best! We later found that you need a few these per day just to get through Tokyo.

Second coffee was the BIG COFFEE.

As we made our way to our accommodation we almost got ridden over by many bicycles which just float around anywhere they want. They don't have to wear helmets or abide by any rules it seems.

The lifts in Japan are huge, here is the one in our accommodation.

Hit the road to Akihabara to search for Robots and meet up with Yoshie. We saw lots of electronics, weird maid cafes and robots, huge tablets

and water proof TVs

as Yoshie says Japanese people like to watch TV in the hot tub.

I was on a mission find this Robot store that I was told about and everyone took the challenge with me. I had some instructions which were pretty good but when you are presented with so many options it's very hard to find your way around under the bright lights of Tokyo. We found the second Robot store first called vrobot. This was a good place for parts and had some great robots such as the Gripper arm robot .

The coveted first robot store was called the TSUKUMO, but so were lot of other stores. We found it and you had to go out the back and up two flights of stairs.

They had a two legged robot there which Yoshie eagerly asked the shop keeper if I could have a go and he handed over the remote so we could move Mr Roboto around: bow, do the splits and headstands, it's definitely a highlight of my trip so far. The next level up in the building had EDIUS Pro software and lots of cameras, so Mark you might know where this place is.

We found a sign which sums up the attitude on the trains and is what we based the title for our blog on.

After this we travelled over to a market and then headed back for a beer before going out for dinner.

For dinner we went to Shibuya to catch up with Amber's mates Alec (programming of finance software) & Erin (editor) so we had a lot in common. We saw the intersection which has 1000's of people cross every minute and we did it and are still alive.

After hitting a trendy bar for a few craft beers we had to leave/run to the last train. Last trains in Tokyo are midnight, we just made it to ours

What a day!