tapas

Sunday, March 29: last day of vacation

Posted on by Susan

Today was the last day of vacation, and we really did not do much. We had a late breakfast (because we lost an hour with the time change). Then we packed up all our purchases (mostly clothes I got over the past two weeks).

We wandered around Barcelona, but it was packed PACKED with people today. It wasn’t easy to get around in some places. Many stores were closed since it’s Sunday so that’s probably why people were just out and about.

Here is some of what we did today:

Bought some (more) shoes at this really colorful store.

Bought some (more) shoes at this really colorful store.

Stopped to listen to this fine group of musicians, who had their bikes in a pile beside them, which raised some questions about traveling safely, at least in my head

Stopped to listen to this fine group of musicians, who had their bikes in a pile beside them, which raised some questions about traveling safely, at least in my head

Went back to this place for lunch because we enjoyed it so much last night ( and of course they remembered us, and chatted with us since they weren't that busy)

Went back to this place for lunch because we enjoyed it so much last night ( and of course they remembered us, and chatted with us since they weren’t that busy)

Saw this interesting shop. It had a bunch of customers and I wandered in. It's candy, but only small varieties that you put in a glass jar, ranging in size from baby food to peanut butter-sized. Crazy, but I bet they'll do well all summer.

Saw this interesting shop. It had a bunch of customers and I wandered in. It’s candy, but only small varieties that you put in a glass jar, ranging in size from baby food to peanut butter-sized. Crazy, but I bet they’ll do well all summer.

Saw this guy cooking rotisserie chicken outside his shop

Saw this guy cooking rotisserie chicken outside his shop

We hadn’t had paella at all during our trip, so thought we had better do that tonight. We probably should have found a small restaurant on a side street instead of the one we chose on a main thoroughfare. Our dinner (seafood paella) was not great, neither good nor bad. I had hoped for delicious!

We are leaving early tomorrow morning and of course I’m hoping our trip back is uneventful. It will be a long travel day, regardless.

Adios,

-Susan

Thursday, March 26: Barcelona

Posted on by Susan

We left Lleida at about 9:30 this morning. There was something a little off with that hotel, the Nastis, and although I guess I slept okay, I was glad when we left.

We headed toward Barcelona and arrived in the city at about noon. Arriving was really just the first hurdle. Next we had to return the rental car by finding the Hertz drop off in the middle of the city. It was tricky because of all of the traffic on the major road, the inability to see the numbers on any building as we quickly drove by (there was no way we were going to slow down), and again: our lack of GPS.

We finally figured out where the storefront should be, but of course there was no Hertz sign there. We turned around and drove back. At the time I thought we were very close to the address, a long bus drove by us slowly, completely blocking my vision. We decided to park the car and walk and look. We found a spot in the street right away, which is as improbable as finding one quickly in New York. We were able to find Hertz and get rid of the car.

We need to get another bag to carry all of the things we have bought, but for now we have a bunch of shopping bags. They were sort of cumbersome to deal with as we tried to hail a cab, but we did it, got to our hotel in a really nice part of the city, and checked in.

Another improbability: I found an Apple Store just a five minute walk from our hotel. We went immediately because I needed to get my iPad rebooted. Fortunately they were able to do that as I waited (there were probably 60 or more people sitting at tech support tables). We were out of the store in an hour altogether, and then had some tapas and wine. My iPad now is wiped clean, but I’m okay with it and happy it works (note to self: do not upgrade until you read what people say about it.)

We walked around by our hotel this evening, and arranged to take a tour tomorrow of la Sagrada Familia, a huge church which is the major attraction of its type in Barcelona. It is interesting especially because construction began in1882 and won’t be completed until 2041.

Adios,
-Susan

A cute tapas place we went to

A cute tapas place we went to

Long drive, long ordeal, long time putting up with me :-)

Long drive, long ordeal, long time putting up with me 🙂

Sunday, March 15: Madrid

Posted on by Susan

Sunday, Madrid.

(We are here until Tuesday morning, then we pick up our rental car and begin driving – to Lisbon, then back into Barcelona, stopping all along the way. We have to finalize our route there, and may figure that out later today.)

It is nice weather to walk around Madrid, and that’s what we’ve been doing. That, and drinking more coffee than I ever drink in an effort to get myself on Spanish time.

Last night we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant sort of close to the soccer stadium, Asador Donostiarra. We shared some Spanish wine and appetizers first: prawns, anchovies, croquettes – and could have left it at that.
But, no. We ordered more food.
Me: squid. Him: steak (cooked at the table, which was interesting) . We should have left it at that and I certainly intended to. I had seen nothing chocolate on the menu, and mentioned that to the waiter as my excuse for skipping dessert. He told me they had chocolate cake in the kitchen and it was fantastico, and that I had to have some. Backed into a corner, I heard myself say “Really? Great! Uno slice, por favor,” as Roger ordered rice pudding.
It turned out the cake was good as he claimed, but it turned out I was glad we didn’t skip dessert. The young couple sitting next to us got chatty after agreeing to take our picture. They were on a weekend getaway from their home in Israel and were very interesting to talk with.
(This is known as Justifying Dessert.)

Today we went to the Museo Sofia, a contemporary art museum in a beautiful, very old building. It was fun, but some art just annoys me (did those colored wood pieces really need to be under the protection of glass?) and causes me to ask myself whether I could have made a name as an artist had I just realized a painting can be finished after drawing just a simple line down the center of the paper.

Tomorrow: the Prado museum!

I bought a couple of shirts/blouses this afternoon (but am nowhere near being wardrobed) and we had lunch at a very good tapas place. I’m loving Spanish food! Since I’m eating so much of it, I need to find and buy running shoes, shorts, and a bathing suit pronto, then put them to work!

Adios,
-Susan

This painting could be of me: jet lagged (still), eating too much (this will continue), and physically inactive (must change that).

This painting could be of me: jet lagged (still), eating too much (this will continue), and physically inactive (must change that).

I should have glued down my kids' creations and sold them!

I should have glued down my kids’ creations and sold them!

At dinner Saturday evening.

At dinner Saturday evening.