Hola everyone! Sorry it took us a couple weeks to get this blog up and running, but hopefully we should be able to share more about our time here in Spain with you on a regular basis. I figure it would probably be easiest to just start with the huge e-mail I sent some of you last week, the get going on some more recent posts.
Here is the text from that first e-mail.... enjoy!
Greetings from Barcelona!
First of all, let me apologize for taking so long to finally craft this e-mail and reaching out to most you to say I am alive and well in Barcelona. These last two weeks have been… ummm… shall we say…. busy.
I landed in Barca on a Saturday afternoon. After checking into my hotel, I immediately took to the streets to explore the various neighborhoods and get a feel for the city. It had been almost five years since I first visited Barca. I must say much has changed since that first visit, and much has stayed the same. After walking the streets til well after dark, I grabbed a quick meal and returned to my room for a long night’s sleep. After all, though my Lufthansa flight was smooth and uneventful, it was far from restful. I woke the next day and again threw on my walking shoes and took to the streets. Most people on a mission such as mine would probably buy and all-day subway pass to cover the most ground, but I decided from the outset that I would rather walk the entire time so as to not miss any attractive neighborhoods because I was passing under them instead of traversing them on foot.
So that Sunday consisted of a great deal of walking and an appointment with a real estate agent I had arranged while still in the U.S. I really liked the places I was shown, but had also made appointments for Monday, so I decided to refrain from going ahead and signing any leases. That Sunday night I took to one of the local pubs to watch the local soccer team play a televised match and get a feel for the passion the people of this city have for FC Barcelona. It was an amazing experience; one that would have probably been even better had the home side not suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid.
First thing Monday I met with another real estate agent to view a place in a part of the city called Barceloneta. Barceloneta is a tiny little peninsula that along the ocean right near the heart of the city. On one side is the Old Port, which is home to some of the city’s local fishing fleets and a new touristy embarcadero built for the 1992 Olympics, while on the other side of the peninsula lies a more traditional beach boardwalk and the rather spectacular Mediterranean Sea. While the neighborhood was awesome, the actual apartment was rather small. However, my mentality was that we since I could negotiate a two-month lease, we could survive the tight quarters and find a new place later if we so desired. Not to mention, the peace of mind of knowing where I would be sleeping the next wasn’t bad either, even if I could have probably extended my stay at my hotel indefinitely. So I gave the agent a small deposit and we agreed to meet back at the flat that evening to work out the rest of the details.
Since I already had two other appointments for Monday afternoon, I figured I might as well honor them and see a bit of what else might be out there. The first flat was a bit rough, so the tour was short and led to a very quick thanks, but no thanks. I had a bit of time to kill before my last appointment, so I got a bite to eat and cruised over to Plaza Catalunya to relax, write in my journal, and do a bit of people-watching. I thought about blowing off the last appointment, but since I had only made it earlier that morning, I figured I’d check it out before heading back down to Barceloneta to finalize the terms for the apartment I’d seen that morning. Boy, am I glad I didn’t skip the appointment…
The place was SWEET!
As soon as I walked in, I knew it was exactly the place we were looking for. The agent and the owner showed me the place and we quickly got to talking terms. The agent rather adeptly worked some very friendly terms for me, so I told him I’d call him within the hour to give him my decision. A quick stroll down La Rambla to finalize my thoughts assured me eating the tiny deposit on the Barceloneta apartment and paying a small bit more per month would be the best money I ever spent. So I quickly called the agent and told him it was time to do some business and he immediately invited me over to his office to do the paperwork. So the agent (Mark), the owner (Alberto) and I met that night and wrapped up all the paperwork.
When we were done, Alberto and I decided to ride the subway back downtown together and immediately began chatting about everything we could. Now keep in mind, Alberto’s English is worse than my Spanish, so the topics of our conversation were limited, but we nevertheless took an immediate liking to each other. Turns out he is actually in the restaurant business, so when we exited the subway, he immediately invited me to his establishment for some dinner. His place is amazing. He sat me in the corner and didn’t even bother bringing me the menu. He simply brought me all of the house favorites and treated me to quite amazing evening of authentic cuisine. When I finally left the restaurant to head back to my hotel, I was overcome by a feeling of luck and joy. Everything had fallen into place just as I had imagined. Call it luck… call it planning… whatever it was, it felt like magic.
So the next day, I met Alberto at the flat to gets the keys. I literally only had time to drop my bags in the bedroom; then it was off to the Internet café to return to the good ol’ work force.
The next few days consisted of getting settled into the flat and taking long strolls around my new neighborhood, which is called Barri Gotic, or Barrio Gothic. This is the oldest part of the city. Our street is called Carrer de la Portaferrissa. Portaferrissa translates to Iron Gate… as in the Iron Gate that once stood perhaps 100 meters down the street and marked the entrance thru the Roman wall into the ancient city. Needless to say, our new ‘hood has character.
After a few days, a friend of ours from college, Patrick Sweeney, arrived from Portland to visit. No longer alone in the Barcelona, one could say I took full advantage of now having a partner in crime with which to continue my exploration of the city. Patrick arrived on a Thursday evening and the next four days consisted of great food, some beer, some site-seeing, more food, more beer, repeat. Highlights included a good ol’ European soccer game and multiple long and memorable nights out roaming the city until about 5 a.m. After all, Patrick and I had to see for ourselves if it was true what they say about the Spanish nightlife and how nothing really gets rolling until after midnight. It’s true.
The routine is actually quite regimented. Dinner and drinks at a restaurant starting at midnight. Those restaurants generally close at about 2 a.m., which is when it is time to head for the bars. The bars stay hopping until about 4 a.m. Everyone then heads to the clubs or after-hours bars til long after the sun comes up. We tended to befriend other people at dinner, roll out to the bars with said new friends, then power on through to the late-night places. On our biggest night, we befriended some Americans at the early bar and rolled with them to a second bar. Just as we were leaving the second bar, we met e group of French people who convinced us to go with them to check out an after-hours place across the plaza. We hung there for another couple of hours chatting with a bunch of Africans. Did I mention Barcelona is a worldy kind of city? All-in-all, a marathon of good times.
Oh yeah, did I mention the time zone difference between here and the U.S. and how it impacts my work schedule? I’m six hours ahead of my office in Washington, D.C., so my work day starts at about 12:30 p.m. and goes til about 8:00 p.m. Do the math and you will quickly find that that means I can stay out til 4:00 a.m., come home, and STILL get eight hours of sleep before I have to be back on the job. I’m an old 30-year-old man now, so I certainly don’t plan to keep that up every night. However, as I mentioned before, Patrick arrived Thursday evening. Friday morning, my new Time Zone Fringe Benefit was… uhhh… convenient.
After Patrick left the following Monday, it was back to my alone-in-the-city routine for a couple of days before it was time to head to Geneva to finally collect Kate and visit with our friends Sharrolyn and Loic. Actually, the alone-in-the-city routine only lasted one day, because on Tuesday night I went to the pub to watch a big Real Madrid soccer match on TV. While there, I befriended these two Scottish dudes who work for Vodafone and were visiting Barcelona for the big wireless communication conference that was going on all week. They were shocked to meet a Yank who knew his European soccer and responded by insisting on educating me about the finer whiskeys that hail from their proud homeland. Being Scots, they liked to drink. Being on an expense account, they didn’t much care about the cost. The Time Zone Fringe Benefit was null and void the next morning because I had an early flight to Geneva. So my intention was to watch just one game and head home early. But with my new friends from Vodafone were having none of that… “Your wife arrives tomorrow? This is your last night out with just the lads good man… have another shot!” I ended up watching two and a half soccer games and Uncle Vodafone covered all but about two drinks. Thanks Uncle Vodafone… I think.
So after a blurry flight to Geneva Wednesday, I caught up with Sharrolyn, Loic and Patrick (Sharrolyn also went to college with us, so Patrick was visiting them as well). Katie arrived the next morning. We were so happy to be reunited and among dear friends. We spent the next four days enchanted by Geneva and the beautiful mountains and vineyards that surround Sharrolyn and Loic’s home in Denans, a tiny Swiss village not far from Geneva. Highlights of the weekend include amazing meals at Sharrolyn and Loic’s home, an afternoon snow-shoeing in the Alps followed by a nice meal in an actual Alpine lodge. I really enjoyed Geneva itself and the dorky professional side of me thoroughly enjoyed the tour we took of the United Nations office there. I write every day about meeting and decisions coming out of those offices, so it was special for me to see then and get a visual of all those agencies there I cover for work.
Katie and I flew from Geneva to Barcelona yesterday and I finally got to unveil our new home to her. I made a decision when I rented the place not to tell her a thing about what it looked like. Katie is the curious type, so I took great pride in driving her mad by only revealing that we lived in Barri Gotic and nothing else. She is ecstatic about it. From the size of the place, right down to the interior design, we are thrilled.
We are in the heart of the old city and our street is pedestrian only so there is no traffic noise whatsoever. We are just steps from all of life’s little daily needs and while we are about 75 meters from the most famous pedestrian boulevard in Barcelona, La Rambla, we don’t here any of its hustle and bustle. And not only do we have three sets of French doors that open to a narrow balcony overlooking the street, but we are on the top floor with a rooftop terrace above us that is available for us to use at our leisure. We scored.
Well I could write forever about these past few weeks… geez I already have… but I will end this initial update here. We hope to set up a blog or website in the next couple of days and plan to post more frequent, and I promise more brief, updates about our new life in Barcelona. Will let you all know when it is up and running…
Take care for now and hasta luego!
Sean
P.S. For those of you that are soccer fans, I seem to have become a bit of bad luck to the two local clubs. Espanyol has lost every game while I have been in the city, including the one Patrick and I watched. FC Barcelona, the local fan favorite and global powerhouse, lost both games they have played so far when I have actually been in the city. Of course, I leave to go to Geneva and they crush their opponent that weekend 5-1. With FC Barcelona’s big clash against Chelsea set for Wednesday night, I’m surprised the customs guys at the airport let me back into the city!
