Travel – Page 17 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Indulging Myself

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: image in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbnail in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: altdesc in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: captiontext in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Notice: Undefined index: thumbid in /home/geekradio.com/domains/baldheretic.com/httpdocs/wp-content/plugins/highslide/wp-highslide.php on line 56

Click for full size

Segovia – addendum

When we were reading about Segovia in the Rick Steves’ guide he mentioned something called the House of a Thousand Beaks. As bird lovers this caught our imagination. Rick Steves didn’t give any details about it other than it’s location so I went online to see what I could find out about the House of a Thousand Beaks.

Surprisingly, I came up emtpy.

Still, we sought it out while we were there and we found it and I think these pictures show clearly how the building got it’s name

Click for full size

Being a Sunday, it was closed. Or maybe it is just a house. Still, it is my hope that this post will help others who try to do an Internet search for the House of a Thousand Beaks…

Segovia

Today was our first “day trip” during our vacation.

Segovia is located about 50 miles northwest of Madrid and makes it an ideal one day visit as it only takes about an hour to get there by bus.

I was particularly interested in Segovia because I wanted to see the Roman aqueduct that still stands there.

To get to the bus station we had to take the Metro, the underground subway system in Madrid. No big deal, right? WRONG!

I don’t think I fully appreciated Cynthia’s fear of the underground until today. I knew she was not fond of the subway from our trip to Paris but I learned the hard way that Cynthia’s literally terrified of being underground. She’s got no problem being up on a rickety ladder hanging a quilt or whatever, but get her in a subway station and she can get rather freaked out.

To get to the bus station we would have to catch the subway train to the Principe Pio stop which entailed one transfer. It was quite a journey with poor Cynthia nearly hyperventilating the whole way.

Once we reached Principe Pio she was fine. The fresh air reinvigorated her and we headed over to the bus station, bought our tickets and boarded the bus to Segovia.

We were laughing and having a good time when all of a sudden the bus entered a tunnel. It was quite a long tunnel and again Cynthia was a bit freaked out.

We cleared the tunnel and before long we were pulling into the bus station in Segovia.

The weather was threatening to rain all day. Menacing clouds gathered above the mountain tops and the day bounced back and forth from cloudy to sunny. I think this made for an interesting day of photography.

Right as you walk into the city center you see this wonderful old church

Click for full size

If you look in the upper right-hand corner you can see the cathedral in the background

Click for full size

All very nice, but the main attraction IS the aqueduct

Click for full size

So exciting that even William the Sheep needed to have his picture taken in front of it

We checked it out and then walked on to have a closer look at the cathedral. It’s more Gothic than you can imagine!

Click for full size

From there it was on to the Alcazar

Click for full size

We opted not to pay the entry fee to take the tours and just enjoyed the spectacular weather and scenic views

Click for full size

After that, we headed back to our hotel in Madrid. Cynthia did much better in the tunnel and on the subway. I think that now that she understands it a bit better we’ll have less trouble. This is good since we have to utilize it for two more day trips from Madrid alone…

Madrid – El Dia Segundo

We stayed up a bit late last night. It was fun to wander the streets and take in the sites after sunset. I am happy to have access to several Starbucks as it’s a great value on a huge cup of coffee.

Click for full size

This morning we woke up much later than we anticipated. It seemed that it should only be around 7:30 am but was, in fact, 9:30 am. We were obviously more tired than we thought.

We got up, got dressed and walked past the Palacio de Comunicaciones on our way to the obligatory visit to the Museo del Prado

Click for full size

The line to get into the museum was not too bad, even at the late hour. I was most pleased to see The Garden Of Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.

Now we’re back at the hotel for siesta and contemplating our next move.

Una Noche En Madrid

Spain – Llegamos

12 hours worth of travel time. Flight from Houston to Newark, New Jersey and then a change of planes for the overseas leg to Madrid.

Definitely not one of my best travel days. About 1/2 way into the 6 1/2 hour flight from Newark to Madrid my stomach started to get upset. I probably could have held out but there was a woman two rows back who had the most indescribable stench. When she walked past us to go the lavatory the smell was so overwhelming that I had to avail myself of one of the utility bags in the seat back pocket. Even Cynthia who was doing pretty well started to hyperventilate and came close to utilizing her own bag.

We cleared customs quite quickly and soon we were in a cab heading to the Hotel Plaza Mayor. The room is small but comfortable and is well situated to a lot of the city’s attractions.

View Larger Map

We were able to check in right away and we attempted to go for a walk, but were so exhausted we quickly returned to the room for a 3 hour nap. It was the best 3 hour nap ever! We had the balcony doors open and the cool breeze lulled us to sleep quite quickly.

We woke up without an alarm clock feeling much more human that we had in awhile and set out to explore a bit of our surroundings.

The sun is bright and the sky is deep blue. High today was around 74 degrees and no humidity. Temps tonight should be in the upper 50’s.

We walked for a quite awhile and shot some pictures and are now relaxing in the room. Our intention is to head out this evening so I can get some night shots and have some dinner.

Here is the statue of Charles III in the Puerta Del Sol

Click for full size

On the right you see the Tio Pepe sign, Madrid’s oldest billboard.

I was particularly delighted to the see the Metropolis Building!

Detail of one of the door signs

Click for full size

We came back to the hotel to rest. Now that the sun has gone down we are off in search of food and night shots!

Adios Amigos!

We’re off. Wish us luck!
We have to drop off the birds and make a few pit stops on the way to the airport, but that’s it.

Next stop, Madrid!

Ojo Rojo

I’m officially on vacation. We don’t fly out till Thursday, but it has begun. We felt it would be good to take a day before we left and tie up some loose ends so that’s what tomorrow is for.

We are in the final countdown and running through the go/no go sequence for launch before our flight on Thursday and we hit a minor snag.

Cynthia had noticed her eye turning very red Sunday evening. I assumed it to be a subconjunctival hemorrhage and probably not anything to worry about. Cynthia was not so sure.

On Monday it got a little worse and when we woke up this morning Cynthia informed me that it had gotten much worse and began to panic a bit. It was decided that she would go to the eye doctor as soon as his office opened and she would let him have a look.

I endeavored to stay positive and upbeat. Still, if there was a serious medical problem it would obviously put the trip we have been planning for the last 6 months in jeopardy.

I was sticking with my amateur diagnosis as Cynthia pursued the advice of someone who actually studied medicine. There was a tense moment when she called and said “I have good news and I have bad news.” I asked for the bad news and she told me that as bad as it looked now, it was going to look a lot worse over the next few weeks.

I asked for the good news and she confirmed that it was a subconjunctival hemorrhage and her doctor had said it wasn’t serious and that she should not worry and that she would be fine to travel.

Yay! Cynthia’s going to be ok!
Yay! The trip is still on!

The eye really doesn’t look that bad. She has to hold the eyelid open before you can really see the problem. The doctor says it’s normal for these things to grow as the eye heals so it may well spread over a larger part of the eye and become more noticeable.

On the plus side, Cynthia’s not in any pain and it’s not affecting her vision. She is worried it will show up in th the holiday photos. Several people, including my boss and Cynthia’s doctor, tried to reassure us by suggesting some photoshopping to clean up our vacation photos if what we are now affectionately calling Cynthia’s Eye Bubo showed up in any of them.

On a side note, spare yourself the squirmy discomfort of performing a Google image search on the term “subconjunctival hemorrhage” as the results are rather distressing.