We're home

After watching the Euro Cup soccer final and celebrating Spain's win, we had to begin packing up for our trip home. We flew back to Toronto on July 1, spent a couple of days catching up with family, drove home on July 5 and arrived home on July 6.

How is it to be home? Good. Aiden immediately called his neighbour buddy and they played all afternoon. Aiden's comment that he had missed "green" and there is certainly a lot of green in our neighbourhood and not much in our Spanish one. Bronwyn later took the scooter and zoomed off to meet some church friends and John and I unpacked and tackled the overwhelming grocery store.

Food is my biggest adjustment back; not being able to walk to get all of our groceries and no fresh bread everyday, though I am perfecting a baguette recipe and bake that regularly. I have discovered some of my favorite spanish cheeses, but at 4 X the price and we are thankful that we came back in the summer when MN produce is at it's best and we have a very close farmer's market that I frequent weekly.

It's been great to catch up with friends and when you're away you realize how important friendships are...

Will we do this again? John and I hope to again sometime, most likely with no kids in tow, the urban life fit us very well.

thanks for reading and being part of this experience with us

Montserrat part 3

Tobin was able to join us for our last two weeks in Spain, so we have been playing tourist again and have been revisiting our favorite spots with him. One of the first out of town trips we took was to take him to Montserrat for some mountain hiking. This time we visited one of the hermitages and then took one of the mountain hikes back to the village. This overgrown trail took us around the back of the mountain, where there were rock paths and walls to traverse. It was a hot and sunny day and we welcomed whatever wind and shade that we could find. We found a great lunch spot under a rock overhang, and enjoyed the views of the valley that we could see from these views.

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St John the Baptist Day

Today is another holiday in Spain. It's St. John the Baptist. The big party however began last night, the official beginning of summer and the longest night of the year. The tradition here is to have bon fires all night long and lots of fireworks. We didn't see any organized fireworks just everyone lights fireworks and louds rockets whereever you went. Bronwyn, Tobin and I headed out to explore around midnight, we saw a number of neighbourhood fires, one where people were waiting in line to add their piece of wood to the flames and people of all ages lighting a wide variety of fireworks, bottle rockets. It seemed that the most important factor was to make as much noise as possible. We also found a block party with a live band and when midnight arrived, the St. John cakes all came out. They seem to have a different pastry for every occasion.

Vall de Nuria, part 2

This week, while John is in Africa we went back to Vall de Nuria. Aiden and I wanted to show Tobin and Bronwyn some one of our favorite places in Spain. Predictably, the first thing we did there was play a round of mini golf. After lunch we began a hike. We had decided that we would take the 7 km. hike down the hill to the next cremallera station. The hike was beautiful and down hill. For most of the hike we walk next to a river in a valley between two mountain ridges. We also saw many water falls coming down various mountain sides. It was a beautiful walk.

Pilanesburg Game Reserve

Another pig conference, this one being one of the nicest, in the Pilanesburg game reserve near Johannesburg, followed by a major conference in Durban. Alas, my family is not with me, but I tried to enjoy it. The elephants came up to a watering hole next to our lodge (here is a web cam on the watering hole) and we saw white rhinos, lions, hippos, zebras, wildebeest etc. Short days, though, but the evenings were clear and the southern cross high in the sky.

John

Parques des Aves

One of the days that we were in Brazil we had the opportunity to visit a bird park. We saw a variety of toucans, hummingbirds, parrots, maccaws and many other birds. Some of the birds were in individual cages, but many were in large enclosures that we could walk through. We particularly liked the hummingbird enclosures as many hummingbirds zoomed by very close to us. These birds were small, it was a little scary when the maccaws and the toucans did the same. As you can see from the bottom pictures the birds were somewhat tame. The highlight for me was the seeing a toucan in the wild and we caught a picture of it.

Brazil; part 2

While at the Waterfall Park in Brazil, we took a four hour tour in the jungle. It started with a 9 kilometer bike ride through mud and rocks. I have to say that wasn’t very fun. Next was a walk through on a narrow little path where are tour guide went first with a stick to scare off poisonous snakes, which was a bit scary especially because said he’s seen before a lot. At the end of the trail was an observation tower overlooking a swamp. The tour guide handed out binoculars and we found three crocodiles, something like a herring, and some king fishers. Then we were back on the narrow trail and we got on a tour boat. While on the tour boat we saw a crocodile swimming around. A LITTLE time later our tour guide asked us if we want to take kayaks the rest of the way to the dock. I was kind of against going in an inflatable rubber kayak when I saw a croc swimming only a few minutes before, but I did it, and I’m still here. Yay! After we landed we had a mile hike back to the main center. While on the lovely stroll through a wild jungle at night, we found a humongous spider. Our tour guide decided on trying to take it out of its web and holding it. For some odd reason the spider decided not to bite him and instead modeled for pictures.

Aiden

Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

We're in Foz do Iguacu this week, at a swine conference, naturally.  It is at the the meeting point of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil and is dominate by a huge waterfalls.  We have enjoyed the waterfalls (of the latest Indiana Jones movie) as well as the jungle and the wildlife.  For wildlife, it is a haven for birds and butterflies and we hiked and biked through a jungle along the Parana river to find some of them. There we saw different vines, including the monkey stairs vine pictured with Aiden.  We also visited a bird park, with many parrots, macaws and even some snakes

John

Rome

Last week we spent a couple of day in Rome. It was the first trip that we went on that wasn't work related. John and I had visited Rome about 8 years ago, and until we arrived back, I had forgotten how much I loved this city. We visited most of the tourist attractions: Vatican City, St. Peter's Cathedral where we climbed to the top of the cupola and got a great view of the city, Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Spanish Steps and many churches. If you know anything about John it's that he loves to visit churches and the churces in Rome are definitely worth the visit. They are unlike any other churches we have been in, Aiden and Bronwyn hardly complained about the many churches that we entered. Our favorite church was Santa Maria sopra Minerva. We loved its simplicity. One of the more ornate churches that we entered was Santa Maria Maggiore which was built in 432AD. Its the only church where mass has been celebrated every day since the 5th century.

Escargots

One our enjoyable trips was up in the Pyrenees ( about 30 km from France) to attend a party held by one of my colleagues. It was a rainy day, but we barbecued snails inside of one of the barns. The snails were from the local river and grilled in oil (olive, of course). This, along with some fresh lamb and lots of Spanish champagne ( they are forced to label it as Cava) made an excellent afternoon. they called the rivers here are the lifeblood of Catalonia, and the snails one of the major fruits. Even Aiden enjoyed the escargot!

The drive wasn't bad either, all they had left at the car rental agency was a Mercedes 220 diesel with a manual transmission to climb the hills and enjoy the highways.

John

Gelato in rome

Our hotel in Rome was near what dad had said was the best ice cream place in Rome. It was called Fassi's. You always got three flavors and the different prices were different sizes. Usually at around 7 pm we'd go there and that would be our half of our dinner, if not all. The ice cream shop has been open for 128 years and is unlikely to close any time soon.

Aiden

Bone Church

In Rome we went to a Capuchin church. This church had a crypt that was decorated with the bones of 4000 monks. It was a little strange, but at the same time very well done. It had some mummies, but mostly it had different shapes made out of the same bones. There were a lot of skulls used, but there were also quite a bit of other decorations using other bones, like spines. It was rather morbid and ended with the words, "We are what we are you will become" (or something like that)

Bronwyn

Figueres

A while ago, we went to Figueres, which is a small city in Spain. Figueres is mostly known for being the birthplace of Salvador Dali and the place where his Theater-Museum is. The Theater-Museum is definitely a striking building, when you first look at it. There are strange sculptures on the side of the building and eggs lining the top. Inside, there is a Cadillac that is fixed so that it rains on the inside. The museum is very definitive, with everything from sketches to sculptures to paintings. It also contains some of the paintings that he owned and some exhibitions of different artists that were influenced by him. A little known fact about Dali is that he designed jewelry. The best piece is a heart that, possibly because of the light, looks as if it is beating. Its pretty weird. The picture is brooch that he designed.

Bronwyn

Paella

As we learn the language, there are are a few meals out. Last weekend we were in Figueres, the site of the Dali Foundation Museum. It is about 1.5 hours north by train, in the Costa Brava near France. For lunch (about 3) we had a nice meal out in the city square. A staple is paella, a mixture of rice and seafood, Denise and I shared a big dish as well as the regular appetizer, and desert.

What surprises us is that people go back to work after some of these meals. Last week we took Aiden out for a birthday meal. For first course we had a large salad or pineapple and ham (a new discovery for Aiden) or a bowl of pasta. Segunda was a pizza the size of a dinner plate or meat and potatoes. Dessert was flan (flam in Catalan) a bowl of gelato or fresh fruit in chocolate. Wine is included, a half litre per person. We wandered out and for me, I understood the need for a siesta!

John

European Cup- Soccer

Tonight is the champions league final for soccer premier teams; Manchester United vs. Chelsea. Barcelona made it to the semi finals and lost to Manchester United. Unfortunately most of these games were not on regular TV so John and Aiden made several trips to various English and Irish pubs in town to watch the games. This is where the Fanta preferences come in for Aiden. Tonight they are off again to find a seat in a busy pub. We missed the first Barcelona game because we miscalculated their popularity and all the pubs were packed with people almost hanging out the door. For the next game Aiden and John arrived in good time to snag one of the few seats remaining, they hope to do the same again tonight.
PS. The game was great. Tied up after two overtimes, went to penalty kicks and Man U won on a save from their goalie.

pop/soda in Europe

Aiden’s favorite pop in Europe is Fanta. According to Aiden, Fanta in the States is gross; it’s just sap and strawberry, However, Fanta is the best in Europe. Every country in Europe has a different Fanta, here in Spain ,Aiden alternates between orange and lemon. In Austria they have a very nice bitter orange and in Holland, black current.

Vall de Nuria

sorry for the posting lag, we've been having internet issues. so we're back....

Vall de Nuria
Last Friday Aiden and I went to the Pyrenees. We had to take two trains to get there. The first train was about a 2 hour journey to the foothills of the Pyrenees, we then got on a cog train and that took us up to a small resort area in the mountains. We are up about 9,000 meters above sea level. In the winter time Vall de Nuria is a big ski resort, but the rest of the year, there are many hiking trails to check out. It was great to be in the mountains again, we went for a short hike to a lookout point and spotted many Spanish Elk. It was very cool. The snow was melting and there were many mountain streams running down the mountain. It was a nice contrast to
Barcelona, that has been suffering a drought for the last four years. Coming down from the mountain in the cog train we saw more elk and a marmot.

Barcelona Zoo

Today mom and I went to the zoo. It had a large variety of animals including a capybara and a pigmy hippo. Capybaras, if you don't know, are the world's rodent. The hippo was pretty big for a pigmy, later we saw some full sized hippos that could 8 of me in its stomach. We saw the sea lions being feed and we also saw a dolphin show with three dolphins. This dolphin jumped about 20 feet to hit the ball. We liked it that they placed the vultures just above two restaurants, that way they always smelled food. The enclosures for the monkeys weren't enclosed and the only way that they kept the monkeys in was by building a moat. Most of the animals lived outside year round, with little caves or covers. Some of the enclosures were two feet below the path so it formed a wall and with an added fence made of wood allowed kids to come up to the animals and pet and (illegally) feed them.

May Day

Today is May Day. There are a number of different marches and rallies going on today. In Placa Goya, about a block down the street from our apartment was one such rally. We could hear the speeches and songs from through our living room window. One flag was mounted on the statue, and there were many more along the square.

During the election and now today it is very evident that rallies and marches are a welcome part of this society. One person told me that this is a response to the repression of the Franco years. Normally a march is led by a traffic patrol, and followed by some police with vans and then a group of sanitation workers to clean up the mess and then finally by a group of irate drivers honking their horns. Quite entertaining.

Roses, Books and Soccer

The main headline in the local paper was "Libros, rosas y futbol" yesterday. It was St Georges day and Barcelona was alive with flags, book stands and rose vendors. St. George is the patron saint of Catalonia and the resultant celebration is a combination of romance and nationalism. women are supposed to receive a rose, either red or yellow, the colors of the flag. Actually, the Rose includes a sprig of wheat as a symbol of spring and fertility, and a small flag of Catalonia. Men are supposed to receive a book, preferably written in Catalan. The buses have flags, Ramblas is just packed with people as well, buying books and flowers and taking the day off.

The day ended early, though. At 845 began the football match of the season so far, And the streets were empty. It was the semifinals of the champions league, where FC Barcelona played Manchester United. It ended in a tie and will continue next week...