Ross Alexander 12/21/16 Ross Alexander 12/21/16

Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Days 7, 8 & 9 : Celebrating a Year Together

A somewhat abridged version of what Kara and I got up to during our last few days in Catalonia. We visit an impressive pair of Cathedrals, eat some good food (and some not-so-good) and I recap on our second trip abroad together.

Tuesday 1st November, 2016 - Girona

It's been a hell of a year for Kara and me, with a wedding that was quickly followed by us getting back to work, then Kara's career really coming into its own, followed by my career hitting a major bump in the road, along with the end of the plan to move to the USA. To add to it all, just before we went on holiday. I was able to find a good QA job that paid well and allows me to continue learning new skills, but unfortunately it meant moving away from my home and the woman I love. It's been a tough time so far, but I feel like I may be starting to settle into a routine. With all of these factors at play, it meant that little bit more to wake up in a warm country with Kara next to me. The old adage of absence making the heart grow fonder may be true, as I miss Kara every day, to the point where I feel like I text her as frequently as I used to when we first started dating.

With the setting of our nice comfortable flat, Kara and I spent almost all the daylight hours just lazing around the place for the most part. We got some laundry done, but we mostly relaxed and ate food. While I did step out of the house to get supplies, we didn't properly leave until around 4pm.

Girona's streets were packed (and I mean packed) with trestle tables covered in art, sculptures, hand-crafted good such as wooden spoons and even little whittled characters. We couldn't even get out of our front door quickly, as a sculptor had set up his pottery wheel just beside it. Kara and I wandered the streets, expecting the stalls to eventually end, but the entire district seemed to be given over to this market, where local artists and creators came together to sell their works of art. It was really beautiful, as there was such a variety of work on display, with the crowds stopping to look over work while the artists chatted amongst themselves. I immediately thought of my mum, who is an artist and would likely appreciate to be in an environment where artists can meet and relax in a warm and beautiful urban space, with the chance of selling some art or maybe picking up a commission.

As we wandered, lost in the city's winding narrow streets, made narrower by all of the stalls, we realised that it was getting dark. After a bit of a climb, we came to the courtyard at the bottom of the stairs that lead to Girona's Cathedral. It was quite a beautiful space, and although Kara couldn't find a good way to get a picture of the Cathedral on our old-fashioned polaroid style camera (which is meant to be our anniversary tradition) we did get a few nice shots of it at night. We made a mental note to come back the next day, where we could visit and get some better light.

We Both Loved Girona's Narrow Old Streets

By this point in the trip, I think we both felt a little guilty that we'd come to a new country and eaten burgers & pizza. We decided to go to Girona's premier (possibly Girona's sole) Indian restaurant; Taj. I think we've probably been spoiled by the quality of the Indian food we get in Britain, but Taj was certainly passable. We enjoyed our curries in a pretty quiet atmosphere, across the narrow restaurant from another couple. Kara and I have celebrated previous auspicious dates with Indian or Chinese takeaway before, so it almost seemed appropriate to spend our first anniversary dinner eating Indian food. Afterwards, we had a nice relaxing walk back to the flat, as the stalls were being packed away into vans and taken out of the streets.

As I fell asleep that night, I was once again warmed with the reassuring feeling that I'd married the right girl.

Wednesday 2nd November, 2016 - Girona

We started the next day by making good on our plan to visit the Cathedral. We wandered up the old cobbled streets to the foot of the stairs, where fans of the TV show "Game Of Thrones" may recognise elements from the show in the architecture. Of course, there's a lot of set dressing and CG that goes into making Girona into King's Landing, but it was very cool to be able to spot the landmarks.

An old villa at the opposite end of the courtyard has been converted into a museum, where there was a showcase of the many movies and TV shows that have filmed in and around Girona. It seems to be a bit of a favourite, due to its narrow, old gothic design; with winding streets and faint air of mystery. The courtyard on the bottom floor was displaying numerous canvas depictions of scenes from Game of Thrones that were shot in Girona. They included some pretty hefty spoilers, so I won't post any pictures. It was very cool to wander around a pretty old building, admiring the lengths they'd gone to in making a varied and interesting document of Girona's cinematic contributions over the years. They even had some cool (in a pretty naff way) props and replicas, including a sickly "White Walker" from GoT, which are already supposed to look pretty emaciated.

We ascended the enormous staircase to reach the Cathedral and went inside. While the streets were full of tourists, we had a pretty relaxing and quiet time inside. The building itself is impressive in its own right, with the second widest nave of any Church (22m). Construction originally began in the 11th century, and due to its geographical location, it's swapped hands between Catholics and Muslims over the last thousand years or so. The courtyards tell the stories of genesis through carvings in the stone pillars that mark the boundary of the cloister. There are a range of heraldic seals that are etched into the stone floors, and the whole building has a real feeling of "history", much like one would expect from a church that's so old.

On the way back down into town, we had a little stop-off at the post office to mail our postcards and visited "La Bombonera" in Independence Plaza. We walked slowly back to our side of town, via Pont Ferro; a bridge that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, eating our ice cream and taking in the beautiful old city. We wandered into a record shop called "Moby Disc", where the records are sold alongside an impressive array of nerdy statues, collectibles, clothing & games. It was much the same experience as visiting Forbidden Planet over here in the UK; mostly it made me feel sad and only served to remind me that I needed to start considering christmas presents for others upon my return.

It was our last evening in Girona, so we decided to follow our hearts when it came to dinner. Of course, this led us to a pizzeria on the old town's main street. "L'arcada" made me a great pizza, which I would heartily recommend to anyone. The restaurant was quiet as we visited quite early. I got the feeling that they keep the place open for tourists and the locals don't show up until later on. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed our dinner!

When we got back to the apartment and finished packing up everything we wouldn't need the next day, I had a feeling of melancholy. I had enjoyed Girona immensely, mainly for the rest and relaxation that we got while we were there. We're not "beach" people, and sitting around for too long tends to make me feel really bored, but with the beautiful surroundings and perfect company, I knew that I'd remember Girona fondly.

Thursday 3rd November, 2016 - Girona to Barcelona

Our return to Barcelona was a much more peaceful affair, with the two of us leaving with an hour to catch our train. By the time we wheeled our clicking, rumbling luggage across town, we still had half an hour to wait before we boarded. Kara pinched my 3DS again and I was satisfied with reading my book and glancing out the window at the Catalonian countryside as the train shot towards Barcelona. We arrived into the city and stowed our luggage before grabbing the Metro towards our last proper stop on the holiday: The Sagrada Familia.

It's with the utmost shame that I admit that it was my influence that pushed us to eat at a KFC that sat at one of the corners of the square that the church dominates. I had come to the realisation that due to the region's propensity for making all of their food from beef or pork, I hadn't had chicken in over a week. This meant that I hankered after chicken more than anything else, so we ordered at the busy counter and went to eat up the stairs. My already "hangry" wife didn't account for the weight of the tray that she was carrying and proceeded to soak a massive part of the upstairs restaurant with orange juice. My concerns faded away as I ate and looked out of the window at the imposing cathedral across the road. The only worry I had was the massive throng of people that wandered around the outside.

I don't think I'll ever forget approaching the Sagrada Familia, walking purposefully across the road to join the queue of people waiting to get in, craning my neck to look upwards at the most impressive cathedral facade I've ever laid eyes on. During the trip, I'd become quite enamored with Gaudi's works, with his unique aesthetic vision and the ergonomics that blended seamlessly with it. The other works of his that we'd visited are unique and beautiful in their own way, but the Sagrada Familia is grand in a manner that defied my own expectations of catholic architecture.

In short, I feel like Gaudi has made no compromises in his design and construction. The building itself is a masterpiece of modern architecture and engineering, with choices that seem utterly at odds with the stuffy, sometimes creepy or macabre nature of catholic adornment. While I've always felt that christian places of worship have a tendency to only celebrate the life of their venerated saints; Sagrada Familia seems to me like a celebration of the concept of life. This is despite some very traditional stories that are told through the sculptures that tell the story of "La Sagrada Familia" or "The Sacred Family".

The first thing that the guides tell you about the building is that it's been under construction for over 130 years, and it's still got a few years to go. Estimates place the completion at around 2026, with more towers and adornment to be added to the outside, further symbolising aspects of Jesus and his life. Despite its status as "work in progress", the building is stunning from the base of its heavy metal doors, adorned with leaves and insects, cast in bronze, to the tips of its 170m tall towers. This height is capped by Gaudi's belief that no work of man should exceed the works of God. I think I just internally rolled my eyes at that when I heard it.

Kara was as impressed as I while we took in the impressive sculptures and marveled at the worksmanship on display. The bronze doors were designed by Etsuro Sotoo, and were only added in the last year or so, but they fit so well into the building's aesthetic that they didn't seem out of place at all, despite the anachronistic nature of building a cathedral over 140 years. It wasn't until we stepped inside that Kara became truly enthralled. The audioguide directed us to consider the supporting columns, designed to look like trees in a forest, giving the impression of being amidst nature, and at one with God. It's not my thing, but moreso than any other place I've visited, this seems like a place worthy of pilgrimage.

We arrived at the Sagrada Familia just as the sun was beginning to dip, hanging low in the sky. This caused the most incredible cascade of multi-coloured light to fill the nave of the church, bathing the sandy coloured stone and everyone inside in a kaleidoscope of colours. Kara's pictures are impressive, but I don't know if anything can do it justice. The glass in the windows is sublime, with incredible clarity and definition that is largely due to its age, but the choice and variation of colour leads to the most amazing patterns that make the place seem truly magical. Kara and I just sat at one of the many benches lining the nave and stared up at the windows while the sun traced lazily downwards.

The rest of the tour is a bit of a blur, really. We saw a glimpse of the crypt underneath the main floor of the cathedral, and I personally enjoyed the modern angular designs of the sculptures on the opposite side of the building, but the light show had really been dazzling. I stood there and recalled it while Kara wandered around the gift shop, picking gifts for folks back home. My reverie was broken quite often by pushy tourists and my own inability to find a peaceful place to stand. Kara seemed upset that I didn't buy anything for myself on the trip, so I got myself a nice magnetic bookmark of one of the cool sculptures outside.

We departed Barcelona's city centre with night falling upon us. We got the train out to the airport and after a little bit of a scare and a couple of phone-calls to the hotel, we boarded the shuttle to our hotel for the night. After accidentally wandering into the gourmet restaurant, dressed like typical tourists, we fled to the "cafeteria" and had a somewhat disappointing dinner, tormented by some persistent flies. It was the most stark installation of a class system I'd seen outside of the UK and it added to the melancholy that we were flying out in the morning. Fortunately, we had a nice evening after pushing our two single beds together to watch "Silver Lining's Playbook" on my little tablet and eat snacks in bed.

We flew out early the next morning, so we wandered around the terminal for only a short while, spent the last of our euros on our travel card by buying an industrial sized box of Lindt and Kinder chocolate. It was a satisfying end to the trip, and although it was grey and cold when we touched back down in Edinburgh, the thought of going back to work or not being on holiday any more wasn't the thought weighing most heavily on my heart. I just wanted to spend another week with Kara, as although absence makes the heart grow fonder, I find that spending time with Kara only serves to reinforce how she is the one person I want to spend (almost) all of my time with.

Ross Alexander 11/22/16 Ross Alexander 11/22/16

Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 5: Home Away From Home

A frantic morning and afternoon in Barcelona gives way to a relaxing and peaceful evening in Girona.

Monday 31st October, 2016 - Girona

So I missed a day, but I was so tired last night that there was no way I would be able to stay awake and write. Yesterday was a bit of a mess, all-in-all, so it explains why I was so damn exhausted by the time I made the mistake of lying down on the bed last night.

My back pain woke me up at around 6:30am, and I could tell that my constant turning to relieve it was disturbing Kara's sleep, so I was fully awake in our apartment, with nowhere to comfortably sit and relax as I didn't want to disturb her any further.

With an early start and shower, I headed out into a grey Sunday morning in Barcelona, looking for a bit of breakfast. It was very quiet, and so I had to hunt for a short while before I could find a place that was open, so that I could buy some pastries. So far, I've started every day in Spain with a chocolate pastry, and I'm pretty happy with that. We've done so much walking that I don't feel bad about how well (un-healthily) we've eaten on this trip. While most people on holiday will spoil themselves by drinking beer or wine, I've been enjoying drinking proper Coca Cola without guilt. I'm sure the guilt will kick in once I get home, but for now, it's all good! Kara is still really enjoying the peach iced tea that seems to be popular in mainland Europe.

Because yesterday was our last morning in Barcelona, we took care to pre-pack as much as we could before we left to see the Barri Gotic's sights. Our suitcase and bags were good-to-go by the time we stepped out, and it's just as well this was the case.

On the Cathedral steps, a Catalan folk band.

As we wandered down "Laietana", we noticed that the police had blocked off the whole street. We knew that something important must have been going on, as the street had previously been super-busy. When we entered the plaza that holds the main entryway to the Cathedral, we noticed that a small crowd had gathered around a little band of musicians. They were playing what sounded like traditional Catalonian folk music. After a few minutes of watching them play, we followed the crowd into Barcelona's Cathedral.

Some lovely old fountains in the courtyard.

Just got to fight through the crowd to get in

Ever since visiting Rome in 2014, I've found most churches to be a bit of a let down. The only exception to that rule is the "Sagrada Familia" in Barcelona, but we're hoping to see the building properly on our last afternoon in Barcelona on Thursday. The Cathedral was just finishing mass as we entered, and as it was a Sunday, there seemed to be a large number of the faithful, but the horde of tourists easily outnumbered them. The courtyards around the building were especially lovely, with working water fountains and geese wandering about. One odd thing we spotted was that instead of "lighting" a candle, visitors put money into a machine that would turn on a light in a box of LED candles. While it's more energy efficient than real candles, I found it odd that an institution that relies so much on theatricality would do this.

After a short ramble around the courtyards, we went in search of "Manna Gelats", an ice-cream parlour in the old city that I'd read about for its great flavours and catering to allergy sufferers. We found it and Kara fell in love with their dairy-free chocolate sorbet. I had an ice-cream that tasted like a Kinder Bueno, as well as a scoop of a somewhat disappointing milk chocolate. I love milk chocolate, so I was quite surprised to find myself not enjoying it as much.

Our next stop was the museum of the history of Barcelona. This place was fantastic, with most of the museum being an audio-guide tour through walkways that overlook the remains of the old Roman colony of "Barcino", telling the story of the city's development and evolution from Roman to Visigothic culture and the introduction to Christianity. In traditional Kara style, she told me that her favourite part was a spot where excavators had found a pair of bodies. I was not surprised to hear this.

After our trip to the museum, we visited "Dunne's Irish Pub" so that Kara could get her "fix" of gravy and potatoes. Food service was a bit slow, so we had to sit through quite a lot of an English crowd shouting at the Premiership football on the TV. That showed Kara's devotion to gravy and mash! After lunch, we went to pick up some gifts for family back home. I had read about "Cageners" after hearing the guys on The Comedy Button talk about them. These extremely tacky and poorly made figures are a take on traditional Catalan nativity sculptures that depict a shepherd with his trousers down, taking a dump. The shop we went into had a wide range, from Donald Trump, Lionel Messi and Fernando Alonso to R2-D2, Mario and Darth Vader. We picked some out and I almost had a heart attack at the price. If you ever receive one, count yourself lucky, as they are super expensive for a joke gift.

Between our long wait for lunch and the grumpy guy in the Cagener shop taking ages to serve us, we were running late when we returned to the flat to grab our stuff. Kara's been suffering already after all the walking and daily trips up and down the stairs. I carried a bunch of stuff, as well as our large suitcase as we set out for the train to Girona; the town where we'd be spending our actual anniversary. Between our slight lateness, our slow pace and the labyrinth of "Catalunya" and "Sants" metro stations, we arrived at our platform gate bang-on when we were supposed to depart, only to find an enormous queue of people. I was disgustingly sweaty, having carried our luggage at a marching pace as soon as we got off the metro. As we stepped into the line, our train disappeared from the board, leaving us stressed, standing at the back of a long line of people who didn't speak fluent English, making it hard to listen in to see if they were having the same problem. Despite all the stress, when the guy took our tickets, he just waved us through, allowing us to board a train I'm fairly certain we weren't meant to be on! Despite someone else being sat in the seats that our ticket indicated, we found some seats and nervously glanced around, hoping we'd just get this one as a freebie. Girona was the next stop, so we knew we didn't have to hold on for too long, but I was anxious about being hit with some kind of fee or fine. Fortunately, we made it to Girona without any troubles; in fact I played Zelda OoT almost the entire journey!

After another luggage-laden march through Girona, we met "laura" in front of our apartment in a busy street, teeming with tourists. She led us up a mercifully small number of steps and opened the door to our home away from home for the next week.

What a lovely surprise we got! Arriving just before the sun went down, we found the flat warmly lit, clean and with a gift of a bottle of red wine waiting on us. The bed was soft, with extra pillows and a desk beside it. The place is so tastefully decorated that it feels so wonderfully cosy compared to the functional but bare setting we had in Barcelona. It really feels like the kind of place you want to just settle in and relax, which is the change of pace that we'd been looking for.

After a quick and refreshing shower, we headed into the part of Girona where there's a large number of restaurants; just across the river in the "Placa dei Indepencia". We had a pretty mediocre meal at a place called "Dolce Vita" which was a surprisingly large Italian restaurant. The food was reasonably priced, but not great. Kara's bolognese was mostly tomato, while I made the mistake of trying Roquefort cheese for the first time. The pungent cheese totally overpowered any other flavours, so it was hard to tell if my pizza was any good or not.

On our way home, we walked through a pop-up market, full of stalls selling cheese, meats, breads and jams. I bought a pepper-crusted sausage and some cheeses to enjoy for my breakfast. One cheese is a "Bufala" much like mozzarella, while the other is a goat's cheese. Both are really creamy and mild, but they're both very tasty and distinct.

It was dangerous to have a Creperie across the street. We behaved...mostly.

As we returned to our flat, we stopped off at the creperie across the street; "Crepdeque?" While we waited to be served, we spoke with a local about the local festival and where to get the best food. He recommended some places, one of which I visited this morning and was very pleased with his recommendation. Upon my return home, I ate my nutella and coconut crepe, before collapsing onto the bed, putting it beyond all doubt that I was going to sleep before I even considered opening my journal.

There was definitely no way I was going to stay awake for long after day 5. Between the early start, stressful journey to the train station and time spent hauling a suitcase around, I was so pleased to find that our accommodation was a: only up two flights of stairs and b: cosy and comfortable.

It's weird that we waited until our last day to visit Barcelona's Barri Gotic, but I guess that ties into what I've said about me stressing out about "not seeing enough" while we were there. The Gothic Quarter is full of old buildings, some are beautiful old churches and cathedrals with impressive facades and wonderful artwork inside, while many are simply old residential buildings with the ground floor given over to tacky tourist shops. I can only imagine that living in those buildings must be like to living in the flats at the top of the Royal Mile, with constant streams of noisy tourists coming and going through the day. While I was sad that we only had half a day to see this part of town, I feel like we made the right choice in the end, as we saw just how busy the streets get and how much of the area is just shops selling "hand-made" shawls, hemp bags. beads and earrings. While it wasn't quite as "copy-paste" as Milan was, I was happy to skip right past them to look at some old stuff!

The Museum of the City of Barcelona was more focused on the Roman history of the city than I'd expected it to be, but that was fine. It was very cool to wander around the largely underground complex, with the audioguide telling me about what each room was used for. The brickwork was surprisingly well maintained, and didn't look like it had been tampered with much. Speaking of audioguides, this was the first holiday I've taken where I've spent a lot of time (and a fair whack of cash when you add it all up) on the audioguides for places. Casa Batllo, La Pedrera & Sagrada Familia all use them, and I was happy to be educated as I walked around. As someone who always "reads the plaque", it suited me to just listen to someone tell me the history behind a certain area or object. It can throw off your pacing a little bit, though. I found myself moving faster than I was intending to, then cutting back to look at something again once the voice had stopped telling me about the room.

Once we left the museum, it really was a bit of a stressful afternoon. From a long and football-filled wait for (an admittedly satisfying) lunch to being fleeced by the grumpy Cagener selling guy and sweating like a pig to get to the train (just) on time, it was definitely one of the low moments of the trip. Fortunately, it didn't last long as we got onto the next train and after sitting in what I assumed were someone else's seats, we relaxed once the train set off for Girona. I took advantage of the time to play some Zelda, which Kara had become interested in on the trip. I think the combination of an N64 game (on my 3DS) and having some spare time with few distractions was the perfect set-up for Kara, so I happily let her play for a while.

The sound of our suitcase wheels rolling along cobbled streets and pavement was definitely one of the themes for the holiday, and while at first I was a bit embarrassed to be disturbing so many people with the noise, I was so glad that I didn't have to carry or drag it in the same way I had to in Italy. It was also bright blue and yellow, making it as conspicuous as hell, but it did help both of our AirBnB hosts find us, so I guess that's a positive! Once we'd met Laura and set up in the place, I was so relieved to discover that we had a comfortable place to stay that wasn't just somewhere to sleep and eat. With all its toys and doo-dads tastefully presented around the place, it felt like our home (which is absolutely full of toys and doo-dads. In the end, we did spend a lot of time just chilling out in Girona, which was exactly the change of pace that we needed.

The market in the Placa dei Indepencia was just our first experience of what Girona was going to show us during our time there. It felt like a farmers market, much like we have in Perth or Edinburgh, with local producers coming from nearby farms to sell their cheese, wine, cured meats etc. I spotted that some of them had some from France, which made sense as Girona is quite close to the border with France. I was already feeling guilty that our culinary experience in Spain was limited to "burgers and pizza" which was largely due to us not wanting to spend a bunch of cash on a meal we might not like, so it felt like buying local cheese, sausage and bread was a good way to dip a toe into the local cuisine. Even Kara said she'd try some of the Bufala cheese.

Judging from the line of tourists and locals outside Crepdeque?, it was a sure sign that we'd be visiting them for some after-dinner treats. The art of the crepe seems to be going strong in Girona, with many places offering sweet and savoury pancakes. Our flat had two creperies right outside it, and while I felt sorry for the other one, which was mostly empty, I felt pretty good when we tucked into our pudding. Flakes of coconut and nutella are a great combo!

In the next blog, my timing is a bit all over the place. Kara and I committed to vegging out, which included not keeping a journal as regularly as I did in Barcelona, so it's going to get a little bit all-over-the-place from here, but I will do my best to recap when it comes to it. Suffice to say that we love Girona and want to go back. Read the next blog to find out why!

Ross Alexander 11/20/16 Ross Alexander 11/20/16

Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 4: Multidisciplinary Nerd-dom

I get an early start to go look at comic books and games (surprising, I know) before we have a day of wandering around Barcelona's amazing Gaudi exhibits.

Saturday 29th October, 2016 - Barcelona's Old Town

So it's our last night in the center of Barcelona, and we've been celebrating with burgers, as has been our tradition so far. We called in an order to La Central once again, so I got to skip the queue and ran home to enjoy my "Iberico". Kara was not as impressed with her "El Tona" burger, made with mozzarella, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. We have both sat down to let our creative juices flow while "The Dark Knight Rises" plays on my new tablet. It's been very nice to set up our little home away from home, with a little TV and a table to sit and eat our meals.

The two of us started at a different pace this morning, with Kara hanging out in the flat while I took a couple of hours to do some exploring on my own, knowing that we wouldn't get a chance to go otherwise. The plan was to visit the "Nerd Triangle" near to the Arc de Triomph, where I quickly found that "Norma Comics" and its many nearby comic shops don't open until at least 10:30am. It was yet another example of the strange cultural asynchronicity that exists on the continent. Getting up early doesn't really mean that you'll be able to do more, it just means that you will be waiting outside, staring in at awesome collectors items and books you can't read as they're in Espanyol! I used my extra time to visit the Triumphal Arch, which was certainly impressive, but there was a distinct lack of information to let me know why it was built, or by whom. It had some very cool bat gargoyles, but not much else going on.

When I finally got back to Norma Comics, I spent about ten minutes just gazing at the expensive collectibles in the entryway. They had some very impressive stuff, but ultimately, I felt quite depressed about not being able to afford the cost or suitcase required. I did make a mental note to look up "3rd Edition" when I get home. These guys make books about famous games and their development process, and they're working on translating some of their books on FF7, Zelda & Dark Souls. They're lovely looking hardbacks, so they'll be nice collector's items.

After a little bit of browsing, but not spending any money, I made it back to the flat with some bread and croissants. We enjoyed some lunch before we set out to enjoy some more culture. We started with "La Pedrera" or "The Quarry"; the block-sized apartment building designed by Antoni Gaudi. We had deliberated over the idea of pre-booking a slot to visit, as all of the online reviews had recommended that we do so. We were worried that by booking timeslots, we'd have no flexibility to our daily plan. We got pretty lucky, only having to wait for about half an hour or so to get in, but I read anecdotes about two-hour long waits. Maybe visiting in October was a really good plan!

One of Kara's panoramic shots from the roof of La Pedrera

Some of the impressive chimneys on La Pedrera's roof

The attic museum was cozy, but full of interesting displays about the building.

La Pedrera was great, with ornate styles that are such integral parts of the building, it seems that the building would be unique, even without the vibrant colours that cover so much of Gaudi's work. His design is so multi-faceted, it's amazing. From how light is distributed to the hand-sculpted door handles and incredibly stained-glass windows, he had an aesthetic and practical reason for everything he did. Of course, this trip wouldn't be complete without a trip to an old-fashioned museum, and I was lucky enough to visit the museum of Egyptology. It was a little odd to discover that one of the best collections of Egyptian artifacts are housed in a Spanish museum, but we were pleasantly surprised by a relatively cheap, quiet and peaceful museum with a myriad of wonderful and truly ancient artifacts, including mummies, 4,000 year old stone tablet and even some mummified animals, such as crocodiles and cats. I didn't discover anything new, but it was all still super-cool!

From there, we wandered over to "Casa Batllo", where I expected to have some time before we got to the front of the line. This expectation led me to order a hot sandwich with two pork chops, bacon and cheese. I returned to the line to find us almost at the front of the queue, forcing me to inhalte a hot sandwich in about 4 minutes, right in front of a bunch of people. I must have looked like some kind of pig/man hybrid.

Even the stained glass is designed to balance light, depending on time of day.

The tiles of the lightwells are darker at the top and brighter at the bottom, balancing the light as it gets dimmer further down.

Ceramic mosaic is another theme that Gaudi uses extensively throughout his work.

We left to see the building lit up. The balconies remind me of eye sockets on skulls. That may be Kara's influence, though.

The Casa Batllo is similar in a lot of ways to La Pedrera, with Gaudi's distinctive elements of natural influences and amazing practical and ergonomic embellishments. The unique design comes more from the way each building feels like an entire entity, with the design being consistent across every floor.

This was a good day. It felt a bit strange leaving the house in the morning without Kara, but it was also nice to spend some time wandering the Borne district's narrow streets with very few people out and about, given that it was very early by Spanish reckoning. Kara got a bit frustrated with me on this holiday, as I was stressing over the fact that we weren't squeezing the most out of our time there, trying to see everything we could, waking up really early and being productive. I know that's something that a lot of people want from their holiday, but I also knew that we should be relaxing and that I should stop trying to control how our days went. I think that part of it was that I'd become quite tired of our no-oven, top of a building, mattress on the floor apartment, and I just wanted to be out and about. By the time we got settled in Girona, I certainly felt a lot better about just lazing around like a proper holiday.

Norma Comics is really very impressive, much like the big flagship Forbidden Planet stores over here in the UK. There were lots of cool collectibles in the cabinet, including Metal Gear Solid V statues and some very cool feudal Japanese/Star Wars cross-overs, but by this point, we'd blasted through so much money, just in the course of seeing all the cool stuff, so I was hesitant to spend any more on myself. The comic books were just a tease, though. Some very cool stuff that I couldn't read and I just took notes of so I could look them up back home. One thing I noticed is that the comic book shops in Barcelona all share a deep love of TinTin. I was always more of an Asterix & Obelix fan, growing up, but there were some really nice (and expensive) TinTin models in pretty much every nerdy shop I entered.

The two Gaudi museums we visited were incredible, and I am not one to gush over architecture, especially when it's from the last century, but his work is out of this world. The first thing I noticed was that for every visually striking feature that you see (such as the strangely shaped windows, doors or chimneys), there's always a practical reason to compliment the beautiful design. The second thing I noticed is that the buildings contain a consistency that never breaks you out of the reverie that you feel as you admire the futuristic designs that feel as ingenious today as any modern piece of architecture. I guess Gaudi's idea of starting with the designs found in nature and extrapolating them out into architecture makes sense, when you consider that so much of natural evolution is based on efficiently performing essential tasks. Even the door handles were incredibly ergonomic, looking like half-finished sculptures, easily cradling the thumb and fingers as you open the doors.

The Museum of Egyptology was a real treat for me, as this day had been spent surrounded by tourists in warm buildings, trying to read a sign over the shoulders of people who were stood in front of you. The museum was quiet and cool, with a few people roaming around, and a very small cover charge at the door. While it wasn't the reason to come to Barcelona, I'm a fan of learning about ancient cultures, and the chance to be inches away from a real mummy that's thousands of years old is an enticing prospect.

This entry into the journal ends a little abruptly, but I think it was because I was starting to mentally prepare for leaving Barcelona behind. Much like Rome in 2014, I enjoyed my time in Barcelona, enjoying the sights, seeing unique and enchanting works of art and sculpture, but I am a person who like seclusion and privacy, making the crowds and constant noise a bit of a frustration for me. Combine it with my own awareness that it was silly to be frustrated about crowds in a major city, and I was ready to head off to somewhere more "peaceful". Girona beckoned.

Ross Alexander 11/19/16 Ross Alexander 11/19/16

Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 3: Sleeping Cats & Circling Sharks

We spend the day looking at wildlife, from a sleepy cheetah to happy looking stingrays and a sad white rhino.

Friday 28th October, 2016 - Barcelona's Old Town

So we started off today with a plan and it actually seemed to pay off. Despite getting out the door around 11, we got a full day of being stereotypical tourists and it was a great day!

I started with one of my new favourite pastries; a "Caracola" which resembles an ice cream cone with chocolate and sprinkles at the top. It is a great way to start the day with two types of chocolate!

A chocolate "Caracola" ie: part of a "nutritious" breakfast for me in Barcelona.

Kara was falling apart almost as soon as we started today, so we got the Barcelona Metro a couple of stops to reach the Zoo. It was an inauspicious start, as we took a wrong turn and ended up walking all the way around the Zoo itself. We saw some really good graffiti, as well as some that was bloody awful.

It was a bit strange to see political graffiti in English.

Some very cool artwork, with an almost polygonal style.

The Zoo in Barcelona is a very impressive arrangement of buildings, covered areas and enclosures, with a very diverse range of animals. As soon as we entered the Zoo, we spotted a bunch of Zebras, just hanging out, eating hay and poopin'. I immediately recalled that at Edinburgh Zoo, you have to climb a giant hill to get a glimpse at a Zebra. It only got better from then onwards, with a sea world - style show where Sealions performed tricks for bucket-loads of fish. We watched a Komodo Dragon sun itself, a brown bear snoozing, a sleeping tiger...ok so there was a lot of sleeping animals, but we also got to see an elephant get a grooming, a family of gorillas playing, orang-utans swinging around and a Chimpanzee couple having a very intimate grooming session while another ate its own poop. It was..."unpleasant". The range of animals we saw today must have rivalled the likes of San Diego. We even got to see a sad and lonely white rhino, which just made me wonder what it would be like to be a member of a species on the brink of extinction.

This komodo dragon was completely unfazed by our presence.

The orangutans had 4 or 5 adorable adolescents and babies.

It was great to see a white rhino, but he looked so sad.

We also ate our worst meal of the holiday so far at the Zoo. They were able to screw up something as simple as a hot-dog and fries, but the worst bit about it all was the flocks of pigeons and pea-hens that milled around, making us nervous about what kind of animals had walked across the table or what was about to brush against my legs.

As we wandered around, we noticed that there were a bunch of families driving around in golf karts. We found out at the end of the visit that you could rent a kart to get around the whole Zoo. It's unfortunate that we hadn't considered this before, as it would have saved Kara a lot of walking. On the other hand, we were very happy to discover that Barcelona has the same system of fountains in public spaces that Italy had. It makes sense, as "Barcino" was an old Roman settlement, so it shares some cultural origins with the Italian cities that we visited in 2014. The Zoo was peppered with the small fountains, and I took full advantage.

I haven't seen elephants for years. It was nice to see the keepers looking after them, checking their feet for sores etc.

One of the zoo highlights had to be seeing the family of gorillas playing together. We stood and watched for 15 minutes.

After we finished up at the Zoo, we took a trip back to Port Vell, the quayside where the Barcelona Aquarium is located. We decided to make today all about Zoology, so we finished off the day with a trip to the Aquarium, which was in the midst of decorating for Halloween. Kara enjoyed the slightly mesmerising view of Sand Tiger Sharks and Stingrays lazily drifting around in their giant tank.After a day at the amazing Zoo, I was a little bit underwhelmed by the Aquarium, but it was still very cool to see.

This seahorse was the most amazing colour. It looked like it was electrified.

Obligatory tourist selfie by the massive tank, containing scores of sharks and rays.

Kara was very excited to see the sand tiger sharks as they patrolled their tank.

After a busy day on our feet, we walked back towards the old town, towards the restaurant I'd planned on going to yesterday for some top-notch Italian food. The name "Sports Bar" was a bit worrying, but I will overlook a bar's aesthetic if they have a proper wood-burning pizza oven.

"Sports Bar" do fantastic pizzas. Even the plain dough of the crusts was delicious on its own.

Fortunately, there was no football on the TV, and we were rewarded for our long walk with the best pizza I've had in a long time. From what I could tell, the place is owned by a family from Naples, and all the staff are native Italians. This gave me a chance to swap my non-existent Spanish for my conspicuously absent Italian. The pizza was a great combo of slightly burnt dough, wood fired and misshapen, with a light but flavoursome sauce that gave me a meal so tasty that I even ate Kara's crusts without a second thought. That means we've eaten great food every day since we arrived, and that makes me supremely happy. Tomorrow, the plan is to head North to Sagrada Familia, but it's the weekend, so God only knows what sort of crowds we'll be dealing with.

This was a great day for us. It was so exciting to see all the rare and exotic animals that live at Barcelona Zoo. We were a little bit dubious to hear about a "sea-lion show" given the "Seaworld" vibe the name had. I haven't seen Blackfish, but I would rather never be able to see an animal outside of documentaries than know that the animal is suffering just so I can see it through a pane of glass for five minutes. Because of this, Kara and I spent a bit of time googling to see what Barcelona Zoo's reputation was for this kind of stuff, and we were pleased to see that (like most modern western zoos) they take conservation and animal welfare very seriously, beyond the need to keep animals healthy for entertainment purposes. The sea-lions were very entertaining, performing tricks, diving into the water and moving so fast, it's incredible to think of how slow and lumbering they could be on land. Their trainer also had a pair of boxes, filled with small fish, that she used to treat the sea-lions when they'd performed well.

The layout of the Zoo was pretty good, too. A lot of the more "impressive" animals (sorry birds) were in the central area of the park, but there was always something cool to see, just around the corner. I think my personal highlight was the great apes. Seeing chimps, orangutans and gorillas was such a treat, as they behave in such a familiar way, and unlike many of the other animals in the park, they were active and interacting with each other, as opposed to sleeping!

The reptile house was also very cool, with snakes, turtles, caymans & even some small crocodiles to look at. There were some carp swimming around in with the crocodiles and I found myself thinking "they must be on constant lookout" because there was nothing between them and a hungry croc.

The Aquarium was good fun, but Kara was beginning to get quite sore and tired from all of the walking around. She hung around in the gift shop while I went to find the ticket kiosk and buy our way in. It was already getting fairly late by the time we got in, but it was still quite busy, especially as the staff were busy putting together some decidedly amateur but well considered halloween decorations, including a creepy corridor with a flickering TV showing static reminiscent of Poltergeist (which was the movie Kara and I had a late-night feast to the night we got married).

Of course, I end the journal by gushing about how much I enjoyed my pizza. The "Sports Bar" may have a very different vibe at a time when they're showing sports, but from what I could tell, their evening crowd is couples who want to drink wine (or in our case - fizzy juice) and eat amazing Italian food. The staff are lovely and friendly and the food is reasonably priced. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants Italian food in Barcelona.

Ross Alexander 11/17/16 Ross Alexander 11/17/16

Ross & Kara's Catalan Adventure - Day 1: Mucho Gusto Barcelona!

Kara and I set off on our anni-moon, or is it our honey-versary? Either way, we are excited to escape together for a while.

Pausing For Breath

So anyone who's read the last blog or has spoken to me in the last few months probably knows that the latter half of 2016 has been a real kick in the butt for me. I have been able to get a toe-hold on life by grabbing a job that I am still learning the ropes at, but beginning to enjoy. The downside being that I am only seeing Kara for around a day or so per week. This really sucks, but it meant so much to me (and hopefully Kara too) that we got time to escape things for a while. All the money that we had been putting aside for our trip the USA suddenly became our honeymoon/1st wedding anniversary fund, so we decided to book Barcelona and the small city of Girona in Catalonia as our destination.

Anyone who read my travel blog for Rome will be familiar with the format. I kept a journal of our time in Barcelona (and most of Girona) so I could put together a travel blog that was an accurate and timely representation of our time over there. I will post what I wrote at the time, then add some notes or thoughts that I had while I reflected on our time abroad.

Wednesday 26th October, 2016 22:00 - Barcelona's Old Town

"So we're on the road again! We've planned this trip months ago, and given the amount of stuff going on at home, I'm so pleased that I've had the chance to escape with Kara. Between feeling like the world is slipping away fro me as I hunt for a job and not being able to live with Kara, I've felt so out of my comfort zone that being away from home seems like the last thing I want to do. Fortunately, it seems that it's more important to be with Kara than in our own home, so I am looking forward to leaving my concerns behind as we explore Catalonia.

It was a super-early start this morning, but everything ran very smoothly, and after a taxi, train and tram; we were at Wetherspoons, eating a big breakfast in preparation for a day of travel. We flew out with Norwegian Airlines, who had a plane at about 35% capacity. This left Kara and I with a row to ourselves, and we were also given the "emergency exit" row, meaning that I had the space to stretch out, lean my chair back and play Ocarina of Time on my 3DS. I doubt I'll ever have such a comfortable and relaxing plane ride ever again, unless I become a millionaire or we get bumped up into first class. I was playing my game all the way up until the wheels touched tarmac!

Barcelona was pretty grey when we touched down, and I got the feeling that we'd be dealing with moderate heat and high humidity. It actually feels like a cloudy summer's day in Edinburgh. I feel clammy (what else is new?) and I'm not even getting the benefit of some sunshine. But it's us! We don't travel for the weather anyway, we like spending our time in nice restaurants, museums, galleries and cool pieces of architecture. Today has been a little bit slow in terms of excitement and exploration, but unlike our first day in Rome, we have eaten and we have food in the flat. I'll take a slow first day with food over a tumultuous welcome to a city on an empty stomach. Of course, the holiday tradition of carrying the suitcase everywhere is being honoured, but at least we have a "home-base" that's a bit closer to the city centre than we did in Rome!

We got the train from the airport to the middle of the city; a stop called "Passeig de Gracia". As soon as we stepped out of the station, we spotted one of the many Gaudi buildings; "Casa Batllo". We didn't get a great look at it, as we wanted to meet our host, Rosa. We had a short walk along the busy streets of Barcelona and were happy to see that despite the suitcases, we weren't the most obvious tourists! The number of overweight Americans with "sport team" t-shirts was surprising, but it was great to feel just a little bit less like the big fat "gringo" that I am.

We met Rosa by another architectural hot-spot; the "Palau de la Musica Catalana". I hope to get a better look at it later, when I'm not heaving luggage around. Rosa seems to be super-friendly, talking about the local area's attractions, complimenting my (piss-poor) Spanish and apologising for her English. This is a theme we found in Italy too, with us being apologised to for not speaking the local language. It mostly just makes me feel guilty for not being a font of Spanish-speaking knowledge. Kara has delegated all social interaction to me, which is actually something I thought she might start trying to do while we were just hanging out in the UK!

With our "home-base" established, we took stock of our surroundings. I had to recover from hauling our 18kg suitcase up 6 flights of stairs in the narrowest old stairwell imaginable. With a quick refresh, we headed out to find a market and a place to eat. Of course, the market closed twenty minutes before we arrived, so we went on a mission to feed ourselves. We ended up at a burger place called "La Central", where the staff and the menus are bilingual. Holy cow, the burgers are good! Kara got a bit of chicken so big that it was bigger than the bun! I get the feeling we'll be visiting there again. It's nice to have a bit of a budget for this trip, as it means we can have nice meals. Unfortunately, the € is now almost at parity with the £, making everything seem hella' 'spensive. Still, it's our "anni-moon", so we've got license to spoil ourselves.

Tonight, we are just chilling out. I am writing while Kara draws and Netflix is on. There's a surprising amount of English content in Spanish Netflix. With any luck, we'll be catching the "Bus Turistic" in the morning, giving us a good view of Barcelona and inspiring our travels over the next couple of days."

Reading it back, it's comforting to know how comfortable Kara and I are with just a peaceful night in, having seen a little bit of the neighbourhood and getting excited for what the next few days will bring. I only briefly allude to it in my journal, but the building we were staying in was renovated/rebuilt in the late 1700s, so our flat was at the very top floor of the skinniest stairwell. It was like an old castle's stairwell, winding round and round with barely any room to swing...well...I didn't need to swing a blade on this trip, but I did have to lug a giant suitcase up the steps. The stairs were so narrow that I actually felt a bit dizzy after coming down them at speed, as it felt like I'd been spinning around so fast. Having our location be so central was great of course, and despite the group of "youths" that hung around at the junction beside our "close" door, I was convinced that nobody was making that climb to rob someone.

I know I've been dwelling on it a lot recently, but my head was still a little bit all over the place for most of the trip, but I found the experience of being with my lovely wife in a pair of beautiful cities suitably distracting and comforting, enough to let me enjoy myself. Don't worry, this isn't a downer of a holiday.

Also, given how heavy the focus on gluten-free dining was in my Rome journals, the eagle-eyed among you will notice that Kara is back on gluten. Our eating habits become more of an issue later on, but at least we knew that in a pinch, we'd be able to get Kara burgers and pizzas if needed.