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Published: September 30th 2008
I thought I had missed my chance at getting some pics of the Alps, but about 15min after taking off from Zurich I saw them in the distance. Still too far to photograph, but a pretty good view. Then all, of a sudden, clouds!!! Damned clouds again! Turbulence forced the pilot to climb above the clouds so the Alps disappeared. It´s like the half hendl in Germany*. Luckily, a short while later the clouds cleared and I got some good shots. I have a lot more shots, but I´ll probably need to tweak them a little in Photoshop once I get back.
Arrived in Barcelona around 830 last night, and it was a huge change in climate from Zurich. The a/c on the train in from the airport was off and or broken so it wasn´t a pleasant ride in. For some reason it stopped on the tracks for about 20min (probably so the conductor could get some fresh air!) with no reason given. Finally got to the correct station and made my way to the city streets. The directions I got from the site I booked my hostel at weren´t too clear, so I ended up walking the wrong
way for about an hour. "Walk straight down" actually meant "do a 180 THEN walk straight down the street". Everyone I spoke to either didn´t speak english, or had no idea where the street was. Finally ran into a lady who didn´t speak English, but did know where the street was. 3yrs of h.s. Spanish actually paid off!
Made my way to Las Ramblas today for an initial investigation. It was definitely craziness. People covered the strip and every stool at all the tapas joints. There are a lot of alleys to explore, so I´m sure I´ll head back over the next few days. A little bit of what I saw is shown in the pics. One thing´s for sure, Spanish pasta isn´t that great - I can cook better than the foods I tried today, which bummed me out. Tomorrow I´ll steer clear of the pastas and go for the paellas. Planning on taking a cooking class on Thursday - paella, tapas and sangria. A couple more dishes for my restaurant menu!
*Rob and I tried unsuccessfully multiple times to get a half chicken to eat. The first was in Berlin at the Hauptbonhauff (central station).
Tried to order it, but was told unequivocally, absolutely, arms wavingly NO by the lady behind the counter. The language barrier failed us, as what this actually meant was you have to wait 5min - as a few customers were served our chickens after we had already ordered something else. Rob claims she just refused to sell it to me specifically, but I´ll assume weren´t done yet. We arrived in Munich (after the no hotel for a night marathon waiting game) and passed a vendor roasting chickens on the street - right next to a bunch of live chickens walking around in the yard. Just wanting to get to the hotel to sleep, too tired to stop, we figured we´d either come back later that night or the next day. I mean, it´s on the way to the hotel from the train station, we´ll have plenty of opportunities. The next day, no vendor. Day after that, no vendor, etc, etc, etc. The morning we were leaving - there he was again, setting up shop, throwing chickens on a spit. At the English Garden in Munich, in line to get some food, and they have hendls!!! Mouth watering as I waited
in line, the customer two spots in front of me gets the last one!!! NO HENDL FOR YOU!!!! Are you serious??! Fortunately, we did manage to get one or two at Oktoberfest (can´t remember for some reason), even though they were overpriced.
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Jennifer
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GAUDI!!
Don't forget to check out all the cool Gaudi shyeat. La Sagrada Familia, Park Guell and La Pedrera. You'll love all that arsy stuff...hee hee.