Barcelona, Spain

A quick post about my trip the prior weekend. Junior Nomad, Armored Nomad and I went to Barcelona last weekend to celebrate Junior Nomad's impending nuptials. We flew in Thursday morning and as on my prior trips the weather was ghastly, so none of the early pictures were any good.

Like other Spanish cities Barcelona runs pretty late, which is excellent if you want to stay on New York (or LA for that matter...) time. The evening starts with dinner about 10:30pm and proceeds from there. Miami seems subdued in comparison.

Barcelona had changed a lot since I had been there a few years ago. There was a lot of new construction, and new buildings and complexes. One of the most striking was a clump of office buildings which I don't think were there before:


I found it interesting that the tall building looks a lot like the "gherkin' building in London.

Of course, Barcelona is known for some of its unique older architecture, such as this:


All in all, we had an excellent time.

Harajuku and Sayonara

Saturday was the first day that had decent weather, so we decided to walk around a bit. One of my favorite walks in Tokyo is from Omotesando to Harajuku and then on to Shibuya, so that's what we did.

Omotesando is an area of high end shops, roughly equivalent to Madison or Fifth Avenues in NY. There is a cool looking mural at the beginning of the main street.

Harajuku is pretty famous for its trendiness. It's known for people congregating on weekends to show off their interesting attire (which strangely this time around there wasn't a lot of). There are eclcetic shops along narrow back streets.

Note Spiderman and R2-D2 unit statues.

This is one of my favorites.

It's as if you had the Village right behind Madison Ave on the Upper East Side.

We stopped at the Leforet Center to have a quick bite (the coffee shop has some of the best cake on the planet). Leforet itself is a collection of small boutiques and is so trendy you have to be careful not to cut yourself...

We then sauntered down to Shibuya. The Yoyogi National Stadium is along the way, and the architecture is quite impressive.


Shibuya has a unique vibe, kind of like Times Square and the Lower East Side rolled into one. Many of the English language signs on Japan are outstanding.

A couple of my friends have a very cute cat named Stormy so I needed to take this picture.


We stopped at a sidewalk bar to relax, have a drink, and watch the world go by. Some of the things you see on the street in Tokyo you will see nowhere else.


One of my all-time favorite corporate logos is of a parcel delivery company.

Certainly more impactful than what UPS or Fedex put on their trucks...

I think Shibuya has the most human energy of any neighborhood I've ever been to. It's always packed and there are always tons of things happening.



Waiting to cross the main street outside the train station in Shibuya is a total experience - you stand with a few hundred people to either side of you and face a phalanx of people on the other side; once the light changes everyone surges forward and you are amazed that anyone can actually reach the destination of the other side. Times Square seems desolate in comparison.

We went back to our hotel and had some time to kill before dinner so sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. Here's a shot of the Tokyo Midtown tower from the nearby park.


Here's a shot of the Roppongi Hills complex from the top of our building. Note how Roppongi Hills is written in circles on the top of the building at the bottom left. The (in real life not really) little circular structure is the cover to escalators down to the Metro and is called Metro Hat.


Here's a shot of the helipad from earlier taken from a different angle. It seems designed to accommodate Chinooks or other huge helos. Very impressive.


I will leave you with a picture I took right before departing on Sunday.


As you can see it's a pet store right by Roppongi-dori. The animals in the window are unbelievably cute kittens and puppies. Surprisingly, it's open until very late (or early...) - I saw a lady leaving the place late at night carrying a pet carrier. I wonder how many people are surprised by their new companion when they wake up the following day after huge night out...

Akihabara

The weather was again lousy on Friday, but at least it wasn't pouring. We decided to go to Akihabara, the neighborhood specializing in electronics shops. If you're into technology you are required to make a pilgrimage once on every trip.

On the way there I passed a sign which should warm the heart of any financial services practitioner.

I'd read how speculating in foreign exchange had become a hobby of the archetypal Mr. & Mrs. Watanabe (Mr. & Mrs. Smith equivalent), but hadn't seen any real evidence until now. There are ads for other FX services but this one sums things up the best.

Yodobashi Camera is arguably the most well known of the electronics superstores. It has a huge building with 9 floors of various tech goods.


Inside is a cacophony of music, shouts of company reps, demo reels on TV, announcements and so forth. It certainly is livelier than a Best Buy or J&R in NY. I find the Yodobashi Camera corporate jingle, set to the Battle Hymn of the Republic and played on synthesizers, to be particularly impressive.

Perhaps in contrast to times past, though, there wasn't really anything that could not be found in the US. There was a new and eagerly anticipated camera which is out already in Japan, but it will be imminently released in the West. Other things like iPhones or Dells are obviously US products anyway. As supply chains and marketing become more global there is little incentive for Japanese manufacturers to 'reserve' products for only the home market.

It is always fun and satisfying to see Akihabara.

Rain Fall

Thursday was another rainy day, so we decided to go and see a movie.

Some of my favorite books are the John Rain series by Barry Eisler. John Rain is a half-Japanese / half-American assassin specializing in hits that look like natural causes. I'd heard that his first book "Rain Fall" was being made into a movie, and assumed it would be a typical Hollywood action blockbuster. It turns out it was made for the Japanese market, so most dialogue is in Japanese. Since Gary Oldman plays the head of the Tokyo CIA station all of his dialogue is in English. I figured that since we'd read the books and a lot of the dialogue is in English we'd be able to follow along, and indeed we were.

The movie mangled some of the plot intricacies as you would expect in an adaptation, but was entertaining. Plus I enjoyed the all in experience of seeing it on a rainy day in Japan in the movie theaters a couple of weeks after it came out.

It rained the rest of the day. There was one point where it seemed like it might be clearing up.

But then the clouds rolled in again and started pouring again.

Tokyo, Japan

For my next trip I decided to go to Tokyo, since it's one of my favorite cities and has been a while since I've been there. This time around I decided to bring along a companion, Mother Nomad. She took Junior Nomad and me all around the world when we were younger so I thought I'd reciprocate.

We flew in Tuesday afternoon and participated in an almost comical health screening - people in clean suits and masks boarded the plane once we got to the gate. Some carried thermal camcorders and pointed them at random passengers while their colleagues peered at others and collected health questionnaires. While I admire the effort I'm somewhat skeptical as to its effectiveness. If someone on board had the swine flu they would have long since infected some fellow passengers given the long flight and recycled air, and the newly infected would show no symptoms at that time. I guess they could have quarantined the whole airplane but that would have been incredibly disruptive.

We got to the hotel, settled in, had an incredible dinner at one of the mall restaurants and the passed out due to jetlag.

We got up this morning and were unpleasantly surprised as to the weather. We had been expecting sunshine and temperatures in the 70s and got clouds and 60s. At least the cloud cover was high enough during breakfast that we had a decent view.


We hoped the rain would hold off and decided to walk to the Roppongi Hills complex.

I love advertising out here, there are always things up that you wouldn't see anywhere else.

Here's a shot of the Tokyo Midtown complex where we are staying.


The concept of the mammoth supercomplex (office, museum, shopping, hotel) has been refined here. Ark Hills (visible in the first picture) was one of the early ones, Roppongi Hills is newer, and Tokyo Midtown is the newest. The closest to this concept in NY is the Time Warner Center, even that lacks some of the scale. I think a big reason for the size is that the buildings need to be earthquake resistant which makes them twice as thick as their NY equivalents.

Below is a shot of the iconic Roppongi Crossing.

Two things are of particular note in this picture. Firstly the sushi place is named Tsukiji which is the name of the famous fish market. Secondly, the Citibank is one of the more important ones in the city. For some peculiar reason many ATMs have opening hours, which doesn't make sense for what is effectively a robot. So if you need money during off hours this is one of the places to get it.

Below is one of the well known bars in Roppongi.


Here's a shot of the Mori building in the Roppongi Hills complex. We got there just when it started pouring so we went to the Mori Art Museum at the top.

The museum is mainly for modern art and there was an exhibition from various artists curated by a museum in Austria. Some of the pieces were pretty cool (a fountain certified to be pumping LSD with carnivorous plants hanging over it) and some were pretty silly (a cubist painting asserting that it makes the viewer question the relationship with their body...).

One of highlights of the museum is the observation deck. The views from there are stunning, except it was pouring rain. This is the most intriguing shot from there.


I have never seen a helipad that big. The building to the right must be a hospital. Just above it is the National Arts Center, and you can see the Shinjuku skyscrapers in the distance.

We had a quiet afternoon and a nice dinner.

Departure

Sunday the 26th was my last day in Sydney. I had an early afternoon flight which still gave me plenty of time to relax by the harbor and enjoy the sunshine.

I had a very nice breakfast which was only marred by a very aggressive seagull actually taking a piece of garlic bread right off my plate. Funnily enough there was a sign right by where I was sitting that cautioned against exactly that (unfortunately I did not take a picture of it). I would have far preferred to have my food stolen by an aggressive koala...

I walked back to my hotel through the botanical gardens which gave a different view of the city skyline. Here's the best of that series.

I saw a strange bird on the grounds. It looked interesting.

Still would have been better to find a koala in the last moments of the trip...

In any event it was then time to go to the airport. I loved my time in Sydney and hope to come back some day during the summer and see the beach scene properly. It is certainly one of the most relaxing cities I have ever visited.

I have another trip planned for next week, so please check back then!

ANZAC Day

Saturday was ANZAC Day which commemorates those that fought at Gallipoli in World War I as members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It is the local equivalent of Memorial Day. There is a dawn service and then parades during the day. I passed through a staging area on my way to the harbor.

I dedided to reprise my trip from the day before and went to Manly Beach again. I had considered going to Bondi Beach to check it out but that would have involved buses or cabs so I went with what I knew. The ferry is just such a civilized way to travel.

The weather was much nicer than the day before, so here's another picture of the downtown skyline.

This time around I was able to get a shot of the naval base; you may recall an earlier pic of a warship steaming past the Opera House, this is where it launched from.

I had a very enjoyable afternoon at the beach just walking around.

Not much had changed from the day before so I'm not putting up a lot of redundant photos, but I thought this one is interesting since it captures just how crowded the water is with surfers.

This is autumn after all so it's pretty impressive to see the dedication to the sport.

I had a very nice dinner with two of my mates and called it a night.

Manly Beach

On Friday Kiwi Nomad and I took a ferry to Manly Beach (what a great name!). One of the very best things about Sydney is the possibility of living in a beach town and commuting by 20 minute ferry to downtown (and indeed one of our friends there does just that). The ferry pier is in Circular Quay right by the Opera House, so the view of the city is fantastic.

The closest equivalent to that lifestyle would be living in Venice or Manhattan Beach in LA and somehow taking a ferry to downtown or living near Atlantic Highlands and taking the ferry to Manhattan (of course that ferry is far longer and NY winter is a bit different from Sydney's).

Here's a shot of the main strip that connects the port area to the beach. It's not nearly as touristy / cheesy as one might expect.

Apparently Hungry Jack's is a fully authorized subsidiary of Burger King - I would have been amazed if a knockoff had been allowed in a place such as Australia; I've definitely seen unauthorized ones elsewhere in Asia.

Here's a view of the beach facing south.

I thought this was pretty cool.


There are plenty of volleyball courts on the beach and even though the weather was by no means perfect for the beach there were people playing.

Here's a shot of something less telegenic.

There are signs everywhere that advise against swimming within 24 hours of a storm due to pollution. I guess the storm drain runoff goes directly into the sea.

Here's the corso from the beach side.

Here's a shot of the beach facing northwards.

Even though I've been to the Southern Hemisphere before there's still something odd about seeing the sun track from east to west in the northern sky. I'm sure you get used to it after a while.

I saw something which I'd heard of before at a tourist shop - a map flipped upside down so Australia etc were in the top part of the map and the Northern Hemisphere was in the bottom. It did look a bit unusual, and of course there's no reason other than historical accident and population density that our globes aren't the other way.

http://www.public.asu.edu/~aarios/resourcebank/maps/img12.jpg

After a nice lunch we grabbed a ferry back to the city. The timing was good as the clouds started to roll in. Here's a shot of the Opera House from the ferry. Note the BTC / Panopticon on the right.

The views of the city from the ferry really are quite impressive.

We saw a pretty old school type ship in the harbor.

It's amazing to consider that people used to live on these things for months crossing the ocean. Imagine the complexity of rigging the sails in order to make it move, as opposed to just jamming the throttles forward as one would now.

We met up with some friends and had a nice evening out.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Environs

Thursday morning I met up with my friend Kiwi Nomad who had flown in from London. After a nice breakfast at the main Sydney ferry port Circular Quay I decided to wander around. The weather was much nicer than on Tuesday so the day was ripe for sightseeing.

Here's a shot of downtown taken from the eastern side of the harbor.


The Sydney Harbour Bridge is just as iconic as the Opera House in terms of Sydney landmarks. It towers over the port area and is an impressive and imposing structure. Imagine what New York would look like if the George Washington Bridge had been placed where the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels are and you get a sense of the scale. It was built in 1932.
By the way, there's an outfit called BridgeClimb which organizes climbs up to the top of the bridge. Note them at the top by the flags.


I can't say that it's something I seriously considered doing but if you need to test your nerve that's as good a way as any.

The Sydney Opera House sits at the end of the northeastern side of the harbor and it is an impressive building indeed.


The shape is striking and recognizable. Despite having a bit of the late 60s / early 70s design ethos it does not look dated.


It still looks quite modern and futuristic.

The detailing on the roof panels is exquisite, and it captures the light beautifully.


I wonder how many additional billions of dollars of tourism money it has brought in, even though only a fraction of visitors actually go inside to see an opera. That present value of the building must be enormous.

Here's a shot of the CBD as seen from the opera house.

I then decided to walk across the bridge myself to check it out. The views from there are very impressive. The main span I estimate to be about the equivalent of 10-15 stories high, so standing on it you tower over the harbor.

Here's a great shot the the Opera House from the bridge.

Note the HMAS non-museum piece warship sailing away - there's a naval base on the other side of the Opera House.

Here's a shot of CBD as seen from the bridge.

I should mention the support pylons are massive, and you can walk up to the top of one of them. I didn't have a chance to do that.

I took this picture from the restaurant where I had lunch. Note the BridgeClimb people walking off the bridge. You can see where they clip to the guideline and notice that the railing is ankle height. My heart started beating faster just thinking about what it must be like.

Here's one last shot of them congregating before going onto the actual 'hump' of the bridge.


I started to wonder if I should test myself... Maybe next time.

There's a little park under the bridge which has great views of North Sydney. There's a Coney Island type of complex there.

I find the grinning face to be a little creepy.

I finally got a good shot of something I'd been meaning to the whole trip. I saw a bunch of unusual looking half coupe / half pickup trucks which were popular in the 70s in the US. Here they're called Utes and are fairly common.



This particular one looks most like a normal pickup and is least striking - I saw plenty of othesr that looked like low-riders and were pastel colored. I couldn't get good shots of those.

I then explored the northwest side of the city some more on my way to Darling Harbour. There was an interesting semi-residential / semi-loft style neighborhood.

It was close to the port area where the Boat Traffic Control tower sits. As mentioned in the previous post it absolutely towers over everything. I wonder if the residents find it unnerving or if they get used to it.


I started to hum the song by Rockwell 'I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me...'

One part of the neighborhood reminded me a lot of New Orleans - the acrhitecture is pretty similar.



A final shot of the BTC. Incidentally the building under it is Unversal Studios.

As an aside I fully satisfied myself that the city in The Matrix is Sydney. In the scene where Morpheus explains to Neo what is happening he turns on an old TV. There's an airborne tracking shot approaching the city and you clearly see the BTC in the foreground. I thought it was fitting.

I concluded my walk at Darling Harbour where I sat in the same place as before and enjoyed the view. The evening light was particularly impressive that day.