Baby it's Hot Outside!!

Barcelona is in the middle of a heat wave that started just as we arrived back from Mallorca.  So yesterday Bob was on a mission to find air conditioned bars but with his first lemonade beer calling him we headed to the beach at Barcelonetta for a quick lunch at my favorite ‘beach shack restaurant’.  It was amazing how many people were at the beach sunbathing with temperatures over 95 degrees!  They are broadcasting warnings over loudspeakers all along the beach.  We went wearing hats and were only there for the beer!  As you can see from his picture Bob was not the happiest of campers……….loved the lemonade beer but was dying from the heat.  There was nothing to be done except to get him back to the flat which we accomplished with only two more beer stops along the way in air conditioned bars.  

With that kind of heat and being somewhat stuck at home for the afternoon I decided to do the laundry.  It was a great day for laundry, almost dried in my hands as I was hanging it up.  We mopped the floor which needs to be done here almost daily and then spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the Olympics on TV.  We can’t understand a word they say but fortunately with the Olympics that’s not so important.

After being inside for most of the day we were ready to head back outdoors as soon as the temperatures started to drop about 8 pm.  Since the heat had pretty much killed our appetites earlier in the day we were looking for a good dinner and had decided on El Salon which is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants.  Sue and I had first discovered this place when we were too early for the restaurant we were going to so wandered into El Salon for a drink to kill some time.  A few days later we returned and had a terrific dinner.

On our way to El Salon we had to pass by the Museum of Inventions.  I’ve never been in this museum but their window displays are interesting and a few days ago they wheeled out a big scale which they placed right in front on the walkway.  We’ve passed by a couple of time since the scale has been there and both times there has been a crowd around it and when someone gets on there is almost always immediate laughter.  And we all know there is nothing funny about weighing yourself on a scale in front of a crowd of people!!  So as we passed by this time I simply had to know what was going on and started wiggling my way through the crowd.  Once I was close enough I could see the face of the scale I understood all the laughter.  First the scale has labels for weight categories like ‘King Kong’ and ‘Moby Dick’ at the higher end and at the lower end it tells you famous people that weigh the same as you.  As you can see from the picture I was absolutely delighted to be a perfect match to ‘Marilyn Monroe’.  Bob on the other hand matched up to Barack Obama and those of you who know his political views will know that this made him anything but happy.  In fact he was a little argumentative about politics all the rest of the evening and I was pretty sure it was because he couldn’t shake the idea that he and Obama were twins! 

Dinner at El Salon was outstanding just as it was the time before.  It’s a small restaurant with only about 10 tables inside and an equal number outside.  Bob had the Duck Confit (he’s hooked on the duck confit here and orders it every chance he gets) and I had out of this world Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto.   The fellow who runs the place has high service standards and pride in everything about his restaurant.  Last night he was training a brand new waiter, first night he had ever served tables and the poor kid was scared to death.  We were his very first table and as he was opening our bottle of wine the cork broke and I thought he was going to die until Bob and I both broke out in laughter and told him not to sweat it.  It was nice to see that as the restaurant got busier and he didn’t have time to stress that he fell into the rhythm of the action and things seemed to settle down for him.  I hope it all works out, he’s a nice kid.  

So they say the heat wave is being caused by an airstream out of Africa and won’t be over for a few more days.  I don’t think Bob will be going to Africa anytime soon, all he can talk about is how cool it’s going to be when he gets back to Oakland.