Our new car!

My post today is not about a running thought, but I am writing about important news for Jéssica and me. After several years, we have decided to buy a new car. Our first big buy after our wedding!

For the past years I have been driving a Fiat Punto my aunt Marta gave to me. It was a present and it has been one of the best I ever had. For me that I don’t really mind about cars, it was great. It took me everywhere –we even went to the Basque Country and Cantabria one summer- and it was easy to drive and to park.

My Ferrari, as our friend Miriam named, only had two big faults: not air conditioning and when you passed 100 km/h it was hard to keep it going. However, for me, that I used to go to work and short trips it was great.

Maybe it had another fault: it was too old. Actually, this summer it celebrated its 20th birthday and that meant a few visits to be repaired every year and money spent on fixing things.

For all these reasons we decided to start looking for a new car. We understood it was the best solution. We knew it meant a lot of money, but now we can afford it and we thought that it was the best moment to do it.

We made our decision in one day. We spent a Saturday looking around different cars and, in the end, we chose  a Seal Altea XL. Of course, as you can imagine, nothing to see with our Fiat Punto.

This car is easily driven; it is much bigger and has so many options that I haven’t been able to discover them as yet. It was very sad to get rid of our Fiat Punto but we didn’t really have any other option.

Sir Roger Federer

I have to start writing that I am not really keen on Roger Federer. It is not a man who inspires me confidence and I don’t like the way he acts. If I could choose, I would prefer to meet Rafa Nadal before him. Rafa is more temperamental and he is an example because he always fights in the tennis court. For me, Nadal is one of the best sportsmen I have ever seen in my life.

Therefore, there are some facts in life you can’t deny. You can like more or less, you can prefer one or other, but there are things that you can’t argue about. Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi are great players even I don’t like any of them, The Starry night of Vincent Van Gogh is one of the best paintings in the world or the Coliseum is a place that reflects thousands of years of history. All of them are incredible. Something similar happens to Roger Federer.

I have to admit that he is the most elegant player I have ever seen. The way he hits the ball, all his moves, the way he runs… he doesn’t ever sweat! If you like tennis, you have to enjoying watching Roger Federer because he is great. I think we are very lucky to see his matches with Rafa or Djokovic.

 

On Sunday he gave one more step after winning the Davis Davis Cup . On Friday he lost his match against Monfils and many thought he was finished because of his injury. However, on Saturday he won the double game with a fantastic Wawrinka and on Sunday he beat easily Gasquet. His last point is incredible!

I think Federer deserved to win a great tournament like the Davis Cup. He has almost won all the most important tournaments but he had never got to the final of the Davis Cup and he hasn’t won a gold medal in singles. After his success, he can be very happy because there aren’t many tennis players that have achieved so many victories.

I honestly thought that Federer was going to retire. Every year he was getting more defeats and it look like he had lost his ambition, but this season has been incredible. He has won many tournaments and has given some of his best performance in years. What will happen next year?

Questions and more questions

In terms of information there is something that happens very often: news that are on the main newspapers, radios and TV stations every day all of a sudden disappear and nobody hears about them anymore. I am sure that all of you have noticed it. 

I remember, when I was younger, that in Spain big glass stones felt from the sky. During months, in different villages of Spain, somebody informed about a big stone falling from nowhere. I remember it went on for a few months. However, since then, I have never heard about again. Maybe it is because the big stones stopped falling, but the thing is that there were no further news. 

 

Something similar happened, for example, with the dangerous dogs. I remember that a few years ago every day a dog attacked a person. Obviously, the social alarm helped to control more these dogs and the government established some rules. In any case, I am sure there are attacks nowadays that are not reported.

 

I know I am talking about topics that happened a few years ago, but I have more examples and that's why I decided to write. Do you remember all the news about Ebola? When it affected to European citizens and from the United States we had news of Ebola every hour. I think we all became experts. However, in the last weeks we have stopped hearing about this disease. Has it finished? Nobody is dying of Ebola? I am sure that in Africa there are still a lot of people suffering the effects of the disease, dying every day without anybody reporting. I think we all should reflect about it.

 

Something similar happens with the war in Ukraine. In Barcelona we even had demonstrations with the Ukraine flag in the Diagonal. We had news and reports every day from Kiev and the problems with Moscow. Does anybody know how  has it finished?

 

And what about Millet, Undargarin, Fabra  and other important people that have committed fraud? What has happened to them? Are there in jail? Have they given the money back? I remember that every day we had news concerning Undargarin but lately he has disappeared. By the way, and this thought I will extend it to other cases, what I really want is that Millet, Undargarin, Bárcenas, Pantoja and all of them give the money back. For me it is all right that they go into prision but the most important thing is to get the money back. We all know that if they go in they will spend a short time, but when they leave they will still have the money.

 

I know that things in our life happen very fast and that we don’t have time really to stop a second and think about different topics. Social Media don’t help either because everything goes too fast. However, we mustn’t forget all the harm these people have done to our society. They have to pay for it.

 

PS: It is really terrible that nowadays where most  people are suffering to get to the end of month some fans of Isabel Pantoja have decided to start collecting money to help her. Would these people collect money for homeless or people that don’t have enough to live? I do not think so.

Getting ready for Sants

It has been a long time since I last wrote about running. As you may remember my last race was the Cursa de la Tardor in Sant Andreu de la Barca and I finished quite satisfied about it. In the next few weeks there are a lot of popular races; some of them very important like the Jean Bouin but I don’t like it because there are too many people.

Before the end of the year I have decided to take part in the Cros de Sants . For me it is one of the main ones in the year because I run near home and the circuit goes through different streets which I am familiar with. I think it is one of the best races and one of the most important things is that there aren’t too many people.

The Cros of Sants is on the 30^th of November and I am training hard to be in my best. This week,since I am not working I am taking advantage to train a bit harder than usual. However, next week I will have to reduce a bit the number of kilometres to arrive to the race totally fit.

Another thing I like about this race is that Jéssica is there to cheer me and she waits for me at the finish lane. This year it will be more special because my friend Patricia is also training to run it so I think I will enjoy it more. I am thinking to run on my own –I am faster than her- or to follow her pace.

The Cross of Sants, if nothing changes, will be my last race this year. In 2015 I will start running Cursa Sant Antoni that is also very special for me because it was the first one I ran. Every year there are more people but I think it is worth it. I will also run the Half-marathon of Barcelona and depending on the training I will try to finish under 1h 40 min, something I haven’t been able yet. Last year I nearly made it, but I exceeded by just a few seconds.

As it happened last year, I still have to think whether or not to take part in the marathon. This past edition was very hard because it was very warm and I was glad not to run it. In a way I feel like trying again despite it means a lot of effort and big sacrifices. However, I think I am doing a good job and that I am in the right direction if I finally decide to take part. We will have to wait and see.

The Sistine Chapel

A few days ago, while I was running, I heard on the radio a piece of news about the Sistine Chapel. Apparently, the air pollution brought on by tourists flocking has had a negative effect on the chapel's frescoes. People in charge explained that they started to notice it four years ago and for that reason they decided to install new air conditioning to help to preserve one of the best pieces of art in the world.

Some news point out that the managers of the Sistine Chapel consider far too much the amount of people that visited it; they have even threatened with putting a limited number of visitors to preserve the paintings. Such a great piece of art shouldn’t be forbidden for people.

One of my dreams was to visit Rome. Greece and Rome are the parents of our culture and I was willing to visit one of the most important cities in our history and that gathered so many pieces of arts. Since I studied History of Art, I wanted to visit Rome because I wanted to see a lot of things and enjoy having a look to some of the best creations of a human being.

Of course, the visit to the Vatican Museum was a must. There were two options: quick or in depth visit. Obviously, we picked the second one because I wasn’t going to miss such an opportunity. I am not sure If I will be back ever again.

It was one of my dreams because I really wanted to see the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel and contemplate one of the best works of the great Michel Angelo. The view didn’t disappoint me.

I remember staying still in the room, looking up my head and enjoying that incredible painting. I wondered how this genius was able to create such an incredible piece of art that has become one of the essential art works in history.

The painting, the colours, all the work behind that fresco... When I think about it I feel a real privileged  person because I am sure a lot of people would pay to stay in that room enjoying the view. I have to admit that I would have been there four hours but, of course, I had a lot to things to do.

What really annoyed me were the hundreds of people that got in the Sistine Chapel and walked out without lifting their heads to look the frescoes. I understand that not everybody likes art, I understand that maybe not everybody is conscious of the opportunity they have, but I don’t understand why if you have the option to be one minute, just one minute, looking to those magnificent painting they just don’t do it.

I remember that Jéssica and I talked about it when we finished the visit and we were absolutely flabbergasted. Why if you pay a ticket you don’t stop in the best room of all? I would have liked to ask them and tell them the mistake they were doing and explained to them the importance of that painting. I hope that if they ever go back they don’t make the same mistake. I can assure that if I am lucky to go to Rome again, I will visit the Sistine Chapel without a doubt. It is an experience one never forgets.

Free museums

Jéssica has always wanted to visit the Museu Nacioanl d’Art de Catalunua (MNAC) which is in Montjuïc and is one of the most famous museums in Barcelona. I remember I visited once when I was younger and yesterday I realized that I shouldn’t wait so much to go back.

 

After thinking about IT and finding out the prices of the MNAC, we decided to go this past Sunday. First Sundays of each month some museums in Barcelona are ticket free so we thought it would be a good idea. Doing sightseeing in your own city it is not very usual and I think we should do it more often.

After going up all the stairs and having a view of the city from the top (Barcelona looks really nice) we went into the Museum. The first surprise was that there wasn’t any queue to go in. I honestly thought we were going to have to wait a few minutes and I even thought that maybe we wouldn’t be able to go in. I was absolutely wrong.  

About this issue there are two things I want to point out: first of all, in a way, I was happy not to queue up because I wasn’t in a mood to stay long time in the sun. However, it is a bit disappointing that having the opportunity of visiting one of our most famous museums nearly nobody was there. I am the first one to think that culture is too expensive, but yesterday it was free and it is a good opportunity. It is true I don’t usually take advantage of these offers but I will try now.

The visit around the museum was good. I really liked the first part of the Medieval Romanesque art because some of the pieces of art are quite known here in Catalonia and I remember them when I studied history of art. The painting in the churches of Santa Maria de Taüll and Sant Climent of Taüll, for example, are well known and deserve the visit to the museum. 

Rest of paintings, photos… are nice but after being in some of the bests museums in the world I wasn’t that impressed. However, I wouldn’t mind going back in the future because it is always nice to have a look and see some of our best pieces of art. After finishing the visit I felt really happy. First of all because it was an interesting activity to do in a Sunday morning and, secondly, because I think it is important to learn our history, to go through time and see what our predecessors were able to do hundreds of years ago. Keep learning is something absolutely important for us.