Visit from Kris and Sue

This last week has been an amazing end to my journey in Barcelona. 

On Monday Kris and Sue arrived in Barcelona, so I went and met them at the airport to take them to their hotel.  Kris is married to my brother Adam, and Sue is her younger sister.  I also finished school on Tuesday at 5 in the afternoon.  Kris and Sue didn’t really have much of a strict plan and we just played everything by ear.  Most of my friends were also still here so we went out with them to.  On Wednesday I didn’t meet up with them until later for a flaminco show. 

This performance was awesome.  We got tapas and wine, and just watched these people dance.  I was shocked that this was the first time I went because it is very popular and something that everyone should go see when visiting Spain…sorry mom and dad.  After that we went to a bar, which happened to have beer pong.  The beer was also very cheap so we got a lot of it.  We played for a while and then decided to go to a place up the street called BroadBar to go dance.  We all had a ton of fun and stayed until it closed. 

The next day I went to sell my bike in the morning.  It was a little sad but its not like I could keep it or ship it back to the US.  It is probably way cheaper to just buy a really good used bike in the US.  This was also our last family dinner together so Adela asked us if we wanted anything specific.  We suggested Spaghetti con Gambas.  She made it a little differently this time, taking out the special dishes, using some fresh ingredients and adding some special love and care.  It was one of the best home cooked meals that I have ever had…once again sorry mom and dad.  It was perfectly cooked and the shrimps were delicious. 

In the morning Jourdan and many other people went home and my friend Ruthie was still in town for a few days so I made plans to meet up with her.  I also finished packing.  I left my large rolling suitcase there and a bag of gifts and took my hiking backpack and day backpack and said goodbye to Adela.  Our home stay period ended and I probably could have stayed there for a few more days before leaving but they are already keeping my stuff and I am spending a night when I come back, so I didn’t want to extend my invitation. 

Kris and Susan were at Montserrat so I went and met up with Ruthie at IES and then we went to go chill in the park and get some food.  We ended up walking around for a while looking for an internet café and I realized that we were really close to a leather shop.  I really wanted to get a nice belt that will last for a lifetime so I went ahead and did that.  I had no idea what to expect but I completely customized the belt and then she made it for me.  I picked it up a few days later and I love it.  Simple, authentic, and perfect.  Then we went to Starbucks to check the internet while I waited for Kris and Sue to get back.  They were staying in Barceloneta in an apartment so I could just crash on the couch for a few days. 

We got some dinner near bye, Paella I think.  It was pretty good and not too expensive.  Then Kris and I went to the W hotel to get a drink.  I had always wanted to go get a drink up high overlooking the city and the beach.  The drinks were pretty pricey but they were definitely worth it.  I don’t even remember what we ordered but they were very tropical and colorful and had lots of garnish.  It took about 5 minutes to make the drinks.  Then Ruthie met up with us and we went to a bar right near the apartment that Kris went to the past night.  Ruthie is an art history major at IC so I knew they would have a lot to talk about and over the course of the few days Kris gave here some really good advice about how to be successful as an artist.  Ruthie loved her and actually told me that Kris is the definition of chill. 

It was really cool having Kris and Sue visit me because I really haven’t spent that much time with them alone.  We all had a lot of fun and they got to do most of what they wanted but Sue had a flight back on Sunday so she left early.

After Sue left Ruthie, Kris, and I really didn’t do that much accept for chill on the beach.  Ruthie’s friend Carlos also came to visit so he joined us on the beach.  On Monday we went to Park Guell and Kris thought it was spectacular, which it was.  At the highest point in the park is a little pyramid type structure where a man always hangs out and plays the guitar.  This is no ordinary guy but a crazy rocker who wears leopard print pants.  When I took my parents here he was casually sitting mingling with a few people, but Kris got the pleasure of seeing him in action.  Words cannot describe what we saw.  He was playing the guitar, dancing, and screaming fuck you to the tourists and said he would kill everyone if he wanted to.  At this moment you would think that he is a crazy lunatic that needs to be removed from society but in reality he is more like a middle aged man who lost his way and spends all day at Parc Guell entertaining tourists and probably making a ton of money in the process.  I tipped him some change for the unique performance. 

Sitting on the beach and being in Barceloneta was awesome.  I had never really spent that much time doing either so I am really glad I got the chance to live there for a few days.  Barceloneta is very calm, but exciting, and has a unique local atmosphere.  Kris fell in love with this and Adam doesn’t know that one day they will be living there.  We really didn’t leave Barceloneta other than to go to the park and go to dinner one night.  The streets are very small and it has a bunch of really small shops, restaurants, and a market.  The main street is pretty touristy but most of the tourists don’t actually go into the fabric of Barceloneta so it is a weird transition from extremely touristy and a beach to pretty much as local and Catalan as you will find, and all of this happens in a span of about 100 feet. 

On Tuesday we left for Brussels but not until 4:00 in the afternoon so we spent some time at the beach.  Even thought we were both extremely sad to leave Barcelona and considered never leaving at all, we were pretty excited to go to Brussels.  We had a place to stay that was smack dab in the center of the city, about 3 blocks from the main plaza.  When we got there we checked the Internet and went to find a place to eat.  We stumbled upon a BBQ place and got some appetizers and some ribs.  Then since our hotel is so close to the central plaza we decided to go have a drink there and taste some of the finest Belgian beers.  We walked into the plaza and were both completely blown away.  Here are some pictures from the next day when we went back. 

We sat down at a place and got a taste of 5 beers.  I was very at peace sitting there.  We went to sleep shortly after with plans to see all of Brussels the next day. 

I did some research on what to do and had the hotel receptionist circle the stuff on the map.  We started by walking to an open-air flea market and having breakfast at one of the café’s on the outside.  I had an omelet and Kris had a sandwich that the waiter recommended.  Then we walked around the market glancing at the array of random crap that people had.  I got a really old bottle opener that I will use for my keychain and Kris got a few other things including a really old key for a key chain.  I love that idea of some crazy old key for a keychain. 

Then we walked to this giant building called the Justice Palace.  It is enormous, has a gold dome, many statues, looks kind of Roman, and of course is covered in scaffolding.  There is also a really old neighborhood so we circled around to there and passed the “5th avenue” area with designer store after designer store.  The old neighborhood was beautiful.  Brussels is very calm, cute, and old.  The people are also much older.  It was a strange transition coming from Barcelona, which is very young and has a wild nightlife culture.  Brussels is basically the complete opposite.  We stopped and got a few beers and then walked back to the hotel after about 6 hours of walking around seeing pretty anything that you would want to see in a single day. 

We took a little nap and then got some dinner close bye.  Our plan for the night was to go to this place called Delirium Café, which was recommended to me.  It has 2004 beers and a list that is about 200 magazine pages. 

I wrote down the names of the 5 rounds that we had.  First we got the two Delirium beers.  I wanted Duff but they were out.  They were called Delirium Tremens and Delirium Nocturnum.  After that we stuck to the Belgian section.  I had no idea where to start and they were organized by alphabet rather than style so I pretty much chose randomly.  They were all really good.  The other 8 beers that we ordered were Kasteel Red, Chapeau Abricot, Triple Pale Ale, Kosberger Witte, Watou’s Wit Biere Blanche, Ter Dolen Tripel, Saint Bernardus Prior 8, and Saxi Chili.  I think my favorite was the first (Delirium Tremens) because it had a fresh smooth taste and also had 9% alcohol.  The most increadible part about the bar was that the bartenders could get your beer in about 1 minute, and they knew exactly which glass (maybe out of 20 different glasses) to pour it in.  I was shocked.  I don’t know what that bar is doing, but what ever it is, it is working very well.  It was definitely the coolest bar experience of my life.  The only thing that bothered us was the smoking.  The next morning I smelled my shirt and it wreaked of cigarettes. 

Now I am in Prague for a few days and met my friend Becca here.  It should be really excieting. 

Chao for now