August 3rd: All over but.. you know

We made it back from Andorra. First of all, I'd like to apologize to the people of Andorra: no pictures I have taken show the grandeur of that country. You'll just have to take my word for it.

All packed and ready to go. But, this afternoon yet another surprise. Celia and Jaume presented me with an oil painting of a Roman bridge in the town (see the photo) by a local artist. First of all, it's totally unnecessary, and I'm stunned at their generosity. Second, it's beautiful, and it will be an eternal reminder of a wonderful time.

Third: the family's surname, Pont, is "bridge" in Catalan.

Hope you got some enjoyment out of reading the blog.

See you soon!

Andorra!

What a day.

Josep, Joan, and I set out for Andorra this morning. All I can say is that, had we stopped to take picture of every picturesque town perched on a hillside or tucked into a valley, we'd still be on the road... and a treacherous road at that. We'd be winding down a a mountainside and then find ourselves winding up the same mountain. At some point, the town we were looking for was posted at 30km away. I think it was really 4 km, but 30 of actual road distance.

Finally, though, we made it into Andorra. My only disappointment is not having been stopped to get my passport stamped. Everything else is as I imagined. The capital, Andorra La Vella, is seriously tucked in a tight valley.. and these are BigBoy mountains. Professional mountains. Don't try this at home mountains.

After checking into our hotel, we went to Caldrea, a thermal spa. Think "indoor pool in steroids." Huge pool, hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, a "light of the woods" relaxation room... you name it.

After that, we did a change, then off to a great dinner, followed by a stroll to a bar. Josep wanted to celebrate our penultimate night with a few drinks. I guess that's allowed now that he's of legal age and is under no threat of being sent home by AFS. For the record... kicked his butt in darts. And he calls himself a party animal. (Okay, Joan won, but he was sober. Serious advantage.)

You know, sometimes the quiet times give you the best surprises.

The nicest surprise was a carry-over from last night. The family's oldest daughter, Laia, is home from med school for the day. If you picture a female version of Josep (in looks) with a 180 degree difference in personality, that would be Laia. Very sweet, very impressive. Not that Josep isn't those, but...

But today was explained to me as a quiet day with nothing special planned. We started off at the local pool, which in a town the size of Avinyo can't be far away.

After that, however, we went to a restaurant near the town of Vic. I've never had a more gourmet outing in my live. When you start with gin and tonic whipped up into a frozen appetizer in dry ice, you know you're in for a treat. Add two appetizers, four main courses (foie gras, a shrimp concoction, fresh tuna, then duck), two desserts, and a seemingly bottomless bottle of wine... what more could you ask? Foie gras, for the record, isn't as disgusting as I imagined; damn, it was delicious. The Catalunyans know how to eat.

The dinner was a multiple celebration: the grandparents' 60th anniversary, the great-aunt's birthday, Jaume & Celia's anniversary, and they threw in my visit.

After hanging at home later (and having Joan try to teach me to play warcraft-style video games.. the world is safe if I run the military, by the way), we went to a festival in a little town near here: Sant Joan d'Olo. Look for it if you dare. All I saw wat the ancient church and one house.(There was an interesting discussion about the distinction between the true "rurals" vs. the "neo-rurals." Never heard that term before!

But grilled food, booze, a quartet of singers... and friends. What could be a better end to the night?

Tomorrow, Josep, Joan, and I head to Andorra, where we'll spend the night. Father of two teens for the evening.

Wish me luck.

July 31, 2010: Barcelona Death March

Today Jaume, Josep and I headed to Barcelona to see everything there was to see, in one day. We started off on the mountain of Tibidabo, which gave us a good panoramic view of the city and the harbor.

From there, it was off to Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), a cathedral that will one day be the most stunning church in the world.

Just not today.

It was started by Gaudi, the man who designed the house we saw the other day. When he was given his certificate to practice architecture, the school said that they weren't sure whether they'd just graduated a genius or a madman. Perhaps both.

He started construction in 1883, and the "scheduled" completion is 2026. We'll see. He died before the completion of the Nativity Facade, depicting the birth of Christ. He also left no plans for the rest of the cathedral, which isn't a surprise since he never made any. Build by the seat of his pants, I'd say. The Passion Facade is complete, as is the shell of the main sanctuary.

Honestly, words can't describe the immense beauty and creativity of the building. I'm not much for organized religion, but it has certainly inspired its share of art and architecture.

One editorial comment. Josep and Joan keep calling me Japanese, since I'm taking pictures of anything that will stay still long enough. And then there's the whole thing about looking like a tourist. But on the way to Sagrada Familia, Josep, wearing a Boston Celtics jersey and sporting an enormous camera around his neck, was beckoned onto a double-decker tour bus. Score! Who looks like a tourist now, Pepi??

After lunch, we made our way up a San Francisco-level hill to Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi. It was supposed to be a housing project, but it failed. The city bought it at some point along the way and turned it into a park. The houses at the entrance are of Hansel/Gretel quality.

By this point, we had been at it for about six hours, we made it downtown for a quick look at La Boqueria St Josep, a popular market. We only made it through the meat, fish and vegetable aisles, but you can see the displays. If I lived here...

Then on to Montjuic for another panoramic view from the Mediterranean side of the city. For a city that was once criticized as not having a natural harbor, looks good to me.

We drove out through the Olympic site, but there was some sort of competition going on, so we couldn't have stopped if we wanted to; I DID, however, get a picture of the Olympic torch... the one the dude lit with a flaming arrow from the playing field. Look that one up on youtube!

I'm home now. The plan was to go to a jazz concert, but I'm worn out. The parents went off to do that alone.

Til tomorrow....

This morning, after sleeping in (good thought after yesterday), Josep, his parents and I went to Cordona. This is a place that's famous for two things: an enormous salt mine and a castle. The deal is that the castle was built in ancient Roman times to protect the salt mines, given how valuable salt was in the culture.

The salt mine trip was fascinating. Celia, as a science teacher, has taken many classes to it. As she said a few days ago, to her, the mine is much more interesting than the castle. The mine itself has been running commercially for about 60 years. The stalactites/stalagmines, unlike in other caves, form very quickly, in a few years as opposed to a few thousand, due to the nature of the salt crystals.

Afterward, we went to the castle. While you couldn't explore the castle itself much, we lucked out. The president of Catalunya is due there this afternoon for a concert, so the castle's chapel, where to concert will be held, was open. We took advantage and went in. Think "I'm with the band!"

My natural filter against taking pictures in religious space failed me again, but since they're using it today for as a concert hall, I felt justified.

In addition to being in an ancient Roman castle's chapel wasn't enough, we also sneaked into the crypt underneath the altar.

Near the altar there were a few tombs. According to Celia, the tombs were opened in wartime to hide the castle's valuables.

One other point of note: when Catalunya was annexed by Spain, Cordona was the last holdout; for a week, they rebelled against the Spanish.

It's funny how many pieces of graffiti I've seen that say "Catalunya is not Spain!" I asked why they were in English, and Jaume answered that in English, the message gets out better.

Another interesting perspective. Josep and I had a short talk about World Cup. I knew that he didn't follow football, but he wasn't the least bit excited about Spain's win. Why? The people here feel that Spain didn't win. Because the bulk of the team was from the Barcelona soccer team, CATALUNYA won the World Cup; Spain claimed the glory.

This afternoon Josep and I went to the local pool after his siesta, then Celia, Jaume, and I went to check out a Roman church nearby. Celia is teasing that the three of us are on the Church Tour. We'll fix that tomorrow when we do Barcelona!

(Fair warning: the pictures seem to be posted in opposite order to what happened. Go figure.)





Today started slowly. Josep had to get some paperwork from the local magistrate for his registration for college, so I took advantage of the free time to walk around his little town, Avinyo, and take some pictures. The oldest house in the town is about 500 years old, I'm told, and the town itself is a wonderful town of about 2,ooo, narrow winding streets, grandmothers on balconies (I didn't take pictures of them... I haven't been chased out of a town yet, and don't want to start today), people walking home with fresh bread... everything you'd dream of.

After clearing up the paperwork and taking my rental car back to the airport (unnecessary), we (Jaume, Josep, and I) made it to the university. However, since it was 2:00, the university offices were closed, according to Josep. I panicked that it was my fault, but he assured me that they'd re-open about 4.

Oh. That siesta thing. 2 hours for lunch in the afternoon. I could get used to that.

After lunch, Josep headed his way while Jaume and I went to tour of La Pedrara, an apartment building designed and build by Antoni Gaudi. Picture Dr. Seuss. Give him a hammer. You have Gaudi. The pictures of the chimneys on the rooftop should be some indication.

After meeting up with Josep, we strolled through some of the Old Town. Aptly named. Much of the original wall built by the Romans is still there. (Look for a picture of a stone wall. That'd be it!) But every time we turned a corner, there was another narrow street. As Jaume said, it's really easy to get lost in the maze of streets in that area.

We made it the cathedral Santa Maria del Mar by special request. I'm now reading "Cathedral of the Sea" which is set around the building of it; Jaume read it... of course, in its original Spanish. While I HATE people who take pictures in churches and at other religious spaces... well... guilty. I just needed to prove to myself someday that I was there.

All said and done, the three of us capped off the day with a dinner at a Basque-style restaurant. The shining characteristic of Basque style, apparently, is that one doesn't sit down. You stand, eat, and drink. We opted for sitting anyway, and gave sufficient amounts of stink-eye until a table cleared. (I trained Josep well!) The picture is of my food in Round One of eating. I apologize for not thinking of taking a picture BEFORE starting to eat.

How rude!

Today, Jaume, Celia, Josep, Joan and I went to the Costa Brava for the day, specifically to a beautiful little town, Tossa de Mar, on the Mediterranean. Tossa, (http://www.tossademar.com/indexen.htm) it turns out, was the setting for the movie "Pandora," starring Ava Gardner, which helped to popularize the Costa Brava, for the good or the bad. Josep wouldn't let me buy an Ava Gardner-inspired hat at one of the shops, but he didn't mind making out with her statue. (See photo)

After spending some time at the beach, we had a great meal. In keeping with the philosophy of trying anything new/different/indigenous, I had fish encrusted with ali-oli, a garlic mayonnaise. What's not to like?

The boys went swimming while the adults took some time to drive up along the Costa Brava to see other towns.

When we came back, we strolled through the "old town," which is the 1000-ish-year-old remnants of the original walled city which, it turns out, still has inhabited apartments within.