Barcelona - Disaster day

We got up and went for coffee early as usual on Tuesday. We went to the same place for the third day in a row just because we knew the coffee would be reasonable and the kids loved the breakfast smoothies. Then we were to head back to the apartment and move on to Palma de Mallorca. The whole point of this trip was that S-i-L had a wedding to attend in Palma on Saturday and I had come along as chief baby-sitter for that evening.

We ordered our breakfast and I took it over to our table where the others were sitting. I left my handbag sitting on my seat right next to S-i-L and Master J while I went to grab a straw for Miss L's smoothie, and 10 seconds later when I got back to the table it was gone... Just like that. No one had seen a thing!

My passport, my purse with cash, credit cards and Drivers Licence, my iPhone, my camera... all gone.

Initially I couldn't believe it had been taken in that short time and from right under the noses of the others, so I went back to the counter to check that I hadn't left it there, and looked around our table and others. It was gone! Holy s*#t!!! I have been the one telling the others to keep an eye on their belongings, and not put things down because there were thieves and pickpockets in many of the cities we went to, and I had a proper travel handbag with clips that locked it shut to keep pickpockets out (which actually saved me once in Rome) and wire through the strap so it couldn't be cut and snatched... and I was the one that got robbed... Irony at it's best.

We had to make a quick decision about what to do as our taxi to the airport was due to arrive soon. I couldn't go anywhere because I needed to stay in Barcelona to sort stuff out. Even if I had been able to travel to Palma without a passport I would need one to get home, and at least Barcelona has a New Zealand Consulate (the embassy is in Madrid). So we decided that S-i-L and the kids would go to Palma as planned, and I would follow when I could.

Initially I thought I was dealing with it all really well. I felt completely calm. But I think there was a bit of shock going on. When I was saying goodbye to them at the apartments I could feel the tears coming on, and I am NOT a cryer!

S-i-L gave me €100, which was all the cash she had on her and then I was on my own... We had checked out of the apartments, but they let me sit in the lobby and use the wifi with my computer, and they gave me directions to the police station. I was under no illusions that I would get anything back, but I needed a police report number for my insurance and to get an emergency passport.

Before I went anywhere I had a small, discreet break-down in the lobby, hiding behind my suitcases. I needed to get in touch with my travel insurance company and the NZ Embassy and the banks to cancel my cards, and I had no phone! So I managed to put some credit on my Skype account using PayPal and started getting in touch with various authorities. Every time I had to tell someone what had happened the tears threatened to flow again and I was starting to get really annoyed with myself!

I left my bags at the hotel while I when to the police, and then walked an hour across the city to the NZ Consulate office (which was closed... grrrrr). I was navigating by a crappy paper map because I had no phone, and it was really frustrating! I didn't want to waste my money on taxis because I didn't know how long that €100 would have to last. I also had the problem of being homeless... we had checked out of our apartment and I had nowhere to go, so I just hung out in the lobby of our hotel for a couple of hours, using their internet. Eventually they told me that they had a room available for one more night but it wouldn't be available until that evening, and thankfully they were able to charge it to the credit card that had payed for the previous nights (S-i-L's) without having to present it, because I had nothing. They were a pretty awesome bunch. They gave me the room for almost half price and they went out of their way to help me out where they could, using the phone to receive calls, helping me find things I needed around the city.

Another problem was that I am on the other side of the world from most of my friends and family so no one was awake to even begin to help me, even if they could. Luckily my gorgeous sister lives in Africa. She was awake and gave me her credit card number to order a new emergency passport... which would take 3-6 days to arrive. If it didn't arrive by the Friday I would miss my flight from Palma to Copenhagen and then home to Australia... My nerves were fried by this point! I also had no address to give them to courier the passport to because I had no idea where I would be sleeping after that night. I ended up giving them the address of the NZ Consulate due to lack of other options, even though I didn't even know if it would be open.

A huge problem was lack of cash, especially because I didn't know how long I would be stuck in Barcelona for. I had been on the phone (rather, Skype with a terrible internet connection the kept dropping out) to the credit card company several times during the day to try to organise emergency funds. It was a long process and the application needed to be resubmitted three times because of errors due to the bad Skype connection (each application takes two hours to be approved/declined). Finally it was approved and they told me that all I needed to do was go to a Western Union branch with some ID and that cash would be there for me. I don't know how many times I had told them through this whole process that I HAVE NO ID! Arrrgggggghhhhhh!!!

I was starting to lose it!

But by this stage friends and family were starting to catch up with what was going on thanks to Facebook. My sister offered to send me cash through Western Union, but again... no ID. So we put a call out (again through Facebook) to see if there were any friends, or friends of friends in Barcelona at this time. Then my cousin came through with the contact details of a guy she had stayed with when she was in Barcelona who was supposedly lovely and trustworthy. We got in touch with him and he was willing to meet me at a Western Union the next day and receive the cash in his name and hand it over to me. We were in two minds. Should my sister transfer a whole lot of cash to a guy we'd never met on the presumption that he was trustworthy? In the end there was really no other option. Uncle D (see previous posts) had offered me help with cash if I needed it too, but he was in Madrid and I was in Barcelona. So I arranged to meet Mr B at Western Union the next day, and my sister said she wouldn't transfer the money until just before I was due to meet him so he couldn't turn up early and take the money and run (sorry if you're reading this Mr B! You turned out to be an amazing human being!)

With nothing more I could do that day, I eventually made it into my hotel room. Other than the coffee for breakfast that had been the start of all this, I hadn't eaten all day due to nerves and circumstance. I was starting to feel a bit wobbly. So I went and bought a bit of food and spent €6 of my precious money on a bottle of wine, and settled in for the evening.

A sleep did my nerves a lot of good! I woke up feeling like everything was coming together and thinking I could cope with the world.

As promised, Mr B met me at Western Union at 11am and my faith in humanity was restored! But it turned out that my sister was unable to transfer the money as Western Union at her location in Africa was not accepting HER identification details! She was becoming a nervous wreck at her end! And this lovely man, who until that morning had been a complete stranger, took me to his own bank and withdrew €500 for me. All my sister had to do was an online transfer to his account when she could. There are no words for how dumbfounded and grateful I was for his generosity and trust. I could rave about him for hours. Thanks for introducing us, cousin T!

And after that things just came together nicely. I had cash... S-i-L's friend (the one getting married in Palma) offered me her apartment in Barcelona for as long as I needed it because she was out of town getting married... I rang the passport office in London and changed the delivery address to that apartment. So all I needed to do was wait.

The man that I had spoken to in London had said they would do their best to get the passport to me by Friday so that I could avoid missing all my connecting flights from Palma through Copenhagen and Hong Kong and back to Australia. And it came early Thursday evening!

So after having everything stolen on Tuesday morning, by Thursday evening I was on a flight to meet the others in Palma. It has been an amazing experience for me. It is true that the first day was pretty hard, but I have had so many offers of help and support from family, friends, and strangers that I almost can't think of it as a bad thing.

I am currently sitting in the hotel in Palma babysitting my niece (who is sleeping beautifully!) while my S-i-L and my nephew are at the wedding that was the point of this trip. Tomorrow we fly back to Copenhagen for a night and then home to Australia after a day in Hong Kong.

When I get back to Australia I will have annoying things to do like making insurance claims and replacing my phone, and I need to get access to my bank accounts again so that I can pay back my sister and S-i-L. But that isn't really so bad.

Massive thanks to everyone that has helped and supported me in the past few days, whether it be with cash, advice, or even Facebook messages and support. I am very, very lucky to be surrounded by such a bunch of people.

Over and out. This trip is at an end (and I have no camera to take any more photos to post!).

Barcelona - Day 2

One of my main goals in Barcelona was to have a look at lots of Gaudi architecture. On our second full day in Barcelona we went for breakfast at the same place that Uncle D had taken us the day before, for the sake of decent coffee.

Then we headed off towards Casa Batllo where we had tickets to take a look inside. On the way we walked past Casa Mila (otherwise known as La Pedrera).

Casa Mila (La Pedrera)

After that first small taste of the exterior of Casa Mila I was excited to get to Casa Batllo. And it seemed promising from the outside. The exterior is very different to anything around it, and the queues were long, so I figured it was a good place to be.

Casa Batllo

However, once we were inside (our tickets allowed us to skip the queue) I quickly realised that it was not the place that I had thought I was going to. Aside from a few cool features it was almost boring. I had chosen not to get an audioguide as I find them distracting, but I could see on other people's that they were getting a virtual glimpse of what the rooms would look like finished and furnished. But the public were only allowed to access three or four of the 7 or so floors, and even then many of the rooms were closed as they were unrestored as yet. To be honest, it was over-priced and dull. But here are a few pics of the good bits.

Terrace 'garden'

On the roof

I have looked online again and I think that the place I thought I was going to was Casa Mila. It seems to be more advanced in it's restoration and much more visually interesting. Oh well... next time...

To top off a seriously underwhelming visit to Casa Batllo, we were ready to leave and there was no sign of Master J. S-i-L searched the bottom 2 floors while I went back upstairs and searched the top floor and the roof. The staff had been alerted that there was a missing 10-year-old boy and were helping to look. He was eventually found sitting under a spiral staircase reading his kindle and claiming that he had told us where he would be and that he hadn't heard the frantic calling of his name... Yeah, right!

He was reunited with his terrified mother and we moved on, deciding to walk the hour to Parc Guell so that Miss L could have a sleep in the pram. It was an easy walk down some nice (and not so nice) little lanes, until the last 15 minutes when it became an uphill slog, and then involved carrying the pram up the last several flights of stairs as the escalator wasn't working. We arrived hot, bothered and starving.

The park wasn't what we had hoped, which was a nice area with lots of grass for the kids to have a run-around on and burn some energy. There was a dirt/pebble path to follow, with some views out over the city, and hawkers lining the whole path trying to sell us shoddy merchandise.

Parc Guell

But it was nice to be in the semi-shade among the green and out of the city for a while. We were desperate for food and toilets, but there were none of either to be found. There were some interesting features there though, and it was a nice walk. Master J and I also bought a painting each from one of the few hawkers that actually had nice stuff to sell.

The part you have to pay to enter (we didn't) 

After that we found a cafe (with a toilet) and decided to call it a day even though it was early afternoon. We had promised Master J a swim in the hotel pool and we had all been travelling and touristing non-stop for 3 weeks. I went out and got some groceries and things for dinner, and we have a relaxed afternoon.

Despite what the pictures here show, Barcelona is actually very similar in design and appearance to many other European cities I have been to, though easier to navigate than some due to being of a grid-design. I am just photographing the interesting bits.

The next day... disaster struck!

Barcelona - Day 1

Anyone who is friends with me on Facebook will possibly know that I had something of a travellers disaster happen yesterday, but prior to that I was a happy tourist. That will be a whole different post.

We took the train from Montpellier to Barcelona, getting to our apartment late afternoon. The website of the apartments promised views of Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi-designed cathedral, from several rooms. We figured that we might be able to see a corner if it or a spire. We were wrong!

The view from our balcony 

Excuse the blurry night-time shot

S-i-L's uncle lives in Madrid and had driven to Barcelona to meet her, so we went out for tea with him. There's not much open early. Spanish people seem to have lunch from about 2-4 pm and dinner isn't usually until after 8, but we needed to get kids to bed. We found a burger place and had a nice meal.

The next morning Uncle D met us at our apartment and guided us through the public transport system to Montserrat, a monastery up a mountain. It was pretty stunning (and crowded).

Montserrat

By the time we got back to the city it was time to start looking for some dinner, so we wandered past the Sagrada Familia, again looking for something that was open early (and on a Sunday).

It's impossible to get a photo without a crane in it. Construction started in 1882 and it's still not finished!

We found a cute little Mexican restaurant and ate our fill of quesadillas, tacos, and nachos, and finished off with 'Drunk Guavas', guavas floating in tequila. After dinner it was time to say goodbye to Uncle D as he had to drive back to Madrid and, once again, we had to get kids to bed.

Day trip to Nimes

We had heard that Nimes had some very well-preserved Roman sites, including a Colosseum-style arena. Master J is interested in this type of thing (as am I), so we did a day trip there. It is only about half an hour from Montpellier by train.

What a beautiful place!

We found the arena not long after getting of the train. It's not as big as the Colosseum in Rome, but still impressive and in pretty good shape (and much less crowded). It has been used as a bull-fighting arena in modern times, hence the wooden seating.

After that we bought some baguettes and had lunch in a nearby park, then went wandering.

We had been making our way in the direction of an old Roman temple, the Temple of Diane. We found it in all it's beautiful ruin. It was lovely...

I love that places like this have been preserved, even in their state of ruin, and that we are able to walk through and explore. This is why I travel; not only to see how others live today, but to see how they/we used to live.

The next day we packed up and caught a train to Barcelona.

Montpellier in a day

Montpellier, a city in the south of France that felt so much more French than Paris. Gorgeous narrow lanes, accordion players and string quartets in the streets, nothing opens till 11am and doesn't close until late. Aside from our disappointing apartment which was the least favourite of those we have stayed in, we loved Montpellier.

We only had two days there and wanted to do a day-trip to Nimes on one of them, so we spent the first day roaming the city lanes.

Our apartment was just out-of-shot down this lane

Huge selection of outdoor dining

Our first job was to find breakfast... and a cafe just up the street from home made some of the best coffee we have found so far! It was good enough that we went back the next morning for more, which is the first time we've done that :-)

We had planned to look around a few of the shops that looked interesting, but nothing was open! Plan B: head to the playground for an hour and hope things opened in the meantime... They didn't.

So we walked up to the Porte de Peyrou, which is the triumphal arch of Montpellier. It sits up on a hill that overlooks the city.

The courthouse (I think)

Porte de Peyrou

Monument in Place Royale du Peyrou

Aqueduct St-Clement

By the time we finished there it was 11am and although many restaurants and cafes had their tables out and looked open, they either weren't or had opened for drinks but didn't serve food until later. It was very frustrating with two hungry kids!

So we went and bought some basic groceries and headed back to the apartment for an hour. When we ventured out again places were finally starting to open! We did a bit of browsing and shopping and had some lunch. Then we took the kids down to a gorgeous carousel that we had seen in the Place de la Comedie, a lovely open square.

Place de la Comedie

Carousel

By then the afternoon was getting on so we bought some things to make dinner and headed home for another evening in. It turned out that our apartment was in a lane full of bars and restaurants that don't open until about 8pm, so the noise started then and increased until about 1am when things started closing for the night... You can't win 'em all.

From what I've seen online, Montpellier is much bigger than we thought and we really didn't scratch the surface. We only explored our small local district. I'd like to come back with more time and have a proper look around.

Beautiful Versailles

Instead of spending another day wandering the streets of Paris, we decided to go to Versailles for the day and have a look around the palace and the gardens. It was definitely worth the trip, except for the queues. It seemed that most of Paris was visiting Versailles with us!

After queueing for so long our first priority was brunch/lunch for hungry kids, so we made a bee-line for the cafe. The French definitely know how to rock a sandwich. We have had some amazing baguettes, off the shelf but full of gorgeous fresh ingredients. It almost makes up for the really bad coffee (but not quite).

Palace of Versailles from outside the gates

After lunch we followed the crowd and viewed a couple of pretty impressive rooms, but then found ourselves at the exit, which confused us and left us asking "Really, was that it?".

It turns out the in our haste to get to the cafe we had skipped must of the palace! We backtracked and found the entrance to the royal apartments and weren't disappointed. But it was really hard to get decent photos between the crowds and the glare...

Looking at room after room of intense and ornate furniture and decor, I became increasingly aware of sensory overload. If I had to live in surroundings such as those, I think I would need a plain room with simple furnishings to go to as a sanctuary every now and then.

After the crowds inside the palace it was very refreshing to step out into the gardens. We spent an hour or two roaming. There are three or four lakes, several manicured gardens, some less manicured park areas, and some lovely fountains.

This fountain was dancing to classical music. Very lovely. 

A spare bedroom or two!

And that was our day in Versailles. The next morning we hopped on a train from Paris to Montpellier in the south of France.