Would you believe it is raining? Here in California where we never see rain between early in the year and Nov/Dec? When someone yesterday told me the forecast, I had a tough time believing it. To tell you the truth while the rain might be good for the plants and gardens the reality is appalling.

You remember me talking about construction right?

We have this gaping hole where the lower level/basement used to be. The guys have been good about hauling away dirt and debris on a regular basis. Nevertheless, the local version of dirt which turns out to have a moderate amount of clay has taken to hanging out on the drive way. Wet, it becomes extremely slippery.

Alex and I carefully made our way down it this morning proving that not fun is a more than apt saying. I have more errands to run (post office for packages going on, weaving supplies to drop off, library books to return, socks to exchange, BART pickups x2 plus used books to sell).

I may wind up putting off all but the BART runs till tomorrow….

Feeling a bit less stupid today (many lectures relating to Epidemiology or science that didn’t feel too futuristic) I enjoyed both morning and afternoon sessions. Plus there was the fun of poster sessions. 

Doesn’t mean that a nap was any less welcome or that I didn’t have a quiet evening listening to Graphic Audio’s  Eric Carter: Broken Souls.  Think gritty Urban Fantasy with a pretty messed up protagonist. 

And then there is my traveling stitch project- of which I will photo upload later. 

At the SanAk for a Monday. Classes are in session so platoons are marching here and there while NCOs grab meals on the fly. 

I wandered over to the Conference Registration this morning to be greated by a couple of the civilian staff I remeber from previos conferences. Paid my fee which now includes a whopping 38€ for the four nights billeting. Ah, for the old free days when I was active duty. Don’t miss it a bit.  Still, when I compare the cost of a hotel room, a private bath is just not worth the difference. 

I’ll spend the rest of the day listening to audiobooks, reviewing the program and capturing a goid night’s sleep. 

Go out and about in Munich? I could do that. But then I would have to deal with the cold, wet drops falling from the sky to splop on my head. The forcast might have predicted 10%, but the reality isbinary. I will be a comfy cat instead; staying warm and dry thank you very much.     

For those of you from neither Australia or New Zealand, let me just remind you that this day was originally in remembrance of the Gallipoli Landing under the Brits in 1915. Since then, starting with a Dawn Service, it has become “in US terms” a Memorial Day.

I was all set to write about participating in several services while on Transatlantics or TransPacific cruises and time spent with good Aussie friends. But my life sort of got over taken by events as so often is the case. My SIL starting having some post-op issues and we will be spending the late evening and probably into early morning at UCSF ER. I am sure that they are going to keep him. Dani is at work (and she doesn’t drive anyway) and I am not about to send him off by Lyft.

At least it is past rush hour and I know how to get there!

Actually, since this is not a tender port we got off ship. Since this is a comercial port, there was this small trolley type vehicle to get us to the port edge. 

From there, in spite of the almost constant harrasement from taxi drivers, we managed to walk a short while. The old town is 3 miles and just beyond my current capabilites. 

Following this internet break, I’m headed back to the ship for a nap. 

Barcelona, as you may remember is the largest city in Catalonia, which at current time is still part of Spain. It was disembarkation day for everyone. Not a few passengers became disgruntled when they finally realized that they weren’t going to get late check out. No one was getting late check out. Everyone was going to be off the ship by 0900. No exceptions. In fact, all signing off ship’s crew were under the same constraint.

The ship sails for dry dock at 1100 which is being performed in the shipyards near Cadiz. Since this is on the other side of Straights of Gibraltar, you can understand why the Captain is anxious to get under way.

Meanwhile, yours truly joined a couple of other passengers who had a really late flight and shared a cab to their hotel. While they went in for their day check, I caught the hotel’s free shuttle to the Airport. BTW, Barcelona Airport Hotel has great rates (much lower than the city) which can include breakfast and transfer to the cruise terminals….

Any who, BCN is definitely not like Rome. Yes, I was really early, but Brussels Airline let me check in anyway. The flight leaving in 40 minutes was full or they would have put me on it. Security let me through. The WiFi in the lounge is reaaallllly slow, but it works.

Plane change in Brussels, then on to Vienna. Where, after taking the tram to the city I will be all set for my meeting which starts in the morning.

Oakland A’s vs Detroit Tigers. Actually, we were given a pair of tickets for tonight and George and I seemed to be the only people around to use them. So we hopped on the BART at North Berkeley and got off directly at the Stadium.

The A’s are not doing well this year as they so aptly demonstrated tonight.

the final score

In spite of that – I took some pretty good pictures and had a great time.

and then there were the batters. With shots from both teams, some hitting the ball, and some not

and then there is

an umpire brushing off the plate

some kind of entertainment involving oversized bobble heads running 1/2 way around the field.

It was obvious that some who were attending were mainly interested in junk food and talking continuously. Which made for very interesting people watching. As George reminded me; not only are these the least expensive games anywhere in Major League Baseball, but no one expects you to dress up.

It was all good.