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 Charlie Knox26, m, resident of spa, northern ireland, a thinker, who tries to be real, enjoys the company of nala(left), indebted to jesus for his grace and instruction in life and whose, amongst other things, studying sports science at UUJ. enjoy rugby a whole lot! |
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Thursday, March 27, 2008 ONCE is a great movie. posted by charlie | 11:35 PM | BCN A recent conclusion is that barcelona is a fun city to visit. There's a whole lot packed into a relatively small space and it offers plenty of experiences for the short stayer. Similiar to feelings that i had in edinburgh it struck me that BCN is a city that has given permission to it's artists. You see it in their architecture where they have fairly sucessfully fused old and new together, you see it in their tourist attractions (cable cars, magic fountains) and you even see it in their public transport system (of which bicing is the latest novel addition). The city appears to have developed alot in the last 20 years and the city council is evidently a place where decision makers make it easier rather than harder for new initiatives to have a go - not always a feeling you get from our 'jump through hoops' approach to things round here! Anyhow we had a great time. I'd recommend the city to anyone although i can't guarantee the company will be as good as I had. It was special to share the barcelona experience with my lovely lady Melissa!! For both memory and recommendation's sake here are some of the interesting things we experienced in BCN...... Montjuic Mountain - The funicular railway and cable cars that take you to the top of this hill on the side of the city are a lot of fun. The views over the city at the top are breathtaking, including some over the huge industrial port. Tibadabo and Amusement park - another mountain overlooking the city - again gettting there is fun using a tram and another funicular railway. Unusual features at the top include two churches, one built on top of the other, and a unique amusement park. We only did one ride called the grand lever. It was a big steel structure built in 1928 that took you to incredible heights in a big steel bucket. Given the construction date and the fact that you were already at a fair height this was quite a hairy experience!! Gaudi's masterpeice's - Gaudi is barcelona's favourite son and an iconic architect. We visited three of his works, House Batilon, San Grada Familia and Park Guell. His very distinctive style of work initally made me think he had just 'winged it' but with a little explanation it became obvious that he had actually thought about every little detail of his buildings and that he was the epitome of creative thinking in this field. San Grada familia, Gaudi's cathedral started in 1882 and continues to be built even though he died years ago. Suffice to say it's massive...other than that you'd need to see it! I think kids would love Gaudi's buildings! Magic Fountain of Montjuic - I never seen a fountain quite like this before and I'm not sure anything like it exists elsewhere. It's massive, dances to music and combined with lights at night is quite a show. We were part of a massive crowd watching the fountain and the feel good factor was all around as people awed at this thing. Las Ramblas - This is just a massive avenue up the middle of the city from the sea. It's packed with street performers (ranging in ability!) , street sellers (hens and flowers included!) and is fun to take in. Olympic legacy - The olympics were held in BCN in 1992. It was interesting to walk around some of the facilities that remain and also the olympic village. Unfortunately many of them felt a bit ghost townish at times. The long term benefits of hosting these events appear to be few. The siesta - we found this idea hard to get used to. Everything shuts down around 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The hardest bit was when you were starving around 6/7 o'clock and nowhere was open for grub. We ate most nights a good bit after 9 and went to bed feeling too full!! Bodies - when i was in New York a few years ago I was privelaged to come across the Bodies exhibition. I often wondered would i ever get to see it again and was very excited to hear it was in BCN when we were there. Basically it's a lot of dead people's bodies and bits on display which makes it sound much more gruesome than it actually is. It's an educational exhibition that does a great job of explaining how the systems of the body work and does a fantastic job of drawing attention to the wonderful creation that our bodies are. I was glad Melissa got to see it as she's heard me harping on about it over the last year or so! Shoe shops - For those inclined, BCN has lots of shops. Fortunately I wasn't subjected to too many of them but i did discover that Melissa has a weakness for shoe shops. I must have been in at least 40 over the 5 days! Nu camp - We did make it out to the stadium but didn't make the tour. We had to leave something for the next time!! posted by charlie | 2:59 PM | Monday, March 17, 2008 hi. it's been one of those hectic months. here's a few things i thought about bloggin along the way. + had an accident in carryduff one day a few weeks back. was definitely of the minor variety. while chatting to tim edgar who was on his bike at the other side of the road i reversed into a woman who had pulled in behind me. upon inspection of her car it turned out i had cracked her bumper. graciously, and beacuse of a few cracks already in the bumper, the lady driving was happy to let things go. i gave her my details but she hasn't got in touch. i'm not sure every one would take such a gracious view on things these days. i'm appreciative. + uni plods on. i've been working my backside off for the last wee while. results have been going well so that's encouraging but i wouldn't want to live this life all the time. it's just one thing after the other. having said that I'm heading off to barcelona tomorrow for a 5 day break (can't wait). beyond that it'll be head down until may and the chance to try on a mortar board! + had a few speaking engagements recently. one at emmanuel in lurgan and another at mannafest in belfast. was nice to be with two groups of people that i've built up a connection with over the years. always challenged as i prepare for these things but at the same time reminded of so many biblical truths that are dynamite (powerful!). + i discoverd that glenn jordan is a blogger. this man is a legend. he was the guy at bible college who instilled in me the importance of asking 'so what?' when doing theology or reading the bible. he is a scholar but also a poet, thoughtful but earthy and easy to listen to. i don't get to hear him speaking anywhere near as much as i'd like so finding his blog was exciting. + when listening to stephen nolan one morning i heard a women describe norn irish men as being' emotionally constipated' - they know what they feel but just can't get it out. the phrase made me laugh and is not so far from being the truth in a lot of cases. fortunately i think blogging is good means of expression and is helping a right few gentlemen around our island get unblocked a little... an emotional laxitive if you like!! + my clutch went on the polo. not too bad for 113, ooo miles although it went down at Jordanstown and left me a wee bit stranded. thankfully ricey pulled me out of a hole and towed me home. hairy enough stuff being towed on a short tow rope at 60mph behind a wee white van!!! + i've been blog tagged a few times and will maybe do a post when i'm home! posted by charlie | 11:37 PM | |
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