We finished the last length of our Kumano Kodo Kii hike on Sunday. Leaving Chikatsuyu, I waved goodbye to the farmer stacking straw along with the applauding puppets on the side of the road across from the bus station. It took two bus rides to get us halfway up the Kii mountain where we got off…
Author: Grubb
Game changer
We took a train out of Gobo and transferred to a bus in Tanabe where got off for our third day of trekking into the mountains on the Kumano Kodo. After staying at in inn in Hadaka (the only visitors, we had the inn to ourselves which was very pleasant) we were well fortified nutritionally for…
The emperor used to walk this?
Last night, after the slip and slide hike on the Kumano Kodo, we stayed at a guest house in Aridagawa on the side of the mountain where orange groves are cultivated on steep terraces. To cap my day of misadventure, sleep was something I was supposed to achieve on a futon rolled out on a tatami…
Okay, that was brutal
Yesterday we checked our bags at the hotel, loaded our daypacks, and left Osaka to begin our four day hike on the Kumano Kodo Kijii, aka the Emperor’s Trail, aka the Land of Death. Two trains got us to the Shimizu-Ura platform where we began following the printed directions in a booklet Ella had printed out…
Osaka Underground
I’m not saying that Japan is unduly haunted by the history of aerial bombing that took place in World War II, but in taking the Osaka Train Station escalator down from street level to the subway kingdom of avenue wide tunnels jammed with shopping outlets and eateries I can’t help thinking that if I were…
Jet Lag Jackhammer
Post by Grubb Whoa…we left LAX Monday mid-afternoon and, after a twelve-hour flight, landed in Osaka in the early evening on the next day. My body was prepared for an early morning stretch and now it was dazedly doing nighttime maneuvers negotiating a very large airport terminal where a very large crowd was lined up for…
Casa Vicens
After the overwhelming experience of Gaudí’s La Familia Sagrada, we thought we’d come back to earth by visiting Casa Vicens, the house he built in the 1880s. It had a nice mixture of oriental modernist design. I loved the tiled turrets rising above the top floor veranda. It just proved there were places for sublime…
Peaking at La Sagrada Familia
I was ready to visit Gaudí’s famous chapel on our last day in Barcelona. I figured a modern Gothic landmark would be a nice capstone to our trip. But I’ve always been influenced by photos of the exterior and the design seemed too busy in an ornamental way. And when we approached the building, the dull brown terra…
Catamaran ride
Once we had taken in the large warships in the Marine Museum (the size of the oars, the image of being in the galley rowing—yikes), it seemed like we should cruise the bay in a catamaran. Get refreshed by the sea breeze, gaze at the splendor of the city sweeping by. Looking down from the upper…
Pests in the park
Ella and I were outside the gate of Park Güell waiting for our guide to show up when we were distracted by the loud screech-chattering of birds up in the drooping leaves of the short palm trees. We aimed our cellphones and caught two green parakeets working on their nest. What a beautiful bird, we thought,…
Homage to Catalunya
The Museu National d’Art de Catalunya had quite a lead up with an avenue of decorated steps rising to the terraced columnar entrance below its dome. The approach was a cross between Versailles and Monte Carlo. The museum had the size of one of Chicago’s Columbian Exposition buildings. Inside it was sectioned off into four large gallery…
Pablo in Barcelona
Today (Saturday) was a different story when it came to wandering the streets of Barcelona. There was breathing room to the boulevards and back alleys. It was like a stadium full of people had been dispersed through a multiplicity of exits and spread out. We paused at a building designed by Gaudi where a crowd was waiting…
La Rambla
Getting off the Blah Blah bus in Barcelona was like waking up from a medieval dream and finding myself in Buenos Aires. A big busy city where the high stone apartments shadowed the streets. A lot of people were out marching at a quick pace. After we checked in the fifth floor apartment with our Ukrainian host,…
Medieval matryoshka
We trooped out the Aude gate of Cité Carcassonne this morning. Then took a steep path down to the walking bridge spanning the Aude River. We were headed towards the Bastide Saint-Louis, a section of the old city settled around 1260 by Cathar citizens expelled from their homes in the fortress where we were currently…
Arrival at the castle
We made it to our castle in Carcassonne where we’ll be staying a couple of nights. This will our final chance to go medieval before we take bus to Barcelona. The cobbled paths of the castle were pretty quiet last night. The moon was rising over the battlements. And a big bowl of cassoulet was waiting…