Los Juegos Olímpicos

We were finally able to watch some swimming live last night. Apparently, swimming is not something Spain excels in, and it has not been featured much on the two main stations carrying the Olympics here. But Spain hasn't been excelling at any sports this year. When an Olympic news round-up came on, there was one word I heard over and over: perdido, perdido, perdido.

We did catch the end of the Spain-Honduras soccer match, and although I couldn't understand the Spanish announcer (and I don't understand soccer in general), it was painfully obvious that the team was furious at the officials. And after having won the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championship, this was a big loss for the Spanish team (though not the exact same players). From an English summation of the local news coverage:

"El Pais daily said the Olympic team's performance in London, and the players' behavior towards the match officials, had damaged the image of Spanish soccer.

"'Football has never gone well with the Olympics, but with the soccer brand that currently sets the country apart it was the right time to return the sport to the summit it scaled in 1992,' the paper wrote, a reference to the gold medal triumph at the Barcelona Games.

"'But it not only fell off a cliff, it did so verging on the ridiculous against opponents of little pedigree like Japan and Honduras. A total failure.'"

Yikes. And Team Spain hasn't done well in other sports (and Rafael Nadal pulled out of the Olympics with an injury). No medals for Spain yet in the medal count. Spain's basketball team is still in it, though (Pau Gasol---so that's who that enormously tall guy was carrying the flag for Spain in the opening ceremonies). Maybe Spanish TV will let us watch some basketball now.

Somos cuatro, y abuelita hace cinco.

We are a family of four again, plus Grandma makes five. Arthur arrived Sunday morning. We dragged him out into the Gothic Quarter to explore, and captured some atmosphere shots, before we let him sleep.

Woke him up again later that night to go to, according to their Web site, "the oldest wine bar in Barcelona" (http://www.lavinateriadelcall.com/en/index.html). The kids hated it. I had to buy them off later with helado (ice cream) and, even later, grilled cheese sandwiches, so they didn't starve. Here are some photos of the food... and other "atmosphere shots."

Traditional tapas.

Lots of cured meats.

Goat-, sheep-, and cows-milk cheeses.

Sundays, in front of the Cathedral (200 yards from our house), locals come out to perform traditional Catalan dances.

Gramma Eloise near the Cathedral.

In the Barri Gotic, some of the buildings are so close together the neighbors don't need to go downstairs to share a cup of sugar.

Ummm... yeah. It is.

Not Starbucks, but a place we stopped for ridiculously overpriced cokes and terrible service (almost all the servers we have encountered here are grumpy). We also witnessed some random guy come up and snatch one of the blue-cushioned chairs and take off with it. Alex wondered if the waiter's English rose to the level of, "Dude, that guy jacked your chair." Maybe another dissatisfied customer? We spotted the chair down a tiny alley later, after we left without leaving a tip.

La Rambla, a major thoroughfare and shopping street.

Case in point: Anna shopping.

OK, this time we did stop at Starbucks---waiting for our "reserved" time in La Sagrada Familia. We felt pretty proud of ourselves for reserving our entrance time and waiting in air-conditioned Starbucks rather than a hot line.

Starbucks in Catalan.

Por fin---nuestra casa. Lastly: our house. This is the entrance to our building. We are on the "second floor," which is actually the fourth floor---first the garage, then the "principal floor," then the first floor, THEN the second floor!!

Next up: La Sagrada Familia. Truly, truly amazing. I was there in 1989, and I think enough work has now been done on it that it was not quite recognizable. So amazing. And tomorrow, we head out of the city for a guided tour of some mountain villages in the Pyranees.

Gaudi, Font Magica, and Nude Beaches

OK, not completely nude, but definitely some topless women. It was hard not to notice them, and it was hard not to notice my son noticing them. But the trip to Sitges, a beach town 30 minutes south of Barcelona by train, was a nice diversion from the heat and bustle of the big city. The Gothic Quarter, where our house is, and the city in general come alive after about 6:00 p.m. until quite late. We stayed out to watch the Font Magica, or Magic Fountain, one of the oldest (or the oldest?) light-music-water fountain shows in the world. I remember going to see it back in 1989 and being so impressed, so I wanted to take the kids, and it did not disappoint. The amount of water shooting into the air is impressive enough, but the changing water displays, and lights, set to music, is just fun. And when the music changed from some classical and patriotic-sounding fare to modern pop music, the crowd came alive. It was a blast.

And the trip to Gaudi's Parc Güell was also a hit, although jet lag and adjusting to the Barcelona heat played a roll in that outing.

Here are some pics so far:

Originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, Parc  Güell is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí,” as are Palau Güell, Casa Milà, and the Sagrada Família, which are on our list to see after Arthur gets here. 

The inner plaza is filled with 86 columns, and the exterior ones are all slightly tilted.

Above the plaza of columns is an undulating bench covered in mosaic.

The guard tower as you enter the park.

Looking down on the mosaic lizard that greets you as you climb up to the column-ed plaza.

The sloping columns plus the tree-shaped stalactites and caverns throughout the park, all man-made, create the sensation that the architecture is one with nature.

I can't help it---I love this fountain show and took a ton of pictures of it. The pictures don't do it justice, but it is really fun!

Dancing and partying at the Font Magica!

Even Anna got over her grumpy jet lag that night and started to party (man, was she grumpy!!!)

Body surfing in the Mediterranean.

We rented beach chairs and umbrella. Such a nice day!

The beach town of Sitges. It is friendly not only to topless sunbathers but also to the Spanish gay community. There were quite a few people in tight bikini bottoms -- and nothing else -- both men and women.

La vida sin Internet!

We arrived safely in Barcelona, took the aerobus to the correct stop in the city, walked two blocks and found a large garage door with a tiny person-door nested inside that seemed to correspond to the address we were given. I pushed a button and announced myself, in Spanish, as "Erin from the United States," and the little door buzzed open. We were here! Betty, the housekeeper who speaks no English, showed us around the house, which consisted of pointing out the rooms, showing us how a gas stove works, and then leaving. We still didn't know if there even was a washer and dryer, and no instructions on the much-needed air conditioning or THE INTERNET!!!

We continued to explore the house on our own, found the washer and dryer, opened all the doors and windows in the house to let in some air, and finally decided to call Betty back on her cell phone to ask about the Internet. She tried to explain in Spanish by phone, gave up and came back to the house to show us a router with a name and password printed on the bottom. The problem was that the name on the router didn't correspond to ANY of the many wireless connections that appeared on our various devices. There was nothing to do but ask her about the air conditioning, which she showed us (gracias a Dios!). We spent much of the day trying to decipher the wifi connection and trying to use the international phone we had purchased for just this purpose. Nothing worked!

We headed out to explore, eat, and grocery shop, all of which were successful. Came home and the kids tried desperately to find any TV in English, while I drank some champagne the Spanish family had left for us and promptly fell asleep at 4:00 p.m. Woke up four hours later to find both kids asleep and still NO INTERNET! Now that it was daytime back in California, I tried to call Arthur on the international phone, finally got it to work (dumb luck), who answered and said, "Oh, yes, they forgot to leave you the wifi information and felt very badly. I have it here." WHAT????!!!! At last, INTERNET!

Went back to bed knowing that the Internet was back in my life again, only to wake up this morning and discover that although all my devices were still connected to the local router, there was a problem with the external connection to the Internet.

And all of this is without Arthur to tell us what to do!!! We need an IT department!!

Mysteriously, the Internet was back up an hour later. Will it last? Will we survive our stay in Barcelona if it doesn't? This is now the great mystery of our adventure---not the fact of our limited Spanish, not pickpockets, but if we have Internet.

We are off to explore more of the city before it gets too hot and hopefully take pictures of something worth posting.

At it again...

We leave in a few short days for Barcelona. I can't believe the day is actually here; we planned this trip a year ago, to house swap with a family of five, but---at the time---July 2012 seemed like an eternity away. Now it is here!

I plan to post pics and doings here, as in the past.

Now, back to packing (and to cleaning my house for that family of five).