Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona on Saturday morning after a great train ride - high speed train traveling up to 300KPH (about 190 MPH). It was a really smooth ride but you had to look quick at the scenery because it was gone as soon as you focused on it. The cab ride to the hotel took us by the bull ring which has been turned into shops since bull fighting has been outlawed in Catalunya. Barcelona identifies itself first as part of Catalunya and secondly Spain.

After dropping off our bags, we went to the boqueria which is a very crowded and busy market hall selling everything from all parts of pig, chicken, goat, sheep and rabbit - including penises to anything that comes out of the sea, flowers, all sorts of fruits and vegetables, candies, nuts, chocolates, cheeses, wines, breads, pastries, etc. There are also several stands selling assortments of foods and tapas. Ernie got to try razor clams and the Spanish treatment of oxtails. Great food, beer and company - met some ladies from South America and shared stories of traveling.

Saturday evening we went to the plaza outside the cathedral watching sardana dances. This is a patriotic dance in which proud Catalans join hands and dance in a circle. Sounds pretty boring but what fun to watch. The music was great - so great we bought a CD of sardana music. Folks of all ages take part in these dances. Unfortunately the video doesn't have sound (guess I should get a good video camera or maybe not since it's just one more thing to carry.) Check out the man in the blue shirt in the second photo. Doesn't he remind you of one of the grumpy old men from Sesame Street. He didn't miss a dance!

Sunday morning found us back at the plaza by the cathedral to have our palms blessed. They do things a little different in Spain as one buys their palms, or bunches of rosemary or bay leaves and then wait in the plaza to have them blessed. After the blessing, we took off to find the first of what
will turn out to be many processions for Holy Week.  These processions are amazing as the floats are
quite old, some having been built as early as 1920. They are ornate, covered in gold or silver and filled with statues, flowers and candles. The most amazing thing about them is they are carried by about 20 people. These folks were very specific headware, back support and knee pads. They all take their place under the floats and then carry with their shoulders - most times while in a standing position but sometimes on their hands and knees when they have to clear the church entrances. These floats are stored in the church and then carried out the front entrance, processed through the streets and returned to the church.

Once the procession past by us, we started a walking tour of the gothic area of the city.

Tapas in Barcelona were a bit different than Madrid and we had to figure that out. In Madrid, you
order a drink, you get a tapa and so on until you say enough. In Barcelona, they don't give free tapas.
You buy your tapas at an inexpensive price and buy your drink. The one that is different is in a
Basque tapa bar. There all the tapas are laid out on the bar (sort of cafeteria style) and they all have a
toothpick in the  sort of to hold them together. You take what you want and save the toothpicks. When you are done, you hand your plate to the bartender and she counts the toothpicks and tells you what you owe (they were €1.90 each). That was really fun and they were absolutely the best tapas we have had since we arrived in Spain.

I'm going to let the photos tell the rest of the story of Barcelona. Ernie and I both agree that we've
done Barcelona and really don't need to return. We just never connected with this city. I don't know if it was because it is so touristy and therefore the folks in the restaurants and stores don't seem as friendly or warm as we experienced in Madrid. Suffice it to say, we are glad we scheduled this city
but do not plan on returning.

The other thing that I must mention is that we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary here and
Ernie got me the more beautiful ring, necklace and earrings from an artisan jeweler here so I will always remember that about Barcelona.

The Saldana dance

Grumpy old man

This guy was trying to get to the other side if the plaza during the dancing

and he was not having much success. We just laughed at him.

Cathedral

Check out the elaborate palms

Again, palms for sale to be blessed by the priest in the plaza.

Beginning of the first procession we saw - Jesus coming into the city.

This float is being carried by a team of people underneath it

The Four Cats Cafe. An old resting stop for Ernest Hemingway

Inside the Four Cats

An old water fountain. The locals actually collected their water from here as recent as 20 years ago

Ernie is standing by a mails lot that was actually built into this ancient building

Decorated for Holy Week

The holes in the front of this church is bomb damage from their civil war

This is one alley in the Jewish quarter. At its peak, there were over 4000

Jews living within a few alleys

The spires of the cathedral of Barcelona

Just a few musicians playing behind the cathedral

This is the bridge of sighs.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this silly mannequin

This is one of my favorite signs in all of Barcelona. It speaks for itself

Carving of St. George who is the patron saint of Barcelona

This is the plaque on the entry to the Roman Temple of Augustus. It states that you are standing on the summit of Mount Tabor - at16.9 meters, elevation 55 feet. This is the highest spot in the. Gotic quarter of Barcelona

This is all that remains of the temple. Below is a rendering of what it is thought the temple originally looked like

Tis puppeteer was in a small plaza as we turned the corner going to our next stop on the walk.

This is a gargoyle on one of the building. In the Place de Sant Jaume which was the seat of government for 2000 years

Had to take a phot of this cab on one of the streets we walked down

Another great poster in a small shop window

This is a pedestrian bridge linking the Ramblas with the modern shopping/acquarium/entertainment complex at the harbor front 

This is one of the Gaudi buildings.

A closer view.

Check out the roof of this building. I can't help but think it would be fun to live in something like this.

Sagrada  familia church designed by. Gaudi

Madrid

So I've fallen behind on posting - what else is new! We have been so busy that when we get back to our room, it is fall into bed.

I'll start with Madrid. What can I say other than we have fallen in love with it. There is a gentleness to this city even thought crowded beyond belief. People were out in the streets well until 4:30 in the morning. Since we had no air conditioning, we had to leave the veranda door open all night for air circulation and were woken up during the night/early early morning numerous times. Obviously it didn't help that we were there while there were UEFA quarter final games being played in Madrid along with kids out for Easter holiday all over Europe and there were a lot of student tour groups. In fact, while eating lunch one day, we realized the group next to us were American. We started a conversation with the standard question "so where are you from?" Turns out they were from Westchester New York. They were chaperoning teachers for a group of 16 year olds. The kids were having lunch somewhere else while the teAchers stopped for a brief interlude of adult beverages.

Our first few days in Madrid were spent following the Rick Steves walking tours along with just getting lost and trying to find our way back. It also took a little time figuring out the whole tapas thing. The ideal way to do Spain is the start with caffe con leche (expresso with equal amount of warm milk) or dense hot chocolate (a spoon could stand up in it - like our pudding) and churros. The Spaniards like to dip the churros in their coffee or hot chocolate. You then eat lunch somewhere between 1:00 and 3:00, along with requisite pitcher of sangria or wine. The. You go to your hotel for siesta or quiet time - if not just sitting in a park or at a cafe with a lovely vermouth people watching. Once you are revived, you are ready to start again with the tapas crawl. For us, the tapas were our evening meal. For the locals, tapas are the appetizer and then they have dinner around 10 pm. Way too late for us!

We did find an amazing little bar where we could sit at a table and get the tapas while we watched the soccer games. Jesus was our waiter and he kept our glasses full with great Rioja wine and the tapas just kept coming.

One of the highlights of the Madrid visit was eating at Botin which is the oldest restaurant in the world (according to the Guinness Book of Records.) it was founded in 1725. Ernie had the Castilian style suckling pig. Of course we had to have paella a couple of times. Quite delicious, glad we had it and don't need to do again for a while. It is quite filling and a lot of rice for one sitting. I'd rather make it at home with a lot less rice and more seafood and chicken in it than is served here.

The Cathedral of Santa Maria la Real de la Almundena. The main altar is a bit understated while the chapel to the Almundena Virgin was massive.

The other amazing place to visit was the Royal Botanical Garden. This is so much more than a garden, it is a botanical museum. As we started walking through it, I told Ernie that the one thing that would just make my visit to the garden was to see a Dogwood tree. We'll guess what? We found one and it was in full bloom. A few walkways from that, we found Lila's in full bloom! I never expected that so my day was doubly blessed!!!!

Trying to do this post and the photos seems to be problematic today. I think the only photo not identified are the lilacs. I'll end with this since it's time to get Ernie up from his siesta and start thinking about our tapas crawl tonight!

This was a "character" in one of the plazas. When you put a coin in

his container, he starts to clap his jaws and bounce up 

and down. Just really funny. Brought a smile to my face.

This is Botin

These are the suckling pigs waiting for their turn in the oven

Here they are in the oven. Yes they still cook that way

The cathedral

This is the main altar. As I said, extremely understated

This is the chapel!

Here I am in from of Palacios Real. This was an amazing tour.

Every room has a different theme and color. Most of walls were covered

in silk. One room was actually all porcelain. The porcelain was made in

small pieces and then the design was put together in the room. Ceiling and walls covered 

in the porcelain motif with the joining screws hidden in the leaf designs.

Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take photos. You'll Judy have to go yourself.

Believe me, it is well worth it.

These two building were designed and built at a 15 degree angle

to act as a gateway into the more modern Madrid.

This is the bull ring. Unfortunately no bull fights until late May

This little fellow was on a Rock in the Royal Botanical Garden

Amazingly beautiful rhododendron 

Here's my dogwood!

This picture is for Joelle

One of the buildings in old Madrid that has this amazing roof dome

England continued

Ernie graciously pointed out that I posted photos in my last posting that were of Cardiff Wales without any explanation. So....we have now visited all countries in the United Kingdom along with Ireland. That is not to say that we have thoroughly explored each one but it means that we have set foot in each one, explored to a degree and had a bite to eat and a cuppa. We laugh abbout this because Ernie and I had a discussion a long time ago about the places we each had visited and Ernie was claiming airport changes as a visit to that state.After much discussion about what truly constitutes a visit to a state, we set ground rules - must set foot on the land of that state, explore some and have a bite to eat or a drink. So scratch this off our bucket list!

So back to Cardiff, we spent a lovely day there just exploring the town. It was about a 45 minute drive from Clevedon, across the Avon River to the park and ride outside Cardiff (which is the capitol of Wales). the bus ride into town was quite interesting as it was a 9% grade down and the roads were quite narrow. It made for some hairy moments.

Pier in Clevedon

Clock tower on Cardiff castle

Castle keep in Cardiff

Pond by the car park in Cheddar

Had cream tea here

Cottage off the gorge road

Candy maker in Cheddar making winter mints using a 100 year old hand crank molding

machine. Got a free sample afterwards

Oh, while in Bath, we did have the requesite pasties for lunch. I do so like them!

On Saturday, Angela and Barry had a birthday party for their youngest granddaughter so we put on our rain jackets and wandered to the seaside. Wait till you see the photos of the pier here. Clevedon is a victorian seaside town and the pier reflects that. It was opened in 1869 and has the distinction of being the second highest in the world. On Spring tides, there is a rise of over 47 feet from low tide. Unfortunately I will not be able to provide a picture of low and high tide since high tide occurs around 2 in the morning - just not happening!

Of course after stolling in the rain and cold, we just had too stop at the Moom and Sixpence pub for a draught and a fish and chips. They do make the very best fish and chips in England. Angela and Barry's son and his wife, Howard and Vanessa, came over for dinner that night and we had sizzling for dinner. For those not familar with sizzling it is cooking on a hot stone (just like raclette but called sizzling in the UK). The hot stone appliance has a space under the stone and heating element that you can place small pans that hold various foods with cheese on top of them allowing the cheese to melt. So our meal consisted of sirloin medallions, chicken, shrimp, Italian spiced beef patties, various salamis, mushrooms, onion rings, pepper rings, cooked potatoes and salad followed by a dessert of crumbled cookies topped with raspberries mixed in whipped cream. Of course brandy and port followed. What a great meal and conversation and were thankful to be part of the Smith family.

Sunday morning was laundry and then a trip to the village of Cheddar and Cheddar Gorge. The village of Cheddar was already involved in cheese making in 1170. Of course we had to taste and buy  some of the only cheddar made in Cheddar. The cheese makers there still use the caves in the gorge for aging and storing the cheese. Cheddar Gorge is Britain's biggest gorge with cliffs rising up 450 feet. For whatever reason, I just didn't expect that. We also tried scrumpy which is the local cider, rough cider, that is not filtered. I must admit that scrumpy is an acquired taste and I haven't acquired it yet.

We ended the day in Cheddar with a cream tea - a scone with jame and clotteed dream and tea. I am totally in love with clotted cream! Got back to the house to get ready for Sunday roast. The youngest Smith son arrived with his two young boys and their mother. Ollie is four and Harvey is almost two. They are two of the best behaved young men we've met in years. Kudos to their Mum! Roast was a great pork roast with the best crackling. The potatoes and parsnips were oiled and then baked. Oh my gosh, they were so great. Angela also had broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and brussel sprouts. What a feast. Of course, the crowning glory was Barry's trifle - with clotted cream. Jen, the boy's mother, felt the neeed to bring some dessert, so she brought Australian crumble (like Anzac cookies and oh so sweet) along with meringue cookies - with clotted cream. I have eaten so much cream over the lastg four days, I need to go hiking for 3 days to work it all off. Again, great food and company.

That brings us to today. A leisurely day drying clothes in front of the fire and over the radiators, showering and packing for a late afternoon flight to Madrid.

So adios until Spain.

England

So, we arrived in London on Tuesday. Barry was so kind to pick us up from the airport considering it  was almost a two hour trip from his home in Clevedon. Managed to stay up until a little before 10 p.m. Ernie made it until almost 8:30 and just couldn't keep awake. Got up at reasonable times the next morning to our great surprise.

The weather here is in the 50's, damp and overcast but it is Spring! the tulips and daffodils are all in bloom  as well as several of the trees. the colors outside are great to see. We have had some rain but nothing that was a stopper for us. We went to Bath on Wednesday. A little walking and it was time for a cuppa (that translates to a cup of tea). Following our lovely morning pick me up, we went to the Roman Baths. These were the first Roman spas north of the Alps and is a World Heritage site. The bathhouse is over 2000 years old and the water is still flowing. I was really surprised to find that there was geothermal activity in the UK. This is the only geothermal location in the UK. We spent around three hours in this amazing facility.

Daffodils blooming everywhere

Ernie and Barry in front of Bath Abbey

Angela, Barry and Ernie

Water channneling into the great bath

Temple pediment

Underground overflow tunnel

One of the tunnels feeding the baths

Lovely duck enjoying the warm stone

Cold water bath which was the final step

These alcoves were where the invalids were placed for the healing baths. The 

dark brown/orange stain on the wall was where the water level was so it 

covered them up to their shoulders 

Bath Abbey built in 1499

Notice the second angel on the left covering herear with her  wing to block out the bagpipes

Reminds me of Mary Poppins

Bath England

Clock tower on Cardiff Castle

The castle keep

Church in Cardiff Wales

Carousel on one of the shopping avenues in Cardiff

Well that was our first two days in England. More in my neext post. Nite all!

So it's time to post an update. We had Halloween in Austin with Gracie and had a super time. It is fast becoming one of my favorite holidays. We were at Lake Medina in the Texas Hill Country and were going to stay up til Christmas and then move to a campground in Austin to be closer for the holiday but our camper decided to spring several leaks in the dining/living room slide. We wound up soaking up water from the floor for a day and a half until our camper place opened and we could take it in for repairs. Spent the holiday at Chris's place and moved back to Lake Medina for New Year's Day. Took off for Harlingen around the 10th of January for two months. We had the best time there and met some amazing folks!

The park had so many activities that it was difficult finding time to do them all. Got back into square dancing again and met Paula and Dave. Have you ever met folks for the first time and just felt at home with them? That's Paula and Dave! They understand and like our style of camping - sitting outside at night around the fire, great conversations, playing dominos and cards, eating great food, drinking good wine, seeing the sights in the Valley. They also introduced us to Judy and Ed who make kick-ass margaritas and also appreciate good wine. What talks we had sitting around. Oh, I didn't mention Sophie (Paula and Dave little dog) and Sammy (Judy and Ed's little woozy boy dog). Two of the cutest dogs and they both let me love on the. And rub their bellies.

While we were excited to get home and see the kids and get ready for our trip to Europe, it was so hard saying goodbye to them. We are so hoping to see the. Later this year when we are I. The Ohio area. Unfortunately for us, we will spend next winter in Florida and they will all be in Harlingen again. I only say unfortunately because it would be great to be with them and all the other folks we met but will be fun in Florida too. Gracie, Angie and Kevin. Will come down to spend some time and do Disney World. Possibly can get Jasmin to come also.

Ernie cousin Bobby and his wife Ellie live in Orlando. We used to double date with the. Way back when and Bobby was best man at our wedding. We haven't seen them in a number of years and are so looking forward to spending time with them and catching up on all the years.

So that brings us to this last week. We've been in Barnegat New Jersey with Annie and Bill, our friends from the Dominican Republic. Oh my gosh, what a week! We last saw them almost a year ago and we had so much to catch up on - over several glasses of wine of course. Since we had never spent any time in Jersey before, they planned all sorts of stuff to do. But our first day brought snow - lots of it for Ernie and I. Of course I had to go and make a snow angel.

The next day We took a drive to the shore to see all the damage and resulting repairs from Hurricane Sandy. As a result of the storm, housing,laws were changed and most of the home at the coast now have to be lifted so they are not on the ground and will hopefully be,less susceptible to tide surges from storms. So much destruction! We also went to Cape May which is the southern most point of Jersey - I think! If I'm wrong on that fact, I apologize in advance. What a beautiful town! So many amazing 3 and 4 story gingerbread homes, big, old beautiful homes. It was so colorful and quaint - and expensive!

We went to a local winery for a Wine & Swine festival. There were around 12 to 15 local wineries offering tastings. Most of the wines were rather young but there were a couple that had old vines and lovely wines.  Sunday found us driving to New York City for a two day visit. Went to the Ground Zero memorial and then went to a Broadway play in the afternoon. Our first Broadway play. We were at the Neil Simon theater and saw Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) in All The Way, a play about Lyndon Baines Johnson and his term as president in the 11 months following JFK's assassination. He was amazing.  Afterwards we took the Hop On/Hop Off bus for a night tour of NYC. Oh, did I mention that it was pissing down rain and around 41 degrees? The next morning, we got on the tour bus for the uptown tour and then took the downtown tour in the afternoon. Thankfully the us. Came out and we had a much better day - weather-wise. Finally got home around 9:30 that night and we all crashed.

This morning found us doing laundry and packing to catch our flight to London in the evening. As I write this posting, we are on our way to Rejkavik Iceland and a change of planes for London.

With that, I bid you all a very good night. More to come I. Future days - as we get WiFi connections. We will be in Europe for the next three months and there will be stories to tell.

Good Night!