Tuesday, May 24th

Our excursion today was to Montserrat,  a mountain chain near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range. The main peaks are Sant Jeroni (1,236 m), Montgrós (1 ,120 m) and Miranda de les Agulles (903 m).[1] The Caribbean island of Montserrat is named after this mountain chain.

It is well-known as the site of the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat, which hosts the Virgin of Montserrat sanctuary We took the Metro to the train station and then rode for an hour or so.  Had an enjoyable chat with a Chinese couple from Calgary, Canada.  After the train ride we had to ride a Teleferico up to the town of Monteserrat.  What a beautiful ride, not for those afraid of heights though.  The Basilica was off limits until 12noon(unless you were actually going in to attend Mass) so we decided to go further up the mountain and hike some trails down, the views were incredible, this really is God's country.  We meandered back down the mountain (about 1 1/2 hrs.) and then continued down below the Basilica to the Sacred Cave.  In this Cave, about the 12th Century a small wooden statue of the Black Virgin was found.  A replica is now in the Chapel and the original Statue is in the Basilica.  We took a Funicular back up to the Monastery and went into the Church.  It was beautiful, absolutely an amazing work of architecture and art.

 

Sunday May 22nd!

This Sunday morning we were off to the Cathedral,  no, not to attend Mass (we are both non-practicing Catholics) but to see the Traditional Catalan Dance, Sardana.   Every Sunday at 12noon the Proud Catalans meet to dance and they are joined by a  group of classical musicians.   We got there by the Metro, our first time!  It is incredibly efficient, easy to figure out and very clean.  We arrived early so decided to have a cup of coffee at the Cappuccino y Crema Cafe just around the corner from the Cathedral.  Howard decided to try the Hot Chocolate, so many people had said how wonderful it was.  Well, this was pure, melted chocolate in a coffee cup, picture Hershey's Syrup but hot!  I love Chocolate and I didn't even find it appetizing.  We requested hot milk to make it easier to swallow.
Walked over to the Cathedral and they had already started, it was fun to watch.  Many different groups were formed, some small, some big and some even wore special T-shirts.  We watched for a while and then decided to enter the Cathedral, Howard was even impressed.  He gets tired of going into Churches but he couldn't believe it, it was that beautiful.  We have beautiful churches in Mexico but these are even older!

We left here and wandered around the tiny, winding streets and ended up in the harbor.  It was a beautiful day so we grabbed a table and had a Tapas and beer!  Our favorite beer so far is  AK Damm.  Someone told us that Beer is not big here but that isn't true.  Sitting here under the hot sun we felt like we were in San Francisco, both cities have lots of tourist walking around.
Had a wonderful lunch at a small place close to the Picasso Museum where we were going next.  The owner was French and very personable! Have I mentioned that Catalans aren't very personable, not the staff in restaurants anyway!
We stood in line waiting to get in to the Picasso Museum (a lot shorter line now then earlier).  Neither one of us are really Picasso Fans so we wandered thru quickly and left feeling...Ok, we saw it!
From here we continued walking the wonderful little winding streets and accidentally found the Parc Citadel, a wonderful park in the city with lots of green space, a small lake where you can row boats, a beautiful Monument/Fountain and more.  This Parc was filled with locals and we were happy to have stumbled upon .
We walked out thru the Arc de Triumph and found ourselves on the main boulevard to walk us home.  Our Apartment is very well located.

Sat., May 21st! and Sun May 22nd

I have a new admiration for Bloggers........this is time consuming and takes creative energy!  I'm afraid that Howard and I don't have either!  For these reasons we are very behind, we're sorry!

Saturday we chose to walk around a residential neighborhood that looked really nice from the Tour Bus. It was an easy walk (even with our sore feet) from our neighborhood.  This area was filled with small, sidewalk restaurants, many small plaza's each with their own church and of course many narrow, criss crossing streets.  We stopped for some Tapas and a Beer in one of them.  Not sure if I've mentioned this before but the Bar/Restaurant staff are very cold.  If you don't aggressively say "Hey, over here, I'm starving, thirsty etc., they don't give you the time of day, no eye contact, NADA!!  We have had a few exceptions but I'm afraid it is the Rule here.  The friendly staff we have met have been from Argentina, Columbia and other parts of Spain.  We have commented to them how personable they are and they have said "yeah, Catalans are very cold, aren't they?"  It gives us more appreciation of Mexico, they couldn't be warmer people!

We found Gaudi's first house that he was commissioned to design, right after his receiving his Architect degree.

We meandered back to our Apartment for a home cooked meal.  About 10 minutes after we got home one of my cousins called, he wanted to pick us up in 45 minutes, we said sure!  He drove us out of the city, thru a beautiful forest into a very nice suburb of Barcelona.  I finally got to meet my Barcelona Duelo cousins, it was a very emotional evening!

Sunday will follow soon ;)

2nd Day on the Tourist Bus - May 20th

Today we are taking the Bus around the Eastern Side of the city!  Have I mentioned that normally Howard and I don't do this sort of thing, we are more free spirited, but I must say its a great way to get an overall view of a city.
We enjoyed the views around the entire route 1st and then went back around to get off at Parc Guell, up in the hills.  This system is very efficient so we figured we could enjoy Parc Guell, have lunch somewhere and catch the bus again back home.  Unfortunately around Placa Catalunya, the hub of Barcelona and closer to the water then the hills, Mother Nature came calling so we got off and went to the big department store - El Corte Ingles.  While I scampered around looking for the, Howard was checking out ythe wonderful supermarket in their basement - finally found Granola for our yogurt!
We decided to do a little walking by going to the next stop to hop on our bus.  That would have been fine if we hadn't gotten lost in the labyrinth of winding streets that go every which way-beautiful streets in a Medieval like way, lots of shopping!

After asking for help we found our bus stop and fortunately it arrived just as we did. We hopped back on and headed towards Parc Guell.  Our goal had been to enjoy a nice lunch in a quaint place, well that didn't happen.  We ended up in a place that just helped fill the void in our stomachs.  Up the hill we went towards Parc Guell, passing a beautiful church and walking thru yet another wonderful neighborhood (this city is filled with them).  On the way up the hill we came upon a surprise - I don't know if Spaniards are lazy or if they just want to help the tourist but we had help getting up the hill.......

 

Parc Guell is a big, beautiful public park designed by Gaudi (one of his first projects).  It was originally planned as a Residential Development, when it didn't succeed it was made into a park.  It is filled with architectural fantasies, lots of mosaic themed benches to rest on while you enjoyed the magnificent views of the city, the house he lived in for years, a Ginger Bread look alike house... The expansive garden included many trails for hiking, a variety of Mediterranean tropical plants, flowers, Palm trees and many others.  Its a wonderful place to visit when you want to get away from the sounds of the city.

 Our energy being totally spent we stayed home and enjoyed some Tapas from a tiny joint just around the corner from our apartment.

Buenas Noches, Elenita y Howard Arturo

 

We are in Barcelona

Our first full day we decided to walk out the door and head towards one of the major plaza's. This is a beautiful city to walk and wander aimlessly around. We found ourselves at Placa Catalunya - a main hub in the city. On a whim we decided to buy a two day pass on the tourist double-decker bus. The plan was to just sit on it for the whole route - 1 day west and the next day take the east route. We would then decide what to go back to and see again.

  Thursday we claimed our seats on top for the best views and happily road around unitl we got to Montjuic (mount of the jews). Here we decided to disembark and see the castle and views of the city. From this stop we took a funicular to the top. The view of the city and the Mediterranean were Spectacular.

 We walked back down through beautiful gardens and hopped on the bus again. This area also has an Olympic stadium (from the 1992 Olympics), an Art Museum and Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village) - like the Epcot Center of Spain. We will come back to that later, we've been told it is worth it. At the stop closest to our apartment we got off and headed home ( not before stopping for a beer)! We were determined to go out at night so we napped the afternoon away. We headed out for dinner at 9:45 pm (wow that is late for us). Sat at a sidewalk Sausage restaurant (my husband is Polish ya' know) and enjoyed a sausage and beer. From here we walked to the famous "Las Ramblas" a pedestrian walk way that goes all the way to the port. It is filled with vendors, entertainment and masses of people late at night. We made our 1st language FauxPas while buying ice cream in a cup.  Howard asked for 2 Chicas (small) and the girl started laughing.  Once she calmed down she explained to us that ' Chica' in Spain only means 'Girl', so Howard asked for 2 Girls! - note to ourselves, only use the word Pequeño for small!

We were pretty far from home and exhausted so we took a taxi home and walked in the door at 12:30am, not bad for 2 old gringos!

Ciao,  Elenita y Howard Arturo
   

Our Adventure begins

Our adventure began with 2 days in Mexico City. As usual we enjoyed every minute discovering a new neighborhood (Zona Roma) filled with sidewalk cafe's, bars and many book stores. We had the privilege of touring the Presidential Palace, rarely seen by the public, to having kind people on the Metro offer assistance with directions. I know  a lot of you hear/read otherwise, but we only meet the kindest, friendliest and helpful people in Mexico City.

Our flight to Newark,NJ was uneventful but our 4 1/2 hour drive to Ithaca, NY was beautiful. Being a California girl it impressed me how we could travel through 3 states in such a short time. Northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and northern New York are out of a Norman Rockwell painting - hills, trees, rivers, creeks, farm houses, American style colonial style homes and more trees.

Of course David's graduation was the highlight of our trip. We enjoyed his company but sadly we were not able to explore the beautiful outdoors because of the weather was wet and gloomy. David told us that Ithaca, NY is second in the nation to Olympia, Washington when it comes to gloomy weather.

Next stop Barcelona, Spain! Our packed flight went smoothly and Wednesday morning we find ourselves in Barcelona.  We took the Aerobus and a taxi to our apartment. After a short nap we walked around our neighborhood. First impressions - one could spend days without ever going into a museum  ...strolling wide tree lined boulevards, admiring the19th century architecture, ornate balconies filled with plants/flowers and stopping at a sidewalk  tapas bars. It appears to us that strolling the city with the locals is all the entertainment we needed.

Our itinerary

• We are going to depart San Miguel de Allende on the morning of May 12. Early afternoon we will arrive in Mexico City for 2 nights. 
• May 14  we depart Mexico City for Newark, NJ we arrive at 2:44 pm. We will then rent a car and drive about 4 hours north to Ithaca, NY. 
• May 15  my son David will graduate from Cornell  University Law school.. 
• May 17 we depart from Newark airport at 7:20 pm to Barcelona,Spain arriving May 18 at 9:15 am. 
• May 18 until May 28 we will be exploring Barcelona and the surrounding area. 
• May 29 we will depart by train to the city of Valencia for a one  day visit. 
• Late on May 29 we head north to a the quaint town of Cuenca for a two night stay. 
• Late May 31 we head toward Madrid on the train again.  May 31 to June 5 we will explore Madrid and cities around the area. 
• June 6 we will fly to Lisbon, Portugal. 
• June 6 until June 11 we will explore Lisbon.  
• June 12 we are renting a car for the next 10 days and driving around the northern part of Portugal to explore the beauty this country offers.