my new Spain adventure: the wait is over

Most of you already know I have been waiting for this moment to arrive, and it did. As usual it always seems like it takes forever, and then when the time comes you're never quite prepared, wishing you had done this or that. Anyway, Jordi arrived Wednesday at 3.15pm.

Edward had asked me a while back if he could come with me to the airport to pick him up, but first I had to check in with Victor, the "official airport transportista" to sign the release papers.

When we got to the airport, Edward insisted on parking on the second level because it is a straight shot to walk to arrivals without having to drag your bags around more, however this level only had a few empty spots, as they are indicated with green lights, but we couldn't find them, so he decided it would be ok to park in a handicap zone, which there were many and they were all empty, but still you can end up with a serious fine. Once we got to the gate area, while I waited, he went to move the car. So, when we finally came back to the car, we found ourselves in a Seinfeld episode "the parking garage". It was hilarious, and 20 minutes later Edward showed up with his car.

okupa building

Later that evening we had all planned to get together at Edward's to watch "the game", which Barcelona won 5-1. First we met Juanjo and went to Rekons, where these Argentineans make delicious bocatas (sandwiches). Across the street is one of the "okupa buildings", okupa is the word here used for squatters, although because this is a current trend, while some people squat for need, this particular building and a few others are actually rich kids doing whatever they want…big surprise. Edward and David showed up two minutes later, and Sol stopped by to say hello on her way home from work; and Monica joined us when we got to Edward's. During the halftime, they surprised me with cake and candles (did I forget to mention that Jordi arrived on my birthday?).

birthday cake

Although by the end of the game Jordi was zombie-ing around, as he had a very long and uncomfortable trip; on the first segment, from Reno to Denver, turbulence was so bad that everyone on the flight had to use the blue vomit baggies. The rest was simply a lack of leg room.

In the morning we went to the park to take Wilbur for a walk. And later we were going to take to metros and one tram to get to Victor and Mari's for lunch, as she made a delicious fideua. But first we went to meet Georgina at the plaza Eivisa for "aperitiu". Gina is Neus' younger sister, who had come to visit us 12 years ago, and had spent some time with Jordi and also Stephanie, another friend of Jordi's who happened to be visiting us at the same time. We were both very impressed to see she has turned out to be a wonderful person.

institut verdaguer/my high school

After lunch, Victor took us on one of his walking tours of the "old city". First we walked through the "ciutadella" which is a large park, which contains, the city zoo, my old high school, the parliament building, and a few others.

large catalan sheep dog

park green house

As we exit the park, across the street is the Borne neighborhood, a part of the old city, where we come to see the "chocolate museum", see the hot chocolate fountain just inside…yum.

chocolate fountain

Behind this building is the bakery school.

bakery school

Victor's 90's home

Victor showed us one of the old apartments that he used to live in the early 90's. The street entry now has an intercom, but it use the have a string with a bell, like many others, to notify the neighbors someone was there, so all the neighbors would here the bell and all would step onto the little balconies to see if it was someone they knew, and then they would pull another string to open that door, and if you didn't have one, you would have to walk downstairs to let them in.

roman wall

We Also went to show Jordi some parts of the Roman walls, which was back in the day when the city was named Barcino by the romans, well over 2000 years old.

roman columns

When I saw this rose petal dress, I can't help to think about Linda and her party attire; my mom use to have some pretty wild dresses too. Although I don't think this dress would actually survive a party, this is one of many little design stores in the old city, the best part of any of these little stores, restaurants, hotels, or bars is the interior space have actual old roman walls.