High up somewhere... somehow... there happens to be a castle there for everyone.... one that u might have thought about when u are in school
daydreaming... one that u might have pretended while u were playing in kindergarten.. one that along the way u woke up... growing up you
somehow forgotten... but when u close ur eyes it starts again... thinking of it... living it... fulfilling it... building that castle even
if
its jus in the Clouds...
Friday, May 30, 2008
HOLA! Barcelona...
Jen says:
Germany.. France and now Spain..!! Barcelona is the city I was looking forward to after the craze of Meteor Garden II many years back. I was sharing a few episodes from youtube with Alvin before writing this blog. If anyone watched it before, you must remember the scene where she drank the water from a tap and said that if you drink the water from it you will come back to Barcelona. Yes we found it and was telling Alvin to drink and both of us went eekkss. It looked dirty and the locals were washing their hands. Only the tourists were drinking from it.
Scene 2: Where he bought a balloon and said "I pass my happiness to you" and the balloon flew away. It is at Park Guell. A park with curvy mosaic sitting area, columns supporting this area with mosaic ceiling and interesting looking houses designed by a great architect, Gaudi.
We have seen alot of his work in Barcelona. A reknown architect who has designed many great buildings which were declared by UNESCO as World Heritage sites. Many of his works were inspired by geometry of nature, shapes and colours, a complete art form. His creativity was extended to each and every element of his work, from door knobs to chimmeys.
Temple de la Sagrada Familia is his last project. The construction began in 1882 and he was working on this over 40 years until his death in 1926. To this date when we visited, the architects are still working on it so areas on the site are sectioned off and that explained the cranes in the photos.
Las Rambla is THE place in Barcelona and our apartment is just on one of the many streets. Carrefour is just at the corner and once you walked out this is what greeted your eyes:- Tourists, souvenier shops, buskers in costumes & acts, pet shops, flower shops & cafes selling paella, tapas and sangria (wine punch = red wine, fresh, seasonal fruit and a bit of bubbly water or citrus flavored soda).
Our apartment is superb, the kind of accomodation we are looking for the trip. We always wanted a kitchen for the convenient to cook and store fresh food in the fridge. However, it is either hostel or apartments for 4 or too expensive. We manage to find one here at our budget. Surprisingly!
Barcelona was more of a food galore with the stove and oven. No more canned food of corned beef, mackerel and french beans for a while. Happy to make corn flakes for breakfast and these for lunches and dinners. Haven't had fresh beef since London. The prices of meats differ for different countries. In Paris, it is super expensive more than €10.
We are open for booking. You can book us to be your companion for any overseas trip. Alvin: Humorous, great navigation & culinary skills! Jen: Your friend. Booking fee: 2 way air tickets and accomodation for 2. Reservations are subject to availability. Email to tinky_pebble@hotmail.com.
Welcome to the olympic port by the beach. Ordered a seafood paella for 2, squid in batter, salad and fresh cuts. Delicious and greedy in the end brought home half of the paella. It is not suppose to be in the foil, this was the take away portion. We started eating and again forgot to snap before.
Tapas at less than €2 each. We ordered 11 for lunch. Serving the size of sushi only but Yummy! Tough to select from the 50 over variety.
Finally had a chance to be at the laundromat. Usually hand wash but there wasn't a place to hang to drip-dry. Half an hr wash and half an hr for spin dry. 7 days worth of dirty clothes! No softener though hmpf.
Behold the king and queen of this castle... kneel and be knighted... and join into the leagues of the dreamers...
please do leave a tag at the board. plenty of loves, have fun at the rainbow!
