what was that I just ate????

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Saturday – what a fun day. We met Nicky and Tim around 10 and took the train to Monserrat. This is a monastery that is built up on the hill. It has the black Madonna in it. Once we arrived there we had to wait in line for over an hour to catch the gondola up the hill to the monastery. We ate once we arrived. We then spent the afternoon touring the different buildings and then went thru the market. We all bought honey there and Nicky and Tim also got a cheese cake. When the sun came out, there were some beautiful views….

We took the gondola back down and caught the train back to BCN. About 8:45 we headed out to eat. Nicky had reservations for us at Dans Le Noir. So what is this restaurant, well you eat completely in the dark. Most of the waiters and waitresses are blind. So we get there and the bar has deaf bartenders and if you want a drink you have to order it in sign language. The menu shows the signs you need to do inorder to get one. We didn’t think it would be long so we didn’t order anything. Unfortunately, we did have to wait a long while. You see in Spain, they will not give you the check and make you leave the table and a very large party was there before us and they got backed up. So our 9:30 reservation turned into us eating around 11. Yes, we were hungry but, this experience was just great.

You ordered one of 3 dinners (a first and a second) ( a first second and a dessert) or a (cava, appetizer, first, second, desert and 3 mystery wines). We all order the middle versions. Tim and I also got 2 glasses of mystery wine.

So it came time for our dinner to start. They lined us up and we put our left hand on the shoulder in front of use and then they walked us in. They would walk you to your chair and let you feel it and then you sat. Feeling the table, We found a fork and knife and napkin. Boy was it a weird feeling. YOU COULD NOT SEE A THING. You heard voices but you couldn’t tell how many people were in there. It sure messed with your senses. My eyes started trying to focus on something but they couldn’t. I had to close my eyes several times for minutes at a time for them to get used to it. You also see colors, like when you close your eyes and it’s dark. It was truly an amazing experience.

Then the waiter came back and served us our first plate and glass of wine. They placed the plate in front of you and took your hand and placed it on the side of the plate. The wine glass was placed into your hand. Trying to eat with a fork was not going to happen. You just ate with your fingers. I first tried to take a sip of wine but it took a few seconds for my lips to find the top of the wine glass. Eventually you got used to the size and didn’t miss your mouth. The first food I felt was a salad. At least I got one thing right. There were 4 items on the “first” plate. One was a soup and it did have a spoon. I discovered that as I was trying to drink it and it stuck me in the face. I guessed that the soup was a crème soup and something like broccoli and cheese. We all guessed the shrimp item and a fish item.

The wine tasted like a white that was similar in style to a medium to light white.

Next came the “main” or “second” plate. It too had 4 items on it. The first thing I tried was a green been. The next thing tasked just like steak but had fat that reminded me of pork. Tim was eating the same thing but Nicky kept saying she was eating chicken. Well one of our other items DID taste like chicken but it was really messing with our minds until we all found what the others were tasting. We also had a potato dish. We got a new mystery wine. I was sure this one was red. But what kind?? I assumed it was a Spanish read.

Our final course was desert. I thought the tart was an apple with cinnamon and then there was a creamy desert.

So after eating and talking… we were escorted out. It was then we found out what we had eaten.

Well the beef was duck. The chicken was another duck just cooked a different way. Hey I did get the salad and green beans and potatoes. I also got the red wine but it was a cabernet. The white wine, well it was a rose. Boy this was a unique experience. We didn’t finish until 1:00am.

We took the metro home and guess what I got to have daylight savings time de ja vu. Yep, we got to set our clocks forward so by the time we got to bed it was 3am. But hey it sure was fun and interesting night.

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Photos

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view going up in the gondola

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view up in the area

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the valley

dinner
This is what we saw at dinner