Hitting the Road - Pac-Man Style

Recently, the most awesome google April Fool's "Joke" was released - the ability to play Pac-Man on google street view.  If you haven't seen this yet, you are missing out.  Just go to maps.google.com and click on the little pac man icon on the lower left.  It's tons of fun, and I hope it never goes away!

Recently, Wired released an article that showed the "best" places to play Pac-Man.  Check it out.  Several people criticized the article (in the comments that followed) saying that the google street views were limited only to 5 cities, like New York, Boston and San Francisco.  Commenters said that "hipsters" thought that these were the only cities that they knew to exist.  Some of the maps they came up with (like Boston Commons) were pretty good.  But I knew...

... I could do better.

So, without further ado, my top 10 places to play Pac-Man on google street view.

10. Stockholm, Sweden

Some of these lanes are remarkably hard to get.

9. Arc de Triomphe, Paris, France

Quick, make a decision!

8. Istanbul, Turkey
It's easy to get lost in the maze of roads in real life.  Even easier in Pac Man.

7.  New Delhi, India
The big traffic circles may be fun - but they are perfect places to get cornered by ghosts.

6. Veendam, the Netherlands
This map may, in fact, be impossible.

5.  Barcelona, Spain
You'll need some finely timed navigation skills to clear out this intricate circle.

4.  Dijon, France
That three lane traffic circle, near to the ghost-spawning grounds, is evil.  Just evil.

3. Mykonos, Greece
Those twisty, bougainvillea lined streets may be beautiful, but they are also perfect places for Pac-Man and his big, fat mouth to get stuck.

2.  Trogir, Croatia
True to past experiences, Croatia offers a challenging video gaming experience, as well as a horrifying driving experience.  The streets don't quite line up, so often you get stuck as a ghost bears down on you.  Terrifying, just like in real life.

And the Number 1 place to play PacMan....

1.  Wales
This is by far the most challenging Pac Man map.  It may not look like it - but this little area to the right of the ghost-spawning location  is nearly impossible to get.  It's mostly because the ghosts go around and around the little triangle at the top.  The only way to get in there is to either turn the ghosts blue, or wait at the traffic circle and lure them out, one by one, then go in.  I have yet to succeed.

Wanna play?  Just click on the links and give it a try.  And for anyone who can beat any of these maps - take a screenshot of your cleaned up map and I'll give you a point.  No time limit!

Little Spain

On our last day in Barcelona, we headed up to Barcelona's Parc de Montjuic.  We saw from a distance the National Palace.

We then headed to Poble Espanyol, which is a little "town within a town".  Each section of the town emulated buildings from various parts of Spain.

The central tower.

A door, shorter than I am!

Another lunch of tapas!  My favorite was a sort of nacho, with thick tortillas to go along with tasty cheese.

Enjoying some sangria.

Nearby, we found some wild parakeets living in the trees.

Also in Parc de Montjuic is the Olympic Stadium, used for the 1992 Olympics.

La Sagrada Familia

Happy Holy Week!  As a celebration, here are my pictures of Gaudi's most famous work, his grand cathedral.

Construction started over 100 years ago, and after many setbacks, works continues today.  Which means that the cathedral is ever-changing.  The cathedral that we saw will not be the same cathedral if we go back again.

There are lots of interesting stylistic details.  For example, these spires are topped with colored fruit.

The cathedral looks like it's made of melting wax, but in reality, it's just covered in statues.

 

Bram and I outside the cathedral.

It's quite clear that work is ongoing.  This worker clings to the top of the high spire. 

The façades are amazingly detailed.  There are even metal musical instruments.  These statues were located on the "Nativity" façade. 

The fourth side of the church is still incomplete.  It's just plain and flat.  

On one of the spires, a bit of color is added.

The Passion façade, detailing the last days of Christ's life.

The statues on this side were very different than that on the Nativity façade.  While on the Nativity façade, the statues were round and full of life and detail, the statues on the Passion façade were angular and grim.

Statues detailing the Stations of the Cross.

The center statue is Veronica, with the image of Jesus on her cloth.

Above all this, Christ rises.  We could literally see him rising out of the green construction netting.

The door of the Sagrada Familia.  It was covered in words.  The center gold square is a grid with numbers in it.  Bonus points to the blog reader who can leave a comment with their significance!

The first row: 1 14 14 4  Second: 11 7 6 9  Third: 8 10 10 5  Fourth: 13 2 3 15

Inside the cathedral was one of the most amazing places I have been.  No surface was flat.  In fact, all of the surfaces were shaped after the intersection of various complicated shapes.

Looking up at the ceiling

Light falls on a new stained glass window.

Completed stained glass windows stand next to the incomplete ones.

Wonderful colored glass!

 

The ceiling of the cathedral, right above the alter.  It contains various symbols depicting God.

The pillars and cross surrounding the main alter.

It was interesting how the cathedral was designed.  Heavy weights were hung on strings, coming to rest in their natural positions with the help of gravity.  This helped to create the shapes in the cathedral we see today.

It was expensive to go into the cathedral.  But I was happy to pay it.  To think - I helped a little bit in my own way with the construction of a modern cathedral - one that will hopefully be around for hundreds of years to come.

The Gothic

Another quite famous area of Barcelona is the Gothic, the neighborhood that Picasso grew up in.  It's known for some pretty interesting architecture, as well.

This building has umbrellas pasted to the outside, and a dragon that's holding a light.

Some more neat mosaics. 

There were also some wild animal sightings.  Bram took the chance to try to reign one in.

That's why I love him!

Superman stood by and watched my husband, realizing he was not needed today to help contain the wild animals.

Strange super-small cars.

The Gothic also was made up of a warren of narrow street, the bottoms perpetually bathed in shadows.

It was in this maze of streets that we found this neat intricate bridge.

 

On the outside of the Cathedral of Barcelona.

The inside...

And the roof!

It had a beautiful courtyard filled with nice palm trees and fountains.