All Tri Wanted For His Birthday Was a Happy Ending

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Geo: 41.3879, 2.16992

Having been to Barcelona so many times, there really aren't any touristic sights I want to see anymore - staying here has become more about enjoying the city itself, which for most people, is really the best sight of all. Bernadette, Jess, and Tri ended up doing a "free" walking tour of Gaudi's sights, which hit up some of the residences he designed, such as La Pedrera and Casa Battlo, and ended at La Sagrada Familia. The free tour isn't exactly that - you end up paying what you like, but are told that the minimum tip is usually five to ten Euros. I didn't end up going on the tour but should have, since the three of them raved about how good the tour guide was, so a few Euros is a small price to pay for something like that. Oh well - next time!

I did end up meeting with the three of them after the tour and we grabbed lunch, before heading up to Parc Guell, another of Gaudi's famous works. It's been nearly five years since I last visited, but still managed to find a few spots within the park that I hadn't seen before. Despite it being a fairly slow day in terms of sights we were all tired, especially the other three - other than our quick one-hour lunch break, they had been walking non-stop from 10:30 to 17:00. We all ended up taking a siesta, and making tentative plans to meet up later on in the evening, since Bernadette had made plans to do a flamenco show and tapas night with Busabout, the company she was using to get around Europe.

I think that in the past five years, Tri and I have only celebrated one or two birthdays together, between his and mine. Mine is coming up in a couple of days and I wasn't around for his recently, so I decided to treat him to a nice dinner as reparations for always being an absentee friend.

Bar Inopia - quite the popular tapas bar around town, I came here last year on my birthday and had a great time, and wanted Tri to experience the same. Unfortunately for Tri, I came last year with a beautiful Aussie girl I had met at Mambo Tango, and wasn't able to duplicate that for him - instead, he was stuck with a 6-foot tall Spanish-speaking Chinese dude.



I told him that these would be some of the best tapas he would ever have outside of Basque Country, because they were traditional tapas done perfectly (i.e. - cooked with the care and skill that isn't typical of Spanish cuisine), and sometimes with a modern spin. Sadly, it was no longer Bar Inopia, and had been taken over by a new owner and re-named Lolita Taperia. Luckily for us, the menu was largely the same, and the food was just as good as I remembered. Unluckily for us, the lineup was even longer than I had remembered. A couple that frequented Bar Inopia told us what had happened - Bar Inopia had moved to a new, larger location nearby, and Lolita Taperia had just launched this evening.

Tri raved about the food and had a blast, this being his first real experience with tapas. I cautioned him that it wouldn't always be like this, that the bar was already set unrealistically high, since Spanish food can be quite suspect. Of course, we'll have some great experiences coming up with the Basque tapas in San Sebastian but again, they're not really indicative of the quality in the rest of Spain. I'm glad Tri enjoyed the night so much, since I know he's been really looking forward to visiting Europe, and that he had many apprehensions about traveling solo. I've been relentlessly harassing him about things going wrong on the trip because I find it quite funny - he's a lot like I was when I started doing these solo trips, worrying about every little detail, when none of that is necessary. In a way, laughing at Tri's anal ways is much like laughing at myself, which strangely, I find incredibly entertaining.



I particularly enjoyed harassing Tri today, since he freaked out a little bit when I walked up to them while they were finishing up the tour - he thought I was a pickpocket, and reacted accordingly. Seeing how he reacted, I planned on getting him even better later on - I snuck up on him and started to unzip his day pack ... and he totally flipped out, spinning around in a heartbeat. I thought he was going to let loose with a hay maker at the same time, but luckily for me, that didn't happen.

Anyway ... stuffed on tapas, we headed out to the Gothic Quarter with a couple of peeps from the hostel, attempting to meet up with Bernadette there - unfortunately for us, we were given bad directions to the bar and kept wandering around looking for it ... didn't matter, as there were tons of cool little places to stop for a drink and surprisingly, some guy was walking down the street selling samosas! The only thing better than a samosa is a samosa at 2 AM. And the only thing better than a samosa at 2 AM? A samosa at 2 AM in BARCELONA!!!! Visca Catalunya!



All tired, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hostel ... until ... we came across a little restaurant selling Estrella Damm beer for 1 Euro! How could we resist? But unfortunately, we found out that the 1 Euro beer was now 2 Euros - apparently, the beer was only 1 Euro between 9 AM and 2 AM ... that must be the longest happy hour in the world. We really couldn't understand why the place would charge 1 Euro all day and night long, only to raise the price to 2 Euro between 2 and 3 AM - our only guess was that if someone was that desperate for a beer at 3 AM, they would be willing to pay more.

The conversation you inevitably have with male travelers while going through Spain is regarding Spanish women - we picked up an American tonight at the hostel, Rob, and he started talking about how beautiful the women are here. No argument from me! It all comes down to this one phrase - "There's just something about them ..." Sorry, it's not something that can be explained, it's a phenomenon that you must witness for yourself.

So it was yet another incredible night in Barcelona but unfortunately, it wasn't a perfect night for Tri. The perfect finish for him tonight would've been the "Happy Ending" he so desperately wanted at Lolita Taperia but sadly, nobody was willing to give it to him on this evening. Perhaps next time, one of those Spanish construction workers will help him out with that?

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Photos

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Some intricate wrought-iron work at Parc Guell.

Sexy Tri
Tri was looking super sexy today, with his giant day pack strapped to his front. I wish he'd wear it under his shirt, because then he'd look pregnant. It actually kinda reminds me of something I saw on my first trip to Spain ...

zzz
... that would be Yvonne, sporting the same look. Betcha don't remember I have this photo of you, do you, Yvonne?

f
Even sexier than Tri sporting a pregnant-style backpack, is him combining it with the Asian rice patty squat. Rumour has it that Akon and David Guetta wrote "Sexy Bitch", after being inspired by Tri.

i
The lone figure sitting near the top of La Sagrada Familia is supposed to be Antonio Gaudi, himself. He's probably checking out all the beautiful Spanish women below.

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I think the current estimate is that La Sagrada Familia will be completed in 25 years, which is an improvement over the first time I visited five years ago - back then, I think they were estimating over 35 years.

k
Though it's only a copy of a Chilean churrasco, it was much better than some of the horrific stuff I had in Chile. The problem over there is that there is too much of everything - too much mayo, too much avocado ... so it ends up being one giant mess. This one was great ... meat was tender and juicy, and just the right amount of other ingredients stuffed inside. The kicker? This place was run by Chinese people!

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L'il Buddha is becoming addicted to cafe cone leche. It's all my fault.

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Riding the escalators up to Parc Guell.

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Tri was always lagging behind because he was too busy snapping photos. Also, because he had to entertain all the Spanish construction workers, and their catcalls of "Sexy Bitch!"

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I can't remember what the three of them were taking a photo of, but I guarantee this photo of them is far more interesting than whatever they were photographing! Also notice how Tri kicked up the sexiness another notch by tilting his cap to the side. Barcelona's construction workers were whipped up into an even greater frenzy.

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L'il Buddha says "Gaudi's beautifully-tiled benches in Parc Guell are the perfect spot for a moment of meditation."

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Pat and Tri say "Gaudi's beautifully-tiled benches in Parc Guell are the perfect spot for a moment of checking out all the Spanish hotness."

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Ginger bread houses.

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Gaudi took much inspiration from nature - this was based on the surfer's tube of a wave.

zb
This guy had the coolest Gaudi-inspired costume.

zd
Tri's first cafe con leche, ever - glad that he put away the pregnancy backpack.

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Lolita Taperia - didn't get the whole playing of Pink Panther episodes.

zf
Pork belly - not quite what I expected, it was more like a slice of very fatty jamon iberico. Sill good, though. Both of us agreed that the bread at this place is phenomenal.

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A slightly tart bean salad with truffle and quail egg ... for me, it was the lowlight of the meal. Definitely skippable.

zh
The simplest of Spanish tapas - toast smeared with a type of tomato paste. This was THE best bread we had all night, which says a lot - so light and crisp ... how is it possible to make something like that? My theory is that a Spanish senorita whispers sweet Spanish words into the dough as it rises, infusing it with the light airiness of her beautifully melodic voice ... sigh ... I am obsessed with Spanish women, I know ... We actually later ordered a second dish of this, because it was SO good.

Comments

[Kristy]

Pat is that buddy again, painted red and pretending to be a living statue like the people on La Ramblas? Boy that dog is sure getting around!!!

[pwong]

It is, he's a busy little dog when you aren't around!