la merde en direct: toussaint trilogy part un - The Fellowship of the Paella

And so the Toussaint (all saints') vacation came and went by. 1 week just at the blink of an eye! But I guess time passes faster when you are having fun in Spain.. =D

So how does one start blogging about one week's worth of leisure, frivolity, and amusement? Chronologically, I guess. So let's start:

27 Oct (Saturday)
We (Andi, Sinhui, Letch and me) left Grenoble on the 930am train. Plan was to head to Geneva to catch our flight to Barcelona. Since there was some time between our train ride and flight, I decided to head to the UN headquarters, where I did not manage to go in for the guided tour last year as it was closed. Alas, it was again 2nd time unlucky as it was once again closed! Damn.. At least it was not too far away from the train station, and I did not pay for the tram ticket (heh.. =P), and there was a new giant three-legged chair exhibit at the square in front of the UN. So at least I saw something new in that sense.

wonder what does this signify?

The flight to Barcelona was pretty uneventful save for some drama at the Geneva customs (concerning some toiletries and very ironically, a swiss pocket knife). But we reached our hostel, Mambo Tango, without much fuss in the end.

Barcelona's urban planning (and I found out later that this applies to most of Spain as well) is pretty unique: Most of the buildings are grouped into squares, and this later forms larger squares, and so on. This also means that the roads are either parallel, perpendicular, or diagonal to each other. And that is exactly how the Spanish name their roads!!! Mambo Tango was located along Paral.lel (the "."is to break up the double l as in Spanish the double l is pronounced as "y").

map of Barcelona

After putting down our backpacks (already 7pm by then), we almost immediately headed out to Montjuïc for the free magical water fountain show. Montjuïc is translated as "Hill of the Jews" in medieval Catalan language. Why, I do not know. What I do know is that we were not disappointed by the views.

magical multi-colours

fiery display of lights

guess who?

And so that was how my first day of vacation went - a lot of transitioning, but a lot of colours as well.

28 Oct (Sunday)

We headed out pretty early for our first full day of touring. Unlike France, the weather in Spain was superb: Lots of sun and warmer temperatures made it possible for us to walk about without our jackets. First we went to the Christopher Columbus monument. Erected in 1888 by Spain for the Universal Exhibition, it stands today as one of the many monuments around the world honoring the ancient explorer and colonizer. The rest of the morning was spent just walking around the bay area and the beaches of Sant Sebestià and Barceloneta.

spot the similarity?

if only i could own one of these..

weird structure at Barceloneta beach

The sea salt must have made us hungry, because we were ravenous after our short morning jaunt. Popped into a restaurant where we decided to have paella (one of the Spanish specialities) for lunch. There are quite a few varieties of this dish (chicken, vegetarian, mixed, etc), and I am sure that the other three will not let me forget that I suggested that we try the squid ink version. For those who have tried squid ink pasta, well the effect of squid ink paella is the same: It stains your mouth. However, since our paella was literally smeared all over with squid ink, it was incredibly salty!!! So salty that I could not finish my portion! Those of you who suffer from muscle cramps during your long bike rides or runs should try this dish; The salt overload will most certainly cure you of any cramps you may have!

Eating aside, we forgot that daylight savings was going to be turned off and realised that fact only when I glanced at the clock and remarked that the time was an hour slow. It was cool having an extra hour to spend during vacation: Lunch took up almost no time at all! Of course, Andi had to declare that he was Hiro Nakamura and that he brought us back by an hour.. o_O Haha..

the dish that started it all..

halloween come early

After lunch, we did some shopping at Las Ramblas, the main shopping strip. Did not manage to buy anything much as it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed. However, I did manage to find.. Dunkin' Donuts!!! Only that its called Dunkin' Coffee here. Who cares. I immediately made a beeline for the oh-so-melt-in-your-mouth donuts and bought a box of 6. Oh man.. They have it so much better than in France! And of course, also Singapore. Anybody reading this from either Dunkin' Donuts or Krispy Kreme, can you please open outlets at either Grenoble or Singapore? I will be your most loyal customer! =P

After filling up on donuts, we headed to.. You guessed it, FC Barcelona's Camp Nou! Its the 2nd largest stadium in the world and it has a seating capacity of 120,000. The match was FC Barcelona against an unknown UD Almeria in the local La Liga. We were initially expecting just a honest crowd given the pretty ordinary fixture, but to our surprise the stadium was like 90% full! Needless to say, the atmosphere was just electrifying: Cheers, jeers, taunts all from a very participative crowd! Best of all, the superstars (Ronaldinho, Henry, Messi, Abidal) were playing as well, instead of the B team that I was expecting to be assembled for this match. Heh.. Now I can't wait to go to Old Trafford next year for the New Year's day match! =D