(no subject)
We finally got into our new apartment last night. It´s fucking titties. Tall celing with a loft, little kichten and a great view. There´s a skylight about our loft that let´s in morning sunshine. We haven´t done it yet, apparently we can go through the skylight and set on top of the roof. I can´t fully put into words what a relief it is finally having an apartment. The language barrier set us for a little challenge, and also I´m not saying we weren´t expecting it. We´re paying a little more than we wanted, we delegated for quite a while if this was the best decision. The battle was trying to stick it out and rent a room for around 200 euros each. The downfall would be that we´d be visitors in someone else´s space and we didn´t want to intrud, especially with our busy ways in the kitchen. We´re paying a bit more, the upside is that we have our own space with our own set of keys in a area 5 minutes walk to the rambla. Lot´s of local shops around us, Patisseria´s and veggie stands. We found a nice little grocery store that´s run by Indians, good Indian spices and Indian treats. The last couple of days have been spent running around town, catching the metro, spending an undetermined amount of euros on the shitty public phones(which a quarter of the time they liked to eat our money and not give it back) and asking for assistance of locals on how to find certain streets.
Small city maps that they give you in hostels don´t include small alley´s which are many among the city. Commmon with the renters, they would give us the name of a metro station and the street they were on, nothing else. Two nights ago Melanie and I walked at least 6 miles trying to find this one apartment. The address was on Travessara di Dalt and when we got off the metro we were lead to Travessara di Gracia. The upside was that we got to walk around a really area of Barcelona not yet explored by us. It´s a college area, lot´s of nice little shops and young people. It´s an area we would want to live in when we come back. We also got a great expresso from a Roman coffee shop.
Right, somehow I started drinking expressos. God damn stimulants. Paola made me the best tasting expresso I´ve ever had, which at the time could have been the 3rd or 4th in a lifetime. I never knew it could be so good. After that I´ve been on quest to find something comprable to the same taste. I´ve only come close in the Roman cafe, no where else. Which I can also say that it´s not like I´ve been gulping down expressos like elderly taking to denture creme. It has been in my repitoire though, I think about them every day. I blame Melanie of course.
Okay Alcoholics, this one´s for you, are you listening, put your ears and eyes close to the screen.
6 PACKS OF BEER RANGE FROM 40-60 CENTS!
Did you hear that? Let me repeat just in case....
6 PACKS OF BEER RANGE FROM 40-60 CENTS!
That´s a case of beer for under 2 euros. And it´s good beer as well. If you break it down to an average of $8 a six pack in the states, you´d be saving $6 a six pack (btw, tax is included in prices here), after 100 days you´d have saved enough money for a round trip ticket to come visit us. Think of it guys, all you have do is not drink for 100 days and you´ll be here. I´ll even buy you a hundred beers or so. Some of you might only need 50 or 60 days. I know how you are, cheeky monkey´s.
Today we´re going to a park that is filled with Gaudi´s work. Hopefully we´ll fill up our memory cards with pix. We really haven´t taken any picture at all in Barcelona yet, been a little afraid to take out our cameras in the area we´ve been in. In case none of you know, the Rambla, which is world famous for it´s art, music, food, eccletic oddities and even stranger street perfomers, are even more famous for their skills in pick pocketing. People get robbed everyday, too many times a day to count. The police don´t really do anything unless there is a fight. And in the unlikely event of a physical dispute, one or two of them will calmy walk over and beat both of you with their night sticks. After you´ve been bludgeoned they will tell each of you to walk the other way. They mainly go after the people with money and the drunk. If you carry wits about you they´ll back off with fear of losing face. They don´t like being caught and the way they steal is in many ways an art. Here´s my theory on why the police don´t do much about it- This city gorgeous. Everything in it and it´s people are a thing of beauty. The local goverment knows this, holds their noses high about it I´m sure, and the one thing they wouldn´t want in their city is something ugly like brutal forced or armed violence. The recprocutions are harsh. Now, they also must realize that with brilliant light, you must have dark, and why not that be brilliant as well. If there was one way to be robbed, wouldn´t you want it in way where there was no confrontation? In fact, woudn´t you like not even realizing that it was happening? That is the art in which these practice. You can catch their swift hands but if you bat their hand away or guard your jeweled area, they respectfully retreat. Anyhow, that is why I think the goverment leaves it alone.
Tis all for now my beaties! I´ve had a breathtaking epiphany last night, details to come!
t
Small city maps that they give you in hostels don´t include small alley´s which are many among the city. Commmon with the renters, they would give us the name of a metro station and the street they were on, nothing else. Two nights ago Melanie and I walked at least 6 miles trying to find this one apartment. The address was on Travessara di Dalt and when we got off the metro we were lead to Travessara di Gracia. The upside was that we got to walk around a really area of Barcelona not yet explored by us. It´s a college area, lot´s of nice little shops and young people. It´s an area we would want to live in when we come back. We also got a great expresso from a Roman coffee shop.
Right, somehow I started drinking expressos. God damn stimulants. Paola made me the best tasting expresso I´ve ever had, which at the time could have been the 3rd or 4th in a lifetime. I never knew it could be so good. After that I´ve been on quest to find something comprable to the same taste. I´ve only come close in the Roman cafe, no where else. Which I can also say that it´s not like I´ve been gulping down expressos like elderly taking to denture creme. It has been in my repitoire though, I think about them every day. I blame Melanie of course.
Okay Alcoholics, this one´s for you, are you listening, put your ears and eyes close to the screen.
6 PACKS OF BEER RANGE FROM 40-60 CENTS!
Did you hear that? Let me repeat just in case....
6 PACKS OF BEER RANGE FROM 40-60 CENTS!
That´s a case of beer for under 2 euros. And it´s good beer as well. If you break it down to an average of $8 a six pack in the states, you´d be saving $6 a six pack (btw, tax is included in prices here), after 100 days you´d have saved enough money for a round trip ticket to come visit us. Think of it guys, all you have do is not drink for 100 days and you´ll be here. I´ll even buy you a hundred beers or so. Some of you might only need 50 or 60 days. I know how you are, cheeky monkey´s.
Today we´re going to a park that is filled with Gaudi´s work. Hopefully we´ll fill up our memory cards with pix. We really haven´t taken any picture at all in Barcelona yet, been a little afraid to take out our cameras in the area we´ve been in. In case none of you know, the Rambla, which is world famous for it´s art, music, food, eccletic oddities and even stranger street perfomers, are even more famous for their skills in pick pocketing. People get robbed everyday, too many times a day to count. The police don´t really do anything unless there is a fight. And in the unlikely event of a physical dispute, one or two of them will calmy walk over and beat both of you with their night sticks. After you´ve been bludgeoned they will tell each of you to walk the other way. They mainly go after the people with money and the drunk. If you carry wits about you they´ll back off with fear of losing face. They don´t like being caught and the way they steal is in many ways an art. Here´s my theory on why the police don´t do much about it- This city gorgeous. Everything in it and it´s people are a thing of beauty. The local goverment knows this, holds their noses high about it I´m sure, and the one thing they wouldn´t want in their city is something ugly like brutal forced or armed violence. The recprocutions are harsh. Now, they also must realize that with brilliant light, you must have dark, and why not that be brilliant as well. If there was one way to be robbed, wouldn´t you want it in way where there was no confrontation? In fact, woudn´t you like not even realizing that it was happening? That is the art in which these practice. You can catch their swift hands but if you bat their hand away or guard your jeweled area, they respectfully retreat. Anyhow, that is why I think the goverment leaves it alone.
Tis all for now my beaties! I´ve had a breathtaking epiphany last night, details to come!
t