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Published: August 29th 2009
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MG 1665
balcony at the hostel overlooking our nice street. Hello,
After seeing the Alhambra in Granada we woke and started our little morning routine. I like to get cafe con leche (coffee with milk) from a little cafe. It´s what we would call espresso and milk though. Claire doesn´t drink coffee but usually has tea. We didn´t leave ourselves much time, only 45min to get out of the hostel and get to the train station. We usually can get to the train station fairly quick despite taking public transportation because we usually have been to the train station once before (when we arrived!). Since we had come in by bus this time, and the train station was in a different spot, our bet that we could orchestrate the departure in 45min was a bit optimistic. We ended up making it to the station via cab and through security with a couple minutes to spare and again, mucho sweaty. There's a little story behind making it in time, but you can use your imagination to picture multiple sets of directions for buses, periods of time when cabs are
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At the market with the piggies; they look happy enough. in abundance but we are not interested, followed by periods of time with no cabs but when we are very interested. And all of it occurring through time-constrained exchanges of mixed spanish, english, and hand gestures. So, we will leave more time, next time.
The 1st train took us back to Madrid and the 2nd train took us to Barcelona. Took up most of the day because the 1st train was slower, and because it was actually a long trip - South to North. We stepped out of the local Metro station onto Las Ramblas which is apparently the most widely known street in Spain. We didn´t like it. Super busy and tacky with hustlers everywhere. We checked a few hostels and found rooms to be 60-75 Euros for 1 night! The third place we checked was one street over and desptie also being very busy, it was a much more attractive street (Puerto del Angel). With a little bit of feinting, we negotiated 50 Euro and even had an electric fan thrown in the next night (oooo´s and ahhhh´s from the readers). We stayed all three nights here (Sun-Tues).
The first night we just ate and walked
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2 days past what should have been laundry day, bathing trunks and long underwear, flexing after a hamborguesa! down to the water.
On Monday, we visited a Cathedral designed by Gaudi. Construction was started in 1882 and it´s not done yet; completion slated for 2020. To me, this was the coolest construction/building/tourist thing I had seen yet. It was really amazing. Unfortunately, and in line with most of the things we have tried to document, pictures do not do it justice. After a short break, we checked out, guess what, another church. It was also cool 😊. Monday night I had my favorite meal. Hamburguesa with goat cheese on top, no bread. Holy cow indeed. Whatever tapa Claire had was also amazing. It was some sort of breaded thing (croquetta?) with some ham and cheese in it. It sounds simple, but it was much different than all the other ham and cheese concoctions we´ve been having so far. Top it off with some cerveza for me and vino for Claire, perfecto. Oh yea, we upped our daily dose of gelado from the usual 1/day to 2.
On Tuesday, we visited the Pablo Picasso museum. It showcases his early works and thus had only a little of his cubism towards the end of the exhibit. We were
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Gaudi church both a little surprised to remember that he was a relatively recent major artist (188? to 197?). It was neat but I wish I knew something more of art so that I could properly appreciate. After a quick break, we checked out the waterfront and then a museum of Barcelona that was actually built over an archaeological dig so that you can see how the building materials and method evolved through the centuries. We ate at a place called Sante Ana in the evening and ordered mixed (seafood and meat) Paella and sangria. These are both Spanish classics and we were happy to enjoy them at least once before we left Spain. We also had the best salad so far at this place, melted cheese with hazelnuts and a carmel vinagrette, probably other stuff as well, wow real good.
On Wed., Claire was not feeling well in the morning so we rested for a bit. We did manage to check out Barcelona from a big hill at the top, here is a video link for it: http://www.youtube.com/user/noamtravels. Barcelona was a great city: We
were nervous upon arrival because we hated it's most famous street (las ramblas) but fortunately everything else about it was great: rich history, beautiful, affordable, and great food. We then caught our train into France. France is kind of crazy and we have already had some great experiences about which to write in the next update. I only wish these keyboards weren't so strange. Thanks for the comments and hope all is well back home!
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gaye
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why is the whopper angry?
Claire, could you explain to me the advertising reasoning for an angry whopper? I found that amusing. You guys look darling in all the pictures and I'm glad to hear Ryan does his own laundry. I've been following along with a map of Spain and was wondering if you saw the Great Pyreneese going into France. And Ryan, do you finally have some clean digs to wear?