The Blog

I want to try this. I wonder how long you need to train for this…

A week ago Saturday I visited the nation’s first capital for the first time. “Philly” is home to several artifacts representing the birth of the nation’s government. Taking it in was awe-inspiring and depressing all at the same time.

I began my visit by orienting myself with transit in The City of Brotherly Love. I found my way over to Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center where, as I took guided tours, it became evident how little I knew about the nation’s beginnings. Pre-teens in a boys scout troop were firing off correct responses to trivia questions from our guide before I could blink twice. I decided against blurting out incorrect answers, much to my ego’s chagrin.

After visiting the National Constitution Center, I concocted a reason why I never made it a point to commit even the most simple historic dates to memory…it’s California. Children who grow up on the East Coast seem to have an everyday connection to the things most California-born and -educated kids only read in books, if that. The boys in the scout troop had probably been taking school field trips to national landmarks and historic attractions since their parents have been dropping them off to public and private schools.

I left Independence Square feeling like a failure and feeling as I’d been failed. This country, which purports to be the greatest on earth, is a country where I can find a bag of Lays before I can find an apple in an urban city, where its own brilliantly written Constitution can’t protect the rights of its citizens without some fogie deciding whether it really applies, and where a college-educated Aaron Morrison can’t remember the date of the Constitutional Convention.

I make no excuses for myself. I’m sure some of this information was hurled at me during my one high school gov’t class. But I can’t help feeling like I should be better. And I know I can do better.

Any suggestions?

I know I can start by reading more history-themed books.

You can view all of my pictures from Barcelona on my Facebook page.

Mission accomplished. On this day, my one real vacation wish came true. I ate at Cal Pep, which is raved about by a few people we asked for travel advice. Let the drooling begin…

Sardine and pepper appetizer.

Cured ham and tomato bread.

Fried artichokes.

Tuna patty with sesame.

Spanish omelette with garlic sauce.

Clams in a broth flavored with bacon.

Razor clams with a buttery smoky flavor. (First time I’ve ever had razor clams.)

Steak and potatoes. Perfect doneness. Seasoned expertly.

Needless to say, I was out of money after that visit. It was well worth it!

Before I knew it, we were back on the plane for the US. Overall, a very good trip.

Shout out to Jen Jiggetts for bringing me the Ganesha figurine from her trip to India last month. I thought of taking it with me to Barcelona as soon as she gave it to me.

A little bit about Ganesha, in case you are puzzled. And, no, I’m not practicing Hinduism. I’m a person that tries to learn, respect and appreciate all cultures.

This was another great was another great day, despite feeling like I was coming down with a cold. (I’m feeling a bit better now.)

Talia and I started our day early with a train ride to Figueres, Spain for a visit to the Salvador Dali Museum. By train, Figueres is about two hours from Barcelona. Long story short, the museum is closed on Mondays. I swore up and down my guide book and the museum’s website said the place would be one.

When life gives you lemons…

We spent a couple of hours walking through the streets of the town, which seems to thrive from visitors of the Dali museum. In other words, there was barely anyone on the streets of Figueres.

Aside from the 50 degree weather and windy conditions, we saw as much as we could before it was time to return to the train station.

We saw Sant Pere Church, which was built in the 10th and 11th centuries, and underwent remodels in the late 18th century. Dali is said to have been baptized and served his first communion in the church.

I’ll definitely go back to Figueres, especially because I didn’t get to see the inside of the Dali museum. In spite, the trip was well worth it.

On this day I was mostly a bum. After the bike ride the day before and staying up until the sun came out that morning, I was in no position to move around.

So I slept most of the day. And then Veronica and I went to see Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Going to a theatre in a foreign country was a new experience. For one, they make you choose specific seats for your showing and an usher directs you to those seats. And there is no extra butter or salt for your popcorn…at least not at the theatre we went to.

While at the box office window, I caught the “natives” laughing and staring because I was unable to seamlessly order my ticket for the movie. I know enough Spanish to get by, but they are a little impatient out here. I guess I kind of expected that.

The film had Catalonian Spanish subtitles. Overall, it was great. Michael still had it. That would have been a great concert.

On this day, I fought myself to get up as early as I did. But I was so glad I got up. I took a tour of the city by bike. This is, no exaggeration, the only way to see the city. We went where cars and buses couldn’t go. We saw things the average tourist wouldn’t have seen, unless they knew to seek it out. The pictures do it no justice…

This company was great and very professional.

My “I can’t believe I’m about to ride a bike through a city I’ve never been in” face.

This tour was Veronica’s idea. Kelley and I couldn’t thank her enough.

Just gorgeous.

I mean…just breathtaking. This fountain was designed by Gaudi, if I heard the tour guide correctly.

The gate built to welcome people to the world fair in Barcelona.

An amazing thing to walk bike under.

Sagrada Familia. Enough said.

Tried to get you a little bit closer.

There. That’s better.

I rewarded myself with paella at La Poma, a restaurant with the worst service on La Rambla in Barcelona. Not only did we sit for two hours waiting for our food, the meal cost more than any other we’d had since vacation started. The paella was good, but didn’t really make up for it.

Today was the first time I really got to experience the streets of the city. A few of us woke up in the middle of the day (nice to do that on vacation) and walked to Placa de la Bouqueria. This is one of those open air markets that Anthony Bourdain and his kind are always walking through to get ingredients for a cooking segment. I was in heaven!

I’ll have more pictures of the market later…

From there, I met up with the entire group to tour the Pablo Picasso museum. Honestly, Salvador Dali is my favorite Spanish painter, but I really enjoyed the museum. I will be seeing Dali on Monday or Tuesday.

This was the only drawing I could find of an African.

One room (pictured above) had no paintings in it, but was so breathtaking that I had to take photos. By the way, we were not allowed to take photographs in the museum at all. I had to sneak them in.

After the museum, we came back to our apartment and I cooked clam pasta for those who like seafood, which turned out to be just four of the seven of us. Fine. More for us. (*sticks out tongue) I’ve posted the recipe below.

Ingredients: olive oil, garlic, flat-leaf parsley, clams (in shell), white cooking wine, and long pasta.

1. Place clams in a large dry pot or pan. Make sure clams are in one layer. Cover and heat on low heat until clams have opened and are swimming in their juice.
2. In another skillet, cover a medium to large sized pan with a generous amount of olive oil. On medium low heat, saute two to three cracked cloves of garlic in the oil until cloves are lightly golden brown. Then remove the cloves from the pan and let oil stand.
3. Remove clams from pot with slotted laddle, place in bowl and set aside.
4. Pour off the juice of the clams into a separate bowl and set aside.
5. Bring water to boil for pasta. Boil pasta until pasta is al dente.
6. Remove pasta and transfer to pan of garlic olive oil. Turn heat to medium. Pour in clam juice. Pour in about a cup and a half of white wine.
7. Add in shell (or shelled) clams to pasta. Stir and let wine, clam juice and olive oil coat pasta and clams. Add salt to taste.
8. Add chopped flat-leaf parsely and stir until parsley is spread evenly into pasta.
9. Serve immediately, with bread and wine.

If the US Dollar was an animal, it’d be a chihuahua next to the ‘Great Dane’ Euro.

That was my first thought when I exchanged currencies at the JFK airport. Truth is, while the dollar is weak, you don’t have to spend a whole lot of money to feed yourself in Barcelona. Grab a baguette, a package of ham and some juice from the grocery store. 6 euros.

We were so jet-lagged this day, that all we could do was sleep. Later we woke up for tapas. Kelley Carter and I woke up first. We were starving and snack off for a quick snack. I had jamon con huevos, patatas bravas, and an espresso. Que European, indeed!

Later, with the group, we went to Tapa Tapa. This place turned out to be the Chili’s of tapas in Barcelona. I will never eat there again. But we still had a good time.

The seal has been broken. The proverbial cherry has been popped.

Yes, this is the first time I’ve ever left the continent. I’m 24. So much catching up to do.