Shoreditch festival

Since it's gloomy, overcast, and cold today, I'd like to remember the happier, sunnier times. This past weekend we attended the Shoreditch festival - your typical free neighborhood festival, complete with ethnic food stalls, port-o-potties, bad music, and large fields to sit and waste the day in. The forecast had called for rain on Saturday (as it does every day), but when we got up it was bright and sunny out. So we went on a stroll with Caron and Tom and ended up at the Shoreditch festival. When we got there, at noon, people were just starting to arrive, the food was just starting to be cooked, but the bar (a large, dark tent made to resemble a pub...humorously called the Pigeon's Arms) was already up and running. So we bought a pitcher of Pimms and lemon soda, and sat in the field soaking up the sun - since we were all lacking in our vitamin D. After one pitcher, we all got some great Ghanaian food, got another pitcher, reclaimed our spots on the grass and just relaxed...until the sky clouded up, the temperature dropped, and the wind picked up, which meant it was time to head home.

Another birthday thank you

Last night we went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe theatre, thanks to Leo's parents, who got us tickets for Leo's birthday. The theatre was great, aside from the uncomfortable seats (benches too close together with no back rests..perhaps leg room wasn't an issue in the olden days). The play, which was one I had never read, was quite amusing and all of the actors gave great performances. Plus, once again, we were able to bring drinks into the theatre, which never gets old. Thank you for the tickets!

The one nice thing about it raining all the time

Friday realization

It's August, and I've been wearing either a jacket or a jumper (a.k.a. sweater) for most of the "summer." There have been a few really hot days, but most of the time it's been cold enough for jeans, a t-shirt, and a summer jacket (as they call them here). Isn't summer jacket an oxymoron, like jumbo shrimp? I guess this is why the English need to take so many holidays and travel to warmer places. Otherwise, you'd forget what seasons were like. It would just be cold and gloomy vs. colder and gloomier.

Well, at least it's Friday.

Seville - the land of heat and oranges

After we said a tearful goodbye to Tossa de Mar, we went back to Barcelona for the day, then took a night train to Seville. Buying the train ticket had caused us some problems (horrible lines at the station every time we went to buy the ticket, so we had to call to reserve and then go back to the station to pick them up), but when we were waiting to board the train Leo noticed that our tickets said "preferred" on them, which got us into the swanky upper class lounge, where they plied us with free beer and snacks.

When we got off the train at 8 in the morning, it already felt hot out. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel, and started wandering Seville's old city, with it's winding streets and beautifully painted and tiled walls. After our experience in Barcelona at the bullfight, (for some reason) we were both eager to learn more about how the fights worked, so we visited the Plaza de Toros. Seville is where fighting bulls on foot began. They give tours in English every half hour, talking you through the history of bullfighting, and taking you around the ring and in the back areas. Leo is already planning a trip to go back to Seville to see a bullfight in the amazing stadium. Desperately searching for places out of the sun (it was now about 38 degrees Celsius) we went into the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. This place was overwhelming, for lack of a better word. It was about 10 churches held together under one roof. We went up the Giralda, which had once been a minaret, but was turned into the bell tower for the church. From the top you could see the entire city. When Leo and I travel, we usually spend a lot more time and energy seeing the sites than eating fancy meals. But we decided to have one really, really nice meal at the end of our Spanish tour at the La Alquería in the Hacienda Benazuza, also know as the El Bulli hotel. Some of you may be familiar with El Bulli and it's head chef Ferrán Adrià...for those of you who aren't, our friend Lars just went to El Bulli, and posted his insights and observations here. The El Bulli hotel part owned by Ferrán Adrià and the restaurant, La Alquería, has two Michelin stars and serves a "best of" menu of El Bulli dishes. Before we left for Spain, we had a Spanish friend of ours make a reservation for us, and on the day we were supposed to go to the restaurant, I called them to confirm...as I was a bit paranoid that we'd get out there and they'd send us packing. I had also printed out what I thought were good directions from Google maps for how to get there, since it was about 20 km outside of Seville. We got dressed up, got in a cab, and headed into the country. According to my maps, the route was easy, and would take us about 25 minutes...after stopping 4 times for directions, which took an additional 20 minutes, we finally got there (I guess Google maps works better in large c isities with street signs). Aside from the two of us, and a very fancy wedding party, there was no one there. I thought a place like this would be packed on a Saturday night, full of foodies, and want-to-be food journalists, taking pictures of themselves outside the restaurant to post on their blogs...but there was no one. We were a bit early for our 9 pm reservation, so we got the most expensive gin and tonics we'd ever had, then wandered around the hotel. At 9, we wandered into the empty restaurant (I was still freaked out that we were in the wrong place, or on the wrong evening), but we were seated and then began one of the most incredible meals I'd ever had. We told the waiter (who spoke very little English) that we wanted the tasting menu. I asked if I could see what was on the menu, and he smiled and told me that at the end of the meal he'd give us a copy of the menu, but the chef wanted it all to be a surprise. Dish after dish, for 27 courses, we were happily surprised. And by the end of our meal, the restaurant was full of people

The meal began with starters, then moved on to tapas, then the main courses, and finally dessert. By the first of the tapas, Leo was so full he felt sick, so I decided to help him eat an amazing fois gras, watermelon, and tomato dish as well as one with fois gras and mushrooms. But then, by the time I hit my first main course, Leo had recovered and had to help me out. The problem with these incredible, enormous meals is that there is too much food to comfortably eat in one sitting. I think it should be spread out over lunch and dinner, so you can take a break, take a nap, then start all over again. But it was an awesome meal...my favorite item was the lobster gazpacho!
On our final day, we went to the Alcazar, which was originally a Moorish fort, but became the palace of the rulers of Seville. This was the hottest day we had in Spain (I think it reached 39) and we spent most our time finding shady areas and bars to sit in. The heat was intense, and we could easily understand why lots of tourists didn't flock to Seville in July. But we made the best of it, drank some cervezas and lots of water, ate some Iberico ham, and eventually, and sadly, made our way to the airport for our flight home.

When we got home, we immediately began planning our next holiday...Greece and the Greek islands in September.

More of Tossa de Mar

There are three beaches in Tossa de Mar - one on the more modern side (where the larger hotels are), one in between the modern side and the old city, and one right beneath the wall of the old city, which is a bit hidden...this last one is where we spent our days. The whole point of going to a small town was so we wouldn't fee obligated to spend our days seeing the sights. We just needed a place to relax. Tossa de Mar has 2 major shopping streets, the old city, some hiking paths, and the beaches. So we felt no guilt getting up in the morning, having a bit of breakfast, then lying on the beach until we got hungry again. Then we'd go to the same pizza place day after day (the pizza here was as good as in Italy), followed maybe by a walk (this was taken on a hike we took up the mountain to south of the city),then back to the beach till we got hungry, or thirsty, again. Then we'd head to the same bar, Don Juan's, run by a bunch of Germans and frequented by red-faced foreigners. Then on occasion, back to the beach. It was wonderful! And of course Leo wore his speedo, and felt right at home with all of the other speedo-clad vacationers.

Tossa de Mar

Leo and I have been traveling a lot lately, touring cities, squeezing as many death marches into a day as we possibly can, so we decided we just needed to relax a bit on this vacation. This is why we decided to head north of Barcelona to the small beach town of Tossa de Mar. Leo had booked us into a small pension, which we knew almost nothing about (I think there was one review of the place online in Danish). The Fonda Codolar is run by a mother and daughter. It's located on a quiet street in the old city. We had booked a room with a bathroom, and the first one they showed us only had a sink. So we asked if we could have another one, and the woman apologized as she took us to a "smaller" room - the room was on the top floor, with a balcony the length of the room. We were in awe. The view from the balcony was amazing, overlooking the water, and we happily switched rooms.We also happily partook of the local drink - Sangria de Cava while sitting in a rooftop restaurant in the old town.