Sept 19-a year ago

Today was a visit to the city with the Touristic bus..

I took this tour with Marvin and Lizzie 15 years ago. As a matter of fact, there was an article in the Sunday edition of El Periodico, that featured a picture of me ( as being one of the tourists enjoying the touristic bus) .I'm going to try to find that paper and scan it :)

It was a great tour but for the fact that Lizzie was not feeling too well  at the beginning.

 But we enjoyed being on top of the bus and rediscovering the city.

On top of the bus passing by the house I was born

By the Barcelona FC Stadium,  

We also had one of the best lunches in a Restaurant by the beach "El cangrejo loco"

Gazpacho

To finish a wonderful sightseeing day, we took the tramvia blau and went to Tibidabo. 

  So many memories...

 Wedding kiss under the Atalaya

What a better way to end the day than a Tibidabo golden sunset!

San Diego

Double post today!

Today Sunday, we went to San Diego to see Lizzie's new place.

We rented a car so we'd all be comfortable and not add miles to her car. Lulu decided to come along ;)

The weather was quite nice when we left home, but when we got close to the coast, we encountered a lot of fog. 

We couldn't even see the ocean!

We took the scenic road on our way to downtown.

We arrived to her apartment  and we looked around and enjoyed everything. It's a small apartment but perfect for her. Everything new and clean and lovely. It's in the best location.

We left Marv watching a Western and we went to get some lunch to bring back.

I wanted to try The Rustic Meatballs because they had some yummy tapas.

But alas, since I read about it, they had discontinued the tapas :(

 I ordered 2 chorizo meatballs with aioli and roasted pepper 

A salad and a sub with 2 beef meatballs and marinara for M.

And L had a special with 3 meatballs, one beef, one chorizo and one turkey.

We did NOT like it. 

The meatballs were huge but very dense and not much flavor 

I just ate part of one.

After lunch, M took a nap and we went with Lulu for a walk around her neighborhood.

We walked for 2 miles.

 Petco Park

We all enjoyed the walk :)

We went back to the apartment. We discovered the rooftop was closed for a private birthday party. 

We'll have to go back some day to see it :)

We left around 4PM and stopped at my favorite cake place, Extraordinary Desserts. Yum

And then we drove back home , we took the coastal road and stopped in a couple of places for some chocolate and goodies. 

The fog had lifted and it was a lovely drive.

We got home and had some KFC for dinner.

It was a very pleasant day !  Thanks Lizzie :)

Sept 19-Last uear

My daughters went to Montserrat today. 

I didn't go because I have been there many times with my family, school, and as a tour guide. My foot was hurting quite a bit so I stayed home and did some accounting and realized I needed to change money.

So I took the metro with my last 5 euros and went to the Ramblas. Luckily I found a place right away and was flush again :)

I decided to go to Granjas Viader for lunch. This is the place where Cacaolat was "invented"  I had a lovely lunch, grilled cheese and sobrasada bikini with orxata, and flan pijama (flan with peaches and whipped cream) and a Cacaolat,   

My foot  blister was hurting to I went back to the apartment to wait for the girls.

They came home and told me about their trip. After the fact, I was a little sorry I didn't go with them. Montserrat is an awesome place .

We went for a walk and they showed me the garden they discover "Jardin Tamarit" so nice!

And then a late dinner at Restaurante Molina

We had a good night sleep, and ready for tomorrow!

9-17 last year

We had a full day planned. But first we had to go downtown, and what better way than taking the Metro in Tibidabo to Plaza Catalunya. We liked the Metro, we liked pointing to the well put together girls.

There was always something cool to look at in the Ramblas

We had some churros for a snack

And then while waiting for lunch time to meet my cousin, we went to El Born

They were having an homage to the catalans that died in the Civil War, right by the church

Side door of Sta Maria del Mar

Here we are in Can Culleretes. We loved the meal, the place and the company

Thank you Ferran!

9-16- last year

In the morning we walked to el Barri Gotic's wonderful old streets and buildings

The Cathedral

Iglesia de San Felipe Neri

Back to els 4 Gats for tapas

Sandy and Lizzie went for a walk about and I went back to the apartment to rest my feet.

In the afternoon we went to visit Jordi and Elvira 

 Later, having a drink at Juanita Lala

We met Eric's oldest daughters and we all went to dinner 

in la Barceloneta

 I LOVED the anchovies!!!!!!

Next day

Some pictures with captions of our second day in Barcelona 

The beginning of long walks...

Up and down the Ramblas

Fresh fish at la Boqueria

 Los gigantes

Brazilian dancers at Plaza Real

Els 4 gats - Our favorite place to have tapas and beer

'Twas a year ago today

One year ago today I went back to my hometown with my daughters.

I am happy to see they both wrote about it in Facebook and in their blogs. It's so nice we all remember the trip with so much love :)

I also wrote my day to day experiences and thoughts last year.
 But I will write about some first impressions and post some pictures that really make me think back on the trip.

After arriving safely after a good trip, it was nice to see Eric and Sonia waiting for us. Driving to Carrer Bertran I found things a bit different, new highways, new buildings etc. But when we arrived to our first apartment, it was all the same. My old neighborhood, the street where I went to school, and our apartment where I lived for 17 years, they were still there.

Roca i Batlle

Carrer Bertran Apt. and  super mercat

Cortacans for bread, ham and ensaimadas.

When we got to the apartment, we didn't have the keys so we waited for someone to bring them to us. After a while, I decided to go inside the lobby and because I was tired and because I am clumsy by nature, I tripped in the lobby and fell on my knees hard, Luckily nobody saw me being so ungraceful, but my knees were skinned and sore for a few days.

That's where we went to Sonia and Eric to have some drinks and tapas. El rincon bar.

Good times