Oops, where have you been girlfriend?

So, we are leaving Brussels, well, we left Brussels, and we are on a bus to Amsterdam, which is in Holland, which is in The Netherlands, which, I did not know. How did we get here you may be thinking... Well, about a week before our trip to Brussels, we realized how close the two cities are, so we were like, "hey let's just make our four day trip a 6 day trip." And that was that; and now we are staying 2 nights in Amsterdam and then taking a bus back to Brussels, to fly back to, what will soon no longer be our home, Barcelona. So there's the back story... I also want to add because this is kind of cool, in a, definitely-can't-do-this-in-America, type a way. Flying is so cheap here, we actually just bought a new flight home from Brussels, instead of changing the departure on the round trip flight we already purchased because the cost to change the departure time cost more than the tickets. I love budget flying!!! We seriously got to get on this America! 

More about Brussels, I really, really, like this city. It's cold, which I hate, (seriously though, nobody likes dry skin) and it kind of smells like urine, quite often actually, which I also hate, but think of it this way, what big city doesn't smell like fresh pee on occasion? Except DC, DC smells like flowers, which I still don't understand how. But if you bundle, and find some Chapstick that doesn't cost 8 euros, (hello, that's $10 american, for Chapstick WTF!?) you can really find some cool attractions here. 

Let's see... My favorite part, like what I truly enjoyed the most, but is a serious tease, is the holiday cheer. That's right, I said it... Holiday Cheer. They are setting up for the Christmas markets that begin next weekend, and it's beautiful. Side note: Christmas markets are apparently awesome everywhere in Europe, and we are trying to figure out how to see some, as in more than 1. Basically they build these tiny wooden houses, and set them up around the market squares and put a big old Christmas tree right in the middle. In Brussels the tree is massive, it's not the fullest of trees, and I suspect, it's not a. Pine, but they deck it out in twinkling led lights. My god, it's beautiful. But seriously it is just so pretty. I can't wait to go back and see if there are massive ornaments to go with the twinkle lights. 

        The vendor booths look like tiny log cabins built 100+ years ago, complete with straw roofs. Ahhh, I can only imagine the Belgian hot chocolate, and slightly carmalized waffles, to come out of there next week -sad panda🐼 I wish I could be there- and of course, despite my obsession with food, there is something I like just as much... SHOPPING! Hundreds of local vendors will set up shop for the month to sell their goods, to the people, who will wrap them up with pretty paper, tie them with a bow, and set them under a tree to give to their loved ones* (*loved ones/those they feel obligated to- despite how much you just want to squeeze them most of the time). Oh Christmas, I love you Christmas, my favorite time of the year. 

Okay, enough about Christmas. Another Belgium highlight is chocolate! Damn, these people really love chocolate; and so do I, muahhahahahaha-(crazy/evil chocolate-induced laugh). You know what else I love, things that are free. You know what's free, chocolate samples. I learned we like dark chocolate best, and even more, if it has crunchy hazlenuts or rice in the middle. Quick tip though, a tip given to us by a local. Go stuff your face with free samples, but then go to a supermarket, and buy a candy bar there. You'll pay half the price for some pretty phenomonal chocolate. 

Oh snap, just got to Amsterdam: let's wrap this up. The shopping is good. There are lots of fun boutiques, with things like a toilet paper dispenser that looks like a Polaroid camera accompanied with Polaroid picture toilet paper. (Please can we get this Noah?!) Another highlight is the saturday flea market. It wasn't huge but what they lacked in space they made up for in the amount of trinkets they could sell in such a small area. So many beautiful antique tea sets, clocks, bronze candle holders, furniture and more. My head was spinning with design ideas for both our home and teenie cakes (coming soon). I wanted everything. But hello, teenie, you are already over your baggage limitations, you can't bring more things home. Oh and surprisingly there is a huge middle eastern populations so go for the halal durum, it will be fantastic.

Okay that's a wrap. Go to Brussels it's really cool I promise. 

Editors note: this was originally written in my journal and published after Amsterdam when we could find wifi. 

I Came, I Ate, I Conquered (pt.2)

Day 3
Bagels, quiche lorraine, and some strange and delectable puff pastry with almonds and pastry creme kick started day three. On our way to dinner the day before we walked through the Notre Dame Cathedral and across the Seine. Today we continued on the tourist trail and walked along, around, and on top of Montmartre. We visited Rue de Clichy home of the famous Moulin Rouge and various sex shops, peep shows and even a museum dedicated to the dirty. I wanted to get tickets to go see a show at the moulin rouge but they were around 90 euro so I decided that money was better spent on food.

We walked up to the top of Montmartre, which is literally a giant hill, and wandered along the cobblestone streets. At the peak of the hill sits Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris) an incredible church that towers over the city of Paris. You can literally see the entire city from the church. There is some pretty cool history behind the construction of the church and it's role in French history so here's the wiki-link.

The temperature plummeted and it started raining once we reached the top of the mountain. So after taking in the sights we darted in to a small restaurant near the church before it started pouring. Another prixe fixe menu and another chance for me to get another well known Parisian dish, escargot. Snails are decent but snails doused in butter with chopped parsley are even better. I ordered the sea bass, which was perfectly seared and just melted my mouth. Toni got pasta with with a light basil cream sauce. The French can cook.

Day 4
Our final day in Paris was all about the Louvre. I was a little scared we wouldn't be able to go because we had our carry-on bag with us, which was slightly oversized for their baggage check, but the staff was very kind and let us through. A quick note to anyone who decides to visit. DO NOT wait outside at the central entrance for access and tickets. The staff out there are probably a little miserable from being out in the cold and dealing with thousands of tourists everyday so they were very brisk and unhelpful in shooing us out of line when they saw the size of our carry-on. I had read online that the underground gift shop/mall entrance at the Place de Carousel was a better place to go, so after getting kicked out of one line we walked a couple blocks down to the other. The staff here was much more helpful and allowed us in even with our slightly over-sized carry on and the line was probably an eighth of the size of the central entrance.

This post is running a little long so I won't bore you with all the things we saw at the museum. Needless to say it's an absolutely amazing experience. There is just so much history, world history and french history, stuffed into one museum. We spent 4.5 hours there and still didn't see everything but we did get to the Big 3 (Mona Lisa, Winged Triumph, and Venus). We didn't want to take a bunch of pictures at the museum but I couldn't help taking a few.

In Summary
Paris was incredible. I don't know how Parisian women are so skinny and all the men don't weigh 400 pounds.

I Came, I Ate, I Conquered (pt.1)

(A portion of my last post was about the FC Barcelona game. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties I'm unable to upload pictures from the game. I'll try and have them up ASAP.)

Oui mademoiselle, I will have some foie gras. Escargot, no problemo. On our little trip to one of the gastronomic capitals of the world I devoured everything I could get my mitts on: duck, snails, chicken, sea bass, liver, pastries, pies, stinky cheese, not-so-stinky cheese, and baguettes. The city was cool too.

Day 1
We stayed at an AirBnB apartment in the Republique area of Paris. The apartment was very small, even by Barcelona standards, but was apparently fairly well sized for Paris. The place overlooked canal St. Martin, had a bar on the ground floor and a few small restaurants and eateries next to it. We got in to the city at around 10 a.m. and stopped at Cafe Republique for my first French baguette sandwich, some coffee, and wifi.

We met up with our close friend and Paris spirit guide Lindsay Poulin after breakfast and quickly dropped our stuff at the apartment. Lindsay gave us a mini-tour of the city, her favorite train stop, places to shop, and most importantly places to eat. After we dined under the tower then headed home and took a much needed nap, which lasted all night (I had been running on 3 hours sleep for the past 36 hours).

Day 2
The culinary adventure begins. We had a late breakfast, or early brunch, at a a little restaurant next to the apartment. I ate liver. It was the only meal I didn't love in Paris. The listless organ was well cooked but severely in need of salt and seasoning. I did see a lot of the restaurant ordering and devouring the same plate so maybe my liver had a bad diet or I'm just not a liver guy. I also witnessed a Parisian woman putting mayonnaise on toast, like buttering her toast with mayo (gross). On the plus side everything else we ate at this place was incredible. Toni's chicken was the second best chicken dish I've ever tasted. My first plate of thinly sliced beets and a seasoned ricotta cheese was fantastic. And we got a decadent chocolate cake to finish all for around 20 euros. I got my food, so after lunch we went shopping.

Toni bought some stuff. I stood around. There was a very pretty salesclerk who almost convinced Toni to buy a gigantic (and expensive) bag. It started raining and, being used to the Barcelona weather, I started freezing my... toes off. We went back to the apartment, bought an umbrella left to meet Lindsay for dinner.

Restaurant Polidor has been serving customers since 1845 so the food has got to be pretty solid. It also happens to be one of the shooting locations for the movie Midnight in Paris (a favorite of mine). I dropped 35 euro for my meal plus 18 for Toni's making it our most expensive meal of the trip but hey how many times are you going to find yourself in Paris. The food there is like your mother's comfort food on steroids. Good ol' fashioned meat (or fish) and some silken mashed potatoes. Very simple, very well done, and very delicious.

I couldn't resist trying foie gras for the first time (unimpressed, guess liver really isn't my thing). I got the chicken in a velvety mushroom gravy sitting on top some of mashed taters. Toni got the steak and steak frites. Both the ladies also had pumpkin puree soup, which they loved. If that wasn't enough we also had lemon pie, apple pie, and tarte tatin (for an english speaker this is a very difficult dish to pronounce). I have to say this was the best chicken I've ever had in my life. I'm sorry Dad you're jerk chicken has been replaced. This place was so thoroughly decadent I tried to plan our entire last day around getting back here so I could have the beef bourguignon, alas it was not meant to be.

Because, packings hard...

I'm Because, packing is hard when you have to account for multiple countries, seasons, and even continents that you have never experienced before...

A lot of you, my dear friends, have at one point, inquired about how I would be packing for this trip, and let me tell you it wasn't easy. I did, (I think at least), a fairly good job... But not great, that's for damn sure. 

For those of you, that do not know the details of the trip. Noah and I packed up the contents of our home, put what was priceless to us in storage (a total of 8 boxes and three large pieces of furniture, and a few paintings) and we sold the rest. As for our clothes, we donated or packed them for our open ended trip to Europe, consisting of 2-3 months in Barcelona, and at least a month traveling Europe. 

For me, my clothes are precious. I have admired a well designed article of clothing since I was a teenie Toni, and over the years I collected quite the collection of beautiful things,. When I dress each morning it takes more than just the temperature to sway my decision, I touch each piece of fabric, think about my mood, where I'm going what kind of shoes I want to wear... It's a process; a process I enjoy every single time.

So what I am getting at, is, I didn't want to leave anything behind, I wanted to bring everything I have ever collected with me, because who knows how I am going to feel each day I am there, and who knows how cold or warm it will be? In the end I donated about half of my wardrobe and packed the rest but this is what I am finding, at least here in Barcelona. 

Where clothing is involved:

The things I thought I'd wear all the time, I never wear. And the things I packed and said I don't know why I'm packing this I probably won't wear it, I wear every day. And a few things, I donated, thinking I won't need this, it's excessive, I wish I had. 

At home in New England, I generally wear a cotton maxi skirt, paired with a ribbed tank top or a long sleeve cotton shirt, a light scarf, and a pair of wedges, or flats depending on the amount of walking I'm doing that day. That's my go to outfit; it's comfy, cute, and casual. So I packed 7 maxi skirts and countless long sleeve shirts. Because I of course thought, this is probably what I will wear all the time.

In reality, here in Barcelona I usually get dressed twice in the day, as the temperature drastically changes. In the morning/during the day, I wear a short shift dress with a bathing suit underneath paired with sandals or toms. At night I either wear a pair of jeans with an oversized sweater, or a long sleeved dress usually with my Clark wedged ankle boots.

So what I am saying is, I only barely overpacked when it came to clothes. I have exactly what I need, and the shopping here is incredible so it gives me an excuse to shop! 

Shoes however there are 3 pairs in my closet I have yet to wear... Oops! 

In case you want to know for your own trip this is what I never touch that I brought. Cotton long sleeve shirts, maxi skirts, blazers, t-shirts (cute and plain), any type of like nice dinner dresses, or party dresses, black pumps, leather riding boots, and another pair of heels. 

This is where I failed:

Medicine... Facewash... Razors... Chargers... Bathing suits

I don't know, if I was so caught up in trying to get everything else packed that I overlooked these things or I thought how easy will it be to get them when I get there. But let me tell you, women's razors are expensive, hard to come by, and pretty shitty quality. I think that spanish women use "veet", that instant hair removal lotion my mumma always told me to stay away from; either that or they are just naturally hairless. I think the former but who knows?

       They have face wash, but it's really hard to read the ingredients in a foreign language, and I'm pretty anal about what I put on my face.

      Medicine: I completely forgot to refil my prescriptions before I left, which will pretty soon send me on a journey trying to find my prescription medicine over the counter, or a pharmacy that will fill a US prescription. OOPS! Actually let me reemphasize: a MAJOR OOPS!

       Bathing suits I wear instead of undergarments every day. While packing, last minute, I took out a bunch of bathing suits and said "I don't need all of these stop being ridiculous teens". Well I wish I had them because when you live on the beach you are always wearing a bathing suit (now I know)

Last but definitely not least, CHARGERS. Right before we left the charger to my MacBook Pro broke. They cost a fortune at Apple. They cost 3/4 of a fortune at second hand stores, and they cost half a fortune online. Overwhelmed and out of time we didn't buy one and decided to get one abroad. Well they cost double a fortune here. And they basically only sell third party chargers which are known to catch on fire. Hello stressful. 

All-in-all I am happy I decided not to sacrifice fashion for this trip, and brought most of my pretty things. It feels nice going out and wearing the things I love. I wish I had thought a little less about clothes and a little more about essentials I also wish I had Hermoines bag so I didn't have to lug my suitcase around and pay overweight baggage fees. Because although I can pack like no other and fit a ridiculous amount of things in one bag, I can't make them weigh less. 

FC Barcelona, Paris & Pat

Going to my first ever professional fùtbol game. Dropped a pretty penny on the tickets but Barcelona is playing a scrub Spanish league team so they weren't too pricey (Real Madrid vs Barca tickets start at €270). I will take a billion pictures and post them all later tonight. 

We fancied a stroll over to Paris. The flights early in the a.m. tomorrow and we are AirBnB'ing for a couple of nights. I have been practing my "oui, oui's" and "hon, hon, hon's."

Met some blokes from the UK, and one South African, while we were out drinking mojitos last night. They are all part of crew that sails Micky Arison's yacht (the owner of the Miami Heat) and confirmed suspicions that Pat Riley is an asshole.  

Rest in Peace my dear friend

and here's what she says:

As you just heard from my male counterpart, something very important was taken from me as I slept 4 feet away. As I am grateful for my safety and the fact that much more could have been taken and wasn't, I am still sad to announce the loss of my beautiful Kate Spade purse.

It seems like just yesterday I was waking down the beach with my feet in the surf, collecting sea glass, being cautious that Katie wasn't hit by any salt water. And it was only later that evening that she was taken from me sea glass and all. Along with Katie, some photos that I can't replace, an iPad, a camera, a journal full of thoughts, my favorite lipsticks, some money and 2 wallets were taken. We have searched endlessly in second hand shops looking for a trace of any of them and it seems they just don't exist. 

I will not lie, I lost faith in this city after that. I felt that a place with such negativity couldn't be my home. I refused to accept it. I refused to embrace the positives this beautiful city had to offer. I felt completely lost. 

And although I had already adapted the mindset of it just being things that can be replaced. Also the hoping that he who took my things benefits from them much greater than I could. I still felt detached. 

It has been a long journey. And although I mourn for some of the little things that meant so much. I am slowly learning to be happy again, here in a city I worked so hard to belong to. 

The Good, The Bad, and the Truly Deplorable

The Good,

Another day another Meetup. This time something slightly less taxing than an hours worth of Samba. Toni and I met up with a group of Spanish speakers to be, and went on a tour of Ravales historic bars. The first stop on our tour was a street lamp... that was made by Gaudi and had a heated bench underneath it (but no booze). Our second stop was what looked like a horn in a tall granite wall. Our guide Raul explained in Spanish, I was then relayed in English, that the granite wall was the outside of an old cloister/convent and the horn was used to signal the hour of the day and visitors (still no booze).

We finally arrived at our first bar the London Bar. It is a modernist style bar and has quite the legacy as a frequent of Hemingway, Picasso and the like. I could feel the creative juices flowing as I sipped a cold pint in the same place as Hemmingway and immediately became more boisterous and ill-tempered, just like the man himself. We even found ourselves a few friends in the group, a couple in their 30's Sarah and Paolo. The rest of the group was third year architecture students from USC and the vibe just wasn't there.

Our second and final bar was Bar Marsella the oldest operating absinthe bar in Barcelona. "A round of Absinthe for the group good sir." We learned that the proper way to drink it is to place a cube of sugar on top of a fork resting on the glass of the licorice like substance. You then squeeze water onto the sugar cube to melt it over the absinthe and sip up. Our tour guide Raul started asking around for lighters and was harshly admonished by the barkeep, "No, that is not how you drink. You think Hemingway, Picasso drank like that? No. It is just some silly thing tourist's make." After that enheartened speech I pledged never to willingly light my absinthe on fire.

The Bad,
As great as the tour was, it was fairly short and we didn't cover as many Raval bars as I thought we would. I also learned that a meetup group that is intent on learning Spanish is also one in which English is spoken almost exclusively. But it was nice to understand a sentence without piecing it together in my head. Also on the way back we had a drunkard come up to us and warn us about being held at knifepoint and getting our stuff snatched but I guess he was just looking out for us. Absinthe also leaves a wicked hangover.

The Truly Deplorable,
We haven't been as diligent posting material these past couple days and here is why... When we got back home after our meetup and after more than enough absinthe it was extremely stuffy in the apartment so we opened our front door window. We live on the first floor and the door is gated so it's not as if anyone can enter without a key but you can see into the apartment and stick a hand through the grates. We were stupid and naive and left the window slightly ajar without locking it when we went to sleep. Some truly vile creature pushed the window ajar and used some contraption or long stick to jimmy a chair towards the door that was sitting on the opposite end of the room. On that chair was Toni's purse along with some very important and expensive things inside. We woke up the next morning to find the window open the chair overturned and the purse gone. It has taken many glasses of wine and long days at the beach to feel good about being in Barcelona again and to put this event behind us.  In the end, all we lost were items and we still have the most important things we need to enjoy Barcelona. We have become much more diligent in keeping track of our stuff and this was just one of those life lessons that hit very very hard. 

Let's get drunk and climb a mountain

Although the title is a semi hyperbole, that is actually exactly what we did. As we have mentioned a few times, we have been going to these "meet ups" all around Barcelona. This Saturday, we went on by far the coolest yet.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 7:00 in the morning which is basically unheard of in Barcelona; everyone sleeps in, and the sun is non-existent. We got on the metro and arrived on a dark city corner with about 15 people hanging out around a bus. (I feel like I'm giving you too much information and I am not going to have enough energy to write about the fun stuff, oh well, noah will be proud of all this detail. Anyways...) I ask in Spanish if they are here for the meet up, the woman confirms and she so generously informs me there is a bar open around the corner that sell espresso (thank god). Fast forward about an hour and we are on a giant (very comfortable) bus, zig-zagging up the side of a mountain about to arrive at the most beautiful vineyard I have ever seen. We all file off the bus and nobody cares where they are supposed to be, because all we want to do is look around. (Have a peek)

 

So the place is called Celler Joan Ametller located at La Morera de Montsant in the north of the Priorat. Okay let me break that down: La Morera de Montsant are those big mountains you see in the back, and Priorat is the county the mountains are located in. Priorat is well known for their tiny grapes that produce really strong wine. Cool with me. 

The grapes are really dark in color, very small, and concentrated with lots of sugar. Basically they are really sweet and delicious and I could eat a million. Picture time? 

                                                                    

After we arrive and accept how beautiful everything is and also accept that paying attention to anyone anything has to say is going to be impossible because all you want to do is explore and take pictures and really just sit there and take it all in, we go on a tour of the vines, get a quick lesson in geography and breached on their farming techniques. Which I find all very fascinating and would really like to take some time to learn more. We also got to have a little fun and pick our own grapes. 

Now that we are well versed in field work, we walk back up to the beautiful spanish country style home that houses the wine making equipment and a small store where they sell their wine, and they have set up a large breakfast spread for us. There were spanish omelettes, petite muffins, cheese, meat, deserts, fruit, various breads, juices, coffee and of course red, white and rosé wine. After we eat we tour the equipment inside and learn about the fermentation process. While we are at breakfast we think, well this is a wine tasting we should really drink as much wine as we can, however what we didn't realize was there is an actual wine tasting approaching. Meaning 3 more glasses of wicked strong wine! (Sorry wicked was appropriate there) of course I'm stoked, I can listen to this handsome spanish man talk about wine all day, I'm pretty sure that is a dream come true. However, at this point we are thinking, hold on we are hiking 12 km after this... Um hell no. Oh but we will, and I will fall, but that is to come my loves, that is all to come. 

I know this is all just a recount of what I did, maybe it's a little dry, but I didn't want to miss a beat, I really wish I could have described it in a way that would take you there with me but I really don't think I can. Let me try.

The sun is warm, but the air is cool, perfect for a light sweatshirt. As we approach the winery, we see the jagged clifs of the mountains, like natural stadium seating each tier layered with vines. It is stunning, the sun is shining in all the right places, making it hard to see but not hard enough to stop you from trying until you succeed in taking it all in. Your first reaction is to just sit and try and experience it with all of your senses. The smell of the grapes fermenting. The sight of perfect lines of grape vines behind the most beautiful honey colored stucco house with exposed brick detailed windows and giant wooden doors. The feeling of the pebbles rolling beneath your feet, and the still cool air resting on your skin coexisting with the sun beating on your neck. The silent sounds of solitude, only interrupted by the others slowly approaching. And not long after, the taste of sweet grapes, freshly squeezed juice, and then the finished product of wine. What a perfect feeling. 

You know what, we got a small break between the winery and the hike so you will to. I'm leaving this post to be continued...

Tonight, we dine

She said,

I don't know about you, but a beautifully decorated restaurant really calls to me. It says, wouldn't you look nice sitting at my white washed table with a glass of wine and some witty banter with your man, smiling and eating ever so gracefully. But here's the thing, most of the time I am eating everything I possibly can, so there is no room for banter, and there is usually food on my lap, oil on my dress, and maybe some type of sauce on the side of my face, i.e. not so graceful. So as you can assume by now, our first dinner out in Barcelona, was to a pretty little place called "Bodega la Peninsular". Noah read about it somewhere, and we stumbled upon it on one of our completely out of the way on purpose walks home. I peeked in, and knew it was for me, I mean, it met my restaurant criteria checklist. It was off the main drag on the corner of narrow ally: check! it was a Pinterest decor dream come true: check! The waitress looked like someone I want to be friends with: check! Oh and I mean the food looked, smelled, and sounded good on the very well designed menu, check!

And you know what, it was pretty damn good! I got the house red for a euro and some change, noah got a beer, for about the same price, and we picked a few tapas to split (our new favorite way of eating). At the end of the night we were completely unsure of what we ate, mostly because the menu was fairly undescriptive, to support the del dia theme of what's fresh in the market that morning. So we asked hey what was in this delicious fried thing on a stick that resembles the taste of the perfect mozzarella stick, and why is it black? The waitress, who I'm still hoping to some how become friends with, grabs the chef and he brings out an uncooked one to tell us all about it, in very rapid Spanish, which we were somehow able to follow...most of. And that was the coolest part. 

However, after we left, we were still a tad hungry and we said maybe one more tapa wouldn't hurt, so we head to this place that was recommended to us, "Jaica" and that is where the food magic happened, and although Bodega La Peninsular was good, I will probably never go there again knowing just how spectacular they do it right down the street at Jaica, where the wine is smooth, and slightly chilled, the calamari Andalusia is melt in your mouth amazingly fresh, and everything, is seasoned to absolute perfection. I love food, and I love Spain.

He said,
Decor? That's why we ate there? Sure the decor was fine, "La Bodega Peninsular" had all the essentials: tables, chairs, a bar and a chef. The food was rich and elegant and presented beautifully on white plates. But I haven't quite gotten used to Spanish style portions so, as Toni mentioned, we left hungry. As good as the food was nothing in particular blew off my buds. Here is what we ate: Croqueta de Chipiron (€1.90), Bomba de Barceloneta (€2.50), Buñuelo de Bacalao (€2.20), y Crujiente de Queso (€4.90) along with a beer and glass of red for €17.

The big ball of fried goodness is a "Bomba." It is basically a mixture of potato and egg, stuffed with some kind of meat, rolled in breadcrumbs and deep fried. Our particular Bomba was filled with a gooey salty mixture of beef and fresh cheese. It was small but tasty. The potato was very light and the cheese was fairly mild so you could taste the meat. After finishing one I wanted twelve more (look what you've done to me America).

The small ebony oval of fried wonderful is a "Croqueta" and yes it is the same thing as a croquette. We ordered the croquette of the day, which was squid cooked in it's ink (thus the black hue). The texture was very strange as it seemed to flake like fish and it tasted like a seafoody mozzarella stick. A delicious mozzarella stick. I had no idea what was in the croquette until we later asked the chef.

The "Buñuelo de Bacalào" might be my new Spanish favorite. It is basically a puff pastry like combination of cod, potato, chives, and egg. The egg makes it feel very light and I love biting into chunks of fresh cod. The buñuelo was easily my favorite dish.

Lastly we had cheese "Crujientes," which translates to cheese crisps. These were very similar to a cheese knish and were topped with a berry preserve. I'm not the biggest fan of these things, they were very average and Toni ate most of them.

All in all the meal was good but not great. My favorite part of the night was when the chef came over to our table afterward. We were asking the waitress about the menu, the chef overheard and he came out to show us and explain to us how he made the different dishes. He even took an uncooked croquette and bomba and split them in two to show the different layers and textures of the dishes. Fun. 

Because, she loves the beach.

I have this indescribable, completely unexplainable, love for the beach. So every morning, I wake up make an espresso, and then walk to the beach. It takes about two minutes to get there, and it's impossible for me to get lost, because I only have to walk straight down my street, thank god, because  a good sense of direction was not given to me. Everyone wakes up pretty late in this city, so when I first get there, it's really just me, and a few people exercising. I just sit, and I stare at the ocean, I run my fingers through the sand, dig holes with my toes and bury my feet, and I take it all in. Everything I'm feeling, the breeze, the sand, the salty spray of the ocean, the cigarette butt- ew gross just kidding, but really there are a lot of them. And that is my meditation. It's the quietest my mind ever is, or will be, and that is why I love the beach. It's the only place I'm ever alone. Eventually I pick up a book and read, write in my journal,or pull out my cannon and take what I think are some artsy snaps, which I'm unable to share right now due to the untimely death of my computer charger. Here's what I got from my iPad though to hold you over until the MacBook is back up and running. 

El Apartamento

Understandably, many of you have been asking to see our new digs. I have been taking the lazy way out, and sharing the photos that were advertised to us by the landlord. Noah however said, "Give the people want they want, let me take them on a tour." So here is Noah, and our new home. It is small but it's all we need.

Sunday Morning

Dancing Guy
Your average Sunday morning. When you wake to the sound of a marching band rumbling down the street at the ungodly hour of 10:00. Although, for those first few groggy moments of waking, I thought it was WW3: Zombie Apocalypse. Head to the cafe for an espresso and some bravas (spicy potatoes), bust open the journal. Take in the sights sounds and smells. Feel very James Baldwin about the whole thing (no he's not the other Baldwin brother, look him up). And then walk into this...

and dance with a random old Spanish lady. She loved it.

Settling In

Dude says,
For some inexplicable reason I keep getting about 5 hours of sleep a night. I'm like "Dat Dude" (Marcellus Wiley) who slept only a couple hours a night during his NFL career. That's how hard I do Barca.

Little update on things here. I started using this site called MeetUp to find fun things to do and meet people in the city. I haven't been to any activities yet but have signed up for a few intercambios (language exchanges) at a couple different bars in the city. Bars seem like the perfect venue for that sort of thing, as my Spanish seems to get exponentially better after a couple of drinks. I've also signed up for some club nights and dance classes to boogie on down and make an ass of myself. And I found a pick-up basketball club so I can show these Europeans what a real baller looks like, and attempt to exercise while I'm here... attempt.

More Food 

I think I found my cheap hole-in-the-wall eatery so far. It's a little falafel and shawarma restaurant three minutes away. I love me some good shawarms on a nice doughy Laffa. Cheap and delicious. We also did round two of shopping the other day.

Dos Kiwis, eggs (from the market), pepper, bread, strange juice, sugar, slice'o'brie (market), and cured sausage (market) for... €7.56 or $9.54. Bread, sausage and Brie was lunch before beach. And the rest of the sausage and a couple eggs were breakfast the next day. I'm not really sure what cured meat we got but it was delicious and gave me the sheets.

In Response to "Our First Dinner"

Um hello, but no! Gal here, and let me tell you, I did most of the cooking, Noah cut the vegetables. It's amazing how the male brain works. Dinner at home was completely delicious, even though it was a dish we have made a million times, the fresh local veggies really make all the difference in the world. As for the wine, I agree with noah,  it was awful. It was so sweet it made my jaw hurt, literally. I'm never letting noah pick the wine again.

Our First Dinner

Man says:

Gal has been feeling under the weather since we made our move so our first meal out in the city was in our apartimiento. I mean we can't eat out every night. I figured it would be helpful to plot our spending for bookkeeping purposes (Hi Dad) and so if anyone wanted they could follow in our footsteps. So here is a rundown of our first meal in Barcelona:

Pasta with fried garlic, tomatoes, and buffalo mozzarella ($4.00)
Pan with olive oil, mozz & toms (+ $1.00)
Smoked oysters (+ $1.00)
White wine - Maus Suau Blanc (+ $3.75)

So altogether $9.75 (or 7.79 euro) for a tasty home cooked meal for two. Toni helped... with the pasta. We got all this at our local supermercado and produce stand a two minute walk away. Just don't ever get this wine, ever, it was pretty close to un-drinkable. But I'm a man and finished the bottle anyway. 

How We Got Here

Bienvenido friends, family, and funky felines. Guy here for my first Barca Blog post. Gal likes to ramble (as you can see), so allow me to give you a little backstory on how we came to Barcelona. The two of us have been living together just outside Boston, MA for the past couple years. We've been pinching pennies while both working full(ish) time in anticipation for our trip. I just finished up school, which allowed us the freedom to book a trip and aimlessly wander the Barca beaches. This blog is a way to capture and share our adventure.

Boston to Barca (via London)

Virgin Atlantic is by far the best airline I've ever flown. First off they give you a toothbrush, toothpaste, sleep mask, ear plugs, pillow, blanket and socks. Leave it to the Brits to give you complimentary fuzzy socks. On top of that the food was fantastic (I had miso-glazed chicken with rice and veggies) and not just airline fantastic but actually really good. There is also a water fountain next to the bathroom, which I love because I always feel guilty pressing the attendant button every couple of minutes in order to get a sip of water (are water bottles that expensive?). And my 6th and 7th glass of wine continued to be complimentary. The kindly British accent also makes the flight attendants seem that much nicer than their American counterparts. I'm sure the attendant was genuinely happy when she came by and said, "Oh, you again."

We landed at Heathrow airport at 4:00 a.m. Boston time and unfortunately all the vino did not help me sleep on the plane. Fortunately, I have made it a point to have a regional beer in any country I visit and there were plenty of pubs in the airport. I had three hand-drawn pints of Lia Fail, a wonderfully light and hoppy Scottish Ale, that put me right to sleep. Two hours later we boarded for Barca and I slept soundly through the plane ride.

El Apartamento

It's small. By American standards it's very small. Pictures upcoming once we figure this blog thing out a bit more. It does have all the essentials bathroom, kitchen, table, and bed. We even have a second bedroom so I can escape the Gal, although both bedrooms are within arms reach. But who cares? I mean it's part of the experience, right? And it helps to have beach at the end of the street.  

Gal says too much

Gal says:

Hello, it's me, Gal, i.e.. Antonia or Toni or Teenie, depending on who's reading this at this given time.  Lets just say starting a blog is not as easy as you think it's going to be, especially when there are 2 people making all the decisions. There are fonts and layouts and colors and background photos... Let's just say it took us a while to agree on everything. Enough about the logistics, I know you just want to know about Spain. Here's the problem though, I really don't know where to start. First of all it's insanely beautiful. We took a taxi from the airport to our apartment which took about 20 minutes; that is 20 minutes of my face pressed up against the window trying not to miss the sun set behind the mountains. After 20 minutes of trying very hard not to miss anything at all, we twist and turn up and down what seems like 20 different teeny tiny ally ways and we arrive at the front door of our apartment in Barceloneta. Barceloneta is a small village within the city of  Barcelona, best known for its gorgeous sandy beaches. We live about 40 meters from the beach (hey I'm European now, I've gotta use the metric system) in a very very small first floor 2 bedroom apartment, where I am now, listening to a neighbor sing opera on the street, doesn't get more European than that. We have the worlds absolute smallest kitchen equipped with everything we could need, except for an oven, which has proven to be okay for now as there is an amazing bakery about 2 blocks away in the market square. The second bedroom noah calls his den, I call my closet, (it's all perspective ya know), the living room has a small couch or maybe a love seat which is okay because we are in love, a table for 4 and a television which we are trying hard not to use. We are in Spain after all, who needs TV when we have Gaudi? Which we experienced for the first time today completely by accident on our way home from the apple store  which does not account for the exchange rate by the way!!! Make sure you have all the appropriate chargers ahead of time because it may look like it's the same price but remember to add that $.30 to every dollar, thank you but no. More about Gaudi, we stumbled on the cathedral in all of its beauty this afternoon after I insisted on checking out some Spanish fashion. What do you even say, other than my neck hurts from looking up. At this point I'm sure you have realized, this post has no direction and I'm completely all over the place but that's because we have just done so much in 2 days, giving a detailed account would be the size of book 7 in the Harry potter series. I promise to be more focused in the future, but until then here are some notes:

• The sand is so thick on the beach it feels like it's hugging your feet
• There are bars everywhere, in the sand, on the corner, in the market
• Wine is cheap, really cheap, we're talking €1,50 por una copa, oh and delicious
• The sea is so clear it feels like a big salty swimming pool
• Tapas are the best way to eat, you never have to decide what you want, just get everything
• The neighbors come alive at night, music, singing, talking and lots of it, loudly
• Fridges are small because you are supposed to go to the market everyday for fresh food

Hope you feel like you are on the same page as me now. I'm going to sleep because I have a cold to kick and lots to do tomorrow. 

-teenie out