An amazing city day - Wednesday in Barcelona.

A gentle start after yesterday's exertion, leisurely breakfast, with Merce already at work in the Parliament. First up was to see the modern covered market where Matt makes his purchases for putting out on eBay - all sorts of house clearance stuff as well as cut-price goods - a real Aladdin's cave of stuff! Then walking on, seeing the Frantia station and walking round the park with its interesting trees, roots etc, noticed a swallow, before meeting Merce at the Parliament building for a tour round with her supervisor Rosa.

Interesting experiencing a more relaxed kind of parliament, seeing plenty of meeting places and not over ostentatious. Then off to the fish restaurant where you choose your fish which is cooked for you, we having fish soup and variously squid, monk-fish and tuna - all pretty full by the end. Saw the adjacent foundations of medieval Barcelona, then wandered on our own round old boutiquey area, spending time in the peaceful Santa Maria del Mar.

Wandered on, seeing more Kokua shoes in their massed colours, before meeting Roser, home for a week from Beijing, at Catedral. A wander through to the Ramblas food market, then via contemporary art forum with building giving a roof-top reflection out to the sea, to Roser's university, where she guided us into the inner sanctum of the Faculty of Philology with its courtyards, then up into the library.

From the university it was not far to go to Catalunya to meet Matt again for the increasingly packed train to Les Corts for the Camp Nou where we arrived in good time for Barca v Almeria seeing an enjoyable game from a good vantage point above the goal that Barca scored 3 goals into in the second half - Messi, Suarez (2) and Bartha. Visitors from all over the world were explicitly welcomed, Germans seemed to be there in great numbers but we had a group of 10 young Indians behind us. The journey back could have been quicker, but the crowd inching down into the Metro remained very good-humoured. A great day getting behind the scenes of things not everyone sees, and rounding off with one of those things it was great to do!

Then the next day was Thursday for the journey back - and we hit the French air traffic controllers strike, lucky to get back on the same day (well, just after midnight), when we expected to be back early afternoon. Others had much worse stories to tell

Out of town to Monserrat

A leisurely start after yesterday's epic with a very good healthy breakfast. Then we were headed for Monserrat, soon seeing the remarkable rocky range that is higher than it first looks. Up to the monastery by car then to the church where there were a lot of people especially queuing to see the black madonna high up at the front. There was a short prayer service at 1 with the priest trying to get us singing to words that were unknown to most, and turned out to be a hymn that is also a Catalan patriotic song. He and the organist were the two leaders, and most visitors were clearly not Catalan.

We ate Matt's prepared packed lunch, and then headed off up the mountain, eventually to the summit of Sant Jeroni 525 metres above the monastery. Conditions were excellent though chilly higher up where there was a 360deg view, just about seeing the coast that is promised on a good day as also allegedly the Pyrenees. Pretty steep for a speedy descent, but our legs survived, and we returned by car to Barcelona where we had a quick look at the beach before parking the car and visiting the supermarket. Then it was up the 5 floors to a fine meal that Matt had soon got together, and a quiet evening while Merce had Arabic to get on with for tomorrow's class.

A bit of emailing, Facebook and a shower before getting down to the record of the day.

Up and off to Barcelona

After a busy and fulfilling Holy Week and Easter, the alarm went in Kingston at 4 Easter Monday morning, and by 9.10 local time we were touching down in Barcelona! The 4.34 285 bus was packed by the time we reached Heathrow, but we went smoothly through the airport procedures, and enjoyed a beautiful flight in clear weather until the Catalan side of the snow-clad Pyrenees.

We'd agreed with Matt and Merce that we were ready to hit the ground running, and in no time we were driving out of the airport and up Montjuic for an impression of Olympic Barcelona, and the view over the city, sea and surrounding hills on what was already turning into a beautiful spring day, fresh to Merce but lovely and warm for us from northern climes. Sagrada Familia was immediately obvious as also the gherkin landmark that marks the area near Merce and Matt's flat.

Then back in the car heading across the city to the Parc de Laberint d'Horta with its well-kept gardens of different styles including the impressive maze that we negotiated and photographed. Alpine swifts and serins were the first different birds I noticed, though the parakeets turned out to be Monks rather than the Ring-necked more familiar to us. Then back to park the car in the underground university car park and we climbed the 5 floors of stairs to the flat which is very pleasant and airy at this time of year.

A great Matt lunch then off on a rounds of Metro, walking and bus, seeing from the outside Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi house, another Gaudi house, a cathedral with a cloister which was a home to geese, the Ramblas down to the port and then along the front before metro back to a tapas bar near the flat where we ate well. The gherkin was now lit up in red and blue and we were ready for bed after a great opening day. Matt had researched Bernabeu tickets for a match on Wednesday, and we've booked for Barca v Almeria possibly anticipating a few goals!

Tomorrow's plans are for Monserrat and the forecast is again good.

And on into Germany

But not before having a look round some of the places Grandpa mentions in his diary. Steenwerck where he was in hospital for a couple of days just before falling into German hands, Erquighem where he rejoined his group, also Estaires and Sailly sur la lys the twin town of Carnforth where we visited a German cemetery. It's interesting to note the dates in the various cemeteries and to find Germans who died around the time Grandpa became a prisoner. You can trace the offensives etc. Visited an Erquighem boulangerie patisserie and had a very nice lunch by the river.

Then on the motorway from La Chappelle d'Armentieres (also in the diary) through non-stop to Siegen where Marianne was finishing meal prep and after conversation with Charlotte and eating, we sat out (just warm enough), before retiring to Gasthaus Reuter nebenan.

The Western Front

We left Kingston at 6.45 this morning and by 10.30 French time we were in Calais and an hour later on the Western Front in the territory where my grandfather fell into German hands in April 1918. Until this 100th anniversary year of the outbreak of the First World War I've never been particularly curious about anything to do with it. However, having become acquainted with the diary he kept, and now read All Quiet on the Western Front, a novel from the German perspective, it is fascinating to discover the commonalities of the experience. And the First World War seems increasingly inexplicable, even absurd, the more you find out about it! Ieper/Ypres offers a last post remembrance experience every day at 8pm and is clearly on a certain type of Briton's tourist trail. Add to that, it'll be Anzac Day in a couple of days and ceremonies are being prepared, and you sense just how pivotal WW1 still seems to many.

We're staying the night at Broekenstraat just west of Nieppe where my grandfather's active participation in the war came to an end and his 8 months as a prisoner-of-war began. The area is dotted with cemeteries, the dates of which tell the story of territory that exchanged hands more than once without either side gaining decisive advantage through it. The hills of Flanders make for a pleasant experience not least at this time of year with larks singing, yellow wagtail, swallows, partridges, lapwing seen, chiffchaffs calling, blackcaps in full song etc., a fabulous bluebell wood on the slopes of Mont Kemmel.

It's fascinating also to be staying 700 meters inside Belgium, a country we haven't stopped in before. I'm ready to use my French, but no-one seems to speak it even though - or precisely because - France is so close. German is equally unused, but many people seem to have a fair amount of English as the foreign language of choice. Still don't really see how a country can be said to have borders if it isn't surrounded by sea or some other major barrier.

Our B&B hosts are the same age as us, already retired and developing interests in music, puppets and story-telling. Quite a bit of this seemed to come from a regional, provincial pride. They kitted us out with a map and info that lead us, as it turned out, to a very acceptable omelette and salad in Kemmel in a fairly basic bar where in her turn the landlady kitted us out with stuff relating to the Flanders fields, especially in relation to the 1914 anniversary. So many impressions...

We did Sleepeasy

It was like the parting of the Red Sea.

Saturday afternoon at 4.30 there was a mini-tornado when the trees were blowing horizontal and the heavens opened yet again to the accompaniment of thunder and lightning. Sunday at 10am it was tipping it down and continued for a few hours. In between there was Sleepeasy the YMCA's annual fundraising event which in Kingston supports KCAH (Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness), and YMCA London South West's own hostel provision as a first step into accommodation.

We committed ourselves to joining the sleep out event, Heather being persuaded when Michael from the church promised me £25 that he would double if she joined in. A week of widening the circle of contacts has seen us exceed our target of £500, topping £800 by Sunday afternoon with more almost certainly on the way.

Having kitted ourselves out with an exercise mat, sleeping bag and pillow, such as we would provide to guests in the Night Shelter when it takes place at our church we picked our spot among the tombstones of the Memorial Gardens where  

we laid our ground sheet, and with the cardboard box supplied to each of us set about creating our shelter - no easy task in the still gusty wind of the mid-evening. Well over 100 people shared the experience, though not all seemed to have sleep as a priority! Though we heard the hour strike from the All Saints clock tower more times than we might have wished, we probably slept more than it seemed, and the first time we needed to get up was when it was time to be packing up and enjoying the bacon sandwich on offer, before the 7 minute walk home.

Getting in and out of our low shelter was challenging for people at our stage in life, and we emerged with assorted aches and pains. Plastic survival bags that we used with our sleeping bags may not have been the greatest idea as it was a dry night - we ended up lying in more condensation than we might have wished. From the perspective of the next night though - or indeed the previous one - both colder and wetter, the weather couldn't have been much kinder.

What you can't experience is what a homeless person goes through. Being able to return home at 6.30, grab a little more sleep, have a shower and begin to tell the story through pictures by email, on Facebook and Twitter is to belong in a different world. Then to go on to the privilege of conducting worship, leading the small congregation in thankfulness and in prayers for others at the start of Poverty and Homelessness Sunday. No genuine empathy perhaps, but a share in keeping the plight of so many from being forgotten.

And of course thank you to so many for sharing in sponsoring our participation.

Flying home

PKim joined us for breakfast, but Ji Hee had already had to leave as it was a working day. I've never had a PA, but it has made for a very enjoyable time, and took so much uncertainty out of everything. Between Dongsik, Ji Hee and Yoo Ree (but they are not alone!) I've been treated like a prince. Had a little putting practice in the lounge part of the room before and after breakfast! PK is a regular golfer, but my putting wasn't too bad. PK then had a meeting to go to but a party of a dozen came to see me off, Yoo Ree joining Dongsik and me in the car driven by assistant pastor who has been with PK for 10 years. The others came in the minibus with my luggage which I didn't have to carry at any point. YouRee had made me a vegetable & mango smoothy, and gave me a copy of a Christian music competition CD on which she has a track. Emotional farewells and loads of photos, videos all round, and then I walked through into the other world of security checks.

It's a long around 12 hour flight, all in daylight, at least until descending into the murk of the clouds only just above a wet Heathrow, but, re-united with my baggage, I didn't have to wheel it very far, as Mrs Kim, Gee, Jyun and Tae Wan were there to meet me with flowers. There was plenty to talk about! Arriving in Hardman Road another 6 or 7 Immanuel members were already coming down the slope to greet me. I prayed with them, and then they brought the luggage round, just dodging the splashing cars outside the house! Immanuel church here in Kingston have of course been following events, have heard my sermon yesterday, know who was at the airport to see me off etc! There's no question - it was a great trip!