Back in the U-S-A.

Albert Hall in London.

First, the train ride back to London was pretty disastrous. We got to the station in Amsterdam and nearly missed the train. The trains weren't running to Brussels (where we needed to go) so we had to go first to this random Dutch town and transfer. Then I didn't buy a ticket so I was super worried about getting in trouble. Luckily on the first train (to the random Dutch town) they did not check tickets. Then on the second train the conductor did not notice that my Eurail pass did not cover the Netherlands or Belgium and I got a free pass. Phew.

Once we got to London, we managed by hook or crook to meet up with Alex's pals from Vanderbilt, and one of them was kind enough to let us stay at her house in London. The place was absolutely beautiful and museum-like (located in Holland Park, for anyone who knows London). We hung out and had tea and cookies and some really good Thai leftovers that were in the fridge. There was a bit of a party that night with lots of shenanigans and card playing, and I had a great time.

Our last day in Europe was Monday, May 21. We had tea and homemade pancakes in the morning. We decided we were going to go see Spring Awakening (the musical) in the West End but got kind of lost along the way. We eventually made it to the theatre, many hours later, and bought our tickets. We went to a cafe next door and shared a tomato/mozzarella/pesto sandwich. Always good.

We took the Tube back to Alex's friend Frances's house. After some more hanging out and quiche, we went to see the musical, which I thought had great music. We definitely had a lot of fun. We went home afterwards and watched some Star Trek (2nd generation) with the gang and chatted and then went to bed.

I left about 9:45 Tuesday morning to catch my flight. It was an easy trip on the Tube to Heathrow. And that was finally, officially the end of my European adventure. Which means the end of this blog. Thank you to everyone who read!

The Dam

AMSTERDAM! The second time around.

In Amsterdam we met up with Alex's cousin Lisa and her husband Simon, who took us to a super cool restaurant on a boat. The food was really delicious and gourmet, and the place was very posh. It was the culinary zenith of our trip probably. Alex and I had time before dinner to thoroughly wander the Vondelpark.

The next day, Saturday May 23, we had the best cheesy croissants of my life at a bakery near Lisa's house. (My travel log says they were jizz in my pants good.) We went shopping in the Prinsenzgracht area, then to a cool organic farmer's market. We ate lunch at a vegetarian restaurant (also tasty) and went to the Van Gogh museum, but we decided the line was too long and chilled in the park instead. We couldn't stop thinking about those cheesy croissants so we went back for more, but they only had ham and cheese left--luckily it was totally delicious too. To complete the eating-tons-of-food experience we got a fantastic pancake after that. It had apples and cinnamon ice cream and was heavenly.

We had a pizza dinner in the Vondelpark with Lisa and Simon and the dog that evening, which was so pleasant I couldn't believe it. We went to a coffee shop called Kashmir Lounge that night, but I got really tired and went home to go to sleep after only a short while.

It was a great trip and one of the best parts of the whole 2-week odyssey. Thanks Lisa and Simon!

Koln

Cologne or Koln was a less than 24 hour trip, but we saw a lot in the hours we were there. We got up on Friday May 21 and had the hostel's free breakfast (quite good--we took some ham sandwiches for the road). We took the train to Koln and found the famous cathedral is the first thing you see when you leave the train station.

We ate our ham sandwiches at a park alongside the river. The weather was beautiful. It was super sunny and clear skies. We listened to some music and played some cards, then went on our way to the train to Amsterdam.

Frankfurt

And here is the old town square in Frankfurt! Well, first we took the train from Munich to Frankfurt on Thursday, May 21. We had our usual croissant breakfast. After getting in we went to the first hostel we saw (sans reservation) and luckily it worked out. Alex did laundry and we met our roomies, some American dudes from Virginia.

We walked around the city but we got rained on and had to stay under this bridge for a while till it stopped. For dinner we went to a Turkish restaurant and had a really funny waiter who did a great job and enthusiastically took our picture (twice--once inside, then he ran outside and took one from outside the window looking in), and gave us free tea.

It was back to the hostel after dinner, where we chatted for a while with the roommates. We ended up walking around for a few more hours but I got really tired and cranky so we went on home.

Munchen

Here is the old town square in Munich. Munich was a lovely city in which we spent only about a day. We came in from Vienna on the train, where we met this weird guy Sylvester who was from Germany but had just lived in Austin for the previous five years. (Small world.) Alex and I got a pretzel as soon as we got in to Munich since that is supposed to be their food specialty. It was stuffed with butter and chives. Kind of strange, but tasted alright except for how salty it was.

We then got some lunch at Burger King and as I recall they messed up my order, meaning I did not have it my way. We got to our hostel, which was super cheap AND had the added bonus of not having anyone there in the room with us (even though it was supposed to be a six bed dorm). I did a phone interview for the job at the British Consulate that I ended up not getting. Blegh. We then walked all over the city, going to the Residenz and the Englischer garden. Our dinner was some tasty swiss cheese, a baguette, and a chicken. Alex got a special Munich beer and I had some apple juice. It was one of our most fun meals. We ended up eating, playing Rapido (card game), and watching YouTube.

I wish we could have worn these sweet German clothes I saw somewhere downtown.

Wien

Vienna was one of my favorite cities from the whole trip. It is lovely and full of beautiful things to see and delicious things to eat and very nice people.

We got up early Monday, May 18 and accidentally went to the wrong train station, but somehow made it to our train at the right train station on time. The ride from Prague to Vienna was about 5 hours. We got there and took the metro to the end of the line, then set off on a hellish 1 hour plus hike uphill (with our packs on) to the hostel. I think the view was worth it though. I loved staying outside the city in what was sort of the woods. The hostel was amazing too.

The first thing we did was have some delish wiener schnitzel and good Austrian beer. Afterwards we walked around in the woods for over an hour. Back at the hostel we just chilled for a while, eventually meeting our Chinese roommates.

On Tuesday May 19 we had the fantastic free breakfast buffet (quite the smorgasbord). This time we got smart and took the bus to the metro to the city. Then we walked around Stephans Dom, got to the Hofburg Palace, went to a square with a building Mozart played in, and wound up in front of a strange music-playing giant clock. At noon giant figures of important Austrians cycle in front of the clock with music from their time period playing. Pretty neat.

Lunch was at a cool open-face sandwich restaurant where all the sandwiches were 1 euro. We got 1 egg and cucumber, 1 mushroom and egg, 2 cheese and onion, 1 super spicy horseradish and pepper relish, and 1 bacon and egg.

Another culinary experience: a very fancy pastry shop called Demas. We both had cake (mine was a little too liquor-y) and I had a special Viennese coffee.

We walked to the Belvedere museum, and lo and behold they were having a special Mucha exhibit! So we got double the Mucha from our Europe trip. We saw Klimt's The Kiss and lots of excellent Schiele as well as a special exhibit on Lovis Corinth.

A metro ride took us to the Schonbrunn Palace, lauded as the "must-do" in Vienna. It was just so-so. Afterwards we went to a heuriger or Austrian wine tavern. It must have been fun judging from the hangover the next day.

Praha

Saturday saw us up bright and early for croissants and coffee before boarding our train to Prague. On the train we met this lady from Maine and her friend from Germany. They had been besties when they were 18, and then many years later--almost a lifetime--one contacted the other, and they had rekindled their friendship, and now they were travel buddies. What a cool story.

We got off the train in Prague and promptly got quite lost. By some miracle we made it to our hostel. (Our compass had broken in Berlin so we couldn't even use that.) We bought fruit at a market in Wenceslas Square and walked around for a while, ending up by the famous Frank Gehry building by the river. We got to the old town square, right in the heart of the tourist throngs. Prague is beautiful but sooo touristy and overcrowded in certain parts of the city.

We drank some 49 koruna beer (Pilsner Urquell), then to a dungeon-like, goat-themed restaurant for dinner that had super tasty Czech food. Goulash and meat dumplings. Mmm.

Went back to the hostel and met our Russian roommate. Played Scrabble Anagrams and Alex won. (Blast!)

On Sunday 17 May we walked to the Jewish quarter of town and also visited the Mucha museum (super cool! Check out Mucha if you don't know anything about him.) We crossed the bridge to the other side of the river near the castle and hung out in a park before walking to the John Lennon wall. It is this big wall totally covered in graffiti, mostly John Lennon or Beatles-related. After adding our mark ("I get by with a little help from my friends") we got some awful fast food and went back to the hostel.

After a nap we climbed a big hill/park near our hostel and got some great views of the city. We walked to a bar called U'sudu, but ended up getting wine from a street vendor and drinking back at the hostel whilst playing Anagrams. And--get ready for it--I beat Alex!

After some card playing shenanigans, talking some more to the Russian roommate, and going back to the park/hill thing one last time, we made it to bed, and concluded our Czech adventure.

By the way--we both feverishly read the first book of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series on this trip, and I was unbelievably excited to find this hotel in Prague.

Paris to Berlin, every disco we got in.

The next day, May 13, we had breakfast with some Canadian girls at our hostel and headed to the train station. We managed to buy our tickets to Berlin in French since we strangely got a person who did not speak English. The train ride all together took 8 hours or so. (Three to Koln, then five to Berlin.) Our first German meal was at the train station in Koln (Cologne): sausage, potatoes, and beer. Mmmm.

We got to our hostel sort of late at night and caught the end of a Barca game. Everyone was watching the game and the place was full of singing Spaniards--it was like I had never left Spain! Our sleeping arrangement was two bunks in a 50-bed dorm. It looked like a prison hospital ward or something.

On May 14 we woke up at 8:30 and had breakfast at the hostel. The first of many good German breakfasts, the buffet included lots of lunchmeat and even a caprese salad on top of the usual stuff.

We walked to the Tiergarten and saw the Brandenburg gate, the Reichstag, a Soviet war memorial, and statues of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. We walked through the maze-like Holocaust memorial and to a plaza with a library and church and opera house. We then went to Potsdam plaza and saw Berlin wall fragments and the Sony Center.

From there we went to the museum "island" and went into a 19th century art gallery, the Alte National Gallery, as well as the Pergamon museum of antiquities from Greece, Rome and the Near East. We spent some time chilling in the Lustgarten in front of the Berliner Dom (a church).

We had lunch at an American-style restaurant where Alex got "Texas pasta." Then we went back to our hostel for showers before going, like the nerds we are, to see Star Trek at the Sony Center, one of the few places showing Original Version (i.e. in English). We totally sat next to a Leonard Nimoy lookalike, which was perfect. Apparently back at the hostel that night there were quite a few drunken disturbances but only Alex was affected as I slept through it all.

On Friday, 15 May, we had breakfast (croissants, cheese, coffee) and went back to the Tiergarten (a huge public park) again. We saw some fantastic European art at the Picture Gallery, then walked to Checkpoint Charlie (tourist central). We got some pizza and walked to the Contemporary Art Museum, where we saw a weird audio exhibit called Murder of Crows.

We went to the gay district, Schoneberg, for dinner and headed back to the hostel. We played some cards for a while and talked to some German guys and Canadian girls. And that was Berlin!

First stop: London.

I am going to do each city as a separate post to keep myself organized.

So, on Tuesday May 26, Alex arrived in London a few hours before my dad departed for the US. We took the Tube to the train station from which we would catch the Eurostar to Paris. Since we had plenty of time, we left St. Pancras and stumbled upon the British Library by accident. I would never have gone there otherwise, and I would have missed out on seeing the Magna Carta, Shakespeare's first folio, handwritten Beatles lyrics, and a million other cool things.

We also made it to the British Museum and saw the Rosetta Stone before heading back to the train station. The train ride was not long at all and we made it to Paris before we had time to play but a few hands of cards. (We played a lot of cards during the 2 weeks.)

We got to our hostel in the Latin Quarter and after a brief walk ate a great supper at a restaurant on Rue Mouffetard. The hostel was kind of ratty, but as it was the first one we didn't have high expectations yet.

Cheers, Sussex.

I am leaving England tomorrow. Alex is coming to Europe! Yay! We are taking the train to Paris and from there going on to Germany and the Czech Republic and Austria and eventually getting back to France.

Yesterday Ba and my dad and I went to Sheffield Gardens, where there are tons and tons of rhododendrons and an old estate. It was lovely and we had a little picnic in the sunshine. Today I went into Eastbourne with Ba to see Star Trek. I loved it! Well, being the nerd I am, that is probably not surprising.

By the way I should mention that I managed to beat Ba at Scrabble, which is pretty much unheard of. It ended up being 234 to 225. One of my finest moments.

We went to a pub for supper tonight that had really good, upscale food. I had fantastic lamb Wellington with bubble and squeak and sticky toffee pudding. Brilliant.

Not sure how regular my posts will be for my last two weeks in Europe as neither Alex nor I will have a computer. But I can guarantee I will be having a great time!

Heaven take my soul, and England keep my bones.

I arrived in London on Thursday afternoon, May 7. We rented a car and drove down from London to Horsebridge, where Ba lives. On Friday it was rainy in the morning and dreadfully cold. We took the train into London from Polegate and ate at Tom Aikens, an incredibly good restaurant in South Kensington. I think if I were a billionaire I would get a flat in this area to go with my Aston Martin. It is a really nice part of London, with lots of chic boutiques and bakeries and the like. Tom Aikens was an incredible experience in extreme deliciousness, although the very traditional wait service felt a bit stuffy at times. It is a must for fine dining in London though.

After lunch we walked to the Saatchi Gallery and saw a really great contemporary Iranian art series. We went from there to Leicester Square and to the National Portrait Gallery, where there is a John Constable portrait exhibit on. John Constable is a Jane Austen-era romantic painter. Ba is a big fan. We caught the quarter till 7 train back home and called it a night.

Today, Saturday, was far nicer weather. It was actually warm! I sat out in the garden with my dad, Ba, and Uncle Bill for a while. Ba's favorite hobby is gardening and the gardens behind the house are really lovely. My dad and I drove to Brighton, a small seaside city, to pass the afternoon. We ate at Jamie's Italian, a Jamie Oliver-owned bistro. It was very good. We had an antipasti platter with salami, mortadella, several types of olives, pecorino and chili jam, a lemony slaw, and mozzarella with peppery relish. Then I had pumpkin ravioli in a rosemary sauce and my dad had a tomato-broth fish soup. A really fantastic orange-flavored tiramisu (sounds odd, but it tasted great) finished the meal.

After lunch we walked all around the downtown shopping area of the city, stopping in to a record shop to get some new music. Before lunch we walked by the pier. The beach was completely packed, despite the fact that England's beaches do not have sand (they have rocks/pebbles instead) and the water was freezing.

Sussex is so beautiful! We drove to Brighton on country roads, through the South Downs, and everywhere you look is the most bucolic green hills, wildflowers, grazing sheep, cottages, streams, rabbits, etc. you could imagine. I absolutely love being here. The weather obviously could be better, but England is a really lovely place. And I love the food--scones with clotted cream, strawberries with double cream, cream tea, cream-based quiche, bagels and cream cheese, creamy goat cheese, ham and chutney sandwiches. There seems to be a cream theme here. I will have to go for a run tomorrow.

Cinc Sentits

Now for the Cinc Sentits review:

Cinc Sentits was recommended by the New York Times Travel section as the one upscale place to go if you are in Barcelona for a weekend, and I can definitely see why. It was one of the top dining experiences of my life. Every single thing was exquisitely good. I went with Ba and my dad, and the three of us spent hours enjoying every course with a wine pairing. This picture of me and Ba looks pretty silly, but it captures the mood of our afternoon.

We started off with olives, almonds and anchovy crackers. I decided to put my usual food inhibitions aside, i.e. eat the olives, and I was rewarded with the tastiest olives ever. The next course was a 'shot' of cava, cream, maple syrup, sabayon and salt. It sounds weird but tasted fabulous.

All the bread was really good, and you could have as much as you liked. It was full of bacon, olive and herbs and served with Catalunya olive oil and rock salt.

An asparagus soup was pure, unadulterated asparagus heaven. The next dish was seared foie gras with chive sauce on a pastry with a thin layer of burnt sugar on top. The burnt sugar was the perfect counterpoint to the foie gras.

A Galician scallop with Jerusalem artichoke puree, an onion reduction and ham chip was incredibly creamy and rich. Wild Mediterranean sea bass with spring onion, green peas, garlic sprouts, and pil pil highlighted the super crunchy, sweet taste of spring peas.

Carrot foam, parsnip puree, 36-hour cooked oxtail and beet cubes blew my mind. The meat was super tender and the sauce it was in was blissful. The cheese course was bleu cheese, pear, truffle reduction and a cube of brioche. It was probably the least impressive, and it would still be the best cheese course ever at a lesser restaurant.

Dessert part one was strawberry and rhubarb with sorbet and almond cream. A second dessert course was vanilla and olive oil ice cream with chocolate and macadamia nut.

My cappuccino came with five different kinds of sugar: regular granulized white, granulized brown, crystalized white, crystalized sugar in the raw, and vanilla. The petit fours course was lemon muffins with mango-passionfruit mousse.

If you have plenty of time and money on your hands and happen to be in Barcelona, for sure try this place.

La huerta de Espana

I will try to remember everything from my trip down the eastern coast of Spain.

On Monday we left Barcelona in our convertible for the drive to Valencia, which took between 3 and 4 hours. The whole time the sun was shining and we passed endless vineyards (the Penedes region that we drove through is the wine-making area of Catalunya) and olive trees and orchards. After arriving in Valencia, we walked to the Plaza Ayuntamiento, the Plaza de la Reina, and the Plaza de la Virgen by the cathedral. I had actually been to the latter plaza when I went to Valencia in March, although I did not spend much time there--it was taken up with a huge statue of the Virgin Mary that was to be covered in flowers as part of Las Fallas.

We ate dinner in the medieval area at a restaurant called El Rall, where we ate fantastic paella of chicken, rabbit, prawns, langoustine, mussels, and lots of vegetables. The next day, we had breakfast at a little pastry shop and walked to the Royal Gardens outside the Museum of Belles Artes. I liked the museum a lot. It was small and almost empty, so it was like having it to ourselves. It is mainly Spanish art and has some Velazaquez, Goya, El Greco, and Ribera.

We drove that day to Alicante, a seaside resort town. We passed tons and tons of Valencia orange trees along the way. We walked along the marina to the beach, which was quite full of English tourists. My dad and I hiked up to the Castillo de Santa Barbara 166 meters up. The castle was very cool and the views of the Alicante bay were absolutely amazing.

The next day we drove the 3 hours or so to Granada. The first thing we did was go to the Alhambra. It was more amazing than I had anticipated, because in addition to the incredible palace (similar to the one in Sevilla) it has some of the most stunning gardens I have seen in my entire life. There are roses everywhere of every kind, and super tall cypress, and beautiful flowers of every kind. I thought it was incredible. There are tons of pictures but I won't be able to upload them until I get home.

The other unexpected thing about the Alhambra besides the gardens is how HUGE it is. We were there nearly four hours exploring everything. So we did not leave until about 8:00 at night, just in time to find a bar to watch the Barcelona-Chelsea game. It was great getting to watch it with a big crowd of people. Barcelona scored in the second minute of injury time at the end of the game and the place erupted with cheering, my own included. It was just great.

After the game we wandered over to a Moroccan hole-in-the-wall for dinner. I was not all that impressed with the place, which was surrounded by creepy homeless guys. (As I waited to order, this guy on the ground next to me rubbed my leg--ugh!) It did have good lemonade though. There is an evident Islamic influence in Andalucia that is a really interesting complement to the Catholic Spanish heritage.

The next day was Thursday, so after spending the morning walking through the old part of the city to the cathedral, to the university and to the Alabaicin, or Arab quarter, we drove to Malaga, the city from which we caught our flight to England. Overall I had an excellent time, as I knew I would, and got to see more of Spain. It was a great farewell.

Espai Sucre

Very belated, and going out of chronological order, but here it is: my Espai Sucre review!

Espai Sucre is an all-dessert restaurant of international acclaim. I think it has some sort of connection with El Bulli (the most avant garde restaurant in the world), like the pastry chef used to work there.

The space was very elegant but too dark and gloomy for me. Another strange thing was that our party of five was the only group in the restaurant all night. They were having a pastry school class in the kitchen/back room, so we heard them from time to time, but otherwise it was pretty much just us and the waiter.

We were given not just one but three amuse bouche, including this cracker with sweet corn atop soy mousse, flecked with a peppered caramel. It was delicious, as was the buttery parmesan cracker and pumpkin coup with toasted pumpkin seed and cream cheese. They were off to a good start.

The other dishes kind of varied wildly in their actual appeal. They were all super creative and visually interesting, but tasted downright bad in some cases. A soupy mix of tea, pineapple, green apple, green apple and honey gelatin, spicy fennel and verbena broth hit all the right notes: refreshing, crisp, sharp, sweet. On the other hand, a pineapple bread pudding with bacon ice cream was nothing but bacon, and not in a good way.

The most delicious things I ate included braised duck on a cocoa biscuit with caramel sauce and this dish, labeled red mullets fish with onion ice cream and buitfarra negra (sausage) rice. The only downside was the melting ice cream lowered the temperature of the dish so that the rice and fish were slightly cold.

The group's least favorite dish (evidenced by choruses of "Eww!" and "Yuck!") was a beet root sorbet with cheese tart, black beer foam and lemon marmalade. The cheese was really pungent and the ice-cold beet root did not taste good at all. Ditto on the black beer foam.

Equally bad: extra virgin olive oil cake with peach sorbet, green olive caramel and sauce, and San Simon cheese. The peach sorbet was great, but it was totally overwhelmed by the taste of green olive.

Somewhat controversial was the "signature dessert," layers of cocoa streusel, brioche, butter ice cream, hazelnut and black truffle. Some thought it tasted like spoiled milk, but I thought it was creamy and French toast-esque.

The petit fours at the end were very good, except for the bacon chocolate cream. (Too smoky and salty.) They included a bay leaf and apple granita, homemade marshmallow, verbena chocolate madeleine, citrus jelly candy, thin pistachio cookie, coconut cream lolly pop, coffee shortbread, and buttery regular shortbread.

It was a very neat culinary or dining experience, but I wouldn't go back, simply because the flavor was often sacrificed in the need to be daring and innovative.

El fin.

Tonight is my last night in Barcelona. It is pretty unbelievable that I will actually, finally be leaving this place that has been so important to me. During the months I spent here, I had some of the best times in my life, and I really love this beautiful city. I will carry the experience with me forever. But I have resigned myself to leaving, and honestly I am ready. 

My dad and Ba (my grandmother from England) have been here over the weekend and their trip has been a whirlwind "Best of Barcelona" tour. Or perhaps "Barcelona: the good life." They got here Friday evening and the first place we went was Sagrada Familia, since it is right by (literally 1 block away) from our apartment. We had tapas at Cerveceria Catalana. (Making my third visit in one week, but it is just too good a place for any Barcelona visitor to miss it, and obviously I did not mind going again.) 

On Saturday we got up and had coffee and croissants at the bakery next door to the apartment, Supan. We then went to Plaça Catalunya, Plaça de l'Angel, and La Rambla. We spent a lot of time at the Boqueria picking out jamón ibérico and three kinds of cheese. After the Boqueria we went back to the apartment to change for lunch at Cinc Sentits. This is a very posh restaurant where we had an 8 course tasting menu. It was fabulous--easily one of the top meals of my life. We were there for 4 hours and had wine with every course, so all of us were buzzed the entire afternoon. We had great conversations and it was a super experience. I took pictures and when I can, I will post a full review on the blog. 

After that we went to the Arc de Triomf and walked down the promenade to the Parc de la Ciutadella and UPF (my university in Barcelona). We walked to the Frank Gehry fish at Ciutadella Vila Olímpica and along the beach, stopping at the Princesa 23 drink stand. It was a lovely evening but Ba was pretty exhausted and we headed home from there. We had our ham and cheese from the market with a baguette from Supan and drank champagne from the Duty Free to celebrate Barça's trouncing of Real Madrid. There were people celebrating the team's victory into the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday we had a bit of a late start, repeating our café con leche and croissants routine. We went to the Cathedral, where since it was Sunday a large group of people was gathered dancing the Sardana, or traditional Catalan dance. It is like a Greek wedding dancing-in-a-circle sort of thing. The Cathedral was free so we went and explored the cloister, where there is a sort of garden with geese and fountains surrounded by individual chapels. We got gelato in Plaça Sant Jaume.

We walked from there to Plaça Reial, where there was a market--or junk sale--being held. The weather all weekend was perfect and sunny. We then went to the Museu Picasso. Since I'd already been twice, they went ahead (they got in free since it was the first Sunday of the month) and I wandered down the Passeig del Born to the Parc de la Ciutadella. It was the same walk I had taken two weeks before when all my study abroad pals were still here, and it made me very nostalgic. 

I met back up with my dad and Ba and we walked around Santa María del Mar and had lunch at Taller de Tapas. We went back to the apartment, then my dad and I went to a concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana. The building is really stunning and it was a wonderful experience. It was somewhat randomly the Ukraine Symphonic Orchestra. Ba had a night in experimenting with rioja, tonic and oranges to make her own sangría.

Tomorrow morning we will pick up the rental car and drive to Valencia. From there we are going to spend a day in Alicante, a day in Granada, and finally fly back to the U.K. from Málaga on Thursday. A few days in Sussex and London, and then my dad goes back Tuesday and Alex arrives to travel with me for two weeks. It is going to be great! 

"Single Ladies" and Sangría

The last day of Liz, Evelyn, Kathleen, and Julie's visit was really fun. We got up, had our coffee and packed, and headed to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, where we got a very good idea of what the Modernisme versus Noucentisme movements are and how cool Ramon Casas is. (Well, I can only speak for myself I suppose.) From there we went to Cerveceria Catalana, since Ev and Kathleen had not been there, and it was just as good as ever. The bacon, date and cheese flauta is pretty much the perfect sandwich. 

After lunch we went to Casa Milà, or La Pedrera, the Gaudí apartment building on Passeig de Gràcia. I am glad that I got to do all the touristy stuff that I wanted to do before while these gals were visiting. We spent our evening hanging out, eating some more manchego cheese, watching funny YouTube videos (and attempting to learn the dance to Single Ladies--one of my still unrealized goals in life), and preparing ourselves for waking up at 5 a.m. the next morning. 

Y más.

On Tuesday we continued our Barcelona adventure by going to Park Guell, then the Born area near the Cathedral. We ate lunch at Petra, which was as tasty as ever. We also encountered the "place setting charge" that would come back to haunt us later (restaurants charging you to sit down at their tables). At Petra we all shared cous cous salad with mango and raisins, cold carrot and grapefruit soup, pork leg in a caramelized sauce with potatoes, a beef patty with vegetables, and chicken coconut curry with rice. 

After Petra we walked around the Santa Maria del Mar church but could not really figure out how to get in, so we left. We did some souvenir shopping in Born and I finally went in to Happy Pills (a cool candy store). We walked to the Cathedral and under the bridge thing with a skull underneath. We walked through the Boqueria and saw giant animal tongues and sheep heads and penises. 

We walked from the Boqueria to Barceloneta and had drinks on the beach. The sun was setting so it was a little more chilly than I would have preferred, but it was very nice anyway.

We then went to Espai Sucre, the famous gourmet dessert-only restaurant. We got there at 8:30, but it did not open till 9:00, so we went next door for drinks. That place, called Firo, charged us a 1.50 euro place setting charge and the waiter had a very rude attitude. It was weird because they were almost empty and if we weren't sitting there drinking wine they wouldn't have gotten any money. 

But anyway, we finally made our way to Espai Sucre. The meal was so deluxe and long and involved that I will have a separate post about it. When we got back to our apartment the other ladies played Hearts, but I was too tired and fell asleep.

Wednesday we got up a little on the late side, so we went to the Bagel Shop for breakfast again, and then to Sagrada Familia. After hearing my spiel about Gaudi, we headed for Montjuic. Once at the top we walked through a sculpture garden and admired the views, but no on was that enthusiastic about Joan Miro and we just sat and had diet coke and tortilla for a while.

From there we went to the Museu Picasso and did some more souvenir shopping afterward. We went back to the apartment, ate some cheese and bread, and went to Travel Bar. I wasn't sure what time the kitchen closed (turns out it is 9:00) but luckily we got there at 8:45, so we got some burgers to share. We did pretty well in Trivia considering my expectations for our success. (We got 26 points/4th place...should have studied up on our current music.) 

Today is Thursday, their last day here. More updates later...