Barcelona: Random European Weekend Trip #2

I have to say that Barcelona may just be my favourite city and the most likely European non-English speaking city I would choose to live in. I could easily have stayed long-term in one of those airy and spacious flats like the one we spent two nights in, happily sipping my morning cafe con leche overlooking the busy street below. I would wander those narrow alleys in the Gothic Quarter, stroll the beach, swim year round in the Mediterranean Sea (wetsuit clad in winter, of course), and visit the colourful market daily.

I don't know what it is about Spanish language and culture, but I really feel at home in it. Barcelona was everything I love about Mexico and Europe united. It is the best of both for me. Modernity mixed with history, both convenience and colourful culture.

Though my Spanish was understood for the most part, it was harder for me to communicate since they don't actually speak Spanish in Barcelona. Catalan seemed to be a French influenced Spanish-like language.

Compare these phrases:

English Catalan Spanish French
Who is it? Qui es? Que es? Qui est-ce?
What did you say? Que ha dit? Que dijo? Qu'est-ce que tu as dit?
I agree D'acord Acuerdo D'accord

Knowing both French and Spanish enabled me to understand some written Catalan, but it was impossible to keep up with their lispy r-rolling quick-flicking tongues.

We were fortunate to have made a couch surfing connection for our first night. Our host, Santi, picked us up at Girona airport and drove us to his town, Sant Celoni (half way between Girona and Barcelona). We started the evening following a parade of devils with pitch forks spouting fireworks. It was Ash Wednesday and the end of Carnival. After the parade we were given a tour of the town and saw their stunning church before settling in for a community dinner.

For 8 Euros we were able to partake of a fabulous Catalunyan meal: salad with tuna and olives, grilled sardines, and 'pa amb tomaquet', which is basically bread smeared with tomato and garlic and drizzled in olive oil. Dessert was a plate of mixed nuts, raisins and figs. The wine flowed freely, the atmosphere very lively (and a bit smoky), and after we ate a man and his guitar serenaded us all with camp fire songs including kumbaya and My Bonny. Everyone sang along, laughed, talked and drank until heading home peacefully around midnight. One of the highlights of the evening was what could only be referred to as a bizarre round of musical chairs ... with wine. A carafe fitted with a fountain-esque spout was passed around the room, stopping at random individuals. The point of the game was to start drinking when the music starts, and stop when the music stops. Check it out for yourself:



We took the train in to Barcelona the next day and spent two full days exploring the fabulous city and many of Gaudi's famous sites including La Sagrada Familia, la Pedrera, and Park Guell. We sampled various tapas, including patatas bravas, grilled peppers, and clams, along with paella, gazpacho, and fresh mango and coconut from the market and my new favourite cheese: manchego.

I dipped my feet for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, wandered between palm trees, and walked and walked and walked trying to keep up with Dan's tireless long legs.

Though our last morning we were in a bit of a panic and almost missed our flight, the trip was wonderful overall and we hope to return again to beautiful Barcelona.

Pictures are here, and below is a small video of our new favourite buskers.

The jungle comes to Britain

Back in November we had some students from Quebec staying with us for a couple of nights. One morning, one of them returned from a walk to the shop and reported seeing a green parrot fly overhead. I was skeptical until Dan piped up, admitting that he too had seen a parrot or two roaming our neighbourhood. I soon began to see glimpses of these long tailed, bright green parrots high in the trees on my jogs.

Today, on my noontime canal walk, I was startled when I came upon a lovely green parrot, with red beak and a pinkish ring around its neck dangling from a branch over the river Wey not 10 feet from where I stood. He happily posed for my camera (though my camera phone doesn't zoom, so you have to click on the picture to get a better view!) and lazily bounced on his branch, until he and his partner (hiding from view nearby) began to climb and hop from branch to branch higher and higher until finally taking flight, leaving me in awe and late for work.

Such a sight seems so out of place in England, so after scurrying back to my desk I decided to google 'wild parrots uk' and was amazed to find this article acknowledging a rising parrot and parakeet population in the UK and primarily in this area: Wild Parrots Settle in Suburbs

Apparently they are making their way from Asia and finding homes across Europe posing a threat to the smaller native birds. What will this changing climate reveal next?!

Winter in England

I've been working at a temp job for the past couple of weeks and the best part of the job is the proximity to the canals in Weybridge (which is the next town over from us where we are both working at the moment). On my hour lunch breaks, I change into my boots and wander along the canals, enjoying the birds, beauty, and luxurious homes along with the fresh air and much needed exercise after a morning of sitting behind a desk.

However, my daily walk was not possible yesterday as the country was blanketed in a foot of snow. The most England has seen since 1991! The landscape quickly transformed from muddy but quite green to white in a few hours causing chaos everywhere. The city shut down. Seeing snow like this once in a couple decades does not warrant snow tires, ploughs, or shovels. No one was prepared for it. Unaccustomed to winter driving, people slide passed us nervously. It took us twice as long to get to work and fortunately many people stayed home. We were both allowed to leave work a little early and went out to enjoy the snow. Our neighbourhood had been peopled by snowmen. Every corner and building had one. Neither of us had made a snowman since we were children, but as it is such a novelty here that the enthusiasm was contagious and we decided to join in.

Afterwards we treated ourselves to drinks and dinner in front of the fire at our local pub. Click here to see the contrast between yesterday and last week.

Carmina Burana at the O2 arena

Since Christmas we've been laying low at home for the most part. We've been in London every Sunday for church and to visit friends, but otherwise hanging out in Walton, with the exception of one outing this past weekend.

For Christmas, Dan gave me two tickets to see Carmina Burana at the O2 Arena (AKA The Millennium Dome). We enjoyed some sushi at one of the many restaurants at the venue before show. "Carmina Burana--Monumental Opera" was spectacular with fire works, elaborate costumes, and of course, intense music. This is their blurb:

"The O2 launches the Monumental Classics Series with Carmina Burana in January 2009. Franz Abraham, the creator of the production, brings Carl Orff’s masterpiece to life with over 250 performers - including the world-renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Brighton Festival Chorus and Youth Choir, as well as dancers, actors, and singers. The dramatic staging has been created by Walter Haupt, a long standing close friend of Orff himself, and features a giant set, previously only seen outside and in stadiums, sensational light projections and fireworks."

Thanks honey!

Merry Christmas from London!

Wishing all our beloved friends and family a very merry Christmas.



We are enjoying a simplified Christmas in England with Dan's parents Rose and Al, his sister, Lesha and her partner, Sean. Happily everyone arrived safely in the last couple of days, however only Lesha arrived with luggage, which means that most of our Christmas presents, stockings, and other festive items are somewhere between here and Halifax. Robin had some stocking stuffers for everyone, so we decided to improvise this morning and used oven mitts, hats and a cosmetics bag as make-shift stockings (see the picture of these odd stockings under the tree below--notice the mushrooms in the background, as there was no more room in the fridge). For fun, Lesha wrapped up some random cookies and things from the hotel across the street where they are staying this week. And we happened to have bought clothes for each of the people that are without their suitcases, so they were able to change shirts! We enjoyed a beautiful Ukrainian Christmas dinner tonight, perogies, kutya, cabbage, and all, as well as a lot of laughter. It's been a very happy Christmas for us despite the missing items. We hope that you and yours are having as much fun together as we are. We'll see you in the New Year!

Love from Robin, Dan, Rose, Al, Lesha, and Sean

Oslo: Our First Random European City Weekend Jaunt (of hopefully many)

After a long four months apart, we were happily reunited in time to plan our first random European city weekend jaunt. Destination: Oslo, Norway. You might ask why we would choose to go to an almost equally expensive city to London, seeing as how Oslo is forth most expensive city in the world; next to London at third. It's also a city further North than London and winter is quickly approaching. Well, we had a couple of reasons. One was that our sister-in-law Kate’s brother, Paul, is doing a semester in Oslo and we thought it would be fun to visit him. Also, we wanted to choose a city in a country that neither of us had been to, and as Dan’s been to most major cities in Europe, that left us with few options. Frankly, though, Norway just seemed like a pretty cool place to visit.

Despite the cold and the ridiculously priced… well, everything… we managed to see some pretty neat things. We flew Ryan Air and landed just outside of Sandefjord, which is just under a two-hour bus ride from Oslo. We were amazed to see how similar the landscape was to our familiar Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, with the ragged coastline, colourful houses, and little fishing villages. Once in Oslo, we hopped on the tram and headed to our hosts’ flat in the trendy neighbourhood Grünerløkka.

To help keep costs down and have a more enriching experience we decided to try couchsurfing.com. We joined the website and requested to stay on the couch of a couple named Linn and Brom, who happily welcomed us into their home. We learned a little about Norway and Norwegians (such as the fact that Norway is so wealthy that they had a surplus of $360 billion last year!) Also, Linn is Sami, who are an indigenous people from the far north of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The Sami are known for herding reindeer, which is still practiced by a small minority. Brom is from central Norway, near the Arctic Circle. They also have the two most beautiful cats you’ve every seen, Pixel and Stella. Luckily, Dan's allergies didn't act up too badly.

On our first night, Linn took us to see a couple of local bands. She works for the venue and was able to get us in free. The music was great, and we absolutely loved the band, Katzenjammer. They're a female quartet, who rotated among 12 instruments between each song, featuring the accordion, mandolin, guitar, piano, balalaika bass, glockenspiel, trumpet, kazoo, melodica, drums, banjo and xylophone. They also took turns on vocals and had a guest violinist. It was a really, really fun concert. Check it out for yourself:

On our second night, we feasted on smoked trout, warm bread, salad and dilled potatoes with Linn and Brom. They were great hosts and we will definitely couch surf again on another weekend jaunt.

Over the three days in Oslo we walked all over and saw some fabulous sites, including the Nobel Peace Museum, the Munch Museum, the National Gallery, the Norwegian Royal Palace, the Vigeland Sculpture Park with it's dozens of bronze and granite nude sculptures, the Akershus Fortress and its museum detailing the Norwegian Resistance to the Nazis, and the Museum of Architecture, which features the plans of other European museums. We also had lunch with Paul and visited his school in the north of the city, which is in an incredible building. We sampled Norwegian fish and brown cheese, and Dan sampled the expensive beer (about $12 per bottle). And we shopped a wee bit at the massive complex of Aker Brygge.

We loved how the pubs, restaurants, and cafés not only provide outdoor seating and tables for smokers or dog walkers, they also leave blankets on each chair to keep them warm. We enjoyed sitting outside a café on our last day and sipped cappuccino while snuggled up with warm woollen blankets and watched the city bustle by.

We’ve posted our pictures on facebook. Enjoy them here.

It's Amazing What Technology Can Do

So, it's been a month since Robin left to get her visa, and I have to keep myself entertained somehow. I put together a few slideshows of some of the pictures we posted earlier set to music:


Upon arrival in England


Visiting London, Bath, Cornwall, and Portsmouth with Robin's parents


Driving to Paris, Vimy, and Canterbury

Any comments on whether or not you like these slideshows or facebook albums would be much appreciated :-)