Para mi hermanita

Cumpleaños feliz

Cumpleaños feliz

Te deseamos todo

¡Cumpleaños feliz!

Happy birthday Evelyn!

El Fin de Semana

Ruining chronological order! This all happened before Sitges.

First of all, a culinary side note - On Friday, February 20, I went to an unexpectedly good little restaurant in Barceloneta with a very reasonably priced menú del día. It was about 10 euro. My friend Caryn and I got salads with queso fresco (a super creamy, tangy cheese similar to fresh mozzarella but even less firm) and pesto. Then I had excellent pan fried pork chops with chips and Caryn had a veal meatloaf (not how it was advertised but what it basically was) with rice. 

For dessert we both had lemon ice cream tarts. And we didn't even find this place in a guidebook!

Last Saturday, February 21, I went on a CIEE-led day trip to the small town of Girona and the even smaller town of Besalú. I did get some lovely views of the Catalunya landscape, replete with hills of green, rivers of blue, and all of that. 

In Girona we started out with seeing the Cathedral. It was hard to tell what exactly was original and what has been rebuilt since everything was destroyed in the Civil War. Nevertheless, the cathedral was a nice building and was interestingly built over the original Roman temple. Girona was apparently pretty important in Roman times because it was a stop along the trade route from the north. 

After viewing the Cathedral we moved on to the Arab baths. They are falsely named because they are actually Roman. It was kind of cool but cannot compare at all to Bath, England. After these two highlights we broke for lunch. Caryn's guidebook suggested a Breton crepe restaurant. What is the difference between Breton crepes and normal crepes? Apparently the Breton ones use salted butter and are crispy and square. Behold. 

This crepe was fabulous though. It had an emmental-esque cheese, potatoes, cream, bacon, and chives. I also tried some of this salad. The stuff around the side is duck. I really couldn't tell how it was prepared or even if it was cooked. 

We boarded the bus for Besalú shortly thereafter. Besalú has a small church mostly destroyed during the Guerra Civil and a small Plaza Mayor. Beyond that, we did not really see anything. It also has a lovely bridge crossing over a picturesque river. 

On Sunday Caryn (her again!) and Ally went to lunch with me at a restaurant near the Arc de Triomf and Parque Ciutadella. I got chipirones, which are miniature fried squids, the same as at the Japanese restaurant. They were delicious with a little allioli.  (This is Catalan for what is called in the states aioli, in case you think my spelling is wrong! It is all i oli, or garlic and oil, ajo y aceite.)

"Vamos a la playa, a mi me gusta baila..."

Proof that I live in a great food city: I went to the Museu Picasso today for one of my classes and on the way to get a fabulous Smoothie Republic drink, I passed a delicious-looking udon and soba place, a super cute crêperie/gofre shop, and billowy piles of gelato flanked by pristine chocolates in a bakery. How can one diet here??

Last night I went to Carnaval in Sitges, a seaside town known for its gay party scene among other things. We left on a train somewhere near 11:00 p.m. and the train station was packed with people in crazy costumes. There were a lot of pirates, doctors, bumble bees, mimes, fairies, and afros, but basically everyone did something a little different and there was no unifying theme. The train to Sitges was completely stuffed to the gills. We were standing the entire time and pressed against people we didn't know. But there was a party atmosphere, and 100% of the people had been drinking and everyone was in a different state of intoxication. We sang songs in Spanish and English like "I Will Survive," "Satisfaction," "My Girl," and this chant:

Alcohol, alcohol

Alcohol, alcohol, alcohol

Hemos venido

a emborracharnos

Y el resultado

nos da igual

Rough translation is "We've come to get drunk and don't care what happens." 

After the stifling hot train ride, which lasted about a half hour, we poured out into the Sitges train station. There were tons of Mossos d'Esquadra, or Catalan police, everywhere. After a bit of a delay we were channeled into a security area where they gave everyone a quick pat down before releasing us into the street. We more or less followed the crowds and ended up near the parade. We got to see a bit of the parade, which was like Gay Pride/Mardi Gras/Cirque du Soleil rolled into one, before heading for the beach. It took forever to get anywhere because you were wading through crowds no matter where you turned. I took the precautions of CIEE and the Barcelona club promoters to heart and did not bring anything but a small money belt inside my jeans. 

We finally ended up at the beach and met up with our other friends under a tent by a giant sound system. Almost everything seemed to be sponsored by Estrella Damm, the local beer. It was like an outdoor club. We danced all night on the beach. At one point some random guy was walking around holding out his palm covered in cocaine saying "20 euros! 20 euros!" Someone was carrying around a live rooster. There were some people being too rough plus the usual Spanish sexual forwardness (one girl in our group had a terrible time with some boys harassing her), but other than that I don't think we had any problems. As the night wore on it became too risky to venture overly-close to the waves because of the constantly flowing streams of urine from dozens of boys lining up at the same time.  Then again, as someone wise told me, "Thousands of fish pee in the ocean every day." 

Keep in mind that EVERYONE had on a costume of some sort. So even though I have been to plenty of festival-type events like this, I have never seen the same level of "wild partying" because the costumes lend an air of total outrageousness. It eventually got very very cold and we were ready to leave by 5 in the morning. Between waiting for our friends, walking to the train station, waiting in the super long line for the train, and waiting on the platform for the train to arrive, we did not leave until probably 5:45. The train ride back was much better as everyone was "tranquilo" and we actually got seats. Overall a long night but a lot of fun. 

By the way, this video is not from Sitges; it is just a random video I found online of people singing the song.

Todos Cocineros

Last week I went to a Spanish cooking class with 11 other people, all from CIEE. It was really a blast to get to make all kinds of delicious Spanish food. (Liz, Kathleen, Julie, and Evelyn--we are doing this when you come!) 

Our menu included a cold tomato soup with a walnut pesto, alioli (garlic mayonnaise), and lots of grated Iziabal cheese; tortilla española; bread spread with tomato, garlic, and olive oil; paella with chicken; and crema catalana. The difference between this and creme brulee is negligible in taste. However, I prefer creme brulee because it, to me, has a lighter, smoother texture, probably a result of using cream instead of milk. 

I personally was responsible for one of the tortillas. It is harder than it looks. You have to flip the tortilla while it's still raw on one side onto a plate, then slide it back into the pan. Tricky indeed. The delicious finished product:

Sol en Sevilla

First a little something from George Orwell.

"I seemed to catch a momentary glimpse, a sort of far-off rumour of the Spain that seems to dwell in everyone's imagination. White sierras, goatherds, dungeons of the Inquisition, Moorish palaces, black winding trains of mules, grey olive trees and groves of lemons, girls in black mantillas, the wines of Málaga and Alicante, cathedrals, cardinals, bull-fights, gypsies, serenades--in short, Spain."

This is more or less what dwelled in my imagination before coming to Spain, and the region I visited this weekend, Andalucía, is from where all these images come. Sevilla (Seville in English) is the city of bull fights, flamenco, tapas, and sunny sunny sunshine. Unfortunately for me, it is also the city of throwing up from a stomach flu.

Therefore, I will not be able to recount very thoroughly the beauty and wonder of Sevilla and Córdoba, the nearby town we visited one day. I shall only be able to give my own experience, which was not always pleasant.

I got up extremely early Friday morning to make my way to the airport by 7 a.m. (Metro-train-airport). The flight went smoothly and upon arrival we all loaded on to a coach bus to make the hour-or-so-long bus trip to Córdoba. I started feeling ill toward the end of the trip and made a dash for the bathroom the second we got there. I did not throw up and thought maybe I didn't need to anyway. Instead, I threw up a few minutes later in the street. I then proceeded to throw up several more times before finally getting to go back to the bus and sleep later that afternoon.

Córdoba has a giant mezquita, one of only a few mosques left in Spain. The conquering Christians put a big cathedral in the middle of the mezquita to demonstrate symbolically their power. The town has little medieval streets and all the buildings are painted white and covered with flower pots. It is very pretty and I hope to be back when I am feeling 100%.

On Saturday I got up and ate my first food in over 24 hours. We all went to the Cathedral of Sevilla, the third largest in the world after St. Peter's in the Vatican and St. Paul's in London. It was large and pretty, not unlike most cathedrals. Among its highlights is the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

After the cathedral, which was freezing cold, we went to the giralda or bell tower. This is the one of the few parts left over from the original mosque. We climbed to the top and saw some excellent views of Sevilla. It is not actually stairs but instead ramps, so that horses could come to the top in the days of yore.

We had a "pausa" for lunch and went to the Plaza Nueva. This was in contrast to the Plaza del Salvador, where everyone drinks all afternoon. The latter plaza was covered in bottles and other miscellaneous debris. But both plazas featured lots of children running around happily.

We continued from lunch to the Alcazar, a beautiful palace where the Spanish royal family actually stays when they visit (supposedly). It is almost impossible to describe how intricate and unbelievable the Islamic designs are. The palace was built for a Christian king but was completed by Muslim artisans. Hence it is called "mudejar." 

After wandering through the gorgeous palace we wandered through the gorgeous gardens. The weather was beautiful and sunny and warm. I had such a lovely time, despite being really ill.

Flamenco shops are everywhere throughout Sevilla and this is one we poked into. We were flabbergasted by the prices. Each of these dresses costs upwards of 700 euro!

I started feeling bad again Saturday night and had to stay in. Sunday morning we got up, had breakfast again, and went on a walking tour of the Jewish neighborhood and the area around the Parque Maria Luisa. We had lunch at a little place in between the hotel and the park but I was not up to eating yet. Here I am with Ally, Patty, and Caryn on the Barcelona bench at the place where they held the 1929 world expo in Sevilla.

That more or less concludes Sevilla. We flew home as the sun set over Barcelona and I thought, not for the first time, I am so glad to be here.

Experiencia Gastronomica

Last Wednesday I went with two amigos to an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet in Barceloneta (a waterfront district). The food came by in little plates on a conveyor belt. It was delicious and super fun to try lots of new things. A few highlights...

Snails. Briny but with a pleasant chewy texture.

Delicious little fried squid. Not really like calamari, because the little squid have a very soft texture. 

Salad of chopped octopus and imitation crab marinated in olive oil with onion and peppers. I don't know if this is a Spanish-Japanese fusion item, but it was served cold and salty and I liked it.

My friend Patty eating some sort of large prawn item. (She was the de facto guide to the unfamiliar dishes what with being Thai and all.)

All in all we must have had over 50 little plates, and probably up to 100, between the three of us. Quite satisfying!

Un poco más de BCN

Last Friday (before my flight to ol' Britannia), I went with a group of amigos to a restaurant called Petra. It was recommended by Caryn's guidebook and it did not disappoint. (Well, actually, it did, but in general no.) Unfortunately I did not have my camera so your imaginations will have to do.

It was not really 'authentic Spanish,' but it was delightful nonetheless. The menus came out on wine bottles. I shared a salad of tomato, fresh mozarella, and mesclun. The cheese was creamy but not soggy. I then had a very unpleasant dish of clay balls with glue sauce, a.k.a. gnocchi in four cheeses. But I did get to taste the delectable dishes of two of my companions, and both--some kind of braised duck, and gnocchi with sun-dried tomato and veal--were delicious. A good but not all that novel flourless chocolate cake finished. 

We also tried a pizza restaurant yesterday (Tuesday) called La Pizza del Born. Born is a nice area near the Jaume I metro stop in the old city. (I believe Petra is located in Born as well.) The pizza was pretty good, but I did not like the lack of tomato sauce or the doughy, doughy crust.

Beyond that, classes are pretty much the same, and I don't think I have any new observations on Spanish society. Except to say that yesterday there was an extremely strong gas smell in the metro and I was a little freaked out, but everyone continued on like nothing was strange. 

Also, my señora has been making the usual, but tasty, fare. (Save for her super-salted salads.) I have had lots of my favorite potato-and-onion omelette, pan-fried meats, and soups. Yay.

This weekend the whole CIEE group is going to Sevilla. (Seville to you non-Spanish speakers.) I think it is going to be so much fun. The only drawback is that we have to meet at the airport at 7 a.m. This means getting up by 5:15 or 5:30. But I checked the weather report and it is supposed to be sunny and in the 60s. Can't wait!

Londres

This weekend I visited my grandmother Valerie, nicknamed Ba, in England. Here she is! I flew in late Friday night. I was worried about snow messing up my travel plans, but I got lucky. The weather all weekend (with the exception of Sunday night) was beautiful.

My dad's cousin Paul came to pick me up and we drove down to Horsebridge, the town in which Ba lives with my great uncle Bill. I think Uncle Bill is as close as I've got to an English grandfather. He is very reserved but is constantly making wise cracks. (Cracking wise?) 

This is the room I stayed in. I have stayed here before with Evelyn when we have gone to visit Ba. It is just about the most comfortable bed in the world. Ba has upgraded to a laptop, so I had internet access. Gone are the days of hiking to the Hailsham library! (Hailsham is the nearest real town. I don't know if Horsebridge even really counts as it's so small.)

After I got home from the airport Uncle Bill was waiting up to say hello to me. I ate some quiche, a bagel, grapes and apple juice and went off to bed. 

Saturday morning I got up and took a shower, had another bagel (these were the first bagels I'd had in quite a long time!) and Bill took me and Ba to the train station in Polegate. We caught the train into London Victoria (it takes a little over an hour) and then took the number 11 bus to Covent Garden. 

We ate lunch at a really nice little bistro called Tutton. We both just got soup and the dessert of the day and skipped eating a main meal. The dessert was a lovely apple tart with really, really good cinnamon ice cream.

Ba got the mushroom soup with basil cream.

I had the French onion. This is probably my favorite soup of all time, though really good corn chowder and lentil soup rank pretty high too. 

After lunch we walked literally a few feet over to the nearest Monsoon. It was quite small but I found a purse and several earrings that I really liked. We then went to Top Shop and Next, and I found lots of stuff I liked. I had planned to make this sort of my shopping weekend, and it couldn't have been easier. All the stores were near each other and I was able to find stuff I liked pretty quickly.

It got dark by about four p.m. so we took the bus back to the train station and then took the train back to Polegate. Bill came and picked us up and we all got fish and chips. There are two fish and chip places across the street from each other, John's and Ken's. I commented on this and Bill told me that Ken's was "horrible," only he pronounced it 'arr-able. 

The fish was good but I wasn't crazy about the chips. I watched a little cricket with Bill and then headed upstairs to unpack all my shopping loot. Then I didn't do a whole lot else, just read the pile of magazines Ba had gotten for me. In my room Ba put a little basket of goodies just like a hotel, with chocolate, tissues, face wash, and lotion. So sweet!

Sunday we got up and had tea and I said hello to Ba's brother and his wife, Richard and Jean. We then went to see my Dad's niece Emma and her two children. It was a pretty short visit, and then Bill drove us into Eastbourne, a nearby seaside town. We first stopped at Tesco and picked up a few things. (Because a trip to England without a trip to the grocery is apparently an impossible thing.) 

We went to the Curzon theatre where Ba said she used to see pictures as a child and saw Slumdog Millionaire. It was a beautiful movie, but really very sad. Not the "feel good picture of the year" it was purported to be.

After the film we went to a coffee shop and had cappuccinos together. I think Ba and I are actually quite a like in our tastes. Oh and before the movie we went and had Sunday roast at a little restaurant. It wasn't all that good but it was better than I expected and pretty typical English. 

We took the bus back to Hailsham and Bill once again came to pick us up. We got home and watched the news and I had scones with cream and jam. Bill remembered that I used to like them when I had come to visit before and insisted that I get some. 

Then I left bright and early Monday morning, catching the 5:15 a.m. train into Gatwick airport. All around a super fun and relaxing weekend. And Sussex is so beautiful, even a week after a snow storm everything was green and the snow drops were coming out. 

Bonjour Paris

At last, the recap of my Paris trip. I flew out early Saturday morning with one of the girls from my program, Meredith. We decided to walk around all day until we could check in to the hostel at four.

We took the Metro to the Louvre and crossed Pont Neuf to the Île de la Cité. 

We saw a building called something like the Ministry of Justice and walked past Sainte-Chapelle to Notre Dame.  

And on to Notre Dame. 

It is really very impressive with lots and lots of beautiful stained glass. 

We crossed the St-Michel bridge to the Latin Quarter and walked around there for a bit, then headed down the Seine. 

We passed the St-Germain area and found ourselves at the Musée d'Orsay, then at the Assemblée Nationale. 

We crossed another bridge to what I think is the Palais Royale. 

From there we walked down the Champs-Elysées, but all the trees were bare so it was not as nice as I remembered. 

We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. We did not go up to the top, but we got to look around it a little. 

Next we walked to the Tour Eiffel. Again, wanting to save money, we did not actually go up into the tower, but just walked around to Les Invalides. 

Although it was cold, it was really a lovely, sunny day. We got a little lost in the area around the Iéna metro stop but found our way soon enough.

By this time we could go to Montmartre, where our hostel was located. Luckily, it was in the charming, quiet part of Montmartre, not the seedy part closer to Sacré Coeur. 

After putting out things away we headed to a little bistro close by called La Maison Rose (the Pink House). It was really cute and they had a 16.50 euro prix fixe dinner. 

I had onion soup (not the usual deluxe cheesy wonder, but still good), blanc de volaille (chicken breast) with yummy white sauce, rice, and a little salad, and nutella crêpes. The hot, chocolatey crêpes were amazing after being really cold all day. 

We were pretty exhausted after walking around all day (and staying up virtually all night the day before) and went to bed shortly after returning to the hotel.

Sunday we decided to go to as many museums as possible because, being the first Sunday of the month, they were all free admission. We woke up, partook of the free croissant, baguette, cereal and coffee breakfast, and headed to the Louvre. 

It was pretty crowded but probably a lot better than it will be during the summer months. I saw some things I had seen before (i.e. Mona Lisa) but a lot of new things as well. 

I also got to revisit my favorite sculpture, Antonio Canova's Psyche reanimée pour le baiser de l'Amour. 

Another highlight for me was a roomful of Ingres. 

After a few hours in the Louvre we went to Sainte-Chapelle on the Île de la Cité. It is a cool place but not nearly as awe-inspiring as Notre Dame. They had a beautiful rose window. 

Next we went to Musée d'Orsay, but unfortunately the queue was hours long. There were seriously over a hundred people in line. So instead of going to the Catacombes like we should have, we went to the unimpressive Musée d'Art Moderne. 

The only things worth remembering were two Modigliani's and the Bonnard bathtub picture, which was the basis for a really excellent play I saw in New York a few years ago. 

We left for the Catacombes but ended up on the metro for an hour due to construction messing up our transfers and getting off at the wrong place a few times. Consequently, the Catacombes were closed when we got there. We made it to five museums and went to three, only actually saving money on the Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle because the Modern is free normally. Oh well.

For dinner we just went to a random restaurant by the metro stop for the Catacombes, but it ended up being quite good. 

I had pôtage de légumes (vegetable soup) and a sausage called Andouillette on the menu. It was definitely an intestine. But the mustard sauce it came with was pretty fabulous, so I didn't mind too much. 

Our final Paris activity was going to Sacré Coeur. It was night time but we did not think that would matter. The area we went to was completely full of touristy souvenir shops, cabarets, and sketchy randos. As we were leaving Sacré Coeur (we did not actually take the funicular up to see it, but got shots from the base) a creepy guy started talking to us and following us. We basically hid in a souvenir shop until he wandered away. 

The next morning we got up at 5 a.m. to make our 9 a.m. flight out of Beauvais airport. When we went downstairs to check out we discovered it was snowing. It made the city really beautiful, but it also made me really glad we were leaving. Walking around in the snow would have sucked. 

We took a taxi to the bus stop, a shuttle bus to the airport, got on our flight with only minimal delay, took a bus from Girona airpot back to Barcelona, and the metro back to my house. Quite a lot of travel time!

Paris is one of my favorite cities and it was just as pretty and fun and unique as always. Tomorrow I am going to England to visit Ba (my dad's mother) and spend a little time in London. 

A little about this week as well:

Went on Tuesday night to a club called Shoko and I really liked it. It is a nice size, not too smoky, on the beach, and as usual free to get in (because we know the promoter's name). Wednesday night I went to trivia night at Travel Bar Port, a foreigner hang out spot. I thought I was pretty good at trivia, but I was basically stumped on every question! Guess I'm not that good after all...When is the Scrabble Anagrams competition?

¡Buen fin de semana a todos!