this whole business of writing a blog is a great idea, but i feel a bit at a loss right now. i arrived on wednesday morning and i feel like so much has happened that i want to record and share. at the same time, i don't want to get it all jumbled up. we'll see how it goes; i think i may try to write several separate posts...but for starters i will give you a quick summary.
wednesday the flight arrived only one hour late. immigration took all of 30 seconds, not nearly enough time for my suitcase to have appeared on the belt. it did appear shortly thereafter, complete and with a nice new orange tag that said "heavy. lift with your knees." so, i did. luckily it has wheels so i did not have to keep it lifted for any length of time. i wheeled it over to the customs area where there is a big green sign stating "nothing to declare" (in spanish of course) and two men in uniform watching as people walk through to freedom. super easy, no questions asked.
after 16 years, there stood vanesa waiting for me as i exited customs and immigration. she was exactly as i remembered from so long ago. it seems now as if no time has passed since the last time i saw her; it must have, though, because she now has 2 children ages 13 and 8 and i am certainly no longer a college kid.
when we arrived at the house the family welcomed me with open hearts and arms. i feel completely comfortable here. (by reputation the spanish are very hospitable, but i think that my family is even more so than most.) i had a snack and then a nap. at 2:30 we had dinner. vanesa's sister natalia, her partner santanet and their 2 children joined us. then, i had another nap.
that evening vanesa had planned a small gathering of friends for a supper party. supper, of course, is at 10pm. wednesday was also the eve of the day of saint john so everyone was celebrating. since the following day was a holiday, no one had to work. we went to bed early, for a holiday, at about 3:30. it seems that on a regular day one goes to bed at around midnight, perhaps even later.
thursday natalia and family again joined us for the dinner meal (at 2:30). everyone hung around chatting and drinking coffee and such after dinner. i also took the opportunity to give everyone the gifts i'd brought since they were all here at once. no one seemed disappointed.
friday we got ourselves going on the early side and drove to the beach at Pals. we spent a few hours there playing in the sea and toasting ourselves in the sun. then we gathered ourselves and went for dinner at a place the kids adore where we dined on chicken, french fries and salad. they also make a very nice sangría there.
friday evening vanesa and i went into girona for a couple of drinks. we met up with one of the friends who was at the wednesday supper party. abram is a hot air balloon pilot. we didn't stay out too late because vanesa had a gathering saturday morning for the end of her sign language course.
then saturday after an early dinner we grabbed the 3:20 train into barcelona. there we met up with friends dany and rita and made a stop at MACBA (museu d'art contemporani de barcelona / barcelona museum of contemporary art). the permanent collection was closed but there were 3 temporary exhibits that we viewed. it was OK but my understanding is that the permanent collection is much better.
from there we went to café de les delicies, where the anarchists used to gather and plot, and we had a beer. and plotted. the place was very cool.
next, we went looking for a bar where dany's friend used to work. that bar had apparently closed some time back, but as luck would have it the taverna valenciana was open across the street. none of us had ever been there but it looked very inviting. we had a glass of wine and watched the end of regulation of the US / Ghana match. we had to leave before the overtime started in order to grab supper before the restaurants stopped serving - it was close to 11 pm.
we had a super nice supper at revoluciona't. we had some patatas bravas and a mixed salad to share. then we each ordered an entreé, and of course we all shared those as well. the food was awesome and the company even better.
after dinner we went to a place called la torna (the change) and shared a porrón. normally this odd shaped glass container is filled with red wine, but we had a surprisingly refreshing mix of lemon soda and beer. the porrón has a long spout and one pours the liquid into one's mouth, hopefully without spilling it. this is a feat indeed.
our last stop was at a bar called raím. it is a cuban bar and evidently super popular because it was jammed. however, we had to have a mojito. after watching carefully to make sure we know exactly how to make these deliciously refreshing beverages, we walked back to the apartment where we were all sleeping.
today we got up and went for coffee and a chocolate croissant. then we went to the MNAC (museu nacional d'art de catalunya / national museum of catalonian art). location, location, location. the museum is located in a palace on top of montjuic. the approach and the building itself are amazing.
the collections are vast so we chose to view modern art. i think we chose wisely. on our way out we did pop into the romanesque rooms to view the central apse from sant climent in taüll, which is from a church in catalunya and dates back to the early 12th century. it is one of the best preserved examples from this time period.
from there we hopped the train back to celrá. shortly after arriving, i went to the house of another of the friends from the wednesday supper party. roger is planning to do an intensive course in english at columbia university this fall and asked that i help him go over the application. it is one of those online applications that has several pages of questions and it's all written in english of course. so we made sure that he'd answered everything correctly.
now i'm going to read for a while and hopefully i can post this in the morning. for whatever reason i haven't been able to connect via the wireless router but i am just going to plug into the cable in the morning.
besos a todos
