Matt, Kim and the girls did take the tour and he came away from it with some beautiful pictures of the interior lit by stained glass. They said that it was well worth the price and the queue.
Nick and Susan arrived on the 24th, a day after we did; their visit cut short by the threatened and later, cancelled Iberia strike. We enjoyed two evenings with them all doing our different forays during the day. Nick cooked a delicious paella with several varieties of chorizo for Christmas dinner. Matt and Kim laid in a vast selection of wines and we contributed garlic peanuts, vodka, wine and detergent. That's a long story...
Camilla and Collette entertained us with a couple of plays, dressing in their finery and new flamenco fans and hair-thingies. On Christmas day, they led their parents/grandparents on a tour of the Gaudi-designed Guell Park. We declined, having seen it in June and experiencing magnificent underwhelment. It seemed to me to be a Disneyland for LSD fans. OK, so I'm biased.
There were no crime-related incidents this trip, and Is actually managed to relax and enjoy it. Perhaps the fact that we learned from our first trip and appeared to be hardened targets, prevented us from attracting muggers, buggers and thieves. ("...love that dirty water...") We found and tried a Filipino restaurant; enjoying crispy pata to the hilt. One lunch was at an unimposing but good Indian restaurant just off La Rambla, and one afternoon I discovered a delicious tapa, Bunuelos de Bacalla. They are a sort of puff pastry with salt cod bits mixed into the dough with unidentified herbs and spices, then deep-fried to a crisp exterior.
The train trip up and back was shared, coincidentally with new friends, Susanne and Johannes whom we met at the American Thanksgiving lunch. A very pleasant time, fine weather and a good reunion with family.
Happy New Year to you-all.
1 comment:
Margaret will kill you -
she is a big, big Gaudi fan.
See you soon,
D&M
Post a Comment