Wednesday, 13 September. Cooking class, including the shopping for ingredients. It was a full class, full of many very interesting people. I hung back. Full course meal. Lots of conversation in an echo chamber of a kitchen. I couldn’t hear much. But Yoriko loved it.
We took a long leisurely walk through too much of Barcelona to reach our second tour of the day, a flamenco dance show. It was essentially what you’d expect.
In all we had a marvelous time in Barcelona. It’s a beautiful city.
Tuesday, September 12. Visited the Gaudi designed park. The Gaudi House inside had a 2 hour line, so we skipped it. It’s an extensive park with street venders present. Nice place, but overcrowded even though they limit access. You have to buy a timed entry ticket.
The rest of the day was dedicated to the Familia Sagrada church. Still incredible even though we’d spent hours there two year ago. We could tell what had been added. Truly a wonder of the world. I hope to return when it’s finished.
After returning to our apartment I researched the mystery of the buses, discovering that we’re just a short distance from the first building Gaudi designed. Unsurprisingly odd looking. It was undergoing some renovations in anticipation of becoming a museum in a few months.
An appreciation of the Familia Church’s size. (It pales in comparison with St. Peters!)
The white sections aren’t finished yet. Though the footprint is substantially smaller than St. Peters(!), it will be taller.
Monday, September 11. Today was a holiday for the Catalonia region. Traffic jams and people everywhere. Happy madness. Everyone was buying and wearing green shirts for a special photo shoot.
We began our four days in the city with the ubiquitous Hop-On, Hop-Off bus to give us an overview of where things were. There had been a few instances of anti-tourist demonstrations against tour organizations, so we were watchful. After the ride we just soaked up the crowds. Everyone was having a good time. We ate too much while sitting at cafes that had signs banning “just sitting”.
Amazingly, t-shirts with the traditional emblem for Catalonian independence were not available in stores. I can only assume the country bans them. In four days I only found one store that had them.
A very large radio tower dominates the skyline in the west.
Not a Gaudi creation, but pretty anyway.
An appreciation of the Familia Church’s size. (It pales in comparison with St. Peters!)
Sunday, September 10. Air France to Barcelona. Very nice. Taxi ride smooth. I’d not only printed the address, but also a map. (We used many taxis in Barcelona. None were difficult. None were expensive.)
Airbnb was excellent. (Tour buses were parked in front, posing a mystery: Why?) Hot tub and sauna! We found a little snack bar nearby, after scouting out a host of bakeries. It was literally a snack bar. Small snacks. Finger food. Good, but expensive for the portions.
No photos today.
August, 2017. The whole family made this trip. Beautiful resort, great margaritas, swim-up bar, massages on site. Boat ride, not so good. Horse ride, unforgettable. Nice trip.
Recap:
Unforgettable time. A land frozen in time. (As long as one doesn’t notice the modern day conveniences of cell phones, TVs, DVDs, solar panels, and 12 volt car batteries hiding under the pelts.)
Go. 
Thursday, 28 July. Rut covered path to the airport in darkness. Trust in the driver and fear not!
Arrived without incident. Made a last stop at the department store. My sister and I walked back to the hotel and discovered the the steps of the federal building is a VERY popular place for wedding photos. Mongolians really know how to dress up, the men more so than women, if possible. We spent quite a while there.
For our last evening we attended a display of Traditional Mongolian entertainment, capped off with a captivating concert by their orchestra, which used only native horsehead fiddles. They didn’t just play Mongolian music. Their selections were international and magnificent.
Wednesday, 27 July. Arrived at the camel breeder’s ger. First time on a camel. Nothing estraordinary, though hanging on while the camel stands is weird. Each camel was individually led by the father and his children and children’s friend. Our young ladies were deemed skilled enough to steer without escorts. We circled several dunes, lined up for a camera shoot, then encountered a faux wolf, causing every camel to come to a sudden halt. The “wolf” was our camera-bound companion who declined a ride in favor of crawling upon the dunes and scaring our camels.
We did the camel ride in two sets, so I volunteer to lead a camel. No tourist had ever asked to do this before. Aren’t I the adventurous one? My only fear was that the camel would spit on me. The guide said it would stay with me for days. Ugh. But I had fun getting a closeup view of the massive camel head. How the neck holds it up is beyond me.
We had lunch at yet another ger camp and then visited the Flaming Cliffs of the Gobi, where dinosaur eggs were first discovered. I can only assume that the “Flaming” part is obvious at sundown. Again, the Grand Canyon it’s not. But the lack of any posted safety concerns was noteworthy. It was a hot day, so the purchase of a $2 can of warm coke at the parking lot was welcome. Any thirsty American would have paid $5.
Back at our camp we opened up our two liter bottle of beer, some foul smelling but sweet tasting vodka liquor and munched cookies as horses passed in front. During dinner the staff donned beautiful costumes and danced for us. Magical times in the Gobi!
Tuesday, 26 July. Walked down a small canyon to a small waterfall. Very popular destination for natives on vacation. Nothing to write home about if you’ve been to the Grand Canyon. I walked down, hiked back, rented a horse, rode down, rode back, and actually beat almost everyone else. (We had as slow group.) The horse ride was very uncomfortable, owing to a bad saddle and unhappy horse. My escort (twelve years-old?) led my horse down, but let me ride back unaided. I paid $20, which I think was $12 more than they asked.
We had lunch at another ger camp. Stopped at a small museum comprised mostly of stuff animals.
The drive to and from the canyon was long and bumpy. At one point we crossed a beautiful newly paved roadway, complete with lines and signs(!). I’ve no idea what it connected, but Mongolia needs many more of them.
My escort was the boy in the middle, NOT the girl on the left!
Monday, 25 July. Yet another very early flight to the Gobi. (Note: “Gobi” means desert. Gobi Desert is hence a redundancy.) The airport was again very small. Oddest of all was that the road to the airport was unpaved. We first entered the small town, which seemed deserted. There was a large (empty) plaza with a fountain and an imposing sculpture in the center.
The drive to our lodging defies description. A 100KM field with various ruts. Each driver of three vans choose their preferred track and headed west. There were one or two defiles that required some maneuvering down and up, but mostly the path was just a monstrous field. Towards the end of the trip we happened upon a flock of camels. There was also one very dead camel which was mostly an upright hollow shell. Interesting, but disgusting.
The gers were nearly in the middle of nowhere. The center large ger for meals etc., was raised with a surrounding balcony. A wonderful viewing area. The ger doors were a little lower than our past quarters, which caused me to leave a little skin behind in the Gobi.
Nearby was a watering well shed and troth. Each day horses, cows, and sheep meandered to the water. Only the sheep had handlers, exclusively made up of children. Our guide said that during summer vacation the parents tasked the children to do the shepherding. It was amazing that animals came from separate directions on a seemingly set schedule. Only the sheep needed to be shoved away. The other animals simply drank there fill, then moved off.
Sunsets were incredible. On the whole it was peaceful and interesting day in the middle of nowhere.
