[To see the pictures of the events, click on the picture above]
Well, my whirlwind adventure started in the last blog, when on the Saturday I went to Pamplona and, after the bull run, we went to San Sebastian to surf.
The Sunday after Pamplona, I decided to go for a long bike ride, which proved to be a mistake, as after the surfing and the bike ride I could barely walk on Monday.
On monday after work, my colleague an I boarded a Ryanair flight to Milan. Some time ago I found out that Pet Shop Boys were opening in San Siro stadium, Milan, for Take That that have gotten back together and were touring with their new PROGRESS tour. It has been a long time dream of mine to see PSB after a failed attempt in 1999 when I lived in Holland. 80€ ticket to see 40 minute opening act by PSB seemed like a good way to achieve my goal, given tickets to Milan were only 64€ return.
Our plan was to spend Tuesday in Milan, see the city, go to the concert Tuesday evening and on Wednesday go see Bergamo, a small Italian town where the airport is located. However, in the spirit of maximizing opportunities, on the flight to Milan I suggested to exchange our Bergamo for a day say.... in Venice. When we got to Milan and met our other friends that were there for the same concert, we went online and booked our fast train tickets to Venice. At 6am we boarded very nice fast train and at 9am we walked out of the Venice stazione centrale onto the magnificent view of Venice. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the tourists were already here. Many tourists.
In order not to waste time, we got walking down the little bridges, narrow streets and passing million shops offering everything this tourist Mecca had to offer. After a 16€ coffees and cheese and ham toasts (I suppose we did look like tourists) we headed off towards the little port which had many water taxis going to the various Venetian islands. We hopped onto one and took a scenic ride to the island of Murano which is famous for the Venetian glass workshops and amazing blown glass. By the time we got to Murano, it was about 37C, so it was important to stay out of the sun.
After Murano, we went by water taxi to Saint Marc's square, which is the most famous in Venice and walked back through the city. We stopped at a nice restaurant and had a great Italian lunch in an air conditioned space.
At 4pm we took the train back and were on Milan at 7pm. Back to the hotel and off to the concert.
Just as we got to the train station to take a metro for the stadium, one of our friends called us and said "where are you guys?? PSB just started playing, which was 40 minutes ahead of schedule! So we grabbed a cab to go 5km to the stadium. We flew through the first 4km in about 10 minutes. The last km was a bit slower: 25 minutes sitting in a cab had my frustration running high. I suppose 80,000 other people were trying to get to the same place. When we got there and ran into the stadium, the PSB have already finished and my 80€ ticked was now a pumpkin. I was not a happy boy...
We did stay for Take That, which surprisingly put on an amazing show. Robbie Williams is also a great performer. In the end, it was a good experience, and seeing PSB remains on my list of dreams...
That week after returning to Zaragoza, I had a weekend plan to go to Valencia, where one of my managers is from. Saturday at about 9am my 2 friends and I drove to Valencia, which is an easy 3 hour drive. We started with a lunch at the 5 star resort Las Arenas, where Katia arranged for best paella from Valencia. She knew the head chef, so we got the best seats and food. With a nice bottle of white Spanish wine and paella made for 3, we were in heaven. Afterwards, we went for a walk down the beach, which was just spectacular. Blue sky and 35 degree weather was part of the deal.
We walked down to the port where the 33rd America's cup was held in 2010. I saw the headquarters of the Cup, Team Alinghi camp, one of their boats from previous campaigns all wrapped up in plastic, and bought a team shirt in their store. The port is on the Formula 1 race track so we got to walk on the actual track.
On the way back, I lucked out to see Team Artemis, challenger from Sweden for the next Americas cup in San Francisco in 201.3, training in the bay on a Formula 40 catamaran with a high-tech solid sail. Very exciting!
That night we stayed in a beach town of Cullera in a hotel right on the beach and went out for dinner with Katia's family.
The next days we went back into Valencia to visit the very famous City of Art and Science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciutat_de_les_Arts_i_les_Ci%C3%A8ncies) designed by Santiago Calatrava which was finished in 1998 which put the city on the map for tourism. The complex is something right out of Star Trek, hosting art and science facilities and the largest aquarium in Europe. We visited the aquarium and saw a spectacular dolphin show. Definitely coming back with the kids in winter to see this again.
On Sunday we drove back, concluding my 7 day 5 city tour. While I was slightly tired, the experiences were incredible and unforgettable.
