Barcelona, Spain

R and I wanted to spend New Year's Eve in a fun city. And what city in Europe has a better party reputation than Barcelona? Easy decision. So we found some cheap airfare, booked a hotel and were all set. We also know that New Year's is best spent in a group - so we were lucky enough to have friends from the States join us. Raffy's sister and brother-in-law met us at the hotel as did one of my friends from college and his wife.



I've always had a weird fascination with Barcelona since the summer of '92. The Olympics were held in Barcelona that year and - for those of you with fond memories of failed pop culture experiments - NBC offered the infamous Triplecast package. For 16 days I had 3 channels broadcasting the various sporting events around the the clock. As a bored, underemployed 16 year old who loved TV almost as much as he loved sports - this was visual crack. I couldn't get enough.

Of course these channels didn't just show sports - they also had features on athletes and the city itself. I fell in love (Shannon Miller - if you're reading this - call me) After the 30th feature on Barcelona, I was mesmerized by the city. The funny thing is that thinking back, I don't remember anything about those features other than the fact that people in Barcelona eat very late. Dinners often start at 10:00, 11:00 or even midnight. This blew my mind. I couldn't get over the fact that people could eat that late. In my house, dinner was served at 6:30 sharp. No exceptions. Who eats at 11:00?!?!? It must have been a crazy city.

Now that I was actually in Barcelona I couldn't wait to eat late. It sounds stupid, I know. But I couldn't get this thought out of my head.

I was also excited to get to Barcelona so I could put my four years of public education Spanish to the test. After traveling to all of these countries with R (aka: the language show off, aka: the Pocket Translator) I was excited to hold my own. This, despite the fact, that my Spanish was never that good and the only phrase I ever mastered was Tu mama es muy bien en la cama. (Remember, this is my 16 year old self described above making these translations)

I was shocked - shocked I say - to get to Barcelona and find out that they don't speak Spanish. How did I not know this? They speak Catalan, which is like Spanish with a dabble of French and Portuguese and a whole lot of X's thrown in the mix. Seriously, they love their X's. We joked that the letter X is so common it must only be worth 4 points in the Catalan version of Scrabble. I haven't seen this many X's in names and on store signs since, well, this morning on my way to work in Prague when I walked past all of the sex shops.

I was also shocked - shocked I say - to learn that my wife doesn't speak Spanish. She always claimed that this one of the languages that she spoke but I am going to throw the Bullshit card. Every time I heard her speaking to waiters in what she claimed was Spanish - she was really just speaking Italian. I now know the difference. Just because the waiters understood her when she spoke Italian and pointed at the menu doesn't mean that she was speaking Spanish. That's like saying me and my dog speak the same language just because he sits every time I hold out food and raise my hand. Or that I speak Czech because every time I hold up a dollar, the Czech strippers do a dance. (Just kidding... there are no strip clubs in Prague silly, only whore houses).


OK, let's get to Barcelona now. The absolute best thing about Barcelona is the architecture. If Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe, then Barcelona is the coolest. The city is defined by the architecture of Antoni Gaudí. To say the guy was a genius is an understatement. He is now my favorite architect of all time; breaking a four way tie between Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Mike Brady and Ted Mosby.

So, where to start with Gaudi? How about with Casa Batilo. A house that sits nestled among the other buildings on one of Barcelona's busiest shopping streets - but unlike any building you have ever seen. Like I said, the man was beyond genius. Every room in the house had it's own unique look and structure.




Don't forget about Park Guell. A park on the outskirts of Barcelona that looks like it came straight out of a fairy tale. If I ever become rich and build a house from a blank plot of land, my house will look like the one below. Who needs another McMansion.






Last but not least is La Sagrada Familia. I guess it is a church, but it's so much more. If Park Guell looks like it came out of a fairy tale, this church looks like it is straight out of Middle Earth. They started construction over a century ago, had some down time in the middle and won't be finished until 2030. This is very cool because it gives you a chance to see one of the wonders of the world under construction. I have had the chance to visit churches all over Europe and - with the possible exception of the Vatican - this one is at the top of the list.







Although Gaudi deservedly gets all of the attention, the rest of the architecture in Barcelona was nearly as nice. The streets were very clean, the buildings were in impeccable condition and there were balconies galore. Who doesn't love a good balcony? I always wondered why the buildings in New York didn't have more balconies. I mean, if you are putting a building up, how hard is it to add a 30 sq ft balcony. The value of the apartment automatically goes up by $50k and everyone is happy. Aside from a few more deaths per year due to falling beer bottles, what's the downside? I don't get it.



If the architecture was the best part of Barcelona, the food was a close second. Nearly every meal consisted of a healthy dose of tapas. That's another great idea that should be adopted in more cities: tapas. Instead of ordering one appetizer and one big entree, order a bunch of small plates that can be shared by the whole table. You get to try a little bit of everything and, if one plate is loved by all, order more! Such a deliciously simple concept that is far too uncommon in most other parts of the world.







The best dishes of the weekend were, in no particular order: iberic ham (basically a thick cut of local prosciutto), chorizo (spicy sausage), artichoke crisps, deep fried sardine spines (may sound gross - but delicious), tuna ceviche, sangria and fried zucchini flower stuffed with mozzarella. For those of you who haven't tried the last dish, you are missing the hidden gem of your local garden.

If you have squash or zucchini growing in your yard and throw away the flower when you pick the vegetable; BIG mistake! I was first introduced to these gems by R's mom several years back. If you want to know how to cook them... well you stumbled across the wrong blog. I have no idea how to make them or why I went 25 years of my life without trying them. But now that I have, I'm doing my best to make up for lost time. These are officially my favorite flowers. Although, I have never tried to eat a rose. I'm sure it wouldn't taste bad if it was filled with cheese and deep fried. In fact, I can't think of many things on this planet that wouldn't taste great deep fried and filled with cheese.


So I've already mentioned the balconies and the tapas. There is one final thing that they do great in Barcelona that needs to be exported to my town pronto: the siesta! I had a solid 90 minute nap every single day in Barcelona and loved every second of it. Have you ever met anyone that woke up from a solid mid-afternoon nap and said "man, that sucked"? Me neither. Naps rule! Why do you think kids are so annoying happy and full of energy? They nap every freakin' day.

Our trip to Barcelona was one of the most fun times we had in Europe. The vibe of the city certainly had something to do with it, but so did our traveling crew. A big thanks to Brendan, Alex, Brian and LA for taking a trip across the bond and joining us in Spain. Hope you guys had as great a time as we did.