Monthly Archives: February 2013

Midterm Break -España: Montserrat

Midterm Break – España: Barcelona part 2

Barcelona

Today we were going to immerse ourselves in the architect Antoni Gaudi’s work around town. First, we headed to Casa Mila (La Perdrera) which is an apartment building designed by Gaudi on commission and completed in 1912. It was spectacular both inside and out, and while it is hard to imagine this as your home, there are still people living on some of the floors of the building. He is a near contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright and I loved Gaudi’s work much like I did with Wright’s, thought they have stark differences. Gaudi worked from forms in nature, and there are many organic shapes and few straight lines or right angles. It is frankly very erotic looking/feeling. He made all the pulls/knobs in the building by asking people to squeeze lumps of clay and then molded the handles from these lumps. It make them look unreal, but they feel just perfect and fit your hand.

La Pedrera (1905) which means Quarry

Originally called Casa Mila – aka ‘La Pedrera’

The rooftop of Gaudi’s Pedrera

Emmie listening to the audio tour on the unusual rooftop.

Like Wright, Gaudi designed almost everything in the space to work together, and it is inspiring to see such attention to detail. His trademark broken tile mosaics are everywhere, and one of the chimneys is decorated in old broken champagne bottles. The roof is covered with chimneys of different types, and they are decorated to express the function they serve – ventilation, fireplace chimney, etc. All of us were impressed at the design of the space, and there was an incredible amount of natural light due to his inclusion of courtyards and many windows, made possible by a metal skeleton to the building, which allows the facade to be very open and shaped in flexible ways, and also allowed for the interior walls (none of which are load bearing) to be designed to the owners specifications.

Gaudi’s interest and belief that the furniture should integrate with the surroundings reminded us of Frank Lloyd Wright.

The next stop on the Gaudi tour, was his outdoor space, Park Guell (pronounced gway). It is a long hike up from the metro station, amazing views and more organic shapes and intricate Gaudi mosaic. The park itself has paths winding and snaking, rather than straight. The main plaza has a cafe built into the exposed hillside and a wide open space with a long sinuous set of benches surrounding it. The whole plaza is actually open below with beautiful arches and a ceiling decorated with more mosaic. At the front entrance, there are two Gaudi buildings and two fountains. It has a very Alice in Wonderland sort of unreality to it, which is wonderful.

View after the hilly climb to Park Guell

Giggles at Park Guell

Gaudi’s Park Guell- built between 1900-1914

Colorful Tiles- fragments and complete squares

Beneath the Plaza in Park Guell

Now, we were long overdue for some food (and wine). Next stop, after the hike downhill and a picking up Messi jersey for Grace, is the market in Barcelona (La Boqueria). This place is an amazing mix of food stalls and tapas bars. We were told to skip those in the front as they are high rent, and therefore high priced. After a few circuits of the place the girls found a taco stand and each got the spanish version of a taco, more like a pile of meat, beans, cheese sauce and veggies on a tortilla in a plastic bowl, but they both loved them.

Then with some luck and a little patience we found four seats at a tapas bar with a speciality in sea food near the back of La Boqueria. The highlight was the pulpitos (baby squid) which were beautiful and delicious. The langoustines were (IMHO) more work than they were worth. Ultimately, I just love the notion/culture of tapas. Small bits of excellent food that you eat and then move on to somewhere else – always exploring (which is in Christine’s blood – the girls called her Dorita the Explorer during the trip).

One of the many stalls at La Boqueria

La Boqueria- another beautiful stall.

At the counter of the several restaurants in the La Boqueria.

Not interested in trying the pulpito- baby squid.

Pulpito- little squid! Delicious!

Happy and relieved she did not have to try the pulpito.

Happy and relieved Grace did not have to try the pulpito, but could enjoy the meatballs &….bread.

Langoustines- a bit messy to eat!

Promised I’d post this funny one of me- Something caught in my teeth- needed the phone as a mirror.

The girls had been demanding (over our loud protests, of course) churros and chocolate. We went to an extraordinary restaurant for this uniquely Spanish treat. Granja – Xocolateria La Pallaresa is a madhouse of churros and chocolate. There was a queue, so we waited outside and watched how the magic happened through the window. They poured the chocolate with a ladle, which is more like bowls of melted chocolate rather than the hot chocolate we were expecting. Then some of the cups were slapped with a thick spoonful of whipped cream out of a huge metal bucket on the counter. Then the cups were tossed, almost without regard for caution, onto the counter and piled onto trays by speedy waiters and out to the tables.

After we were seated and they brought our order to the table the chocolate came with large packets of sugar. At first we thought this was over the top, but we watched he surrounding tables and almost everyone was adding the sugar to their cups. It turned out the chocolate was rich and dark, and you really needed the sugar (not that I complained). All in all, it was treat well worth the wait, but the experience of the hectic restaurant just added to the experience.

I’m ready for some churros and chocolate.

Este es nuestro churros and chocolate.

More willing to try and satisfied with the churros and chocolate than the squid.

On the way back to the apartment we did some shopping, which is excellent in Barcelona, with the plan for the evening involved heading out to the magic fountain of Montjuïc at the Plaza Espanya. We had read it was spectacularly lighted and worth a visit, but after the metro trip out there it turned out it was under maintenance, so nothing there to see. As a consolation prize, we visited the mall that was there, which has been converted from an old bullfighting ring.

Since we had tried to do some site seeing and it had been a few hours, it was time to get ourselves to a tapas bar. We had spotted a place the night before that looked cute, but we were full by then, so we headed back there. Turns out that the place next door (where I had bought shoes earlier) had an exploded toilet, so there was a sewage truck parked outside the next door shop. We headed in anyway, and I think the folks in the restaurant appreciated our visit as we were the only folks there and provided excellent service. The potatoes brava (a spanish stand-by) and the chicken with cheese and side of roasted tomatoes, zucchini, onions and eggplant were particularly good.

Midterm Break – España: Barcelona, part 1

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Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona at about 9:00 pm, just in time for dinner. The Spanish love the late dining, so we got right into the swing of the new lifestyle. First, we had to find the apartment, which is in the Barri Gòtic, the old Gothic neighborhood of Barcelona. Problem is that many of the streets are pedestrian only, so our cab driver dropped us off and gave us the vague directions to go up and take the first left. OK, so off we go, up what looks like a alley with graffiti on every store front, to search for our apartment. Not long after Christine is on the phone with Adrianna, our airbnb liaison, and she walks down to find us at the Place de George Orwell (big brother anyone?). Turns out the apartment is lovely, so we drop our things and head out for tapas.

Our Barcelona digs! The tree was our marker.

Love Barcelona! We arrived during Carnival, which we found out when three young women pass outside our restaurant, Venus Delicatessen, looking like Pipi Longstocking, with braids sticking out and big freckles. Then we see masks are for sale in the restaurant window as well. Everywhere we walk there are guys on the corner selling beers by the can, pulling them off a six-pack plastic holder. Feels a bit like Mari Gras (no surprise). Our initial impressions are of a hip city full of wonderful little family run tapas bars and shops, and it turns our this is mostly right (at least within the Barri Gòtic).

~~ Next day was full of tourist things. We started with the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s catherdral/masterpiece that is constantly under construction. It looks like an organic thing that has grown out of a seed pod from the future or some other planet. The girls said it looked like a drip-style sand castle. From the outside it looks somewhat incoherent or like a home renovated by people who kept adding on without looking at the building they were adding to. Inside, however, is just spectacular soaring arches and stained glass. It manages to be both a cathedral of historic bearing and a thoroughly contemporary architectural masterpiece at the same time. Don’t know how, but it seems more magical than ecclesiastical. Took the elevator up to the upper part of towers, but after Notre Dame in Paris, this was not much to see. We could see some of the decoration on the top of the church and the details of the wheat berry shaped, mosaic-covered minuets. Our first glance of much more Gaudi mosaic to come.

A view of La Sagrada Familia from the park across the street

inside La Sagrada Familia, a Catalan landmark.

Nativity Façade-

Descending the tower- Anyone there?

First two

then three

Paternoster- The Lord’s Prayer “Give us this day our daily bread.”
(In 50 different languages.)

Our next stop was the Picasso Museum, perusing a few shops along the way, promising to return to a mask shop, where we spent a little while poking around. Had to get into the swing of carnival. When we got to the museum to use our Barcelona passes, we learned that they were not good for Sunday, but that entry would be free for everyone in about an hour & a half. What to do? Food and wine, of course. Wandered the local neighborhood, El Born, just adjacent to our home Barri Gotic. Stumbled onto Nou Cellar, a great find. We got our first taste of the Catalan bread (Pa Amb Tomàquet) – Toast rubbed with garlic and then tomato, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Sometimes comes complete, sometimes a DIY at your table.

Fully refreshed and tapaed-up, we head back to view Picasso; However, many people also shared the idea of touring the Picasso Museum during the free entry period and we were greeted with a three block long line. Ah, well. It went fast and we were well fed.

The long line at the Picasso, Museum.

Listening to the audio-guide

It is amazing how particular works of an artist can be so ingrained in one’s head. You know the period for which they are most famous, but forget that they had a career trajectory. It’s fair to say that we learned a good deal about Picasso’s early career from our visit. Emmie was particularly struck with his Science and Charity painted at age 15. Grace was both struck by and bothered by Gored Horse, which turned out to be a precursor for the horse in his masterpiece Guernica. Christine and I both liked his Barcelona Rooftops, which manages to be representational and abstract at the same time. Really quite extraordinary to see such traditional work from an artist we thought of as so radically abstract.

Barcelona Rooftops- postcard photo

Loved these balconies inside the hallway area of the museum

After Picasso, we headed back to choose our masks, but were appropriately distracted by a large crowd up the street and carriages passing by with brightly colored characters on board. We had stumbled onto a carnival parade and got to see some fantastic costumes. We did, finally, make it to get masks, and all picked one to our liking. They will make great additions to our decor back in State College.

Colorful balloons add to the festive mood!

Colorful balloons and people of all ages took part in the parade and add to the festive mood!

Artistically dressed men waved to the crowds in their carriages

Artistically dressed men and women waved to the crowds in the passing carriages

Carnival!

After returning home for a siesta (actually just a rest without a nap for us this time), we headed back out in search of more tapas for dinner. Turns out we found pinxtos instead. Pinxtos (pronounced pinchos), are the smaller cousins of tapas. Taverna Basca Irati is famous locally as a pinxtos place that uses the toothpick method of determining your bill. When you walk in they hand you a plate (and get you a glass of wine) and there are plates of food all up and down the bar, each with a different kind of little snack sized food on it skewered with a toothpick. Most are on a piece of bread, and many involve jamon, but there are all kinds. You simply take what you want and when you are ready for la quenta (the bill), they just add up the toothpicks and charge you per pick. Ingenious, cheap and simple. Brilliant!

One other tidbit we learned there was that it is considered rude to put used napkins on the bar, instead you drop them on the floor. This ran hard against Christine’s litter-phobia, but she soldiered on and threw her napkins down like a champ.

We finished our evening by strolling down to the sea along the Ramblas, which is the main street running from the central square (Plaza de Catayluna) to the port. It is lovely stroll day or night, but it is bustling at night, as fits with the Spanish late night pattern of living. When we got to the pier down at the ocean there was a film crew setting up a shot. Turns out they were filming a Spanish movie, “I love Barcelona”. None of us got a cameo, but it was fun to watch them try and quiet things down on the busy pier to get the shot. Finally, home to bed and resting up for an epic Gaudi day tomorrow.

The movie set, “I Love Barcelona,” we happen to stroll by…

January Updates

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January Updates: January flew by…. some of the latest and prior…

Music Lessons

Grace has been taking flute lessons at the Walton School of Music for a few months now. Her teacher, Hanna (pronounced: Hah na) is from Finland and has been living in Dublin for several years. No photo to post yet. She is very sweet and Grace is enjoying the lessons. I meet her at the bus-stop closest to her school on Tuesdays, and we take the bus to City Centre (Dame Street area). I think it’s fair to say, we enjoy this time together: talking, browsing shops while waiting for the bus on the return, sharing, just being together.

We are quite lucky to be renting a house that also has a piano; thus Emmie can keep up with her practice. A friend recommended 2 or 3 piano teachers in the area. Glenda fortunately took Emmie on as a student since we are only here for a year. (She is starting to cut back on students). She is wonderful- teaching Emmie both theory and technique. Together, Emmie and I ride to Glenda’s home after school on Wednesday. Emmie will take a test with the Royal Irish Academy of Music in May. The emphasis on testing is common in music and dance.

Emmie at her lesson!

Seeing plenty of advertising for Pantomimes (referred to as Pantos) during the holiday season as well as hearing about them from friends, we still we weren’t quite sure what to expect… We attended our first Pantomime, Beauty and the Beast with local friends, Paul, Lorraine, Maria, and Amy. Pantomime is a musical comedy theatrical production performed during the Christmas and New Year season dating back to the Middle Ages. These seasonal type plays usually involve cross dressing, local humor and audience participation as well as mixing in popular music. In fact, there were several Irish and Dublin references that went over our head. Most local venues run a productions which vary in talent and casting. An interesting show…. (?) yet, fun time with friends.

Turner- “A Light in the Darkness”

Every January The National Gallery of Ireland opens its annual exhibit of JMW Turner’s work, “A Light in the Darkness”. The National Gallery accepted Henry Vaughan’s collection of 31 watercolors and drawings by Turner in 1900, dividing his entire collection between National Galleries in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. Emmie’s teacher encouraged her students to attend since it is only accessible during the month of January. Why, one might wonder… as part of of Vaughan’s bequest the collections can only be shown during the month of January- plenty of cloud cover in this part of the world- the least amount of sun is in January. We appreciated his landscapes and other works; his use of light and colors; his brilliance!

Turner

Cocktail Class- It felt like a secret rendevouz… Scott and I were given a location and a phone number. A speak easy- The Blind Pig’s cocktail class was the second occasion we used a babysitter. (Thank you, Ashley!) Our host met us at the end of the alley, which is most likely more mysterious at night; however our class was at 2:00. What a great time- we along with two other couples and one group of four learned to make and sampled 4 different cocktails. (This definitely would be a fun event to experience with friends. Our knowledgeable and entertaining bartender extraordinaire, Paul Lambert shared the origin and other history & bits behind the drinks. One of Scott’s favorites was the Old-Fashioned and mine, the Bacardi Cocktail.

“I want to see the Blind Pig.”

Guests taking their turn at cocktail making.

One of our finished products!

Dance- Emmie also started Irish Dance lessons! My friend Ann Marie, mentioned the the class her daughter takes walking to school one day. Emmie and Adele are friends at school. Emmie sampled a class before the holidays and wanted to continue. Several of her friends are in the class as well as two older dancers who are quite talented! Actually a few of the girls have been dancing for a while and are quite strong. It’s an easy going class. Her teacher was in the Riverdance company at some point; she makes it fun.

Emmie and a few of the girls learning steps.

Look what we won- A woolen throw from Donegal Woollen Mill. Scott and I chose colors of yarn for a wool throw contest while in the Kilkenny store shopping for Christmas gifts. In January, William McNutt presented me, the runner-up with the throw.

Our Donegal Woollen Mill throw. A promo photo for Kilkenny Store. Thanks, William.

Enjoyed some World Famous Grilled Stickies thanks to our thoughtful friends, the Haushalters. Thanks, Liz and Keally for a bit of State College.

Grilled Stickies- before consumption.

Trad Music & Dance Fest Before heading to dinner to celebrate Scott’s birthday, we walked through the Temple Bar area of Dublin to take in some of the Trad Music & Dance Fest.

One of the Trad bands we herd briefly…

Scott’s Birthday. The third of our four birthdays here in Dublin!

Scott with his cake!

More on Paris…

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Last Days in Paris

Thanks to the Swenson’s recommendation, we purchased a museum pass reducing the entry fee to one flat rate and more importantly making the entry lines to museums much more reasonable (d’Orsay, Louvre, Pompidou, Notre Dame, l’Orangerie). Sigh….

The Louvre.… magnifique, incroyable, overwhelming, grand, housing more than a million works of art, 35,000 on display. We bit off a small morsel; hitting the three great ladies; Leonardo da Vinici’s famous Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo sculptures, as well as Michalengelo’s Dying Slave, but also visited and enjoyed other works in the Renaissance gallery and the Greek and Roman Antiquities.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace is a 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike.

Another angle

No need to guess on this one.

This one shows the size of Mona Lisa

We liked this portrait- I guess its provenance is unclear. Da Vinci or not?

En route to find the Venus de Milo

Lovely Venus

Artists sketched at the Louvre while a young girl stole a glance.

Artists sketching at the Louvre while a young girl steals a glance. I wonder if she’s inspired or impressed? I am.

Posing at the Louvre!

Inside looking out.

Interesting capture by Scott
Stitched together

In front of the pyramid entrance!

Prepping for the next walk to the next museum!

Prepping for the walk to the next museum!

The art of patience: thank you Grace!

On our walking route to see Monet’s giant water lilies at the Musée de l’Orangerie we kept our eyes posted for some coffee and pastries; Just par chance nous avons trouve, La Maison Angelina. This was not your average, hot chocolate (Le chocolat chaud l’Africain). Even after our delicious coffee Scott and I were more than happy to help the girls finish theirs.

Grace enjoying her chocolate paradise

Emmie enjoying her chocolat chaud.

A testament to the thickness of the chocolate.

Grace’s mark of chocolate delight!

~~ No photos taken near or inside the Musée de l’Orangerie. We were there to see Monet’s collection of Les Nympheas:, which was quite ok. It was lovely to simply sit on the benches and lose ourselves for a bit. Mesmerizing!

A taste

A little more

~~ Next stop: Le Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. Making a lunch & stopping along the way or eating in line was a good idea.

Notre Dame

Exquisite color in the stained glass windows

Pictures from the phone can only capture a reminder of its beauty.

After touring the inside of this spectacular church, we decided to climb to the top of the tower. The pass helped, but it was still quite a wait. In line, we met and chatted with a lovely couple from Edinburgh, Scotland, (Well.. New Zealand and California, but currently living in Scotland.) We hope to see them again.

Grace captivated by her book… Emmie had just finished hers the day before.

Acrobatic Emmie: waiting in line to ascend to the top of Notre Dame.

Views from the top of Notre Dame

The gargoyles were fascinating and frightful!

The gargoyles -fascinating and frightful!

A tribute to Victor Hugo’s Notre-Dame de Paris, or more commonly known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

No surprise, Emmie counted the number of steps as she descended the tower. I checked- her count was accurate- 387.

Centre Georges Pompidou is truly a unique place-often referred to as multicultural complex. In its post modern and high-tech style of architecture, the Pompidou houses quite a large collection of modern art; by some accounts the largest in Europe and as we later learn, also a public library and centre for music reaserch. Like all our museum visits, we must make choices on which part of the museum to spend time and what to see. We were certainly pleased with the area we chose, the contemporary collection from 1960 to today.

Centre Pompidou

Hmm?

Could not resist…similar to the scene earlier in the day at the Lourvre, artists sketching…

Emmie wanted this piece in her bedroom!

At the Pompidou one can get really close with the art...

At the Pompidou one can have an intimate experience with the art…

This piece by Brazilian artist evokes ones’ sense of sight and smell. The suspended sacs are filled with rosemary cumin, turmeric, cardamon… to name just a few.

~~ Planned reunion. Dinner with Lynn Segal, an old friend and high school classmate who lives in Paris and her boyfriend Gilles. They brought us to their local favorite, Chez Lucette. Delicious! Rose does it all, without a doubt a one woman show, the owner, the waitress, the sommelier, the chef, the owner…We had a good time, despite a slight relapse for Scott.