Art Blogging - Barcelona Car Edition

Bryce drew this picture of a Citroen C1 last night at dinner.  It captures a lot of the transportation scene in Barcelona.

Paco Meralgo

On our final night in Barcelona - and Spain - I wanted to make sure we left the country in style with yet another awesome meal.  Of course, this needed to be balanced by the family's needs too.  I was lucky enough to choose a place called Paco Meralgo for our final feast.

And what a feast it was.  Everything we ordered was spectacular, and it turned out to be our best meal yet in Spain.  Here's a sampling of what we had:

 

Baby squid with beans - best dish ever.

 

Octopus stew - hearty and oh so tasty

 

Steak Filet fried in oil with garlic (and a little bit of chili). Just perfect.

 

Pimientos al Padron. The kids love them, and call them "surprise peppers".  There are a few different types of peppers, and one or two in the dish are super spicy. You can never tell which.

 

The ultimate ham and cheese sandwich. (Iberian ham and brie.)

Aside: On our walk home, Laurel found her namesake store in Barcelona:

Minecraft inspiration: Barcelona Architechture.

In our free time, me and Laurel have been addicted to a game called Minecraft (It's super fun!). Laurel has just come up with one of her new inspiration sources- nature- while I got another one: Barcelona's architecture. In Minecraft, to me, architecture is a critical thing. That includes houses, buildings, fitness centers, shopping malls (believe it or not, I built those all!), and even fountains (built that too!)! My newest building, called the Jenga building, (you guessed it), looks like a ready-to-be-played Jenga set. My plan for the Jenga building is:

-to have it six stories tall, so it nearly matches my seven story mansion (or wait.... isn't it eight?)
-to make it used as a "Chillax" building, so I might put a sign on top that says 'Chiller'.
-To have a balcony on at least one floor and to have a "Jenga" part, so it looks like the top is collapsing.

That's all. I've also come up with a building inspired by Antoni Gaudi. I saw how the roof was really complicated on a house, and I used that as a base for my building's (called the Wave building) roof.

My wave building is on the far right, and my bell tower is the black-and-white tower next to it

   I've also made a bell tower, and behind it is the wave building's lookout tower (in beige). Just used for a nice view. The bell tower has three areas. One is for the bell ringer, another for looking upon the city, and the third for looking out above the tallest buildings. It reaches the limit height you can build. Some people think I've got great interior design taste, so look at my video tour of what I've done.

=====video coming soon=====

Take a ciao!

Bryce

Gaudi Craze

So, Bryce and I have been addicted to Minecraft for the past few weeks. After we visited Sagrada Familia, Dad is saying that we had to do an "architectural" drawing of something Gaudi style. And I'm like, "Why can't we make it on Minecraft?" Dad beams at the suggestion and says something about it being educational to draw something and then build it for real. I draw a picture of a bell tower with slanty chapels representing a feather, or a pine tree, or some abstract cactus. My orange Pip-squeak traces the slants and shades them in a beautiful sunset color. Bryce draws a building with foaming curls on the top. Waves. We both stay up late coloring our architecture.

Bryce's "Wave building" sketch

My bell tower sketch

In the morning, we are allowed to play Minecraft to work on our buildings. Bryce finishes in about an hour, but mine takes longer, roughly three days to create a landmark in my world. Bryce now has a bell tower, too, as well as three buildings piled together to create a pile of Jenga blocks stacked together.

The finished bell tower

Completed Wave building (also called the Welcome Building)

Interior of the Wave Building

(I might as well have titled this Minecraft craze, but oh, well.)

Bryce and Bill Biking Barcelona

Over the last few days, it became apparent that Bryce needed some real exercise.  The streets and metro became an urban parcour for him, yet there were too many people for him to really move his body without bumping into a passerby or a family member. Plus, since we've been together as a family 24/7 for most of the last seven weeks, a little separation isn't a bad thing.  And Bryce has been bugging to ride bikes. So Friday's plan was for me to rent bikes, and take Bryce on a journey through town.

Barcelona has a bike rental service similar to Sevilla, but since this was going to be just for a day, we went to a local Dutch-style bike rental place and got two cruisers, perfectly sized, with locks.  We started from the shop off of Las Ramblas - the busy pedestrian walkway in the center of town - and from there cruised for 2 1/2 hours.  We visited all the city beaches, then went up into town, down to Parque de Cuitadella, then back along the waterfront.  We stopped along the way at various playgrounds and other scenic spots too.

 

Bryce testing out a revolving dish at one of the playgrounds

At the fountain in Parque de Cuitadella

Cruising on the Diagonal

Biking is a great way to really see the town.  The highlight for Bryce was discovering some cool buildings, including two from an architectural design book he bought in Madrid.  Barcelona seems to be one city that truly celebrates its architects, and as such the city planners are willing to approve projects that would be deemed too risque in other parts of the world.  Hopefully being here will inspire Bryce to continue pursuing his passion in design.

Learning about Police in Barcelona

While Bill and Bryce went biking, Sue and Laurel had an adventure of their own - totally unexpected.  The plan was to go to an Invention Museum, and upon arriving there it was closed for another five minutes.  So the girls went and got a bite at a nearby Pinchos bar.

A loud Texan woman was chatting up the waiters, and engaging Sue and Laurel.  Sue had her purse on a hook underneath the bar, and at some point she stood up for two seconds to grab another pincho and her purse was gone!  Somebody stole it.  Inside was about 100 euros, some credits cards, some family photos, Sue's drivers license and other knick-knacks.  Sue explained the situation to the restaurant owner, and since she now had no money, and was probably making a commotion in the restaurant, the owner let her and Laurel leave without paying to go report the theft to the police.

The girls spent the next two hours in the police station, filing a report.

Sue and Laurel met some other unlucky travelers at the police station, including a British couple on their second visit to Barcelona, with as many visits to the Police station to report a pickpocket.

Later on, someone called our landlord, telling him that they found her purse and gave it to a policeman - which is kind of weird. We assumed they got the number from a notebook in Sue's purse, yet when we went to three police stations in the area, not one had her purse.

On our unsuccessful journey to retrieve the purse, we learned that there are two types of Police in Barcelona: Guardia Civil and Mossos Esquadra. We went to both types of stations, and they each pointed to the other.  Our landlord Xavier also did some calling around, and apparently Sue's purse is in a lost-and-found somewhere.  But the money and cards have disappeared, and we've canceled the credit cards, so we may not even bother at this point.

It's an unfortunate episode that tarnishes an otherwise loveable city.

Sagrada Familia

Day two of our Gaudi appreciation tour led us to the Sagrada Familia, the incredibly ambitious church Gaudi designed and started in the late 1800s, 25 years before his death. Every concept and technique Gaudi pioneered in his lifetime is a part of this massive project, which is still a work in progress, and is not expected to be completed for another 25 years, making the total build time approximately 130 years.  For a "modern" church, this is unheard of.

The Sagrada Familia is actually functional now - the inside is complete, but some of the towers on the outside have yet to be built.  The current structure already rises high over Barcelona's landscape, but when finished the main spire will be another 50% higher.  Like the other Gaudi buildings, the design makes use of structures and shapes found in nature. Gaudi never liked the "flying buttress" design of Gothic churches, since he considered them a hack to make the building stand up,  so the Sagrada Familia is a self-standing engineering masterpiece.

The kids were resisting going to yet another church, but once we go there and started touring they fully appreciated the amazing design.  Inside the church, the pillars and ceilings form a tree-like structure: the pillars are like tree trunks with branches, and the ceiling has a geometric pattern similar to the canopy in a forest. Words don't do this place justice, so here's a few photos:

After touring we got lunch from a nearby deli, and ate in the park opposite the Sagrada Familia.  Sue and the kids returned home, and I decided to do a little city hike to get some more exercise and justify my next gourmet meal. I located Sant Gervasi park, about ten blocks from our flat, and walked to it.  When I arrived, the park was on a hill, and I climbed up and up until I reached the top.  From there, the views of Barcelona were magnificent - you could see all the major landmarks, as well as the Mediterranean.

For dinner, we decided to explore the Milk Bar in the Gothic quarter, which we had yet to visit. Bryce in particular is finding it hard to locate anything on the menu he likes in a Spanish restaurant that isn't Patatas Bravas, and this place has a more American style menu and was well rated.  My meal was an "ultimate caesar" salad, with a soft boiled egg on top, and bacon pieces underneath a tasty topping of shredded Parmesan. I'm a sucker for any non-breakfast meal with a gloppy egg on it, and this salad didn't disappoint:

Walking back home, we got to explore the Gothic Quarter, and enjoyed peering into the really old establishments with tons of character.  Hopefully we'll be able to return there for one final meal.  This place in particular caught our attention with the rotisserie chicken going right outside.

Barcelona: Boqueria and Batllo

After doing a city bus tour the previous day to get the lay of the land in Barcelona, we decide to go deeper.  Bryce loves architecture, Laurel loves to ride the metro, I love to eat, and Sue enjoys taking photos, so today's itinerary had something for everyone.

After our normal late start at noon, we metroed to Placa Catalunya, and found La Boqueria - Barcelona's famous market.  When searching for places to eat online, two market restaurants surfaced, and I sought out Pinotxo. In amongst the fruit vendors, veggie stalls, meat stands and such are a few eateries.  Pinotxo occupies a corner booth at the entrance to the market, and Señor Pinxoto himself greets you and helps you decide what to get.  He starts by asking "carne o pescado?" (meat or seafood), and you drill down from there.  Bryce wound up with a macaroni dish, Laurel got cheesy croquettes, but Sue and I had the masterpieces: Sue got an excellent Beef Bourginoine-like stew, and I thoroughly enjoyed a baby squid and bean dish which was one of the best tasting things I have had in Spain.  When, Bryce and Sue went in search of a baño, Laurel and I asked about dessert, and Señor Pinxoto recommended a flan de queso (cheese flan) dessert.  If you can:  imagine a combination of flan and cheesecake, and the best attributes of both. The flan was sandwiched between two flaky pastry halves, and when combined into a single bite it's pure heaven.  (The flan by itself was pretty awesome too.)  Laurel and I finished before Sue and Bryce returned, and decide to destroy the evidence from the rest of the family.

 

Overview of La Boqueria Market

 

Eggs anyone?

Yummm. Chocolates...

Sue and the kids picking out chocolates.

  

Pinxoto Bar

 

My amazing bean and baby squid meal from Pinotxo

 

Fruit juice display... lovely.

Next on our plan was a visit to Casa Batllo, a house designed by Gaudi - the world famous architect of Barcelona. You can tour the inside of Casa Batllo, which made this an attractive stop since Bryce is especially interested in interior design.  The house did not disappoint, as the whole design was unlike any building I have ever seen.  The audio guide explained how Gaudi used structures found in nature as inspiration for his designs.  The house has very few straight lines, instead using curvy shapes reminiscent of vertebrae, bones, leaves and water patterns for both aesthetic and functional reasons.  Both kids enjoyed the tour, and afterwards were inspired to try to recreate some of the designs they saw using Minecraft, a virtual building game on the iPad.

 

The Attic. Note the rib-cage shape of the beams.

 

Ceramic work on top.

 

The lightwell. The tiles start dark at the top and get lighter as they go
down, so the entire inside appears uniform.

Exploring More Valencia

We had one final morning to enjoy Valencia before catching our train to Barcelona.  We hadn't really gotten to walk through the historic centro, and since the previous day was Sunday (when everything is closed), Monday was our best option.

Our goal was to check out the Mercat - the central market.  I was hoping for a gustatory Garden of Eden like San Miguel Market in Madrid, but instead it was more like grocery shopping. The building was still pretty neat, and there were some interesting food delicacies on display.

The centro area was like a combination of Madrid and Sevilla - lots of pedestrian walking streets, and a plethora of shops selling all kinds of things.  It's an area easy to get lost in, yet not so convoluted that you can't figure out where you are quickly with a map. And of course, there were plenty of eateries, all displaying their food in the most tempting arrangements possible.  I spotted a Pinxos (pinchos - or hor's oeuvre-like snacks) place called Sagardi, and since the family had yet to experience pinxtos, I led the four of us to a new lunch experience.  Bryce has been having some stomach trouble, and he didn't eat, but Laurel, Sue and I enjoyed a variety of treats.  Laurel's favorite was a croissant with Iberian Ham, and Sue gave her first prize to a Spanish Tortilla (eggs and potato) over a crostini.  They also had dessert-like fare, with jam and cream cheese over a variety of biscuit-like bread.  While not as good as Lizzaran in Sevilla (I saw a Lizzaran in Valencia too), it was still tasty.

 

Pinchos at Sagardi 

Finger and nose lickin' good.

We really liked Valencia, and are wishing we had more time to spend here.  For the most part, the cabbies were friendly, the food was great, and the town is really pleasant.

Indiana Dettering and the Temple of… Paella

Today was our only full day in Valencia, and we wanted to experience a day as typical as possible.  After a light breakfast, we headed into Valencia's central park area, the Curso de Turia.  Valencia used to have a river running through it, but after a major flood in 1957 that devastated the town (according to one of the cab drivers), the river was rerouted to another area, and the dried up river was turned into a park.  (This is also where the Citio de Sciencias is built.)  The Curso de Turia winds about six miles through town, and has everything you'd find in a typical park: playgrounds, lots of grass, playing fields and more. 

First, the kids found Gulliver's Playground, an ingeniously designed play area with slides, ropes and other features built into a huge Gulliver-like human figure lying on the ground.  Very cool.

 

 

Next, we rented a four-seater bike, which was a little more of an adventure than we bargained for.  Designing such a contraption for a family like ours is nearly impossible, as the pedals were slightly too short for me, and slightly too long for the rest of the family.  We managed to power it along nonetheless, and Bryce insisted on steering, which he did a good job with as long as he was paying attention.  When we turned around, Bryce pushed our bike backwards, and the petal caught Sue's foot in an unusual way, and so she was limping around for a while and being very valiant about the obvious pain she was in.  I went to help Laurel find a bathroom, and in our absence Bryce somehow managed to break the pedal chain.  Nevertheless, we limped back to the rental station, having had enough biking for the day.

 

Bill trying to fix a broken chain with no tools. Yeah, right.

Back to the safety of walking, we returned to the Cito de Sciencias to see their Indiana Jones exhibit.  This was really well done - tying the Indiana Jones movies to the study of Archaeology, and explaining how the various relics in the film were created, including their relation to actual relics and past civilizations.  (I thought it interesting that in 1000 years, the fake relics in the Indiana Jones movies would actually be historical relics in their own right.) We spent a couple of hours learning all about archaeology and movie making.  Everyone enjoyed the exhibit.

After Indiana Jones, I was ready for an only-in-Valencia food adventure: Paella.  Paella was invented in Valencia, and is one of my favorite dishes. This was the time and place to get a real authentic Paella meal.  I did my research, and chose Pepita's, a hundred-year-old Paella restaurant on Valencia's beach. Ernest Hemingway was said to have frequented this place.  In fact, Valencia's beach is lined with Paella restaurants, so we couldn't go wrong.  However, when we arrived, Pepita's was closed, and the other places were all doing Sunday "First Communion" private parties.  We discovered that the entire Paella scene doesn't really happen in Sunday, and not a single beach restaurant was open for us.  And… it was about to rain.  So we returned by taxi to our hotel. 

Later, we found a place near our hotel that offered a decent Paella, and it was very good, but somehow it didn't seem to have the magic I was hoping for at a place like Pepita's.

Valencia & Oceanogràfico

Back to big city mode for the rest of our trip.  We left the Costa Blanca, and drove for about an hour to Valencia, our home for the next two nights. The road choices gave us the option to go through some of the smaller tons on the way, or do straight highway, and I chose the small town route, as you never know what you'll find.  As we drove, Sue started noticing one, then two, then three provocatively dressed women along the highway in lawn chairs.  We saw perhaps twelve overall. The kids thought it was hilarious.  We never did figure out the raison d'etre for this spectacle, but I assume it was subtle advertising for a dance club nearby.

After checking into our hotel, and returning the rent-a-car, we set out to explore Valencia, and its City of Art and Sciences. Valencia used to have a river running through it, but it was diverted many years ago, and now the dry riverbed is a 5 mule long park that meanders through the town.  On one part are five buildings, exquisitely architected, including the famous Oceanogràfic (Aquarium), which we decided to visit.

The Oceanogràfic was an amazing aquarium, rivaling the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. Some of the highlights were a massive shark tank with a tube you walked under, and  separate building with two Beluga whales and a pair of walruses.  I saw a sunfish for the first time too. The kids were psyched.

 

Swimming with Sharks

 
The alien-looking sunfish

The ever-curious Beluga

After fully exploring the aquarium, we returned to the hotel to recharge before dinner.  The night features the Champions League Championship game between Bayern Munich and Chelsea, so we settled into a tapas bar across the street to enjoy the game, sitting next to a couple of Brit Chelsea fans.  Bryce, feeling his German roots, was rooting for Munich.  It was actually a really exciting game, with occasional screaming at the TV - mostly by the Brits.  Chelsea made an improbable victory, scoring to tie the game in the 88th minute, and then blocking a penalty kick in the overtime before winning on penalty kicks.  It was cool to see the kids get a flavor for European soccer, and Sue even enjoyed the game.

Dining in Dénia, Exploring Xavea

One of Bryce's teachers has a friend living in Dénia, and so we arranged to meet Megan and her Spanish husband Vincente for lunch at a cafe in downtown Dénia.  Our previous encounter with Dénia was unimpressive, mostly because we didn't know where to go.  Our lunch meeting was in a pedestrian-only part of the old town, and after seeing this part of Dénia, I'm now a fan.  There is a winding maze of car-less streets, and the lane our lunch spot was on had a plethora of cute little eateries and tapas bars.

Megan and Vicente have been living in Dénia for three years or so, and were carrying around their five month old son. They spoke highly of this part of Spain.  Megan works as a talented photographer who shoots a tremendous amount of weddings (http://www.meganspelman.com), and Vincente is an illustrator.  During lunch, I had a great opportunity to work my Spanish, as Vincente's English was not quite as good as my Spanish.  We did the traditional Spain-style lunch, talking and eating casually for 2 1/2 hours or so.  This particular place (Xocolat or something similar) served us a delicious meat and vegetable stew over cous-cous. I finally had to get up and walk around a bit, as much as I enjoyed their company.  Bryce and Laurel were very patient with us during obvious adult time, and they chimed in to the conversation occasionally.  Bryce also enjoyed playing with the baby, and their Guatemalan street dog "Birdy" who was waiting for us patiently outside the restaurant.

Bryce holding the Cutest Baby in the World

After lunch, Megan and Vincente recommended we go take a look at Javea (Xavea), another popular beach town a short drive away.  I had read about Arenal beach, so that's where we headed. The kid's patience with us paid off, as we found ourselves at a beautiful sandy beach, with shallow water and great body surfing waves.  The ocean was still slightly "refreshing", but I managed to acclimate and get out there and swim with them for a half an hour or so.  It definitely rejuvenated me.

Javea looks like a really nice place.  It has a mysterious, very steep mountain nearby that seemed to always be covered in clouds.  The Arenal beach has a lot of nice looking shops and restaurants, and the promenade was clean and well cared for.  Vincente told me that 50% of the residents in Javea are non-Spaniards - Brits, Germans and a few French make up most of the rest of the population. And I can see why people would love to live here - besides the beach, the town seemed well organized and very pleasant.  We didn't get to see the old town. but maybe next visit?

Mundo Mar, Dolphin Encounter

by Bryce

Today was an awesome day at Benidorm's Mundo Mar, but from mom's point of view, it was more like "I'm not swimming with the dolphins, the water will be to cold!". After a long ride to the amazing Mundo Mar, it looked like there were plenty of things to do there. The place looked amazing at the start. I looked inside the ticket building and bang! The words were flashing before my eyes: TRIP ADVISER CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE! I could not believe that I saw this. "Pasar" said the ticket lady. I thought to myself, "OH MY GOD, this place looks awesome".

Three seconds after we got there, a lady said "do you want a picture with a lemur?" I said, "Claro que si" even before I thought it. The lady brought me into a lemur cage packed with lemurs and screaming preschoolers. All of the sudden a lemur flew on my shoulder. Cold small hands gripped my shoulder as I laughed uncontrollably. I sat down as a women snapped my picture and told me to pick it up at the ticket office at the end of the day.

After a long time of getting pictures done with animals, making a friend or two, eating, and watching shows at the theaters, we finally headed to the place we really came here for: The delightful Dolphinarium. We were quickly greeted by a Spanish woman with a very good English vocabulary. She asked if we're going to swim with the Dolphins, and after our tickets were taken, we were on our way to Mundo Mar's Dolpinarium. First, we were taken to a changing station. I was quickly equipped with a shiny wetsuit. After waiting for the trainers to get the dolphins ready we hurried to get a chance to swim with them. Next, we were welcomed by a trainer named Pedro who was in the dolphin show with his group of dolphins, Frera and Jaunito. He explained all about the dolphins, but all I could hear was me gnawing at my rugged nails while my teeth chattered with nervousness and excitement. All the sudden we walked in a tank with two dolphins splashing happily in the water. Pedro introduced us to the two dolphins, Frera and Camino. Finally, he asked me to get in the water. Immediately a dolphin swam up to me and I was asked to get in a pose. The dolphin kissed me on the cheek as I laughed because of all the excitement pumping through my blood. After I got a picture holding Frera's fins and everybody else got their pictures we finally got to pet the dolphins. Camino whizzed by me as I extended my arms. Once I touched her everything went into slow motion. I pushed my left arm farther over her body. She felt like heated silk. Finally, I snapped back to my senses as Camino gained speed in the double dolphin whirlpool. Pedro whistled the dolphins back as he told us that we're going to play with the dolphins. First, he showed us how to make them sing by moving his fingers. After that two random people were used as volunteers for the log trick. Pedro whistled something to the dolphins as they swam away and in two swift moves jumped over the two people. I was asked to be the next volunteer for the log trick. I lay as still as a Medusa victim, or in other words, a log. In a moment two dolphins swiftly leapt over me and for a while all I remembered was saltwater stinging me from all angles and and two athletic dolphin bodies sailing over me. After that I learned how to make dolphins twirl. Once I got out of the pool I was given with a new Mundo Mar towel. After the encounter, I was so thrilled that I wanted to do everything again.