Oh La La! We Are In Paris... Our Day One... by Montreal photographer Hera Bell and her husband Anthony

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 21:50, but as always, we are told to arrive 3 hours earlier.   A waste of time, but we made the best of it by enjoying a delightful meal at an airport restaurant.  While most airport restaurants are known to be over priced, our meal was delicious.

Check in was surprisingly fast for us today, so we had ample time to enjoy our meal.

Boarding the plane, we were at first worried that a baby sitting near us might be an issue.  Far from it.  The little girl was a flirt and eyed and smiled at us for much of the flight.

The flight itself was uneventful.  We landed 11am local time which is 5 am MOntreal time.  Again we were surprised how lucky we were that we went through customs so quickly.  We waited for our bags, then headed out to find a taxi.

Just under 50 Euros later, and we were dropped at our door.

We tend to book apartments on-line, and one of my few anxious moments is waiting to be sure we actually have an apartment when we arrive.  But moments later, our host was there and was leading us up to our lovely apartment that will be home for the next 2 weeks.

Our first stop is to get a SIM card for my cell phone.  Roaming charges are criminally high.  While we can and do use Wifi for most of our needs, it is great to have access to a cell phone particular Google Maps.  So buying a SIM card is usually a great deal.  (You do have to make sure your cell phone is unlocked.)

Next to a sim card, coffee is the next essential.  So we walked into a nearby grocery store and bought some coffee.  Wine is almost an essential too, so we bought a bottle of red and a bottle white.  At 5 and 4 Euros respectively, I can say they are excellent wines.  They would easily cost 2-3 times more back home.

Relaxing for perhaps the first time with a good cup of freshly brewed coffee, we became perturbed when for some reason we could not get Hera’s cell and tablet to connect to the Wifi.

With a second wind, we headed back out to walk the streets of Paris on our first day.

Our apartment is located on a quiet street in the Marais district of Paris.  A short half block to our left is Rue des Archives, and to our right is Rue du Renard.  These large boulevards, along with the numerous smaller streets are lined with shops and bistros.

Tired, and walking in the rain, we walked over to the nearby Pompidou Center.  We did not enter it, but walked around it, and did walk into various other tempting shops.

 

The rain started to come down more heavily.  We considered entering a restaurant or pub, but we were tired, and jetlagged, and not sure how long the rains might last, so we headed towards home.

 

 

We would have to have some food, so we decided to pick up some lettuce and vegetables so that Hera could make a scrumptious salad, along with some freshly made warm French bread, saucisson sec (a cured sausage), some prosciutto di Parma, as well as some Roquefort blue cheese, and Camembert de Normandie.

 

I know Roquefort and Camembert cheeses, but these were exceptionally good.  While museums and sights abound in Paris, if you do not sample the tastes of Paris, you are really missing out. 

 

 Having our apartment does allow us the luxury to buy various wines, cheeses and foods, and truly enjoy them.  (If you do not have an apartment when you visit, then the least you must do is to have a picnic.  Buy some bread, cheese and pate, and enjoy them in a park.)

 

The rains did stop, and the skies cleared.  While it is 8:30 pm local time (or 2:30 back home), neither of us really slept so we will probably not head back out tonight, and hope that our bodies will be sync’ed to local time when we awaken.

 

Hola Barlecona. May 30. 2013 Our 12'th Day

Our trip is soon coming to an end with only a couple of days left.

We have seen most of what we intended on seeing.

We thought we might have done more beach visits or go to the near by town of Sitges, but it has been on the cold side most days.

We opted to head and explore a neighborhood that we would never have considered if it was not for the suggestion of Hindy whom we had recently met. This is the neighborhood where she lives and she suggested the street carre Blai.

We took the metro to the area, and walked the residential streets until we came across Carre Blai.

 It is a delightful pedestrain street line with several restaurants. Away from the tourist crowd, the prices here are much better. While many places had tapas for 3-4 Euros, similar ones here were seen at 1 Euro apiece.

PS: Today Hera used only her cell phone to do the photography.

 

 

We settled upon La Fibula, a Morrocan restaurant.

I ordered very delicious soup dizzled with olive oil followed by an equally good chicken tagine.

Hera had a Fatouch salad followed by a Kefta dish.

For desert I had orange slices with cinnamon and organge blossom petals while a Mohalebia which is a vanilla pudding with pistachios and nuts. So good and so flavorful.

One surprise I have of Barcelona cuisine is there very little use of spices. The food is great, as it is made from good quality fresh ingredients. But here at La Fibula, we once again tasted the layers of flovours that spices can add.

To top it off, we ordered a mint tea. Served in lovely decorated metal pots and small glasses, it was the perfect finish to a wonderful meal.

We wandered and explored more of the neighborhood before we made our way back home.

After taking our own little sort of siesta at our apartment, we headed back onto the streets. We stopped at a small tapas place called Bar del Pla .

It was half full when we entered, but soon they were truning people away. We ordered some wine and tapas.

We tried their Potata Braves, very good but a bit milder than most, as well as their Squid in Ink balls and their Octopus Bombas (octopus croquets).

This was the second time I have had "ink sauce" and both times it was wonderfully delicious.

Do not let the black colour turn you off from giving it a try. To top it off, we ordered some crispy beef on fois gras.

While it was getting late, the streets were still filled with pedestrians. Bars and restaurants were brimming with customers. A gelato to end the night, and we strolled and made our way back home.

Hola Barcelona. May 29 2013 Our 11th Day

Today was going to be partly a social day.

A friend of Hera's has a niece in Barcelona, and we met up with her for a lovely brunch nearby. We chatted, and she suggested a restaurant for us near La Rmablas as well as a street in her neighborhood that was lined with other restaurants for us to discover.

In the afternoon, we head out to see Gaudi's Casa Batllo  . The admission price may seem steep, but it is well worth the visit.

Gaudi's genius is best appreciated inside his works.

The winding staircase with intricately carved wood that is basically molded for a perfect fit to your hand.

 Likewise the various knobs and handles.

His work is as much tactile as it is visual, so go ahead and feel his genious as you careful touch items.

Within the various rooms, no wall or cieling is flat, but all have gentle curves that give it a sense of motion.

Again, all the intricate woodwork for the doors and windows are specifically made to fit. Even the furniture he designed is made specifically for each room.

Some pieces are so contempory, that you would think it was an ultra modern item of today, and not something 1 century old.

A case in point it a sleek slab of marble as a washroom sink. Large enough that the shallow hollow is sufficient to stop the water from running off the edges.

Gaudi's designs encompass every aspect. While beautiful, it also serves specific purposes. Suggest as his care in natural lighting. Controlling the lighting so that just the right amount of light enters each apartment. The central light well is lined with blue marble tiles. Light entering the top is naturally stronger and more intense than light at the bottom of the light well, so he used darked blue tiles at the top, with smaller windows on the upper floors, and the tiles lighten in color and the windows get larger as one descends to let more light in.

We left Casa Batllo, and walked down the street, past the various fashion stores. We casually strolled the now familiar streets, across the square of the Cathedral where the Sardana dance is performed each week, in front of our neighboorhood Santa Caterina market, through several little narrow streets until we reached a pleasant square we had stopped once before. We sat at El Atril at 23 carre Cardera.

Hera ordered a wine, while I had a beer. We tried their Potata Brava which was excellent.

Each place has its own Brava sauce. This one starts off mild, but the heat slowly builds but never too intense. We also ordered some Cheriso that was equally delicious. A wonderful way to spend the late afternoon.

As we walked home, we bought two different Baclava at a pastry shop. We have good Baclava back home, but the shops here do make excellent Baclava as well. Never too sweet, just right. We relaxed at home for a bit, as we were going to meet a friend from home.

She and her husband had spent the last 2 weeks on a cruise that starts and ends in Barcelona. So we got together and had a pleasant evening at a restaurant. We had to remind them that dinner in Barcelona tends to start after 8 pm, with many locals eating only after 10.

After a late dinner, they headed back off to their hotel near the airport, while Hera and I strolled La Ramblas. Even late at night, people are out and about on the streets. The city is a vibrant street friendly place.

Hola Barcelon May 28 2013 Our 10th Day

After having breakfast today, we headed out to see the Cataluna National Art Museum which holds a thousand years of Catalonian art.


As we headed up the promenade, the Magic Fountains were up and running. No show per se, with no lights nor music, but impressive on its own.

We were quite fortunate, as once we past them, the water was turned off as is usual during the day.

The first wing hold Romaneque art, and it is one of the largest collections of work dating from this period, dating from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries.

 Much of it was wall art that adorned churches. The impetus was to save this work, as art collectors were in the process of stripping away the works and selling them off. Not only are the works lovely, but to recreate the sense of how these works were originally shown, the curators of the museum recreated the church arches and walls to give a sense of being in the church itself. Hera agreed with me, that the most impressive collection is this Romanesque art.

The subsequent wings, Gothic with art from the 13-15th centuries, Renaissance 15-17th centuries, Modern 18-19 centuries, and then Contempory were all good and worth seeing. But since it focussed mainly on Catalonian artists, and we are familiar with similar works from other more well known Masters, it was not as impressive as the Romanesque collection.

We spent the better part of the day at the museum, and decided to try a near by chinese buffet that we had seen days earlier.

 What had attracted us was the grill and fresh seafood. Dim Sum Wok, on the opposite side of the Arena shopping mall is not only inexpensive, but if you like fresh grilled sea food, it is a real treat. We loaded our plate with razor clams, various other clams, squid and octupus, then hand it over to the chef who grills it for you.

My second plate included more vegetables to be grilled, but I added a few more razor clams as well. They also had sushi and more traditional chinese buffet foods to choose from. We ate well, but way too much.

Both Hera and I were so sleepy after such a heavy meal all we wanted to do was to get back home and relax.