Valencia, Spain (2012)

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain.  It is about an hour and a half train ride from Barcelona and I heard it had a nice beach.  What I didn't realize was how amazing the modern architecture is.  The boys and I spent a couple of days exploring the many public gardens, parks and buildings.  We had a great time at the beach which was populated with more locals, than tourists.  Several people struck up conversations with me and the monkeys and it was an overall friendly and nice place to visit.

Parc Gulliver, based on the story of Gulliver's Travels was one of the coolest playgrounds I've ever seen.  The enormous replica of Gulliver laying on the ground was connected with seemingly hundreds of slides.  The signs for the bathrooms above made us laugh.

 See how his hair is slides

 and climbing ropes

 The large slide that was part of his shirt was a favorite place for my monkeys to practice 'snowboarding' you can see that guy in yellow is mine. 

 In the arts center there were several buildings including a botanical garden, aquarium, performing arts and music center.  Each was unique, yet they all complimented each other, connecting among beautiful gardens, fountains, grass and reflecting pools. 

The beach was a highlight.  For starters it was awesome to swim in the Mediterranean Sea (the boys did go into the water in Barcelona but it was so crowded it wasn't relaxing.) This beach was beautiful, well maintained and the weather was perfect.

 Here Monkey 2 made a replica of the mosaic lizard that he fell in love with in Parc Guell.  He took home a souvenir of the lizard. 

 Does this count as a Spanish lesson? Monkey 1 writing in the sand. 

 There were some unfortunate fish stuck in this tide pool. 

 Some of them were caught and saved.

 We didn't see any flamenco dancing but it is popular in the southern regions of Spain. 

Valencia is the type of city I would love to rent a little flat by the beach for a summer.  Very chill vibe. 

Barcelona, Spain (2012)

Barcelona is one of my favorite cities in Europe.  Dr. J and I were there a few years ago and it was a visually stimulating experience as well as a culinary high-light.  Taking the boys to Barcelona gave me a totally difference perspective from the romantic images I shared with my husband.  For starters it was not a culinary delight as the boys preferred eating various croissants, panini’s and baguette sandwiches to the salted fish, marinated olives and various cured meats.  It was also harder to appreciate the architecture when I was constantly looking out for the boys instead of enjoying an extraordinary facade. 
However, seeing a city that I love through new eyes (namely from my monkeys perspective) made for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. 

Some fun things we did included visiting the Modern Art Museum. 

 

Seeing outdoor markets which sold coins and various antiques

 Playing in the amphitheater 

 Climbing Montjuïc

 The monkeys enjoyed Parc Guell.  We studied Gaudi and learned about the history of his work before going to Barcelona.  The tiles and colorful creations throughout the park were able to keep their interest as did the organic shapes they could touch, walk through and in some cases climb.  

 We enjoyed a trip to La Boqueria one of my favorite markets where we bought pixios, fruit drinks and dried fruit.  (Photos from my last trip to La Boqueria).  

We even enjoyed some beach time. 

Ghost Towns Around The World

I have always been fascinated with ghost towns.  Maybe it's the calm quiet that surrounds them or the many stories of lives that are left behind.
The monkeys love to go fossil hunting around the Mojave Desert where there are several abandoned mining towns.  Some of them are really remote and hard to get to which makes me nervous.  Others have been made into 'Old West' touristy towns and a lot of the solitude that draws me is lost.
We are in the midst of mapping out and planing a few excursions in the coming months to some abandoned (read quiet) ghost towns.
Here are some ghost towns around the world that I would love to visit:

Chaiten, Chile is a fairly new Ghost Town having been abandoned in 2008 when a nearby volcano started spewing ash. Plans to relocate and compensate the residents are still on going. 

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Varosha, Cyprus was once a thriving tourist town known as the Maras district until the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.  The whole area was sealed off and became a no man’s land.  To this day a small part of the beach resort is still considered ‘occupied’. 

Prypiat, Ukraine is one of the abandoned Ghost Towns that used to house (over 50,000) workers from the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.  When disaster struck in 1986 the town was abandoned.  Because of the nuclear contamination residents were only permitted to take paper documents making it a unique glimpse into life in the Soviet era.  (Okay- I wouldn't really want to visit here but the photos fascinate me!)

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Belchite, Spain this Ghost Town was the site of war between General Franco’s troops and the Spanish Republican Army in 1937.  Completely destroyed instead of rebuilding a new village was built near the ruins of the old one.  

Do you like Ghost Towns? 

Have you visited any Ghost Towns? 

Alcatraz

We visited Alcatraz last week and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  I knew the monkeys would love it but expected it to be more of a 'little boy' type of excursion.
Alcatraz island was originally used as an army fortress as well as military prison before it became the notorious maximum security prison it's name is now synonymous with.  The prison officially closed in 1963 and stood empty for many years until it became a national park with historic gardens, tide pools and bird colonies as well as amazing views of San Francisco.

There were several 'cells' that were open to enter- needless to say it was a bit eery. 

These are the ruins of the Warden House- 

We could not have asked for better weather and the views were killer (hehe)

This is a copy of the original sign that you see upon docking at Alcatraz

The audio tour is award wining and able to keep both monkeys and adults entertained and informed- 

The sound effects for the attempted prison escape and subsequent riots played out as an audio reenactment.  

The monkeys were interested in the story behind the families of the prison staff which lived on the island and ferried into San Francisco for school and shopping.  

We checked out a book from our local library called Children Of Alcatraz which shares photos and stories of the families lives.

The tour also included tidbits of some of the more notorious criminals like Al Capone and Robert Stroud 'The Birdman'- 

On the advice of my favorite librarian- we rented Birdman Of Alcatraz a 1962 black and white film staring Burt Lancaster and the monkeys sat through, AND enjoyed, all 2.5 hours of it. 

Have you ever visited Alcatraz or seen Birdman Of Alcatraz?

Earth Day

Recycle Art: Puppies Made Of Plastic

Trash People And A Garbage Hotel

Book-Cycle Making Art Out Of Books

Book-Cycle Making Furniture Out Of Books

Trees As Art

Living Forest Art

Beer Crate Architecture

Beer Cap Art

Trash Island

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.  

~Native American Proverb

Everyday should be earth day.  Everyday we should do our part to reduce our carbon foot print, use something more than once and MOST importantly teach our children the importance of all the little things we can do to live consciously, mindfully and meaningfully.