Hola! Buenas noches! We are in Barcelona and getting settled in,
my language mishaps notwithstanding. I
really wish I was one of those people who picked up languages easily and within
a week would be nattering along in somewhat broken, but understood,
Spanish. But, alas, as my Madames from
French class from grades 3 through sophomore year will tell you, my tongue
makes sounds that would give any native pause.
(After spending a month in Paris as a sixteen year old, living with a
family who spoke limited English, I finally eked out an accent that didn't
grate, but man oh man, it doesn't come easily).
I'm feeling a little sensitive about it, because I really long to pronounce things correctly and have been listening
to Spanish language podcasts and reading a grammar book on the subway and
making DK (who is pretty much fluent in Spanish, sigh) listen to me playact
making a reservation on the phone. But preparations aside, I can get a case of the nerves and fumble over my carefully practiced
phrases and next thing you know, the waiter is asking me if I'd like the
English-version menu. And don't even get
me started on trying to figure out the Catalan v. Castilian, which just throws
a monkey wrench into the whole confused works of my brain. It is but Day 2, so I have a little time to
be as a sponge, right?
In other news: Barcelona is fabulous.
We arrived early Saturday morning after a looonnngg flight (which was made
better by a surprise amenities kit DK put together for me that included honey lip
balm, my favorite tea, antibacterial wipes, a water-face-spritzer thing, orange
tic-tacs, mints, a granola bar, ear plugs etc.
– in other words, holy moses, is he sweet). Unfortunately, our apartment was not ready
for an early check-in, so we wandered about the little medieval streets in La
Ribera and La Bari Gotic, the narrow stone twists and unexpected turns and beautiful
ironwork a good match for our sleepy, dreamy moods. The city was remarkably empty, save for the occassional little red and white city bicycles whizzing by (I love that this free bike program
exists; we talked about whether it would work in NYC, but since it seems to runs
on an honor system, unlikely). We ate
incredibly fresh sautéed wild mushrooms and golden grilled calamari, with
perfect mineral-y glasses of cava at a counter in the wild Boqueria, which was
pretty much heaven. Finally, having
stalled to about 2:30, I was zombie-like with sleepiness and we went to throw ourselves at the mercy of the rental company to please please let us check in. As very good luck would have it, not only was
it ready, but they had upgraded us to a lovely two-bedroom on a higher floor in
the same building since there was apparently some issue with the hot water in
our original.
We are right by the Plaza Catalunya and our place is large and lovely
with a balcony that looks out over the rooftops in both the living room and master
bedroom and big French doors everyplace.
After a very critical two-hour nap for me, we went to the grocery store
for food and came home fat with fresh shark steaks and tomatoes and crusty baguette
and mango yogurts and baby lettuce and arugula and raspberry jam. We cooked dinner, had a big glass of cold
wine and watched Persepolis (the apartment has a DVD player and DK, somehow
knowing this, carted over our netflix) and proceeded to sleep until noon the
next morning. NOON. I honestly cannot think of the last time DK slept for than four hours in one go, so this was an unprecedent miracle (and much needed; I worry, you know?)
Today we got ready (big mugs of tea, more crusty bread with real butter
and jam slathered on it) and spent hours in the Picasso museum, then more
wandering, then another totally absurd tapas lunch (grilled foie gras on ginger
bread? Well hello, sailor!), then
relaxed on the couch reading before we headed out for Moroccan curry. We're pretty much playing the trip by ear,
which suits me just fine so long as it includes lots of jamon and a little bike
trip I've been secretly imagining.
There's so much I'm excited to see and then we hope to get a few days to
head out of the city for a few day trips.
Now if I could just get the accent down. . . .
Eh, it'll come with time. In the meantime, I'm all about enjoying this seemingly perfect city. Adios!
