Day 7 of 14: Barcelona Feast

I'll have to post the next few times sans pictures; I left my card reader in Vienna so can't upload pics until I return late Monday night. Or Tuesday. You'll have to wait.

But here's what happened today. We woke up, had breakfast, and hit the street. Picked up some items for the big feast which was scheduled for later at A's parents place in the hills in the outskirts of Barcelona.

This place is rather spectacular. It's VERY hilly and people have built house all over the steep hillsides even though it's illegal, strictly speaking. The ins and outs of how people got away with this is beyond my understanding, but suffice it to say that it's a pretty impressive setting. As you'll see when I post a picture.

The market bears special mention. It's one of those fascinating European markets but because Barcelona is a seaport, there was a Shiite-load of fresh seafood of every kind----weird fish I've never seen before, their dead black eyeballs following me as I walked around. I also saw some sardines and they were so shiny silver in color they looked like they were chrome-plated.

So after B, M, and I grabbed the groceries, we took the subway out. A was already there, stoking the outdoor fire. He was preparing a multi-course dinner, the first course of which was spring onions. When possible, these are grilled over a fire made of large grape vines. A used some other kind of wood, but don't worry---the onions were great. It took quite a while to grill them because we'd bought about 150 to feed the 14 people who eventually showed up, us included.

The weather report promised sun, but it stayed hidden behind gray skies all day. The temperature wasn't bad, though, and I got by most of the time wearing a sweatshirt. It was good it didn't rain because the house was quite tiny, and fitting fourteen people in there would have been a hell of a chore.

Eventually the others showed up and the fun began in earnest.

One of my favorites was Joan (which is Catalan for JUAN, not a woman's name), a stocky bearded man who looked a bit like the Italian actor Bud Spencer. This guy had a pair of Ray-Bans that only left his face until just a few minutes before everyone took off, many hours later. Inside, outside, it didn't matter: Ray-Bans. He was a quiet guy who didn't speak too much but enjoyed his beer, his wine, and his food. I let my imagination roam a bit and in my mind's eye, Joan was a film director. Quiet, confident, having a good time but thinking constantly about his next film, too. (What the guy actually does for a living, I don't know.)

Another favorite was Angel, a very friendly and vivacious guy. His English was excellent. "Where are you from in America?" he asked. "Oklahoma." "Ah, Oklahoma! I know it well. I spent six years at the U of T in Austin. I attended a few Sooner games. I had a girlfriend from Tulsa, spent some time there..."

"Why were you at UT?"

"I was getting a PhD," he said. Later I learned he taught both at UT and at Notre Dame. Spanish and Italian literature.

Angel and I had a lot of interesting talks through the day. "I loved Austin," he said. "When I was there, the late 70s, it was kind of like the end of the 60s still. Then came Reagan and everything went to shit."

No kidding...

He also told the tale of the Texas governor, whose name I can't recall, who, when asked about the "bi-lingual problem," answered (and I'm paraphrasing): "The Bible was written in ENGLISH, and if English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me!" Everybody laughed at the stupid Texas governor and his Homer Simpson-esque comment.

When the onions are grilled properly, they're quite black on the outside and a bit soft. They're removed from the grill and wrapped in newspaper, then put into the oven to keep warm. It took a few hours to grill up all the onions. While we waited, there was an interesting snack: snails, which Montse brought. These weren't escargot but small snails, some with striped shells. I was kind of squeamish but by then I'd had a few drinks and everyone was laughing and jovial and friendly so I said, fuck it, I'll eat the snails.

I think the snails were steamed. You dig them out of the shells with a toothpick and really, they were pretty good! To me they looked and tasted a bit like sauteed shiitake mushrooms. I ate five or six of them, and joined the others in dipping bread in the juice the snails had been prepared in.

Eating grilled spring onions is kind of messy, so most of us wore aprons. You peel the blackened skin of the onions downward from the top of the stalk. Then you dip the onion in sauce and lower the whole thing into your mouth, like those old pictures of college kids eating goldfish. Except, the grilled spring onions taste good, unlike the goldfish...

Your hands get pretty black. When the onions are finally gone (which doesn't take too long, especially compared to the time it takes to grill them) then you wash off so you can tackle what comes next, which was:

Grilled sausages.

Next course: lambchops. I don't think I've ever had lamb before. Pretty good; grilled just right, some course salt sprinked over it when it's placed on the grill...

There was a bit of drinking associated with all this but the feast was spread over such a long period of time that nobody really got too wasted. Or ANY wasted, really. Everyone got kind of nicely LUBED UP, though.

These folks, southern Europeans all, were friendly and laughing and uninhibited. I have friends I like in Austria and they're the same, but the Austrians in general seem a bit more reserved in large gatherings than the Spaniards. The women invited us to go dancing with them later that night, but we were getting kind of tired and things start late here, the dancing included, so we declined. But it was nice to be asked and the women actually seemed a little disappointed that we wouldn't be coming.

However, they did invite us to a big party later in the year. "What's the occasion?" B asked. The women shrugged. "Just because. To celebrate!" Celebrate LIFE, I think they meant...

It got dark and everyone left. We cleaned up, shut the house down, and walked back to the train station. And on the way, on the winding road leading down the hills to the station, I saw something I've never seen before: wild boars, coming right toward us. Two pairs of them. They saw us and turned, going up the steep hills. It's a bit sobering being close to these porkers, as they have a reputation for being pretty mean when you piss them off. Fortunately there were no piglets around, because that's when they can REALLY get kind of stirred up.

But the boars minded their own piggy business and we minded ours, and soon we were back home in the heart of Barcelona, for quiet conversation and a few drinks and then, a bit of reading. Then bed.

Day 6 of 14: Never Been To Spain, Until Today. Maybe.

This afternoon we're supposed to fly to Barcelona. It'll be my first time. B's been there several times...

But, in watching the departure times for the flight over the past week or so, we notice that the plane has been leaving hours late, which means we may actually arrive very early tomorrow morning.

Anyhow. We'll be there until late Monday, then we fly back to Vienna.

These blog posts may or may not be timely---not sure of the computer situation where we're staying.

----

OK. We made it with no problem. Plane left more or less on time, and arrived a bit early.

Took the bus to the center of town. Barcelona is a bustling city! Relatively warm tonight, I'd say maybe 55 degrees F., TONS of people in the streets walking here and there, going about their weekend activities....beautiful architecture, etc.

Grabbed a cab from the center of town to the home of our hosts, M and A. Fare was about 6.70 Euros and I gave the guy a 10, told him to keep the change. Got scolded by B for this, and maybe it was too much, but WTF? He was a happy Spaniard, and we got where we were going.

A, the husband, made an excellent dish---fish with rice. Served with a a very nice white wine.

Then A invited me to try his massage chair. I sat down, he pressed a button, the thing reclined slowly, and for the next fifteen minutes the thing whirled and swirled and did its thing. Between the wine and the massage chair, I'm ready for bed.

A few good conversations with M, the. wife, and now to bed. Tomorrow, a big day. We drive out to the country for a Spring Onion Festival...kind of a Catalonian tradition.

Day 5 of 14: Rainy Day Vienna Walkabout

B had a dental appointment today. We took the subway into town. She went to her appointment and I walked around for about 90 minutes. Stuff I noticed:

1) Wish I'd gotten a picture of an elegantly dressed man who resembled Captain Kangaroo, leaning against a building on the Ringstrasse, talking on his phone. I have fond memories of Captain Kangaroo. I remember him teaching me (and millions of other kids) what he called "The Magic Words." PLEASE and THANK YOU.

What are the magic words kids learn today? Probably GIMMEE THAT and FUCK YOU.

2) I saw a guy pulling the old shell game on some tourist suckers. I'm not enough of a con-man to know all the ins and outs of it, but my buddy Tony D. The Magician knows these scams, and I would have loved Tony to be there today. We could have walked up like eager suckers, bet the farm, then revealed the con-man's bullshit right there in front of everyone...

3) On the subway, I glanced over at one of these new ultra-strollers the uber-yuppizoidal women like to roll their infants around in...one of those three-wheelers that cost several hundred bucks, so Mommy can go jogging down to Bergsdorf or wherever, her elegant sweat captured by her $200 headband. I noticed something about this stroller---

It had DISC BRAKES. I couldn't believe it. How damned fast do these women jog, anyway? Wish I'd gotten a picture of the elaborate setup, with the handbrake on the handle of the pram, connected via steel cables to the disc brakes.

Speaking of disc brakes, I stumbled upon this nice little red car:

The price, if that sort of thing interests you, starts with a 2 and ends with several 0's. SEVERAL. That's in Euros, BTW, not dollars, so add about 30% and you get the idea.

If you click on the pic to enlarge it, you might notice a little red hobby horse to the left. I didn't want to know the price, but I bet Disc-Brake Stroller Lady would know. But probably wouldn't care.

Interestingly, they also had a Ferrari pedal car on display. I'm not making this up.





Here's a somewhat interesting building in the 10th District.

Not sure if the facade is stainless steel or aluminum.













Visit any pharmacy in Vienna and you'll probably see a display like this. These are herbal teas with specific healing properties. Unlike America, an Austrian pharmacist might actually recommend these teas as an alternative to allopathic meds.

Of course we have teas like this in America, but they often are of lower quality, not manufactured (is that even the right word?) to strict quality levels.

The Austrians have such lower-quality teas, too, but they won't sell them in pharmacies.





Statue of a famous music-composing guy.

Evidently, he had the beet. Or liked beets.

Something having to do with beets, this dude had...










Your carriage awaits.

These things line up in various parts of town. B tells me many of the drivers are ex-cons, as it is one of the few jobs it's relatively easy for them to get.

There were ten or twelve of these lined up in front of the Stephansdom this afternoon, but not a lot of touristas looking for a carriage ride, I guess.



A picture of my lunch shortly before it vanished.

This is called Knoedelpfanne. It's kind of a traditional Austrian dish composed of leftover potato dumplings, a scrambled egg, some ham, and bell peppers. Very tasty.

We got it at Meixner's, a place we'd never been before. I'd like to go back next time I'm here...

In other news, the search for a man-purse continues, and I bought a pair of shoes to replace the heavy steel-toed work boots I've been wearing, the only pair of footwear I brought with me.

The boots, BTW, are made by a company called Iron Age, which sadly has declared bankruptcy. I bought my boots more than five years ago and they're still holding up fine. I think I paid about $90 for them and can probably get five more years out of them, easy. I'll be leaving them here in Vienna when I go home, so I'll have a pair on hand for hikes in the hills or winter strolls next year.

And finally, in news of The Abnormal Psychology of John X: B says my newfound interest in shopping for a murse, and for shoes, is starting to worry her.

I'm getting a little concerned about it, myself....

...next thing you know I'll be comparing disc-brake equipped prams with the other yuppie women.