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They say that Anthony Weiner is likely to announce his candidacy for Mayor of New York City next week. Could anything be more bizarre? Yes, of course: they could elect him.
Wilfred the Hairy
17 Friday May 2013
Category Archives: Travel
Ay Ay Ay Guapas!
14 Tuesday May 2013
My guilty pleasure is: street markets. I absolutely haunt the one in the park next door: La Devesa.
This market shows up every Tuesday and Saturday morning, and for some reason I always see things I haven’t seen before.
The Land of Orange
12 Sunday May 2013
Posted in Travel
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Girona is about 250 miles north of Valencia, and Valencia is, of course, the Land of Orange. So is Girona, given the proximity.
What the Portland Rose Festival Cudda Been
11 Saturday May 2013
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This year they’re separated by only a week. They both began as small celebrations of flowers. Nowadays, one carpets the city with parades and carnivals. The other just carpets the city with flowers.
The Return of The Spanish Patient
09 Thursday May 2013
Posted in Travel
If you’ve been reading along, you know that Tom visited many floors of the Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital — Emergency, Neurology, three different intensive care units, and Cardiology – as though trying to figure out whether Orthopedics or Gastroenterology might be worth a try. He could have been a Secret Shopper for Spain’s Department of Health.
“No Sh*t Sherlock!”
08 Wednesday May 2013
Posted in Travel
Wherein Tom discovers a new strategy for the advance of immersion language learning in Spain.
I counted fourteen gowned sycophants in the room, buzzing about a solitary, supine individual like bees in a hive. At their center — it chafes my sensibilities to type this — playing the role of the queen, was me.
There Will Be Hats
07 Tuesday May 2013
Posted in Travel
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The hematoma didn’t dissolve. Msrs. Black and Decker were summoned. McDreamy approached the project with the enthusiasm of Bob the Builder fresh from a clearance sale at Lowe’s. The incision exceeds two feet in length; there are forty-one staples. Half of my skull was removed. It’s a good thing chain saws weren’t on sale.
Subdural Hematoma
06 Monday May 2013
Posted in Travel
I open my eyes to a Niagara of gauzy pastel blues and yellows, softly waving in the air. Appropriately, a waterfall of cacophonous Catalan chatter sprays my ears. I am entangled by intubation.
It is visiting hour at Josep Trueta hospital in Girona, Spain, where I am awaiting the prognosis of what has initially been diagnosed as a subdural hematoma, which is doc-talk for a clot of blood under the dura mater that covers my brain. The pressure is incessant. There is pain. They conduct a CT scan and tell me clot is the size of a deck of cards.
Hold the Anchovies
03 Friday May 2013
The l’Escala waterfront, ca. 1966. Credit: Restaurant Cal Galan.
Last week we took a 45-minute, rather glam bus ride from Girona to the old fishing village of L’Escala on the coast of the Mediterranean. On a previous brief visit, we were captivated by the charm of the old village, the 45 miles of shoreline around the Bay of Roses, and some very intimate little restaurants that called our name.
Bubbles and Brew
22 Monday Apr 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
I’m a Portland, Oregon native. Some say Portland is among the five best places to live in the world. Others say it’s where young people go to retire. That’s fine, but that’s not what Portland is all about. Portland is all about beer.
The Expat Almanac 