Living the Good Life!

Rob spends his morning going to the Picasso Museum and exploring the La Born area.  We’ve walked around the Born before but usually on a day when most of the businesses were closed so this is the first time he gets to see in full bloom so to speak.   I use the morning to catch up on my blogging which has been more and more difficult to get done since Rob and I have been keeping such a busy schedule.  It was a good morning for both of us, Rob who has long been a Picasso fan loved the museum and now feels satisfied he’s seen the Born and I’m back on track and up to date.  Now it is time to pick up my ring from Miguel the man with the ‘secret of mystic jewels’ and I am very excited.  The ring fits perfectly and I proudly wear it out of the shop and for the rest of my life!

So far Rob has been enjoying our Spanish dining but we haven’t been to any of the high end group of previous chefs from El Bulli new restaurants here in Barcelona.  He’d like to try at least one of them so we talk over the options and decide on lunch at Dos Palillos.  I first had lunch there with Sue and have been trying to get back ever since but they were one of the restaurants that was closed the entire month of August so I am delighted I will get another chance to dine there.   Dos Palillos opens for lunch at 1:30pm and doesn’t take reservations so we plan to arrive right around their opening.  We’re a few minutes early and there are already a few people waiting so it appears it is going to be a little busier than when Sue and I were here.  The daily lunch menu is posted on a sign board out front in Catalan.   Rob and I read through as best we can which isn’t all that good but I can tell he’s feeling just a little strange about all of this.  Once the doors open and we are seated at the counter inside with a good view of the many chefs at work Rob seems to relax a bit.  He tells me he likes the atmosphere. 

Our first course is crab wontons which we both really like.  It is followed by a dish of seared tuna belly and eight different types of seaweed.  This one tests Rob a little as he eats the seaweed piece by piece to get the taste of each one.  I like them better all mixed up with a combined flavor.  Our next dish contained several types of different vegetables, some we could identify and some we couldn’t but a base of bok choy and an out of this world sauce.  I loved this one and Rob liked it a lot better than the whole seaweed thing.  The fourth course was a Japanese hamburger which I do believe was Rob’s favorite.  We finished our meal with ginger ice cream.  Rob liked his lunch and completely enjoyed the Catalan woman who he sat next to who thought her English wasn’t so good but she and Rob catted away with no trouble.   He was really happy to have had the experience but doesn’t really think he needs to do that type of dining again.   I’m cool with it I have already had more opportunities to eat at over the top restaurants this summer than I ever expected could happen.

After our long lunch we strolled by Carmen’s father’s guitar shop in hopes she would be there and we could tell her a personal good-bye but unfortunately the shop was closed and I simply had to leave my business card so they would know I had been by.  As this week goes on the many good-byes are bitter sweet for me but I realize that is only because my experience of the Spanish people has been so rich. 

Rob wants to go through Gaudi’s Casa Batillo so I leave him at the ticket line and window shopping along the way I weave in and out of the various old Gotic streets and make my way back to the flat.  Once again he returns to the flat after touring the house full of excitement for the amazing talent of Gaudi.  Rob has become a fan of Canasta and is determined to beat me so he’s itching for a match.  Now we’re not actually playing Canasta we’re playing Cribbage but each time he calls it Canasta and each time I correct him.  I think it’s going to be easier to just call it Canasta.   Our games are fun and a good way to spend a late afternoon.

Rob has wanted a paella dinner since he arrived and every night I talk him into something else.  After our decadent lunch I’m not very hungry so I decide this is the night Rob should finally get his paella.  Since I’m not fond of the stuff I don’t pay much attention to it but believe a restaurant very nearby Trocodoro’s offers some of the best paella around so that is where we plan to go.   As you can see by the picture and the smile on his face, if lunch wasn’t exactly what Rob had expected the paella was.  He loved it!  I had a dish of baby lima beans, asparagus and shrimp which I completely enjoyed and Rob thought disgusting.

At the jewelry shop we have learned of a very nice hotel called the Casa Fuster that is just past the Diagonal on Gracia and has a fantastic rooftop bar and jazz in the street level bar on Thursday nights.  Rob and I are both fans of the rooftop bars and this is our only Thursday night together so there is no question we have to go. It’s a cab ride over to the hotel and our young taxi driver says it is a very nice hotel and expensive with a twinkle in his eye.  The hotel is elegant and beautiful but alas there will be no jazz.  It will start again next week.  We never understand why there isn’t any jazz but it’s not important.  We love the rooftop.  The night is a perfect temperature and the view down Passeig de Garcia is breathtaking!  Rob strikes up a conversation with a most interesting young Indian man from London who is a travelling accounting professional.  He’d been all over the world and told us he was in his early 30s, definitely an impressive person.  But what impresses Rob the most is that he has just returned from Ibiza where we will be going Monday morning.  He provided Rob with lots of recommendations and Rob couldn’t have been happier!

We are on our way back to the flat and arrive at the front door when Rob announces he’s not ready to go home, can we find somewhere for a nightcap?  Well, the wine bar is just down the street and I do want to say good-by to Michael the owner bartender before I leave Barcelona so sure why not.  I always knew Michael had a business partner but I had never met him before this night.  Rob knows a lot more about wine than I do and he and the guys chatted about the various areas of Spanish winemaking.  Rob came not believing he liked Spanish wine very much but I think this night at Zona d’Ombra might have changed his mind.  Our one nightcap led to another and the fun simply continued as we were the only customers in the bar and had everyone’s full attention.  But finally we had to say good-night and this time mean it.

As Michael and I were saying good bye he told me, ‘Barcelona will be a sadder city when you leave, your smile and your positive energy made it brighter and we will miss you!’  I adored him too and it was he who made my summer brighter…………