Recycling

The public services in Barcelona are impressively efficient. Trains are consistently on time; Town employees come through the streets cleaning sidewalks with brooms and water on a weekly basis;  Workers are constantly emptying public trashcans throughout the city and the garbage truck does their thing daily.

There are big garbage bins on virtually every corner and that is where everyone dumps their trash. The bins have a cool lever at the bottom that you can use your foot to open which is handy (pun intended) when you are getting rid of bags of garbage! :)

Recycling, however, is a separate effort. On every other corner or so, there are three recycling bins set up where people deposit their recycling. The bins are color coded: blue for paper, green for glass and yellow for plastic. The local hardware store sells corresponding buckets for you to collect your recycling at home so of course we had to buy them!

We have our colored buckets set up on our back patio and have to take the trip a couple of blocks away to the recycling bins pretty regularly. It is a part of city life that we have embraced!

These are the recycling bins that we frequent!

These are the buckets we use to collect recycling at home. I wish the green one was bigger because we drink lots of wine so it fills up fast!

This is a recycling bin for glass in the town on Vic. I noticed on our last adventure outside of Barcelona that bins come in different forms. The bins in Vic seems to hold the contents underground. Not sure how they access it though, but I found it interesting!

Weekend Adventure

Bucky and I decided to explore Catalonia over the weekend. We went online last week and basically looked up "the most charming towns in the Pyrenees" and found a few that we wanted to see! We made reservations to stay overnight on Saturday in Besalu at a hotel that allowed dogs, so we set out on our adventure early Saturday morning with India!

Since we were not in a rush, we decided to take the smaller roads north. We searched for alternate routes in the car's navigation system, and chose those that took the longest. Our first destination was Vic, a town that was about an hour and a half away. The town was teeming with people! We luckily found parking on the street and then sought out the main square. To our surprise and delight, there was a huge market set up! There were lots of vendors selling clothes and household goods, and many hawking fresh fruits and vegetables and even chickens!!

India was a bit overwhelmed by all of the activity within the square, but we did a tour of the market and then explored some of the quieter streets around town. It really did seem like every inhabitant of Vic was out and about that Saturday morning. Apparently, that is the place to be in Vic! Unfortunately, we didn't think about seeking out the Temple of Vic while we were on foot, but decided to do so once we got back to the car. After three attempts of driving through town, we decided the that effort was too challenging and we aborted. We can always go back to see the temple!

We then headed to Olot which was another town on the list of most charming. We took the scenic route which lead us through some pretty treacherous mountain roads. The drive was somewhat nerve-wracking, but the views were lovely. We drove to the center of Olot, but didn't see anything that really interested us so we headed to the main park right outside of town. It was lovely and India was in heaven. We walked the trails through the woods, explored the nooks and crannies of the property and had an interesting interaction with a half dozen geese - well, actually, India had the interaction! She was very interested in the big birds that sat on the edge of the pond we discovered. She ran over to greet them and they squawked and scurried into the water. Smart birds since India hates the water!!

We eventually made our way to the town where we would spend the evening, Besalu. When we were approaching the destination, we were less than thrilled with the surroundings, but at the last turn, we came upon a magnificent medieval town. It was totally impressive! Our hotel was at the foot of the bridge that went into the town so we had a spectacular view. We had a late lunch in the town and spent the rest of the evening wandering the cobble-stoned streets and the surrounding riverside. Besalu was a quiet town, but imagined that it is probably crazy busy during the summer. It was a lovely place to visit.

To my great pleasure and surprise, there was even a vide grenier right next to our hotel the next morning! So we enjoyed wandering around and checking out the old and unusual wares. We did not buy anything, but it was fun to look! We decided that we would take the route along the Costa Brava back to Barcelona. We were hoping to find some cute towns along the way and spend some time with India on the beach. The drive turned out to be great - lots of windy roads and spectacular views - but the towns were disappointing. They were very touristy and lacked the quaintness we were hoping for. It was still fun to explore and see some new places. The beaches we found were pretty, but none allowed dogs so we moved on. We got back home on Sunday evening pleased with our adventure! Enjoy the pictures below!

The market in Vic.

Chickens at the market! India was definitely intrigued!

Shopping!

The park in Olot.

Plane trees at the park in Olot!

Exploring at the park!

The geese safely in their pond!!

Besalu (and India!)

Pretty spectacular!

The view from our hotel.

Our hotel in Besalu.

A few of my favorite dog things I have found thus far in BCN

This is an example of where you leave your dog when you go into a store that doesn't allow dogs. I have yet to do this since I KNOW India will bark and bark and bark, but it is good to know it is an option!

This is one of the dog bars we came upon during one of our walks. I thought this was cool!!! Funny that it is in English!!

This is a bar AT THE DOG PARK for the dog owners (and others who may want to imbibe)! This is our favorite dog park so far - at least according to the two legged Walls!

Cheers!!!

Nice views

In between job hunting, I have spent lots of time this week exploring the city with India. I have discovered new dog parks everyday which is fun. The dog parks are fenced in areas within parks that house water features, playgrounds for kids and open spaces for people to hang out. The specific dog areas are usually just dirt, but they are clean, have benches for the dogs' owners and always a water fountain. It is nice to be able to let India off the leash so she can run around and socialize with the Spanish dogs. She may even be working on her Spanish language skills! Mostly, I smile and say 'hola' to the other owners, but that is the extent of my conversations so far.

Yesterday, we went to the dog park at Sagrada Familia which is just lovely. The view can't really be beat and it was a reminder of how fortunate we are to be on this adventure. Today, I found another dog park in Jardins del Mestre Balcells which I sought out via a new route to Park Guell. After a short stop at the new dog park, we headed up the (big) hill to Park Guell where were found yet another dog park at an entrance that was new to us! We wandered around Park Guell a while and enjoyed the views and then headed home.

We are enjoying the sites, but now I just need to find a job!

The view from the dog park at Sagrada Familia.

Another view of Sagrada Familia from Park Guell.

Barcelona from Park Guell.

Christmas tree update

For those of you who read in a previous post that we are keeping our Christmas tree on the back patio to see if it lives until next year, I just wanted to let you know that I have discovered that we are probably the only fools doing so. While walking India this week, I noticed numerous "corrals" set up throughout the city where people are encouraged to bring their trees to be recycled. I guess I assumed that since the trees are live (with roots and in dirt), that people would nurture them for another year. It looks like, however, that most people do the sensible thing and recycle their trees. We will probably end up doing the same thing, but can't really imagine hauling our heavy, bare tree to one of the recycling corrals. We shall see!!

Here is a picture of one of the places to leave your tree. The sign says you have until January 17th to bring your tree. We have another week to decide our tree's fate!

Kings' Day Parade

People in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, take parades seriously. In preparation for the Christmas parade, they put chairs out along Coleman Boulevard for front row seating. They back their pick up trucks in parking lots days before the parade occurs so that they have a place to settle in and enjoy once the parade begins. Since Barcelona is a big city, setting up chairs and parking for days are not options, but the Spaniards are just as serious about their parade watching.

Kings' Day (January 6th) is a huge celebration in Spain. Apparently, the story is that the three kings arrive in Barcelona on January 5th by boat and then they ride through the city. Some old friends from Eygalieres were in town for the weekend, so we made plans to meet them along the parade route and we would watch some of the parade and then go out to dinner. Little did we know that the parade was such a big production!

We took the metro to meet our friends and everyone in Barcelona was on the metro. We were crammed into the car and were held up but each other! When we got on the metro at our station, people just pushed each other in and we just rode the wave. As we went to find our friends, I noticed some people with ladders walking through the streets and assumed they were finishing up some work. When we arrived at the parade route, however, I learned that these inventive Spaniards were using ladders to see the parade! They had hauled them on the metro and through the streets so that they could perch upon them and see the sites. 

That is obviously the way to watch the Kings' Day parade in Barcelona, because we could see very little from street level! What we could glimpse was spectacular and we will plan better for next year's event! Even though we didn't see much of the parade (since we were without a ladder!), we ended up having a wonderful evening with friends!!

Smart people on a ladder.

Ladder in the metro!

Me with Veronique!!!

Bucky and Alain!!

New Year celebration

Since it was just Bucky and me, we didn't make big plans to celebrate New Years Eve. I made chicken curry for dinner and we enjoyed some cava which is Spain's equivalent of champagne! We did some research to find out if there were any Spanish traditions that we needed to embrace and we discovered that eat 12 grapes at midnight. Basically, you eat a grape for each stroke of midnight and then you will have a good year! Packages of 12 grapes are sold at the local grocery stores or you can just buy a big hunk of grapes and eat 12. Bucky set out on New Years Eve day to buy our grapes so we got slim pickings, but we did get one pre-made bag and a few other random grapes so that we each had twelve!

We turned on the TV for the countdown and did the grape eating with the folks on the TV. I was successful in eating all twelve grapes while the clock tolled, but Bucky was challenged. I assured him that I would share my good fortune for the year with him and give him pointers for how to be successful eating the twelve grapes next year. Happy 2018!!

Happy New Year!! Looks like India may want to try them!!

Being Sporty

Bucky and I are not sporty. We joke often about not being sporty. I would love to be sporty. I admire my sporty friends - in fact, I envy them! Just hasn't been our thing. Since we adopted India, however, we have gotten out and about more than we would have if we didn't have her. In fact, we took India to Sullivan's Island beach almost every Sunday morning when we were in Charleston. If we didn't have India, we certainly would not have hauled ourselves to walk the beach every weekend!

We have been looking for outdoorsy (or what we call "sporty") things to do with India in Barcelona. We found the Parc de Collserola online and decided to check it out. The directions we initially followed took us to a deserted mountain lookout near the city so we regrouped and followed new directions to the correct place.

Since it is the middle of winter, the place was pretty empty of people, but Bucky, India and I had a great time exploring the trails, wandering around the woods and being "sporty." Parc de Collserola is definitely a place we will return to in the future!

Strolling through the woods.

India loved being off leash.

India looks very sporty here!!

Day-tripping to Perpignan

Since our outing to Sitges was a success, we decided to go a bit further the following day. Since our time in Eyalieres (see that blog for more details!), I have been obsessed with vide greniers. Vide greniers are basically town garage sales in France. Vide means empty and grenier means attic so you can imagine that there are often many treasures at these events! I have been aching to go to a vide grenier, so Bucky and I did some research and found two that were planned in Perpignan, France! Perpignan is about a two and a half hour drive from here, so we got up early so that we could make sure to see the goods at the vide greniers. We opted against bringing India since we wanted some flexibility for the day.

Bucky did the driving and I did the navigating (with the help of Google maps of course!). The trip was easy and it was nice to be driving under the vast blue sky of Spain. It was nostalgic for us both as we crossed the border to France. Our time in Eygalieres was magical and it was nice to be back in that country. We found the first vide grenier without problem. It was set up in a park under the plane trees and was lovely. We slowly walked to each vendor and perused the old items. We didn't end up buying anything, but the trip was worth it just for the experience of enjoying the vide grenier.

The second one was in a field outside of the town and the "stuff" was not very interesting - lots of clothes and household goods, but it was fun to wander around. We didn't buy anything there either! But we had plans to go to some of our old French favorite shopping spots so we headed out to find Castorama and Fly. We found a few essentials for our apartment and had fun wandering around the stores.

It was getting close to 2pm so we thought we would head towards the sea to find a spot for lunch. We had no idea where to go so just decided on a place on the map that looked to be on the water. We plugged that town into the car's navigation system and headed that way. Unfortunately, we missed a turn off so we were stuck in the middle of nowhere on small, country roads for a while. We decided that if the roads turned into dirt roads, we would get concerned. So, when they did, we reprogrammed the navigation system to take us to another town further south.

What a pleasant surprise we had when we arrived at our new destination! We ended up in Collioure, another enchanting town on the sea that we plan to return to! We had an amazing lunch sitting at the edge of the sea and talked about how lucky we were to be on this adventure together! Eventually, we knew we needed to head home since our four legged friends were waiting for us, but had they not been, we may have spent a couple of days enjoying Collioure!!

The vide grenier under the plane trees. Pure happiness for me!

The other vide grenier we found - less impressive, but check out the snow covered mountain in the background. That was AMAZING!

Our view from the restaurant where we ate lunch in Collioure!

More of the beach in Collioure!

Yet another view!

Sitges

After the girls left on December 28th, Bucky and I went out to his office to pick up his car so that we could do some day trips. He has a car for work because he often needs to drive from his office to his major client. He leaves his car out at his office because driving in the city is daunting and he enjoys the commute via public transportation. But the car is definitely nice to have so we wanted to take advantage of it.

Our first outing was to the precious, sea-side town of Sitges. It is just about 45 minutes from us, but seems like a world away because of its quaintness. Of course, we took India so she could frolic on the beach which she did with enthusiasm! We just spent a couple of hours in Sitges, walking along the beach and meandering through the small streets of the old town, but agreed we need to return for a longer visit.

Inida frolicking on the beach!

Bucky and India on the beach in Sitges, I LOVE this picture!

There are lots of alleyways that lead to the beach!

The meandering streets are interesting and quaint!

India's first metro ride - luckily, it was to the beach!

We are fortunate to live about a three minute walk to a metro station that takes us directly to the beach! It is about six or so stops to the most popular beach and just another stop or so to the dog beach. Yes, there is a dog beach in Barcelona! We took India there for an outing which was quite interesting.

Dogs can travel on the metro, but they need to have a soft muzzle. So, I did my duty, and bought a soft muzzle for India. Most of the dogs you see on the metro just have the muzzle around their necks and not actually secured to their faces, so I followed suit. With her muzzle on, we walked to the stairs that descend into the metro. India stopped cold and clamped her nails into the concrete. She was not going down.

So, we walked her over to the elevator that is available to people (and in this case, pets, who need it) and waited for it to arrive. Again, she tried clawing the concrete and I tried dragging her into the metal box. Eventually, I pulled her over the metal threshold and she was on her way down.

With some maneuvering (i.e. pulling, prodding and bribing), we got India to the platform. While waiting for the train to arrive, we talked out what we might have to do to get her on the train. When the train arrived, we went with Plan B which meant Bucky picked India up and plopped her on the train. I am sure all of the Spaniards thought we were nuts. She hid under the seats the entire ride and when we finally arrived at our stop, she darted off of the train and sprung up the steps to the daylight.

We walked about 10 minutes or so to the beach and she was in heaven. I feel sure that the metro trip faded from her memory the minute she put her paws in the sand. Little did she know, we had to get home, but we didn't worry about that for a while and just enjoyed the beach, the water, and chasing the ball.

The ride home was less traumatic for everyone. Bucky didn't even have to pick her up this time to get on the train. India is adapting well to the city life although she loves her trips to the beach!!

India hiding under the seat and in between my feet.

In heaven!

With Lucie.

With Bucky!

The holidays

Lucie and Kathleen came to Barcelona to celebrate Christmas with us! Lucie arrived on December 14th and Kathleen got here on December 18th. We spent lots of family time together, playing cards, drinking cava and seeing the sites. Because I was engrossed in the family for the holidays, I didn't take the time to blog, but I did take pictures of things so that I could blog when I had time so look out for an onslaught of posts.

After some quality family time, Kathleen and Lucie both left us on December 28th, Kathleen going back to New York City to spend the New Year with her love, Venice, and Lucie to Paris to visit friends. Lucie got back to Barcelona on December 28th and we have enjoyed the past couple of days with her. She was supposed to leave today to fly back to Charleston, but due to snow in New York and Charleston, her flights were cancelled. So she is stuck with the parents for another couple of days. Not a bad place to be stuck really.

I didn't take tons of pictures during our time together, but I did get the few below showing real life in Barcelona at Christmastime!

Our live tree that we got at the market at Sagrada Familia. When I "undecorated" for Christmas, we moved the tree out to the patio. We are dying to see if it will live until next Christmas, but hopes are not high!

This is the family in front of Sagrada Familia. We toured it on December 23rd after a lovely lunch nearby (which included cava, of course). The interior to the church is just AMAZING.

India got this cool coat for Christmas. She loves it. This is Christmas morning!

I love to take pictures of the girls on the metro, usually when they are not looking. This time I got caught!

They returned the favor and took our picture! Not sure where we were headed, but I think it was the flea market!