and on to Milan

OK... well hopefully first impressions aren't the lasting ones. I thought Pisa was a grotty dirty place - this is worse. coming into Milan on the shuttle took us through many of the highly industrial areas, and into the main train station. I was immediately accosted by several gypsies whining and demanding money, by rubbish everywhere and people pushing and shoving. Despite the hotel being 'close to the main train station', it was a 10 Euro trip there, through streets where there had obviously been a street veggie market, with huge piles of rubbish strewn all over the footpath and road, and bags and rubbish flying everywhere. Even around the hotel here - the planters have sticks in them, presumably which were once plants, and they are filled with rubbish. The hotel is about 15 mins walk from the Duomo, so not too bad I guess for the price, but it's also right next to a church that rings its bells every half hour! EEEKKKK! It's nearly 10pm now, can't wait! ahh yes here we go....
Took a bus down to the Duomo. As is usual for me, the front of it is shrouded and scaffolded, they are thankfully cleaning it, but I can only guess from the rest of it what it's like. The brochure describes it as 'flamboyant Gothic', and that it certainly is! It's the third largest church in the world after St Peters in Rome and the Seville Cathedral, and is topped by 135 spires, ornamented by 3159 statues (2245 on the outside!!) 96 giants on the spouts and 3600 scenes and figures on the stained glass windows. More photos of that tomorrow when the light is better.
All around it is filthy. Everything is ingrained with grime, there is pigeon shit everywhere, and clearly the Italians don't care where their dogs take a crap. The statue of Victor Emmanuel II in the plaza in front of the Duomo is an example- it could do with restoration.

Next to the Duomo is the large Victor Emmanuel II Galleria, which is, I believe, where the rich go to shop. I'll go for a window shop tomorrow - the prices are truly amazing!!

Madrid - Monday

Well the second day in Madrid was a little warmer than the first - I even got quite hot in only 3 layers of clothes! I think it reached 10 degrees C. WOW! I spent the day exploring around the Plaza Mayor, walked from there to the Palacio Real, then on to the Cibeles fountain. Picked back up on the tour bus and travelled around the rest of the routes, then did some quiet shopping.
Here are a few little pieces of Madrid scenery... Plaza Mayor above..
Off the Plaza... streets and one of the eateries

The Real Madrid stadium:

The Cibeles Fountain, in front of the Post Office:









And a few other bits and pieces that caught my eye..

Madrid, Spain

Arrived in Madrid on Saturday afternoon - omigod it's much colder here than in the Canaries! Thought as much when we could see heaps of snow on the ground when flying in.
Found the Hostal in which I'm staying, and almost laughed out loud when the guy showed me to my "room". Well, it IS a room, but I wouldn't even want to try and swing a cat in here! It has a minute bathroom attached, but is it SMALL!
However it appears this is the norm for budget accommodation in Madrid, and I am only in here at nights, and only for three, so I just have to suck it up! It is warm, although the bed is not very comfortable.

Today I put on about 5 layers of clothes and ventured out. At 9am it was -3, and there had been quite heavy snow overnight, judging by the amount still on cars both then and even at noon. I bought a ticket for the Madrid Vision Bus Tour, however couldn't bear to venture out onto the upper deck. Spent a lot of the day in art galleries - it's warm in there! Went to the Prado, the Thyssen and the Sofia Mueums, the Rastro Flea market and then basically just sat on the bus for the rest of the afternoon - on the upper deck as the sun was out. I think the top temp was about 5, and there were snow flurries all day. The photo on the left is looking up the Calle de Alcala from the Plaza de la Indepencia.
The photos below show some of the gorgeous architecture in Madrid. So many things, as is typical in Europe, are just on such a grand scale. The first is Puerto de Alcala, constructed in 1778, and is one of the gates to the city. The second is the Palacio Real - the Royal Palace, which is aparently one of the best preserved palaces in Europe. The statue of the bear and the strawberry tree, in Peurto del Sol, is a symbol of Madrid. After that is Las Cortes, the Palace of the Deputies, the main post office in Plaza del la Cibeles, and a couple of other nice bits of architecture, plus the cute taverna where I had dinner tonight!

Puerto del Carmen, Lanzerote

On Thursday after the meeting ended for the day several of us decided to go to Puerto del Carmen, which is along the coast towards the south. Getting there was quite an adventure as they moved the bus stop because roads were going to be closed due to Carnivale, however they didn't really tell us where the temporary bus stop was located! However we eventually found it and successfully made it to PDC. It's very touristy, not unlike the cheaper end of the Costa del Sol, so we did a little souvenier shopping then sat at the pub drinking beer. The sand is grey, clearly volcanic, and it's packed out in summer if the sun lounges are anything to go by! Saw a whale breach and blow a couple of times before diving and disappearing.

Arrecife, Timanfaya

Over the last couple of days most of our time has been taken up with the science coding training for PISA 2006. However after hours we have explored Arrecife a little, and yesterday we finished early to go to the Timanfaya National Park.
This photo is of Castillo de San Gabriel - located on a small island in front of Arrecife. The fort was connected to the main one by a drawbridge, and it was from these forts that the islanders tried (unsucessfully in the end) to defend themselves against pirate attacks.


Timanfaya National Park was amazing. The Montañas del Fuego (Fire Mountains) were created between 1730 and 1736 when more than 100 volcanos, covering more than 50 km², rose up and devastated this part of the island (including several villages). The last eruptions were in 1824, however due to the low rainfall (and therefore lack of erosion) this area appears much the same as it did just after the eruptions. In 1968 the area was declared a national park, Parque Nacional de Timanfaya.

Lanzerote, Canary Islands

Well it's a new year and the first trip starts in the Canary Islands, at Arrecife on Lanzerote. Long trip here, via Singapore and London, a transfer to Gatwick and then a flight to Lanzerote. All up travelling time just over 40 hours. I'm not sure there's anywhere on earth that's further from Oz!

Anyway after a long sleep, we headed off to the little town of Teguise on Sunday morning, where they have a market. Very sunny and I'd left my sunglasses at home, so had to buy a pair of Chanels from a man at the market. :) I'm SURE they're real Chanel! NOT!

Very pretty, very Spanish town, as you can see from the photos. We wandered around the market for some hours, then found a lovely restaurant and sat for three hours over tapas and a bottle of wine. Of course I hadn't thought about sunblock, so got sunburt. amazing that I can get through an Australian summer without burning once and one day in Spain and I'm burnt! It's unexpected I guess, as the sun isn't as hot as it is at home, so you don't actually feel like you're getting burnt. Still I should have taken a hat :(Monday is all work, and the weather is cool and overcast anyway. Shops are closed between 1 and 4pm, then re-open until about 10 at night, so we'll go for a wander downtown after work and see what we can see. However first impressions of Arrecife is that it's like a small Surfer's, with tacky apartment buildings and tacky hotels. The Arrecife Grand is a huge green glass monstrosity, perched on the promenade and hogging the whole skyline. I'm on the 15th floor, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, which is very calm on this side of the island.