The Meaning of Spanish Time

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Travel

Tags

expat, Figueres, Museu de la Tècnica de l'Empordà, travel

“Come on, Louise. It’s 4:15. The place is closed.” I get impatient when I’m tired, and we were visiting Figueres (home of the Teatro-Museo Dalí, which I’ve described earlier in this blog) for the second time since we began our travels – not to see the Dali museum again, but just to visit Figueres on a sunny day in Spain.

But it was 4:15. The sign on the door said the museum would open at 4:00. I’d been on my feet since 10:00 that morning and I wanted – needed – a cerveza grande. Figueres is charming, but charm has its limits, like watching six hours of Audrey Hepburn movies.

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If You Build It They Won’t Come

21 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Barcelona, Gaudi, Park Guell, travel

At the turn of the century (1900), Bare Mountain (Muntanya Pelada) overlooking Barcelona seemed like an ideal place for a housing development. It was high enough to offer air clear of the soot from Barcelona’s industry, it sported a panoramic view of the city, and its height almost guaranteed exclusivity for the Spanish elite. Count Eusebi Güell – an industrial entrepreneur who profited greatly from the industry from which Bare Mountain offered a respite – platted sixty huge triangular lots, hired the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, built a model home, and sat back, waiting for orders. None came.

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A Party for Sybil

16 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Short, Travel

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

friends, Girona, Sybil

On the terrace: (from left) Sybil, Louise, Jeanette, Luisa, Vicens, Gerard, Tom, Moira, Steve. (Click to enlarge)

We invited some friends over last night to show off introduce my daughter Sybil, who has traveled across nine time zones to visit with her father on Father’s Day this year. There was plenty of cava, Louise’s magic chicken pie, and a $30 orange cake that lasted barely five minutes before the celebrants reduced it to crumbs.

That’s my girl!

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What’s Left to Talk About?

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Travel, Video

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

expat, Girona, travel

Let’s take stock: we’ve taken you to the Costa Brava multiple times; we’ve introduced you to our friends; we’ve hiked to the hills, walked the wall, and rented bikes; we’ve even told you how we make phone calls and get mail. What’s left to talk about?

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Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor Heat Nor Gloom of Night

07 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Short, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

mail, travel

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

One of the things I do to while away the time – while I’m cleaning the kitchen, for example, which it seems I’m always doing – is listen to podcasts. And one of my favorite podcasts is called Radiolab, self-described as “…a show about curiosity. Where sound illuminates ideas, and the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.” In short, Radiolab has no particular subject nor format; but it gets the dishes done.

Although Radiolab usually measures an hour, they occasionally feature what they call “shorts,” which are what you would expect them to be: short podcasts – far shorter than the usual hour.

Which took me far off topic, and I haven’t even introduced the topic yet.

This is an Expat Almanac “short.” A brief little tidbit of a post. The Spanish would say “un poquito posta.” I like that.

Oh yes, the topic: How we get our mail.

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Big Heads

05 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Big heads, expat, faràndula, Girona, parades, travel

Photo of big head at Tournament of Roses Parade

The New Orleans Big Head float at the Tournament of Roses Parade, 2008. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

There are more places than you would think that are into big heads. The Tournament of Roses Parade (above) comes to mind. Portland’s Rose Festival (my home town) comes to mind too. New Orleans, Ann Arbor, Vancouver – they all have parades with big heads. It’s a Big Head epidemic.

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Our Spanish Cell Phone Experience

01 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by Tom in Accommodations, Travel

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

cell phones, Orange, SIM cards

We Americans suffer unnecessarily when it comes to cell phones. Things are changing, but there is resistance. And why shouldn’t there be? There’s money to be had!

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Nice Place. Now What Do We Do About the Bad Guys?

30 Thursday May 2013

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

expat, Girona, Girona wall, Passeig de la Muralla

Panorama of Girona taken from the wall’s north tower. Click to enlarge (all photos).

During recorded history, Girona has undergone twenty-five sieges and has been captured seven times. Defending against the bad guys has been the name of the game since the First Century BC, when the Romans began construction of a wall around the city. Over the years the wall was fortified: slots were added to accommodate bows with arrows; towers were built to house heavier artillery; the wall kept getting higher.

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Geeky Good Things

27 Monday May 2013

Posted by Tom in Travel

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

geeky, Good things

Does Martha Stewart still say, “It’s a good thing”? Hearing her say that on her TV show soured me on the expression forever, yet there are so many occasions when I could use the phrase. This is one of them.

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Return to the Scene of the Slime

24 Friday May 2013

Posted by Tom in Gallery, Travel

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Costa Brava, Sant Martí d’Empúries, subdural hematoma

Forgive my tawdry attempt to attract your attention with that headline. The “slime” I refer to is a subdural hematoma, which we’ve discussed on these pages before. (If you share a vulgar interest in items corporeal with, say, twelve-year-old boys, you can search for the YouTube video of the removal of a subdural hematoma yourself. You have been warned.)

The “scene” is L’Escala, Spain, the captivating seaside town we visited in April where my personal subdural hematoma experience began. We returned to L’Escala yesterday for an overnight visit. The place is far too charming to condemn just because I encountered a medical event there; and besides, our last visit was, well, sorta cut short.

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