Travelog for: Rafael

Hola mum!

These are the pictures that my host Aurora couldn't upload yesterday.
We went to the main water reservoir of Ciudad Real, called Vicario. It's 8 kilometres far from Ciudad Real.



We arrived to the dam first


Then we crossed the dam and we walked along the river.... This is how it looks from the other side of the dam



It was a really great walk. There were many riscos and pigeons...


And this is the narrow path we had to pass through...


After a couple of kimometres we needed a little rest. Tobbi and me were really tired!




I liked this place so much. Here I am saying bye-bye to the water!



Then, in the city, we stopped in a lovely square called Constitución.
There we could see the Deputy Palace. I love it!


and the Main Postoffice of Ciudad Real


It was a great Sunday morning!

Bye, mum! I love you!
Rafael

Hola mum!

Sorry for being late but my host Aurora couldn't take me with her anywhere in the last 2 weeks. She was really busy!

These are my friends, the purple creature is Tobbi. He is on the way to The Netherlands. I'm going to miss him so much. We spent a wonderful time here together...

And my new friend, Wieka, is a little vampire that arrived a couple of days ago. He is really excited about being here in Spain. I hope to visit many places over here with him

Here we are all together, saying bye-bye and wishing Tobbi a very pleasant travel to The Netherlands.



I love you mum,
Rafael

Hello Everybody!

I am at home right now, between two travels. It is nice to be at home again, to see my Mom and my friends. I was very excited, because Mom told me that we are going to see a football game, and that is one of my life missions! We went to see Atletico de Madrid playing against Barcelona is Vicente Calderon Stadium.

It was very interesting, I enjoyed it very much Here are some photos of me taken before the game.





and soon I continue my travels! I am very excited about this!
Bye,
Rafael

After a very long trip from Spain, I am now getting over my jet lag at the post office.  My new host, Jeanne, will pick me up tomorrow.  She has a very big day planned for me:  first a trip out to Lands' End and a little Geocaching, then on to an art museum, lunch and a three hour class in 19th century art history where I can nap and continue to recover from jet lag, then another art museum where my host will meet her friend for a special exhibit and dinner.  We will then go to her apartment to meet her cat and a 30-year-old little well-traveled stuffed monkey.  I am so excited because we plan go to the beach over the weekend.   See you soon with photos.

Rafael

Hi, mum, here are my first photos in San Francisco; we took three buses to get to Lands End, about as far west as you can get in the U.S., that is the lower 48.  They have a saying, "go west, young monkey," or is it "go west young man," same thing.

We went to the art museum where my host, Jeanne, tried to make me feel at home by showing me some Spanish art works: a statue of El Cid on a horse outside and two El Greco paintings inside, the one on the left is John the Baptist and on the right is St. Francis, Patron Saint of San Francisco.  We walked down a hill and saw the Golden Gate Bridge.  We got so tired after sitting in a three hour art history class, we took a coffee/banana break.  Yum.

Jeanne is very happy with the gift you sent along with me.  We met Jumbo, a monkey, what a good friend he is; here I show him where Spain is on the globe.  I'm a little home sick but I'm having a great time. 

Bye for now,
Rafael

Hi,

We stayed home Saturday and I got a lot of exercise on the postcard Ferris Wheel.  In the photo I'm showing Jumbo the El Greco card mum sent.  Jumbo introduced me to his large friend, The Clown, who showed us an oil painting of himself with other toys and a real orange tabby; Jeanne says the cat is sort of like ET in the closet hidden among all the stuffed animals.  When we posed with the painting, the real cat, Julie, came along and sniffed my paw.  Sunday we went to see The Marriage of Figaro at the Opera House.  That's me with my program getting some air on the terrace before it started; City Hall is across the street.  The opera takes place in Seville, Spain and my favorite part was when it was revealed that Figaro is really Rafaello which is Italian for Rafael; me!  Almost.  The last photo is of Jumbo and me studying the San Francisco map to decide where to go next; bye for now from monkeys on maps.

Rafa

Here we are off for a walk to Aquatic Pier which has a beach!   The first view shows Alcatraz and Angel Island.  Ah, I relax in the sun today.  The last photo shows me by the ship which is seen in the first photo.

Miss you, mum.  Later will post more photos from inside a historic ferry boat where I tried my had at being the captain. 

Rafa

PS: Photos are not uploading.  Will try again later. 

Here are links to some photos of me out Geocaching.  See log entries for “Halfwaytothestars” on Geocaching.com on October 4 and 5:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=92311a98-13cb-4ee8-8d63-9db7064c68aa

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=62a2c549-3f45-4246-8ca2-f19a9b443e00

See you later, mum.

Rafa

Hi, All.  There is a heat wave here so now I'm wearing these dorky sunglasses, also sunblock and a hat when we go out.  This is my new friend, The Mouse.

More later.  We're having lunch now.

Bye for now.  Love ya, mum.

Rafa

We went on another walk to the waterfront, that is Alcatraz and Angel Island in the background.  Second photo shows the old ferry boat we toured and I steered! 

Tomorrow is class again and we may take a walk near there and see a nude beach ; never mind, the beach is so far away the people look like ants.  At home, we are decorating for Halloween.  It’s getting spooky here. 

See ya,

Rafa

Here’s more photos; we’ve been very busy.  We toured the Shrine of St. Francis and found this street artist in the North Beach Italian neighborhood.  Didn’t find a nearby geocache but had a nice salmon pasta and chianti.  Yum.  I’m making friends with the cat, Julie, who doesn’t seem to be jealous of me.  You know what, the first ship into San Francisco Bay was Spanish! 

Rafa

We're going to the park again today.  Sometimes I use a sombrero for shade.  The other photo shows my new friends, Battie and Goulie, who are currently admiring the Great Carved Lighted Pumpkin.  I'm learning about their culture.  We're going to the opera again Sunday.  Although it is sung in French, it features a Spanish tenor with panache! 

Boo!  See ya soon, Mum.

Rafa

P.S. My host sent an official postcard to a lady in Spain who knows my mum through Postcrossing forums.  She said mum is very nice.

Lots of stairs in this park and people playing with their dogs.  Whoa, they are warning of coyotes in the area; now I know I’m in the Wild Wild West.  If you look very close, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.  The park is dedicated to George Sterling who wrote this poem about San Francisco:  “Tho the dark be cool and blind, yet her sea fog’s touch is kind and her mightier caress is joy and the pain thereof; and great is thy tenderness, o cool grey city of love!” 

We decided to continue walking and came to the San Francisco Art Institute which has a huge fresco about the building of the city by Diego Rivera, another Spanish name.   That’s him sitting on the scaffolding with his back to us. 

We revisited a Geocache but I’m not allowed to reveal where it is, here I’m hiding in the bushes so the muggles (people who don’t have the Geocaching hobby) won’t know what I’m doing.  That’s the cache box on my lap. 

We watched them turn the cable car around; that’s a Fisherman’s Wharf sign above my head.  Then we did some shopping and took two buses home.  Now we are watching game five (best of seven) of the baseball playoffs between the San Francisco Giants and the Phillies.  If the Giants win this game, they will be in the (so-called) World Series (which I’m told consists of only U.S. teams).  My host will try to show me that baseball stadium and maybe ride the cable cars and a train on the same day!

Ciao, Rafa

“The Giants won the pennant, the Giants won the pennant!!!!”  Juan Uribe hit a home run that won the sixth game in the playoffs and put the Giants into the World Series.  In the U.S. that is a child’s dream.  It stopped raining so we decided to take a walk around the Giants’ stadium, AT&T Park, where the first two games of the World Series will be played, starting Wednesday.  They were just starting to decorate it in red, white and blue bunting.

The first photo is a view of the ballpark from across the street.  That’s the Willy Mays statue out in front, and the Lefty O’Doul drawbridge nearby.  We saw three more statues of famous Giants players, some with Spanish names!  The water you see is (Willy) McCovey Cove where “splash hits” land.  Later we stopped at a hotel that always has strings of lights in the lobby, today there were banners in Giants’ colors behind the lights:  orange and black; many city buildings are now lit up in orange at night in support of the team.

Thanks for the postcard from home, mom. 

Ciao, Rafa.

On one of days between rainstorms we went near the Ferry Building and looked for the Tribute to Otis Redding geocache; we didn’t find it but we got very relaxed just “sittin’ by the dock of the bay.”  That’s the Bay Bridge in the background, it goes between Oakland, California and San Francisco.  We saw many ferry boats going in and out of the dock, there were two people on that sailboat waving at us so we snapped their picture.  On the way home we waited for a bus near some interesting buildings--the pyramid and a green flat iron shaped building owned by Francis Ford Coppola.  Then there are two views of the neighborhood, that tower in the distance is hard to see; it is Coit Tower lit up in Orange for the Giants and oh, yeah a restaurant that makes me feel at home.  The Giants won game one and on to game two (of seven) tonight!!! Ciao.

Rafa