5 from Madrid & Toledo
We went to the US for vaccines, then hit Madrid and Toledo on the way back.
8 from Girona Region
Hiking in the Pyrenees again – this time with Blaze (a dog that found us and led us for hours). Then a few stops at medieval Spanish towns.
A day in the life.
I’m on a roll – two posts in one day! Had some thoughts so going somewhat stream of consciousness on my Wednesday. Had class from 9 – 1. Four hours is a lot each day but still loving it thanks to an amazingly patient, kind, dedicated and talented teacher. I have a long way to go, but you can’t say I’m not trying. Point of reference – school is about 3 blocks from home. I pass by the beautiful campus of the University of Barcelona every day.
Came home for a quick change and walked the two blocks to the bus stop so I can make my way across town to meet a friend for our regular Wednesday singles game. Those who know me well, know that I’m better at doubles than singles, nevertheless we have great games every week. I walk in the door around 4:00 and head off immediately with Lilly – there are errands to be run.
The goal of this day’s excursion was to find some Rice Krispies. We did that at our first stop – a nice grocery store about 5 blocks from the house. You should know that there is another one closer (a lot are closer) but they don’t carry Rice Krispies. Off to Fruteca, our favorite little fruteria. We get the usuals – fresh milk, yogurt, fresh juices, clementines (oh, how we eat so many clementines), limes, blood oranges, and pre-packaged ibérico ham and fresh eggs. Net door is a bakery that we normally find with a line snaking down the block. We were in luck and walked right in. Bought a couple fresh loaves of bread, a tasty chocolate muffin and seasonal, delicious, sugary small donuts. With all the groceries and now fruit and milk weighing down our shoulders and filling our canvas bags, maybe we should make our way home. Then I remember the cute little spot for coffee on the way home – ODD KIOSK. Picture the cutest little pink kiosk, serving the best coffee brand in the city, stocked with curated and curious gay art. It’s amazing. And the owner in his adorable pink apron and awesome spectacles. I introduced myself (yes, in Spanish) and explained that we were soon to be neighbors! It’s actually just one block from what will be our new apartment in a few weeks! More on that later.
Coffee in hand, the bags were starting to get heavy. Dropped our haul off at the apartment with plans to go right. back. out. I had more errands. Again with canvas bags in hand we headed out for the liquor store (3 blocks from home). Got what I needed, even asking in Spanish for the ginger beer that was not in its usually spot on the shelf. The gracious employees knew just where it was in back, explaining that the shipment had arrived but it was not yet out. I feel more and more like a local every week. I promised Lilly that she could grab an A&W from Taste of America on the same block. It’s just what it sounds like – mostly American food imported and sold at ridiculous prices. I couldn’t pass up the bag of marshmallows though – I mean, we had a fresh box of Rice Krispies….we needed to make treats! Ok. Doubled back down the block, popped in the cooking store to do some recon on a soda siphon and French press. Didn’t need to buy anything but always fun to stop in. OK. Now around the corner to the gourmet store owned by the same people as the liquor store. These guys are total pros. I wasn’t sure how to describe them to you all – so I found this sweet picture online. Although the product line is slightly more updated than shown to included hand-carved jamón, cheeses, foie gras, the fanciest water I’ve ever seen, and a curated wine shop, this picture perfectly represents the space. The men all wear the same style uniform. It’s 2021 not 1960 and I love it so much! All I needed was a bit more ham (we ALWAYS have local ham in the house) and cheese and we were out the door. Walking back the few blocks to home I was reminded just how close everything is for us. And just how beautiful the surrounding architecture. Every day I notice something new and beautiful.
So, that’s a bit of a day in the life here. News from home is that our dads have both had their first vaccine shots…could it mean that travel is going to open up in the coming months? We feel like there is a light at the end of what has been a dark and lonely tunnel for them. We want to share all of this with our dads and whoever else can make their way over. Eventually.
Oh – and we are changing apartments! This apartment has served us well and was a great place to start our Barcelona life…but it is a bit small and has too many problems to overcome (still don’t have a fridge in its proper place, just one sitting near where it belongs in our tiny, tiny kitchen). We are sad to leave our kind, helpful doorman, Hugo. He’s the bright spot here! We will still come back and bring him sweets. Will post pictures when we get in our new place in a couple weeks. It’s 3 blocks up the street. That’s all for know. Love to you all.
Climbing Tibidabo! A nice little Sunday.
I realize the reason I don’t post on a regular basis is that uploading photos isn’t intuitive, and it’s a bit clunky. I want to share what we are doing so I am throwing up my hands on the photos for now. Too many days have passed where I have something fun or silly to share, so here goes…
We’ve been meaning to hike around Tibidabo since we arrived and finally carved out the time this past Sunday to explore. After I played a great game of doubles with a friend and new acquantances, we hopped a cab which brought us to one side of the “mountain,” dropping us along the side of the road. We walked along the road on a well-travelled foot path wondering where the actual hiking and nature was that we wanted. After a few minutes we saw the group in front of us cross the road and jump on a gravel path. We followed behind. Success at finding a steep and rocky and shaded path! After a about 10 minutes we were united with the main trail finding ourselves among others out to enjoy a perfect Sunday. The path was wide enough for mountain bikers and walkers and adorable dogs. We followed along and found ourselves at the top surrounded by spectacular views. Along the way we were wowed by clear views to the Mediterranean and vistas up and down the coast. We could see nearly all of Barcelona. We spotted the field where Lilly plays lacrosse each week too. At the very top we were treated to views of snow-capped Pyrenees – but when we twisted our heads we saw the Mediterranean and the beach. Really, really good stuff!
Wandering to the foot of the famous church, we snapped off a quick photo or two and set off towards the bottom. Oh – at the top there is also a fun little amusement park. Electing to head down the other side of the mountain, we decided to walk and see just what this side had to offer. We had other grand views of the coast and could see straight to our neighborhood. We cut in and out of gravel paths and the side of the one road leading to the top. The cable car station was abandoned and is not currently run (sad, no tourists). We carried on, winding through a beautiful shady park. When we eventually found ourselves at the bottom we toyed with the idea of grabbing a bus back home, but because we hadn’t meandered in this part of the city we hoofed it back home. It is literally ONE long, lovely street from the base of the mountain to our apartment about 3 miles away. Hunger set in at some point so we grabbed hot dogs and fries, sat on a nearby park bench and recharged. With full bellies we carried on to home.
I don’t know that I’ve explained the latest lockdown/restrictions here in Barcelona, and they are worth noting. Restaurants are only allowed to offer in person dining between the hours of 8-9:30 am and 1:00 – 3:30 pm, and takeout can carry on throughout the day, ending at 10:00. There is a 10:00 curfew. We are also not allowed to leave Barcelona proper – AT ALL. Oh, and retail stores that are non-essential must close on Saturday and Sunday. And any stores over 400M can’t be open at all (shopping malls, large department stores, bookstore, etc.). It’s all so strange and surreal. In order to work around things we have developed a bit of a new “routine.” I have class from 9-1 Monday through Friday so David and the kids hang out then. Because we are up late that usually means the kid sleep in and get rolling later than they probably should. We typically make reservations for lunch about 2-3 days a week, taking advantage of the only time we are all available for a meal. David starts his work day around 3:00 and we start school. Dinners have changed since we can’t do late night dining like we so enjoyed early on. Now it’s takeout or a simple home cooked meal.
The sun was shining and all was right in the world for us. Even though the stores and restaurants were shuttered we had a full day. The view from our corner straight up to the top of Tibidabo we are gifted each day is grand (the road we walked home). Fun to finally climb to the top and see what all the fuss was about! We are grateful for all this beautiful city gives us every day.
*edit- I spent another 30 minutes fighting my phone, texting myself pictures from David’s phone and uploading to this post. This is not in my strike zone.
Residency Card Experience
This is the strange story of how I sort-of got my Spanish residency card (it still isn’t ready to be picked up).
When I went to go apply for my residency card, all my papers were good but the passport-style pictures we had taken at Walgreens in the US were apparently unacceptable. When my mom and brother went through the same process a couple weeks before, (it took a long time to get an appointment for me) the employee who approved them was baffled by the size of their photos. After much struggle, they just cut off the sides to make it smaller (they were very dramatic about it). The same thing happened to my dad. I, which I thought was lucky, had two photos that were taken on different occasions, one is in my current passport and the other is a backup. Because I had two that were pretty similar, we cut off the size of one of the photos to match it to the size my dad’s photo which had been cut down.
When we went to the appointment, the size of the photo was not the issue, it was the background color. I do not speak spanish so all I heard the employee say to my mom was blanco (white). I assumed that it was because the background of my photo was too white. For one of my two photos I thought there was no way to argue that the background wasn’t white, because it definitely is. For the other photo I thought there was a little brown so we might be able to use it as a non white background, even though I would still qualify it as a white. Turns out, he was flustered that the photo (according to him) did not have a white enough background. So he made us leave and go across the street to get a new photo. I was not ready at all because I had no idea that I was going to have my picture taken for a government document that day. We walked in, I sat down in front of the white screen, the lady there picked up her camera, I took off my mask for no more than five seconds, she took my picture, I put on my mask, and four copies of my picture were printed out (because they only come in four packs, obviously). We went back across the street and it all worked out, but it was still an aggravating process. Since you are given your picture back, because apparently only a scanned version of your is needed, I now have four copies of a really medicare picture of myself. Because I don’t have in person school this year, I thought it would be funny to send them to family members back in the U.S. as my school picture for this year. So, if you receive a copy in the mail, enjoy! You can totally frame it, though it is only about 1×1 inches big.
28 from Fall in España
Cooler days in Barcelona. Lockdowns aren’t so bad here.
Surf’s Up!
This is yet another post I drafted weeks ago. Busy days continue. Not sure if I mentioned it in an earlier post, but Lilly has started practicing with the only lacrosse team in all of Cataluña, the Barcelona Dracs. She is the youngest player out there but totally crushing it in practice. Most of the women are bilingual, native Spanish speakers. David and I are both so proud of her for just jumping in to join the team when she doesn’t speak the language, knows absolutely no-one and is so young. Most of the girls learned the game while studying in the United States, fell in love with the sport and came back to a country that doesn’t even know lacrosse! We have been told that basically every woman in the area who plays is on the field with this team…all 16 of them. Several girls have never even picked up a stick and are trying it for the first time. It’s amazing to see their energy and enthusiasm. We take the metro to the field they share with the men’s team twice a week. On Tuesdays practice runs until after 10:30 pm when the women, without Lilly, head to grab a beer. *November update – sports practices are cancelled, bugger.
Kids are doing great with our crazy, unpredictable schedule. We know that if we want to travel we need to double up on schoolwork some days. This means Cameron and I spend extra time side by side working through math and grammar, among other subjects. We have fun linking together the topics of world history with landmarks here and in France. I think his exposure to architecture, world history, art and geography are proving rewarding and interesting. Maybe more so for me… but Cameron seems rather engaged. We’ve also watched movies and travel shows set in cities we’ve visited – cracks us all up to see so much look familiar on the tv.
September 17 – 20:
We made good on a promise to get Cameron his first surfing lesson – in San Sebastian. Man, I had not been there since college and it was so much better to explore and dine when you aren’t a broke college student. Cameron had the good fortune of an awesome instructor, Borja, who gave Cameron a few minutes of pointers on the beach and within 15 minutes they were in the water. Cameron caught the first wave and was up like a champ. It was amazing!!!! We sat on shore watching two dudes chatting and reading waves. To see Cam have such success so quickly was an added bonus. I don’t think Cameron stopped smiling for hours. He did such a great job and had so much fun we got him another lesson the next day. As luck would have it, they had slightly bigger waves that were just right for Cameron to try. Sitting on the beach I knew Cameron was completely safe out there; Borja was always nearby, coaching him on which waves to take and which to pass on. It was another great morning.
First time! 
Wipeout! 
David snapped a great photo with Cameron surfing in the back!
As tends to be the case, we then wandered the town and hit up a few local shops and restaurants. San Sebastian is known for their pintxos
https://www.euskoguide.com/food-drink-basque-country/pintxos-pinchos/
and the world-renowned food scene did not disappoint. We didn’t book any fancy pants spots or Michelin starred establishments but rather stuck to the tried and true pintxos bars where we would pop in, grab a few bites from the bar, enjoy a glass of local txakoli
and then would move on. One night we let the kids have pizza in the room while we barhopped (think spaced tables, no one actually at the counters, and mostly snacking outside). It gave us the chance to sample some local delicacies and catch up. David continues to work on our excursions so we hit the town after his workday is done after about 10:00/10:30.
The bar said only 2 to a table for covid restrictions – kids had to go get popsicles and eat them alone across the alley from us. It was hilarious. 
Photo bomb!
We left San Sebastian behind and headed up the coast of the Bay of Biscay to enjoy lunch in the sweet little town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Rick Steves, my favorite guidebook author, told us about free parking and it was right where he promised. Found one of many restaurant-lined streets, plopped down and lunched. Wandering the town for a few minutes after lunch was nice, but the rain rolled in so we took our leave. Next stop: Biarritz, France.
I understand why the rich and famous like to vacation there – it is absolutely stunning. Our hotel was centrally located so we dropped our bags, grabbed the map and walked the striking promenade for a long time. Cameron gleefully watched the hundreds of surfers braving the much bigger waves, explaining which waves were good and which would break short. He’s hooked. It was breezy and a bit chilly and rain was sputtering, but it didn’t dampen our spirits or our drive to be outside and watch the waves crash into the shore. The old town offered more shops, food, drink and shelter from the now pouring rain. Sampling the local craft brews under a portico where we could watch the world pass by was a treat. The hotel suggested a nice little spot for dinner. The place was buzzing, and a couple of small birthday celebrations at neighboring tables told me this was a place for locals. We took our lead from the owner who picked the perfect meal, including some tasty squid that the kids surprisingly liked. *note: I just read this to Lilly and her quote about the squid was that she “more or less tolerated it!” Another full day was behind us and our beds were calling. We had another “family” room where our bed and the pullout for the kids were side by side with almost no room to squeeze over to the bathroom. Chatting is easy when you’re inches apart as we fall asleep and reminisce about our day’s adventures. My brother, Quinn, can probably recall all the silliness and laughter we shared as a family on our European adventures in our tight quarters. We would have been close to the same ages as Lilly and Cameron on one such memorable trip!
Sand art 
Our shelter from the cold rain.
OK. So that brings us up to around September 21. I know, I know. I’m on it.
*Covid update from Barcelona (as I type this on November 9): restaurants have been closed for in-person service for a little over 2 weeks. They are allowed to offer take-out and delivery. Shops are restricted to lower numbers but still open. Malls are closed (doesn’t matter to us). Sports teams cancelled for now – no tennis lessons or lacrosse. This one stings. We were traveling for the first couple weeks of the restrictions in Italy (another post coming when I get to it) so we were not too affected. Now that we are back we still do our wandering and shopping and takeout. On the plus side, I have more time to get these posts done.
Weekend in the Pyrenees!
Time continues to fly by for us here in Spain. Can’t believe it will be a month on Monday that we’ve been here.
UPDATE: This is all old news. It is now NOVEMBER 6. This story happened weeks ago! We snuck away to the Pyrenees to see another part of the region. It was most definitely cooler, mountainous, gorgeous and we loved our 4.5 mile hike along a beautiful gorge – Ruta de las Gorges Carança.
Cameron had been asking for a good hike – and he got one. It was challenging, stunning scenery, a little dicey, dangerous and Cameron approved. David took a couple videos as we clung to the safety rope along the cliffs. At maybe three to five feet across at points, this mama was grateful the kids had something to hold on to. At the highest I am guessing we were probably 300 feet above the gorge. The whole thing seemed a bit surreal. As we hit what we assumed was the halfway point (yeah, no helpful maps or blazes along the way) David, ever the responsible dad and husband, reminded us that rain was predicted and we needed to pick up the pace. When it was safe to do so and we were not perilously clinging to the side of the mountain to avoid plunging into the gorge, we jogged and tried to make double time. And…just as we finished putting our pack in the truck and climbed in the car the rain began to fall. We would NOT have wanted to spend any time on a rain-soaked trail.
David navigated the switchbacks in the rain like a champ. We also used the time to teach the children an important life skill….how to use an atlas. A-T-L-A-S. We bought one the second day in the city for a couple of reasons. First – you never know when your signal is going to drop and your mapping app quits on you. Second – google maps doesn’t make it easy to spot what might be a cute little mountain village or a town you should quickly research and visit. Grateful that our car had awesome navigation, but we did notice what looked like a neat mountain town off in the distance – the atlas helped identify said adorable town so we headed over to Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via.
A tuckered Cameron zonked almost before we were out of the parking lot after the hike. Lilly and David volunteered to do the reconnoissance mission in the cold, pouring rain while I selflessly stayed in the dry, warm car so Cam could continue to snooze. Mission accomplished. A rain-soaked Lilly returned to lead us to a cute, warm restaurant. The waffles, crepes, cappuccino and hot chocolate with whipped cream warmed our innards and fueled us for a walkabout. The town was virtually void of all visitors, but we were grateful for the few enterprising shop owners who kept their doors open. Forgot to mention that we were in France. We actually kept jumping the border from Spain into France all weekend, mostly because of a funny little island city of Spain surrounded by France. Click the article to learn about that!
Anyway – we had success finding a few tasty French cheeses, a bottle of local beer and another bottle of local liquor from a lovely French woman who graciously helped us. She didn’t speak English and I don’t speak French. She just kept telling us to use google translate when her French didn’t quite translate for me. It wasn’t until 20 minutes into the conversation that it occurred to me that we were minutes from the Spanish border and she might just speak Spanish. Yep. We had a good chuckle since we could have simply been chatting in Spanish the whole time. Our conversation continued and turns out that when two people speak broken Spanish to one another you can communicate pretty well – and no one judges the grammatical errors or conjugation flaws!
The next day we headed back to Girona and showed the kids the church and old town. We previously visited this area with our dads (see Octogenarians in Spain blog) and used it as a chance to recreate some photos. The kids stood in for Lou and Denny. As we climbed and wandered the kids appreciated that their grandfathers made it up the dozens of steep, stone stairs and around the hilly city! I’ll try to upload a split shot of our recreations later – poor David has been tasked with that one.
Today, September 11, is a Catalan holiday. (remember I said I drafted this long ago, just roll with it). We wandered a bit just to see what the locals would do to commemorate the day. Typically there would be upwards of one million residents filling the streets to show their support for an independent Cataluña, but the pandemic curbed most of the big plans. Keenly aware that we didn’t want to find ourselves in a huge crowd or near any sort of riots (we haven’t heard of any) we wandered different neighborhoods to observe how folks were showing their Catalan pride. Lots of folks wearing their flags as capes, one small, very orderly and spaced out march (pro-Communist I might add). Here are a couple of interesting articles about the significance of the day in this region of Spain and an explanation about the different flags flown here in Cataluña. We spent a good amount of time at a local coffee shop reading to the kids and discussing what it means for Barcelona, Cataluña and Spain as a whole. Interesting stuff.
https://www.barcelonas.com/la-diada.html
https://www.barcelonas.com/catalan-flags.html
OK. So that has you caught up through September 11, nearly seven weeks ago. I’ll try to catch up again on our next adventures. But, know this: our days are filled with exploring, schoolwork, coffee shops, people watching, researching cities near to us, road tripping (when and where it’s safe), checking out markets, eating on sidewalks and late night walks to the best darn gelato shop in the city.
More coming. I promise. – I am racing to play catch up. Writing the blogs is the easy part – uploading the right pictures is really dragging me down and causing all the delay.
Rome and Stuff
While many people stay at home or go to school in this crazy pandemic, we instead went to a couple places in Italy. It has been my dream since the 6th grade to travel to Rome and see the ancient ruins. We drove 12 hours to Florence on a Wednesday and as we were driving into the city, we passed a street that led directly to the Duomo. Only my mom and I saw it as we were passing and my dad and brother were confused by our gasps. Our apartment was on the top floor (a lot of steps) and there was a giant porch that looked directly onto the Duomo and the main square.
Duomo at night (very photogenic) 
Michelangelo’s David with no crowds
We went to a couple museums where there were absolutely no tourists, a line that would usually take 3 hours took us 10 minutes. We went to see Michelangelo’s David and there were only 10(ish) people in there. Our Rick Steves audio guide warned us about crowds and how to book for tickets months in advance; we booked two days before. We also took a paper marbling class. To marble paper there were trays with water where we sprinkled a fancy type of paint using a certain brush. There are a bunch of different techniques that you use for the paper like swirling and using a comb. We didn’t get to pick our own colors but it was cool to see the different versions of each style that we all did. You set the paper on top of the water and peel it out. We were in Florence for four days and then drove to Rome for another four.
Finished work 
Paint mixing 
Three different takes on the same style with the same colors
Our first night in Rome we went out to dinner because it was the last night in Italy where restaurants would be open past 6pm (due to COVID). After dinner we stumbled across the Pantheon, no tourists, and went to the Trevi Fountain to throw in the obligatory coins. We went on a food tour near the Colosseum and later a tour of the Vatican Museum. It was just us on the tour which was really nice because we could learn more about the art and when we were in the Sistine Chapel there were only 20 other people. We went to the Roman Forum and learned about archeological discoveries that our guide had made. We also went to the Colosseum which was amazing, that is the part of Rome that I wanted to see the most. I think it is so interesting how so much of it has been destroyed but it is still intact and gigantic. There used to be pieces of metal holding the structure together but they have been removed and turned into other things, so now it is standing on its own and is still in one piece.
Panteon 
Castel Sant’ Angelo 
Trevi Fountain 
Vatican 
Colosseum
Before we left the city my dad and I decided to go back to the Vatican and climb to the top. There was no one in line when we had our temperatures taken and only three groups in front of us when we went through security. I think we were the only people who used the stairs because we didn’t hear any voices when we were going up but at the top there was a decent number of people who I think took the elevator. It was a lot of fun and an insane amount of stairs but the view into the Vatican was amazing and we could see all the artwork that looked like paintings from far away but were actually made of countless small tiles. We have been to many other places since we last blogged but Italy has been my favorite. More updates on other subjects coming soon…
44 from Italian Road Trip
Celebrating Lilly’s Sweet 16, we road trip to Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre and Lake Ballagio. Everywhere we go we have the place to ourselves.
