Pictures and Observations

Hola!

As promised here are some pictures , with more to come of Barcelona. The ones posted are in sequential order from the bottom up:
1. Westiminster Abbey in London where we were lucky to arrive at precisely the right time to attend a sermon, which was done mainly in song - quite incredible!
2. In Almeria, Spain - I took this shot from the top of the Alcazba (fortress) that we saw there. The view was really neat, as you could see all of the town and the port as well (as well as the beach, which is how we realized this is where everyone was on a Sunday).
3. Tom on our hike in the Sierra Nevadas, just outside of Granada. Spectacular views and we had them all to ourselves!
4. Me in front of a statue at the Reina Sofia art museum in Madrid. (Can you believe it is wearing a cowboy-like hat? So fitting for a girl from Calgary.)
5. Tom and I sitting in the player´s ¨bench¨(which would more accurately be described as incredibly comfortable and posh leather chairs, which I don´t know why the players would ever want to leave to go out onto the field) at the Real Madrid stadium.
6. One of the many beautiful plazas in Madrid.
7. Cathedral de la Almudena in Madrid - the ceiling was just spectacular with such detail and vibrant colors.
8. A rainbow of spices in a market in Madrid

I still need to write about our and my time in Barcelona, but am putting it off as there is too much to say and to describe...... for now, a few observations and lessons learnt thus far:

1. The idea of ¨siesta¨is definitely real. It was more noticeable in the smaller city of Almeria, where EVERYthing shut down from 1:30-5:30pm for siesta. This meant that if we didn´t plan our eating around siesta, we would be going hungry until the stores and cafes opened again. It also meant that we tried to plan our travel time during siesta, so when we got to our new destination we wouldn´t arrive to find everything closed. Tom and I still can´t figure out how anything gets done in this country, when it seems half of the day is taken up with eating and sleeping! However, I must say that it is refreshing to be in a country that places such a huge value on quality of life...

2. I have been extremely surprised and impressed with how clean the cities have been here, particularly Barcelona and Madrid! For large cities, it is amazing how there are seeemingly always people sweeping the streets and driving down in vehicles cleaning the streets and sidewalks with pressurized water.

3. Most cafes/bars etc. have 3 prices - good to know if you are trying to save money! The cheapest option is to eat at the bar. You pay a little more to sit in the cafe and eat, and then much more to eat on the patio. (In some cases the ¨patio price¨was almost double that of the¨bar price¨.... you can guess where we did all of our eating.)

4. Barcelona = Quebec. This may sound odd, but here is why: Barcelona is part of the Province, Catalunya. Unlike most other places in Spain, who associate themselves with being Spanish, Barcelona associates itself with being Catalunyan, not so much as being Spanish. Thus: Quebec = Quebecois, not so much Canadian and Barcelona = Catalunyan, not so much Spanish. The result: most people here speak Catalan, not Spanish. This means that right when I was figuring out how to get by on my limited Spanish, the language changed! Keeps things interesting...

5. I am living in an 80´s rock video. Mullet. Classic Mullet. Dreadlock Mullet. She-Mullet. This is not a joke.
Apparently no one told people here that this trend died just ¨a few¨ years ago. I cannot believe the variety of mullets I have seen here! I didn´t even know that so many existed! Tom and I started a catalogue of ¨sneakily taken photos of particulry bad (or good?) mullets¨. All I can say is that this trend definitley makes for some entertaining metro riding.....

I am concluding my stay in Barcelona this evening when I am taking the night train to Bilbao. I will write about my time in Barcelona once I figure out how and what to describe of the great time I have had here. More pictures to come as well.

Adios!