(no subject)
I was going to write this earlier in the morning, but wasn't feeling and am writing it now about 10 hours later.
I cooked for myself last night. I realized that I didn't know how much money was in my account and decided to cook for myself. I also just felt like cooking. Something easy, spaghetti or sausages, maybe a rosti. At the supermarket it was actually cheaper to buy the 500gram thing of spaghetti than the 250gram thing of spaghetti. I'm not sure how that is possible, but it was. Me being I, I bought the big thing and knew I wouldn't eat it all. That, along with a jar of sauce and a one-euro bottle of wine, made my dinner. The sauce was the most expensive part. Cooking it was a bit of a hassle. The kitchen isn't the most equipped place, not many pots, small ones, and no colander. I made do.
I'm talking with Foodbag online as I write this.
The pasta was way, way too much. I tossed a bit of it out right away (and felt bad about it too) and was left with a massive, overflowing plate of spaghetti. It was delicious. I ate every bit of it. I must have been hungry. During my meal I was talking with an English couple and an Australian couple. As I finished my plate the Aussie woman looks at me and says, "Wow. Good job finishing off all that pasta." to which I replied, "Oh god, I did...I can't believe I just ate all that. I'll probably throw up soon." There was no vomit, but I hung out with those people until two in the morning, which is really impressive when you consider that we met at 8pm. It was one of those great conversations that run the gamut from TV to racism to cartoon, football, and soccer, cricket, to politics and around again. And lots of alcohol. I drank a bottle of wine (good for one euro) and then 2 liters of beer purchased by the group for me. When 2am rolled around we were all pretty shitty. The English guy's accent got thicker and thicker as the night wore on. By 2am I couldn't understand him. I also forgot to wash my plate. I looked at it at 2am and said, "That’s not getting washed tonight." It was great. Really good people, great conversation, even good music. A wonderful capper to a lively day.
My day consisted of a trip to the northern sections of the city. I visited FC Barcelona's home grounds first. I almost took a tour of Camp Nou (The "New Grounds" built in 1957), but it was 11 euros and I'm not a Barca fan really anyway. It was really back and forth too. I was even in line at one point, but didn't in. Seeing the stadium was cool enough. Its one of the hallowed grounds in sport, very cool. What wasn't as cool was the FC Barcelona store. Wow. I'm not against capitalism, but I'm not sure about being a whore to capitalism. Everything they could put Barca on was for sale. T-shirts, jerseys, balls, underwear, hats, books, kids books, towels, ashtrays, ice cube trays, a refrigerator. A F*CKING REFRIDERATOR! It was just too much.
After that display I headed over to Park Guell. It was supposed to be a housing development for the rich, but failed for some reason. The city got the property and made it a park. Its lovely up there. High above the city it has amazing views and the little landscape areas designed by Guadi are awesome. Very cool place, even if it is crawling with tourists.
Today I woke up hung over, as you can imagine, and walked up to the main train station to book spot on the train to Madrid tomorrow. Now maybe I'm wrong, but since Madrid is the Capital of Spain, wouldn't you have a train every hour or so? Not in this country and I'm booked on the 16:30 train putting me in Madrid at 22:18ish. Kills a day really, but I have two full days in Madrid so its no big deal.
What was a big deal was getting the reservation. I took a number and waited two hours for my number to come and when it did I got the guy who doesn't speak English at all.
After that episode, which included meeting to nice girls from Toronto, I dropped that stuff at the hostel and went back to the same area to visit this big castle on the hill.
Its very cool, lots of nice views (there are lots of nice views in Barcelona). The so-called "Magic Fountain" wasn't doing anything magical, but maybe the water was invisible and just looked turned off.
Behind that is the Olympic area. You actually can go into the stadium for free. That’s mostly because nobody cares about RCD Espanyola, the team that plays there. I can't imagine a worse situation for a team to be in. FCB is one of the most beloved teams in the world with tons of trophies to back it up. Not only does RCD reside at the bottom of La Liga nearly every year, but it’s also political. FC Barcelona is a bastion of Catalan pride. During the days of Franco the only place you saw Catalan flags or heard he song was at FCB games. Even the FC is a point of pride. In spanish Football Club is Club de Futbol or CF and usually placed after the city. As any Catalan will tell you, they aren't Spanish, they're Catalan and they do as they wish. When Franco was in power the club was forced to go with CF and it became a symbol of repression. (FC Barcelona is FC because a Swiss guy and some Germans and English founded the club) RCD Espanyol is the other. Royal Club Spanish. It’s in the title. They are Spanish, not Catalan. Not only is RCD bad (the did win the Spanish FA tournament this year, though), but also they are Spanish in an anti Spanish city. It’s no wonder they aren't well supported.
After walking around that area I made my way to this little English language bookstore I had heard about. The rain that had been threatening all day sprinkled about as I walked. This store is books. Lots and lots of books. Nothing more than 6 euros no used book for more than 3. Very, very cool store. Its a bit of a hangout for expiates and I talked with two guys for a awhile. The owner and friend of the two guys were apologetic when we made us go. Add to that cheap beer, coffee, tea, and the food that goes with it, its a great place. I didn't buy anything because I actually found a book sitting on my bed. I guess someone forgot it. It looks like tongue in cheek fantasy, should be interesting.
If you have Facebook, Jon posted pictures of our time in Switzerland on his page. I haven't seen them yet, but I'm sure there are some good ones.
What is going on with Castro? He is not dead, but...what? I'm so out of touch. They his brother is a hard liner. I say it will fall apart as soon as Fidel dies. Cuban cigars in 5 years. Good ones too when the companies are privatized.
I'm just hanging out tonight, only one small beer (already drank it). I'm just going to relax, get my stuff together and hit the bed. Crap, it’s almost midnight. Maybe bed will come sooner than I thought.
Next post will be from Madrid.
I love and miss you all,
Matt
I cooked for myself last night. I realized that I didn't know how much money was in my account and decided to cook for myself. I also just felt like cooking. Something easy, spaghetti or sausages, maybe a rosti. At the supermarket it was actually cheaper to buy the 500gram thing of spaghetti than the 250gram thing of spaghetti. I'm not sure how that is possible, but it was. Me being I, I bought the big thing and knew I wouldn't eat it all. That, along with a jar of sauce and a one-euro bottle of wine, made my dinner. The sauce was the most expensive part. Cooking it was a bit of a hassle. The kitchen isn't the most equipped place, not many pots, small ones, and no colander. I made do.
I'm talking with Foodbag online as I write this.
The pasta was way, way too much. I tossed a bit of it out right away (and felt bad about it too) and was left with a massive, overflowing plate of spaghetti. It was delicious. I ate every bit of it. I must have been hungry. During my meal I was talking with an English couple and an Australian couple. As I finished my plate the Aussie woman looks at me and says, "Wow. Good job finishing off all that pasta." to which I replied, "Oh god, I did...I can't believe I just ate all that. I'll probably throw up soon." There was no vomit, but I hung out with those people until two in the morning, which is really impressive when you consider that we met at 8pm. It was one of those great conversations that run the gamut from TV to racism to cartoon, football, and soccer, cricket, to politics and around again. And lots of alcohol. I drank a bottle of wine (good for one euro) and then 2 liters of beer purchased by the group for me. When 2am rolled around we were all pretty shitty. The English guy's accent got thicker and thicker as the night wore on. By 2am I couldn't understand him. I also forgot to wash my plate. I looked at it at 2am and said, "That’s not getting washed tonight." It was great. Really good people, great conversation, even good music. A wonderful capper to a lively day.
My day consisted of a trip to the northern sections of the city. I visited FC Barcelona's home grounds first. I almost took a tour of Camp Nou (The "New Grounds" built in 1957), but it was 11 euros and I'm not a Barca fan really anyway. It was really back and forth too. I was even in line at one point, but didn't in. Seeing the stadium was cool enough. Its one of the hallowed grounds in sport, very cool. What wasn't as cool was the FC Barcelona store. Wow. I'm not against capitalism, but I'm not sure about being a whore to capitalism. Everything they could put Barca on was for sale. T-shirts, jerseys, balls, underwear, hats, books, kids books, towels, ashtrays, ice cube trays, a refrigerator. A F*CKING REFRIDERATOR! It was just too much.
After that display I headed over to Park Guell. It was supposed to be a housing development for the rich, but failed for some reason. The city got the property and made it a park. Its lovely up there. High above the city it has amazing views and the little landscape areas designed by Guadi are awesome. Very cool place, even if it is crawling with tourists.
Today I woke up hung over, as you can imagine, and walked up to the main train station to book spot on the train to Madrid tomorrow. Now maybe I'm wrong, but since Madrid is the Capital of Spain, wouldn't you have a train every hour or so? Not in this country and I'm booked on the 16:30 train putting me in Madrid at 22:18ish. Kills a day really, but I have two full days in Madrid so its no big deal.
What was a big deal was getting the reservation. I took a number and waited two hours for my number to come and when it did I got the guy who doesn't speak English at all.
After that episode, which included meeting to nice girls from Toronto, I dropped that stuff at the hostel and went back to the same area to visit this big castle on the hill.
Its very cool, lots of nice views (there are lots of nice views in Barcelona). The so-called "Magic Fountain" wasn't doing anything magical, but maybe the water was invisible and just looked turned off.
Behind that is the Olympic area. You actually can go into the stadium for free. That’s mostly because nobody cares about RCD Espanyola, the team that plays there. I can't imagine a worse situation for a team to be in. FCB is one of the most beloved teams in the world with tons of trophies to back it up. Not only does RCD reside at the bottom of La Liga nearly every year, but it’s also political. FC Barcelona is a bastion of Catalan pride. During the days of Franco the only place you saw Catalan flags or heard he song was at FCB games. Even the FC is a point of pride. In spanish Football Club is Club de Futbol or CF and usually placed after the city. As any Catalan will tell you, they aren't Spanish, they're Catalan and they do as they wish. When Franco was in power the club was forced to go with CF and it became a symbol of repression. (FC Barcelona is FC because a Swiss guy and some Germans and English founded the club) RCD Espanyol is the other. Royal Club Spanish. It’s in the title. They are Spanish, not Catalan. Not only is RCD bad (the did win the Spanish FA tournament this year, though), but also they are Spanish in an anti Spanish city. It’s no wonder they aren't well supported.
After walking around that area I made my way to this little English language bookstore I had heard about. The rain that had been threatening all day sprinkled about as I walked. This store is books. Lots and lots of books. Nothing more than 6 euros no used book for more than 3. Very, very cool store. Its a bit of a hangout for expiates and I talked with two guys for a awhile. The owner and friend of the two guys were apologetic when we made us go. Add to that cheap beer, coffee, tea, and the food that goes with it, its a great place. I didn't buy anything because I actually found a book sitting on my bed. I guess someone forgot it. It looks like tongue in cheek fantasy, should be interesting.
If you have Facebook, Jon posted pictures of our time in Switzerland on his page. I haven't seen them yet, but I'm sure there are some good ones.
What is going on with Castro? He is not dead, but...what? I'm so out of touch. They his brother is a hard liner. I say it will fall apart as soon as Fidel dies. Cuban cigars in 5 years. Good ones too when the companies are privatized.
I'm just hanging out tonight, only one small beer (already drank it). I'm just going to relax, get my stuff together and hit the bed. Crap, it’s almost midnight. Maybe bed will come sooner than I thought.
Next post will be from Madrid.
I love and miss you all,
Matt