Apparently we drink wine by the bottle now.
Barcelona – from the moment we stepped off the plane, it was obvious we were not in the United States anymore. I have a feeling we may not be able to truly appreciate Barcelona for what makes it unique because we are still in wonder at the, well, Europeaness of it all. I wonder if many of the things that endlessly intrigue, amuse and/or confuddle us now will eventually become routine, pedestrian. For example: the wooden elevator that escorts us to our residencio. The large door to our building that has a smaller door subset within. The scooters speeding around all over the city. The tiny cars, including two Smart cars so small they can fit into one combined space. The sounds of people chattering about in Catalon or Spanish. The sounds of ambulancias that I previously had only heard in the movies or in films from my international terrorism class. The products in the grocery stores, which look so familiar, yet in a foreign language. Coke Lite, instead of Diet Coke. Ordering some variation of coffee, and never knowing whether it will be an espresso shot or something a tad larger (but no where near tall, vente or grande). Speculating what might be on the menu, until the waiter takes pity on you and brings you the English version of the menu (and you learn what you speculated was dead wrong). Forgetting that 5 euros really isn’t 5 bucks. Endless streets filled with quaint buildings, with flower and laundry filled terraces. A store where you can get Chanel cosmetics on the first floor, and plain groceries on the second. The negative one floor. Bottles of wine cheaper than one glass of wine at home. Lack of prominent street signs on the street itself, instead being hidden – in small print – on the buildings. People gathered around the television in bars for futbol. Prevelance of smokers, including up to date cigarette machines (unfortunately). While we do have the curious constant sensation that we are in Europe, things are still very familiar. It is probably because Barcelona is a cosmopolitan, large city, and because you can actually get the menu in English if you want.
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| From Barcelona |
We love walking through the curving, winding streets and alleyways, and gazing at the unique architecture.
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| From Barcelona |
However, without a doubt, our favorite thing about Barcelona so far is the food. (Perhaps we should have made this a food blog, and then our obsession with food would be acceptable). We have received wonderful restaurant recommendations from the owner of the hostel where we are staying. The portions are noticeably smaller here, which is good because it all is so delicious. The portion size combined with walking should keep us in check. We hope.
We read that Spanish food is very simple, and puts the focus upon quality ingredients. We would agree with that. Every day for breakfast for the last three days, I have had freshly squeezed orange juice. One of our favorite lunches has been the lunch we had today at the market, simple sandwiches consisting of jamon serrano and manchengo cheese. (Okay, it was one of our favorites until a pigeon decided to poop on Sean’s sandwich, and we had to split mine instead).
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| From Barcelona |
Our dinners have been fantastic, each one better than the other. We’ve been dining the way the Spanish do, never eating before 9 or 10 p.m. So far we’ve had various tapas; ensaldas with creamy gorganzola cheese; two different dishes with sweet apples, one duck and one chicken; grilled tuna with olive oil and tomatoes; chocolate mousse with mascapone cream and crunchy tidbits; and always, a bottle or carafe of wine.
We already have had a change in our itinerary. We plan to stay in Barcelona through Monday, and are heading to San Sebastian, Spain, by bus. We’ll stay there for a few days, then we’ll be heading to Paris for about a week (squee!) to stay with our friend Matty, who is graciously letting us crash on the couch in his company-funded apartment while he is there for work. More to come about Barcelona in future posts.
Why yes his name is Fabulous, why do you ask?
With all due respect to all of the family and friends who we left behind, and who we will miss tremendously, the hardest part about going on this trip was leaving our cat, Fabulous. (I can say this, because said family and friends already know I am a crazy cat lady). Although we originally planned to find him a temporary home before we put any plans in motion, we ended up selling our house unexpectedly. For a while, it looked like we were going to have to fit Fabulous into our backpacks, because finding a cat lover to care for him who did not have any other cats proved to be a challenge. (True to his name, Fabulous insists upon being the only cat, as my brother-in-law could tell you. Our attempt at adopting a second cat resulted in Vivian living at Gary’s house after Fabulous terrorized and bullied her to no end. He looks innocent, I know, but he earned the occasional nickname Trouble Cat for a reason).
Luckily, Judy, our friend Tony’s mother, came to the rescue. She graciously agreed to adopt Fabulous for the year, which we appreciate so much. We know he is in good hands, but it is still hard to walk away from him as he is a constant part of our lives. Fabulous is not one of those cats who you never see except for feeding time. He is somewhat like a dog, greeting us at the door, following us around, and snuggling on the couch.
Sean did send me a link to a blog once where someone took their cat on a round the world sailboat trip. I am a crazy cat lady, but not that crazy.
REI is our new Home Depot.
Back when we were renovating the Money Pit, not a weekend went by where we did not visit Home Depot or Lowes. At least twice – and sometimes three times – each day. Now we live at the REI at South Side Works. When we discovered that there was an REI in Robinson, we got excited and went there to mix it up. (It has the same stuff as the South Side Works store, by the way). In addition to shopping at many brick and mortar stores, we received 30 packages in the mail. Because we only had a short period of time, and we are picky and indecisive (this includes Sean, who at one point was deciding between what seemed to be a million pairs of pants), we ordered tons of stuff to try. I think the UPS guy hates us, because he had to carry multiple packages up the steps for the last few weeks.
Although I suppose it would have been entirely possible just to bring stuff we already owned, nothing we owned seemed to be right for a one year, live out of your backpack trip around the world to multiple climates. Luckily many have gone before us, and have prepared extensive packing lists from which we worked. I’ll be posting about all of the stuff we are bringing, because I know many are curious about how exactly we are going to live out of a single backpack each. I am still not sure myself. We’ll see what makes the final cut tonight. One would think that we would know exactly what we are bringing, considering we leave tomorrow, but true to form, we are not yet packed.
Shaving off the pounds will be especially important, because at this point I’m not sure how I am going to carry my backpack. I hurt my knee when I attempted to begin the Couch to 5K running program earlier this month and I have been hobbling and limping around ever since (bursitis, apparently). I did not stray far from the Couch portion of the program. In fact, it was all the orthopedic surgeon could do to stifle a laugh when he inquired exactly how much running I was doing. I think he was expecting me to announce my attempt at running a marathon or something, not tell him that twice I alternated running and walking for 20 minutes on the treadmill. The Couch to 5K program does seem like a good way to ramp up for non-runners (http://www.c25k.com/) but I have come to the conclusion that running is too dangerous for a person with crappy health insurance.