Funny Spain pics

While I might be violating the timeliness aspect of journalism, I couldn't close the door on our Spain pics without sharing a few of the stranger ones.

First up: New England's favorite fast-food transplant, Dunkin' Coffee, known in circles on this side of the pond as Dunkin' Donuts. While you might see some familiar items on the menu, expect to pay a premium for your European donuts, to the tune of $14/dozen. We passed on the donuts in favor of more traditional Spanish pastries. B did indulge in a coffee from this store, though. He said it was good but different from the coffee in the States. (I don't drink coffee, so I don't think I could correctly explain the difference.)


Next up: a fake European Disneyland. This place has to be ages old because the park was renamed to Disneyland Paris soon after it opened.

I've been to the real Disneyland Paris, and I can assure you that it's significantly awesomer than what you see below.


Have you ever had a conversation with your significant other that went something like this:
You: I could really go for Japanese food tonight.
S.O.: Oh, that's too bad, because I'm really in the mood for Argentine (Argentinean?) food.
You: If only there were a restaurant that combined them both...

If such a conversation has taken place, you're in luck! Head to Barcelona and check out the restaurant below, which specializes in food from two continents! And if you go, please let me know how it is--I was not in the mood for either type of food on the day that we passed by.

One more food pic. If you're wondering why-oh-why don't chip companies make meat-flavored potato chips, then you might consider making a trip to Spain. We found these jamon-flavored chips in a vending machine at a Metro station. B worked up the courage to buy them the next day at the airport, and they weren't disgusting at all, if you could get past the giant pig part on the front of the bag. They were kind of smokey, actually. If I went to Spain again, I'd definitely consider trying them again.

Ikea, you done me wrong

In general, Ikea and I are on good terms, but I had an unfortunate experience this past week and feel the need to share.

Last weekend, we bought seating to go with our Ikea patio table. As it turns out, the bargain that you think you're getting from a supah-cheap table is obliterated once you buy seating and cushions for six. But I'm not upset with Ikea about that; they set their prices and it's up to us as consumers to decide if we can accept them.

We bought four chairs and one bench. I like the idea of having a bench on one side of the table. However, the bench setup wasn't meant to be. We have never had a problem putting together Ikea furniture--the instructions are great, the parts are always complete, and everything lines up correctly.

But not with the Nordano bench, or with ours anyway. We had all of the parts, but the pieces didn't quite line up. Ben put it together as best he could, but when we sat down to test its comfort, we heard a loud crack. One of the pieces that had come bolted on had snapped loose. The bench had to go back.

Monday night, after work, we loaded the bench into the Subie and made the (not short) trek to our local store. We had to exchange the bench for two chairs and the bench cushions for chair cushions. We found the chairs all right--but the cushions were more difficult.

We had opted for red cushions because we thought they went nicely with the furniture and would "pop" on our deck. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea because we were able to find only one remaining red cushion. There were oodles of lime green cushions. Guess they weren't very popular this year.

B tracked down an information person, and he said that the green and red cushions come together in one box, and they won't receive any more until the green cushions are sold out, and we'll have to call to find out if they have any more red cushions in stock. Great.

But then I had an idea. We had grabbed the last remaining packaged red cushion, but there was one other red cushion in the store--the display model.

I marched back over to the information man and figured I had a good story. We had been to Ikea stores 3 times already to try to fill our order, and couldn't he cut me a break?

Information man was unsympathetic, and he said there was no way that he could let us take the model--store policy. He explained that the display color always sells out first, and then they have to wait until people buy the remaining color. I (logically, I thought) pointed out that they had only green cushions left, and didn't he think that the green cushions would sell faster if the green cushion was the display model?

He didn't agree. Oh, information man--how you disappointed me, hence the title of this post.

However, in fairness to Ikea, I have to point out that we have been completely satisfied with every other aspect of our transactions. Our deck transformation, courtesy of Ikea, Lowe's, Home Goods, and a whole lot of work, is nearly complete. We've even managed to find people who want to buy our old patio set, so when they arrive in an hour or so, we'll actually have a place to put this assembled furniture.

Our next vacation: Puerto Rico

How long did you think I could go without making plans for another vacation?

Five days, as it turned out. Five days after we got back from Spain, I booked our flights to Puerto Rico.

Originally, my plan had been to convince B that we should go to London and Rome for our next vacation. However, keeping up our recent European-vacation-every-three-months trend is not financially responsible in the long run, especially considering the monster tax bill that we paid this week, so to play it safe, I decided that we should give ourselves 6-7 months in which to build up the reserves before we go away.

(Interesting note--we filed on Wednesday, and our refund from the State--we owed Uncle Sam, but the state owed us--has already dropped into our account. I love it!)

Seven months out puts us in November, which happens to be the rainiest month in the year in Rome. Who knows about London--it's rainy all the time, and I suspect that November is not the cheeriest month for visiting the British isles.

I just can't deal with another rainy vacation. Let's recall--our last vacation was to a rainy Spain, and the vacation before was to Germany in the winter. I want a sunny and warm vacation, darn it! A vacation that does not require long underwear. The threat of a sunburn sounds almost appealing.

So I'm going to the Caribbean during hurricane season. What can I say, I live on the edge. If it rains, at least it will be warm.

The plans are underway. I've already made hotel reservations. We're staying in Old San Juan for four nights and the island of Vieques, located off the east coast of the island, for three nights. I'm sure my descriptions can't do justice to Vieques, since I've never visited, but it sounds like it's off the beaten path compared to most tropical destinations.

Puerto Rico has a different flavor, compared to our most recent vacation destinations. Therefore, I have created a top-ten list to explain why PR has earned its place as our next vacation destination.

1. It's part of the United States, so we don't need our passports and don't have to agonize over the best time to exchange money.
2. It features some of the oldest buildings in North America, some dating from the 1500s, so the island is full of history and culture.
3. It affords another opportunity to practice my mediocre Spanish skills. I plan to make flash cards so we can learn the names of common foods on the island. Perhaps on this vacation, B won't order tuna cubes when he thinks he's getting tacos (been there, done that--thank you, VIPS in Madrid).
4. We can fly there direct in 4 hours, and our 2 flights cost the same as 1 person's flight to Europe.
5. We haven't had a tropical vacation in over 3 years, and what better time for warmth than November?
6. Puerto Rico has El Yunque, the only rain forest in the United States. The Amazon, it is not, but since I've never seen the Amazon, I suspect I will be impressed.
7. In Vieques, we have a legitimate chance of sitting on a beach all by ourselves, tropical drinks optional.
8. Speaking of tropical drinks, the pina colada was created in Puerto Rico.
9. San Juan's weather forecast has been delivered to B's iPhone for six months now, and we want to find out for ourselves if it's as awesome as advertised.
10. The time zone change is just one hour, which means NO JET LAG!

Photos from La Boqueria

La Boqueria is a covered (and therefore great even on a rainy day), outdoor food market in Barcelona. It's located just off the Ramblas and was a five-minute walk from our hotel, making it an ideal location for purchasing breakfast. And the prices couldn't be beat.

At La Boqueria, we regularly purchased a hearty breakfast of six pieces of fruit (typically apples, oranges, and clementines) for €1.40, which, even with the exchange rate, was a surpreme bargain. The stands didn't just sell fruit, though--you could buy fresh vegetables, fish, meat, chocolate, nuts, dates, prepared foods--sort of like a Spanish Whole Foods, only with reasonable prices.

La Boqueria is the type of place that makes you wish that your hotel room had a kitchen, even though I was not sure what I'd do with many of the products (as you'll soon see from the pics).

WARNING: To veggies, vegans, and those who are on the fence--you might want to stop looking now; some of these pics are graphic.

Canoeing in Retiro Park

One of my favorite memories from our trip was our canoe ride around the lake in Retiro Park on the second day.

It was a warm day, almost hot, with not a cloud in the sky. At points, I was even able to wear a tee shirt without a jacket (I know--if even I can do that, it must be warm).

An interesting note on dress: I fit in better with Spaniards than New Englanders when it came to clothing. When it's in the 60s and sunny in New England, particularly on a spring day, you're likely to see men and sometimes women in shorts, flip flips, and tee shirts. On a similar day in Spain, people wear long pants, sweaters, maybe jackets, shoes, and socks. I liked not feeling overdressed for the weather. I'm also ok with feeling a little overwarm.

The following pic is a cool tree, one of several, that was at the entrance of the park. We thought it looked like cauliflower.



The following pic is of the Crystal Palace in the park. It really is that gorgeous in person (on a sunny day, anyway). All of the glass turned the inside into a bit of a greenhouse, not that I was complaining. I thought it would be a beautiful place to host a wedding reception.



Here's B standing by an anchor installment that he liked.

And me sitting in the rowboat.

Arriving in Madrid and visiting the Botanical Gardens

We flew direct to Madrid, a relatively short flight (under 7 hours), and then hopped off the plane and weren't able to collect our luggage for an hour. Everyone who doesn't check luggage is probably laughing gleefully right now. It's ok--whenever I manage to not check, I am smug, too.

Another issue with the airport--it reeks of cigarette smoke. Their concept of a smoking area is a few glass walls with an open doorway and an open ceiling. Be prepared for these limitations should you have the pleasure of visiting the Madrid-Barajas airport. Otherwise, our experience was pleasant.

After our single bag rolled around the luggage mobile and jumped into B's capable hands, we exited the secure area and tried to decide how to get to our hotel. We had two options: Airport bus and Metro. (We knew we'd be cabbing it back to the airport to catch our flight to Barcelona, and we didn't want to spend a small fortune on taxis.)

Because we would have had to take a bus to another terminal to get to the airport bus, we opted for the subway. It was cheaper, and we didn't have to wait long for a train to arrive. However, we neglected to remember the copious stairs that characterize European subway systems.

It was an epic journey with lots of ups and downs (and ups and downs) that dropped us off about a half mile from our hotel. We walked the distance while toting luggage. It's moments like these that make me feel like I am truly roughing it.

Until I check into my five-star hotel.

Unfortunately, our suite (more photos and maybe even a video tour still to come--it was pretty pimptastic, considering it cost us $60 USD per night) was not ready, so we dropped our bags and dragged our disheveled selves outside. The nearby botanical garden seemed like a lowkey destination that we could handle on minimal sleep, so we walked over.

There's something about being outside on a beautiful, sunny day amid exotic plants and a cloudless sky that makes a botanical garden almost magical. We walked around for an hour or so, admiring their flora and fauna, and here are a few pics from our experience.

A few fav pics from Espana

If I were typing on a keyboard in Spain, I'd be able to write the n with a tilde above it.

Aside: The keyboards at the business center in our hotel in Barcelona had two extra letter keys: one for the n with the tilde, and one for the c with the little tail. I think the tailed c is used only in Catalan, so I'm not sure what the traditional Spanish keyboard looks like.

But I'm not in Spain, so we have to use our imagination, or I could write Espanya, which says the same thing but looks plain wrong.

Anyway. I've uploaded the pics and have had the opportunity to identify a few favorites, which appear below (like with Dancing with the Stars, they appear in no particular order, as anyone who has uploaded photos in Blogger knows).

This first photo is of an art installation at the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park in Madrid. If you look closely in the silver ball in the middle, you can see our reflections. This photo might be the first successful mirror photo that I've ever taken of myself.

The following photo is of a food stall at La Boqueria, a covered outdoor market on the Ramblas in Madrid. "La Rambla" is the term used to describe the main drag through a town in Spain (or maybe just Catalunya because I don't recall encountering the term in Madrid), and Barcelona takes it to a whole new level, with street performers, pet and flower stalls, and even your occasional shell game (we saw one person get suckered out of 50 euro).

The following photo is of an art installation that spells "Barca" outside the cathedral in town (not La Sagrada Familia, the other one). B got into place just as the kids started running through, and since there were so many groups of schoolchildren at all of the tourist destinations that we visitied, I thought it captured our experience with the city nicely.

The last photo: I love Fanta Limon and am heartbroken that you can't buy it in the US. I drank it almost nonstop while I was over there and might have to plan another trip to a Mediterranean country solely for the soda options. This photo was taken in Retiro Park right after we took a rowboat ride around the little lake. (Note the short sleeves - it was the only day in our trip that was warm enough for them, and I relished it.)

A note on melatonin

As I've mentioned many times in the past on this blog, jet lag is a vacation companion from way back. He shows up at the most inconvenient times and prevents me from getting the beauty sleep that I need on my vacations.

I couldn't bring myself to ask my doctor for a prescription for sleeping pills, so I decided to try melatonin, which, depending on your viewpoint, may or may not be more natural than a prescription drug.

B and I each slept for a total of maybe 3 minutes on our nearly 7-hour flight to Spain. I closed my eyes, put on my eye mask, inflated my neck pillow, and put in my ear plugs, but sleep just wasn't happening. There's something about sitting there with your jaw hanging open in front of hundreds of people that just feels awkward. B realized early on that there wasn't any point in trying and just stayed awake.

When we finally got into our hotel room in Madrid around noon, we unpacked and then collapsed and slept for about an hour. It was heavenly and we could have slept all day but didn't want to waste the wonderful sunshine.

And then that night we slept for 14 hours, so there was no need for sleeping aids.

But it's the second night that always does me in, so before we went to sleep, I popped a little melatonin pill, and wouldn't you know it, I slept the entire night. The next night, even with a melatonin pill, I slept fitfully, but over the next couple of nights, I resumed a more normal sleeping schedule and was able to sleep much more than on past trips with the help of the melatonin.

And last night, for our first night back home, I took a melatonin pill. While I woke up at 3 AM (as usual), I was able to fall asleep again until 6:30 AM, which might seem early, unless you consider that I went to bed at 8 PM.

All things considered, I am officially a fan of melatonin, and it will be an excellent companion for all vacations that involve any kind of serious time-zone changes.

It didn't stay mainly in the plain

The rain in Spain, that is. Our trip to Spain was the rainiest vacation that we've ever had, but it still featured 2 awesome days for weather and 2 pretty good days. The rest were a mixed bag, but we found that the rain inspired us to find more indoor activities, so we visited nearly every museum and exhibit that Barcelona offered. We made the best of our time and tried not to let the bad weather make for a bad vacation.

Spain is a fascinating country in which four different languages are spoken. In the region of Catalunya, where Barcelona is located, they speak Catalan in school, at home, and when they're out and about. They also know Spanish from television and other sources. In Catalunya, nearly all signs appear in 3 languages--Spanish, Catalan, and English (convenient for tourists).

Interestingly, Catalan isn't taught anywhere outside of Catalunya, so no other Spaniards understand the language. Interesting? I'll say so.

You might say that Spain is a collection of territories, all with unique languages and cultures, which sometimes unwillingly are considered part of a single country. Before I visited Spain, I was familiar with the ETA and their stance that the Basque region should be declared an independent country from the rest of Spain. However, I was not aware that other regions, including Catalunya, sometimes had similar feelings.

The Catalunyan flag features five yellow stripes interspersed with four red stripes. According to a tour guide with whom we chatted about history, culture, and politics, if you see a flag with a blue stripe at the bottom, the bearer believes that Catalunya should be independent from Spain.

Catalunyans have a complex relationship with Madrid, the capital of the country, and all that it represents, both currently and historically. After Franco seized power, he forbade people from waving the Catalunyan flag. Instead, Catalunyans rallied behind the flag of their soccer team, and matches between the Madrid and Barcelona soccer teams assumed a new level of meaning, even though the matches were fixed so that Franco's team, Madrid, always won. Catalunyans still showed up to support their team and to show their protest.

Most people are aware that the figure of a bull represents the country of Spain. Catalunyans might object to that statement; my understanding is that they think the bull represents Madrid. We saw many bull stickers on cars but also lots of donkey stickers, so we asked our tour guide about them. He said that Catalunyans adopted the donkey as their mascot as a way of poking fun of Madrid and their obsession with the bull. You sometimes even see Catalunyan flags with a donkey in the middle of them.

Taxes are of course also a tricky situation. Catalunya, while part of Spain, has a form of local government. However, the end result is that Catalunyans pay double taxes, to both Madrid and their local government. Some believe that their tax money subsidizes poorer regions of the country, specifically the southern region, where jobs are difficult to find and unemployment numbers are high. Additionally, the highways in Barcelona feature significantly more tolls than the highways in Madrid.

When it comes to religion, many Catalunyans, while they might consider themselves Catholic and spiritual, no longer attend church on a regular basis. The church continues to play a much more significant role in people's lives in other areas of the country, including the south.

Surprisingly, there are still people who look back with fondness for the days under Franco and who wish that Franco-like dictator were still in power. I suppose that some people do benefit under a dictatorship, but I suspect that there are few Catalunyans who look back with fondness on the Franco days.

These were my political and cultural impressions of Spain; it was an eye-opening and informative trip. Previously, when I thought of European countries, I assumed that their size limited the different outlooks that geography tends to breed. However, my assumption couldn't be further from the truth, at least in Spain. Political differences abound, and the passion that people feel for their causes burns strongly.

I really enjoyed our short trip in Spain, and I highly recommend planning a trip. More stories and photos to come over the next week or so.