Jim & Wayne's Fabulous Adventures: 2012

New York City & Spain

Our 2012 trip for Jim's birthday was to Spain by way of New York City and one of the absolute BEST musicals of all Time - The Book of Mormon! Maybe you have to be a gentile living in Utah to REALLY appreciate this one, but because we are, we did! A great trip.

May 17, 2012 - Arrival in New York City

Got same day tickets to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Very fun!!

Not Bad! Not bad at all!

We went on the day they announced that they're closing around the June 24. Too bad

Chrystler Building from Empire State Building around midnight

New York Skyline

May 18, 2012 - Jim's 59th Birthday

Today we made it to the 9/11 Memorial. This is a very moving and beautiful site with the names of everyone that died at the World Trade Center, Pennsylvania, and Pentagon that day.

9/11 Memorial

View from 9/11 Memorial

Guggenheim Museum New York City

We had been planning this for a very long time and we were not disappointed at all! These guys have the Mormon missionary thing down to perfection. We were very lucky to have gotten to see the show just weeks before the original cast scattered to the wind. I'm sure it is still great, but the original cast was the absolute best! We liked it so much that we got everyone's autograph on our Playbill after the show. Sweet!

Book of Mormon. It will NEVER come to Utah!!!


Elder Price - Andrew Rannels (I was in these two photos, above and below), but Photoshopped my way out

Elder Cunningham - Josh Gad

Nabalungi - Nikki M. James

Elder McKinley - Rory O'Malley

(The "gay" one - very cute)

Scott Barnhardt (Ensemble)

Jason Michael Snow (Ensemble)

Delius Doherty (Ensemble - Joins the cast tonight - his Broadway Debut!)

Kevin Duda (Ensemble) and Jimmy B share the same birthday! Happy Birthday, men!

Brian Sears (Ensemble)

!

May 20 -21, 2012

We made it to Spain..

I'm certainly hoping that I'm creating a new entry. Everything here is is Spanish (who knew???) so I'm just hitting random links and this one looks good.

First of all, we have to start with our toast to Jill & Anne. And as soon as I can download my messages from my e-mail, we will find that tapas place you recommended. We are loving Barcelona and we've only been here about 24 hours...

A toast to Jill & Anne

A toast to Jill D. and to our family and friends

Jim in Gaudi's La Pedrera (Casa Mila)

Gaudi's La Pedrera (Casa Mila)

Day 2 we went to the Sagrada familia and to the Parc Güell both designed by Gaudi (as was La Pedrera or the Casa Mila). Just plain cool stuff.

Sagrada Familia Crucifiction of Jesus

Sagrada Familia

Spires near the top of Sagrada Familia

Fruit (?) spires near the top of Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia and view of Barcelona from Park Güell

Park Güell

Parc Güell

May 22 - The Dali Museum in Figueres

We went to Figueres yesterday to see the Dali Museum - a two hour train ride from Barcelona. A fun day, until we went to take the train back to Barcelona at 8:05 p.m. At 8:00 p.m. when we thought we should be boarding our train, we found out we were at the wrong station! A town the size of Figueres (not THAT big) has two train stations??? Who knew. We had five minutes to get to the other station, but there just happened to be another train going to Barcelona from the one where we were sitting. The actually just let us get on this other train and with no problem. But, not until we had panicked big time wondering whether or not we were spending an unexpected night in a town two hours from our hotel, clothes, etc...

Anyway, a few photos from Wednesday.

Museo Dali Theatro (or something like that) in Figueres, Spain

Big Breasted Woman standing on a Cadillac

Big hole in the belly

Abe has never looked better

May 23 - Our last day in Barcelona

It was an absolutely beautiful day. So, on our last day in Barcelona, we started by walking by Gaudi's Casa Batllo (yes, that's the correct spelling), which is so fascinating. We then visited a chapel on our way to finding the Picasso Museum, then after Picasso, took the funicular up to Monjuic, home of the 1996 Barcelona Olympics, where we took a tram to the top of the hill where an old castle defended (and still defends) this fair city. We ended the day back at Casa Mila so we could catch the Gaudi men in the afternoon sun. A great way to end our visit to this fine city!

Gaudi's Casa Batllo in Barcelona

A bronze statue in another Barcelona Cathedral

Statue in another Barcelona Cathedral

Just another Barcelona Cathedral

Self-Portrait of Picasso in the Picasso Museum

Me being told not to take photos in the Picasso Museum

View north toward Barcelona from top of Montjuic

A few of our closest Gaudi friends

Hanging with the Gaudi boys

May 24 - Now for just a couple of shots from Bilbao...

Home of one of four Guggenheim Museums. This one, is by far the most outstanding of the three we've seen (New York City, Venice, and now Bilbao) and actually had some fun art to look at. It's late at night (actually, early in the morning) so I'm just going to post a few photos more now. Off to Sevilla tomorrow.

View of the Pyrenees on our flight to Bilbao

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

May 25-26 - Sevilla

Here we are in Sevilla... a large town in southern Spain, but with a beautiful historical (tourist) area with extremely narrow streets. Our hotel, Pension Cordoba, is on a "street" but two people can barely walk side by side. Very quite and very nice.

Sevilla, España

Street with our hotel way down at the end on the right with a little red sign

(Pension Cordoba)

El Real Alcázar de Sevilla

Peacock at El Real Alcázar

Sevilla Cathedral

Jacaranda mimosifolia (Blue Jacaranda) tree near Sevilla Cathedral

El Real Alcázar

And tomorrow we're off to Cordoba... then Granada... then Madrid!

Cordoba, Spain

Now we're in Cordoba. Got here yesterday afternoon and pretty much did the town before going to bed last night. Today we explored the Cordoba Alcazar, which had some beautiful gardens. Now it's siesta time, so I'll post a few photos and go down for an hour or so. It's too hot to just wander around town...

For Mavis, Pat, & Becky!

Mezquita, Cordoba, Spain

The Patron Saint of Pigeons

Mezquita, Cordoba, Spain

Ponds at the Alcazar in Cordoba

For Peggy

This one is for Peggy also

Alhambra in Granada

This one is ALSO for Peggy. AND, he plays the accordian near the WC as well. Doesn't get any better than that

View of the Alhambra from the rooftop patio at the El Numero 8 "hotel" in Granada. A great place with just four rooms!

A Very Quick Trip Through the Alhambra in Granada

I could post more, but it's nearly 23:30 in Spain (that's 11:30 pm in Utah time) and we have a 9:10 am train to Madrid tomorrow morning. About 5 hours on the train through beautiful country... I should be able to do a bit of catching up on my photos!

Albayzín at the Alhambra

View of the Cathedral from the Alhambra. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella are entombed in the Royal Chapel (Capella Real) just behind the Cathedral. Took photos with my phone and will post those later

Courtyard of the Myrtles

Tower of the Ladies

A Granada (or pomogranite) Flower

Alhambra

A day in Madrid...

So much to see and do, but taking photos in some of these art galleries can be difficult at best - so limited photos available for the past few days. Here are a few to check out though.. Our days on holiday are getting shorter, but we've had a terrific time and continue to do so. Can't wait to share tons more photos with friends and family after we return home.

Artichoke Heaven - Botanical Gardens

Beware old ladies with sticks!

What is it, Teresa?

For all our sisters

Madrid's Prado Museum

Strengthen those neck muscles, Julie! This one's a big one!!

El Greco on a good day!

Today's Quote

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