Post Eleven - Return to Sevilla

This is a photo of a misty forest we hiked though on our way to the top of Montserrat near Barcelona. Climbing the peak is seen as a pilgrimage and there are churches, crosses, and old hermit caves all the way to the top. The summit was obscured in clouds but we got a few glimpses of the view when they suddenly parted for a few moments.

I saw this little girl eyeing the candy display while walking through the market in Barcelona.

For the world's fair in Barcelona, Miles van der Rohe designed the German Pavilion. I have been a fan of his for quite some time so I was excited to see another one of his buildings. The pavilion was small but impressive. This photo was taken in the inner courtyard. I like the 'inkblot' style walls. Can you see the demon?

Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics. For the games, the city built a huge stadium complex in the southern section of the city. Today it's a pleasant place to walk and look at the interesting architecture.

The first time we saw the needle-like structure in this photo, Matt said "I wonder if we can go up in that and have a beer". Unfortunately, no.

This photo was taken somewhere in Barcelona.

After Julia and Matt returned home, we were at a loss as to what to do next. Over the summer we had been planning to take the overland route from Europe to Southeast Asia via Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and India. After September 11th, that was out of the question and we had yet to develop a backup plan. What we needed was somewhere to hang out for a few weeks so we could review our options. Fortuitously, our friend in Sevilla, Christin, was returning to the U.S. for a couple of weeks and her apartment would be available. It would be the perfect place to do our research (plus, we would be able to see Christin again).

A couple of days after we arrived, this flower bloomed in Christin's window. It looked bizarre - like an alien satellite receiver. Perhaps it was.

It was great seeing Christin again. Although we haven't known her long, she has become a good friend. She has a fresh outlook on life and it was good to have her around as we were deciding what we wanted to do.

Among other things, Christin is an accomplished artist and I spent some of my time in Sevilla working on her web site (www.christinranger.com).

Christin also collects footwear, which I could never really understand. I mean, they're just shoes, right?

It was nice to be back in Sevilla again and in one place for a while. Karen revived her dormant cooking skills and I started sorting through our photos. We played with Batgirl (Christin's cat), patronized our favorite restaurants and cafes, and spent lots of time online and in bookstores trying to choose where to go next.

As it turned out, we decided to travel separately for a while and meet back up in Bangkok. I was smitten with the idea of traveling overland from Europe to Southeast Asia and had found an open route through Eastern Europe, Russia and China. Karen was not interested in traveling through Siberia in November and wanted instead to return home to be with her family over the holidays. We had each reached our own form of travel burnout and we needed different things to treat it. Karen was burned out from moving around so much and just wanted to be in familiar surroundings with her family for a while. I was burned out on Europe, which for me, had become as familiar as the U.S. I was longing for the exotic and this overland route sounded like the perfect cure.

On November 2nd, Karen boarded a plane back to the U.S. The next day, I boarded what would be a series of trains and busses bound eventually for Bangkok where I would meet back up with Karen on Christmas day.