Taize 1

The journey was long and included a panic attack, going far too long without food, a very comforting sandwich fromage, and two 3€ Diet Cokes. The panic attack was caused by almost missing my train to Macon from Lyon because none of the machines were working.  I got on the train sans ticket per the barely English-speaking helper and proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes freaking out about how I would explain in a language I don't speak. Luckily, they never asked.

After a flight, tram ride, and train ride, I still had a short bus ride to get to Taizé. This was the highlight of the journey for its amazingly picturesque views.

Upon arrival, I was "welcomed" before dropping off my stuff in the room I would staying in for Saturday night only. We then proceeded to the special Saturday evening prayer.  [Thursday through Sunday of every week are meant to represent the Triduum.] It included a candle light ritual that was extremely touching. I forgot to mention that it started pouring and hailing as soon as I left my room for church. HAIL! I'm 97% sure my trip is cursed.

After the service, I went back to the book I shared with 2 Slovenians, 1 Hungarian, 2 Germans, and a Russian. The Slovenians were only 16 & 17 years old and thought my life was the coolest. HA!


Stay tuned for the next installment!

Cava!

My stomach is soo full right now. Not like the "I had a big dinner and need to lay down" kind of full, but rather the "If I even look at food right now, I might pass out" kind of full. I blame the cava. Or possibly the fact that we started drinking it at 11am.

So I did the tour I mentioned yesterday and it was hands down the best use of my money so far. The morning started by finding the office which just happened to be across from the Palau de la Musica.  I also came across Santa Caterina Market which I will be checking out tomorrow. According to a local, it's better than La Boqueria. Anyway, I met up with my "group" which turned out to be one other guy and our guide. The three of us piled into a van and started out for Sant Saudmí d'Anoia to begin the tours. 

The first tour was Freixenet. It's an internationally known company and the production facility was massive. Even the tour portion was strictly business.  They had a video screening room, large boards with timed-lights, and even a little tram.  Sorta kinda like an adult Disney World. This brand you can try anywhere therefore I didn't purchase any.

The products.

All the sizes.

They spend a lot on Marketing. Freixenet scooter!

The second stop, in the same town, was a family run business called Gramona. It's very old and they still do half of their Reserve and Grand Reserve production by hand.

3/5 of the productions staff cleaning the bottles.

The man in the video is one of the two remaining members of the production staff.  Here he is opening a six year old cava bottle to remove the sediments.  They have to do it by hand and he can do about 1,000 in a day. After he opened this bottle, he let us taste it! Our guide said that rarely happens and was a complete contrast between this small, family run company and the one before. It tasted delicious!

  

After all of these tours, I'm an expert in cava making.  And for those of you who are wondering, cava is really just champagne, but since it is not made in the Champagne region of France it has to have a different name. Cava = cave in Spanish.

Hey, I know her! She knows so much about cava.

The best part.

 At Gramona, they opened bottle after bottle for us.  Since you cannot buy this anywhere outside of a few places near Barcelona, I purchased one for myself of a dessert cava and a mini for my hosts.

After another menú del día of salad, salmon, roasted red peppers, coconut ice cream, and yes, more wine we were on to the last stop, Parés Balta.  This winery is 100% certified organic and again family run. The two sons are the business men and their wives are the winemakers. At this stop we actually went out into the vineyards to see the grapes. You can buy some of these wines in Whole Foods and I high recommend them!

The most homey tasting room, by far.

The goods - cava (x2), red wine, white wine (x2), the best olive oil I've ever tasted.

Afterwards, I went to Xampenyet for tapas and more bubbly drinks. Hence, the food coma. I completely adore this place and that old man.  It was crazy busy, but since I stood at the bar like a good Spanny, I was able to have conversations with the employees. Definitely the best part. 

To conclude this incredibly long post, I'm usually not a fan of pre-planned tours, but for something like a wine tour, it was awesome.  I highly highly recommend touring the wine country in Spain!

Tuesday Things - Spanish Version 1

1. Old buildings with no A/C are not my cup of tea.

2. Chia tea when sick, however, is delicious.

A study in proportions - huge bowl of sugar and a tiiiiny glass.

3. Meeting people from around the world is awesome.  Last week I exchanged email addresses with people from: South Africa, Czech Republic, Hungary, England, Holland, France, Spain, Colombia, Bolivia, and Mexico.

4. Old Spanish men still blatantly stare at any youngish girl. (For some reason I thought this might have changed since the last time.)

5. I miss cooking and eating lots of vegetables.

6. I personally think it's hard to take pictures of one's self. As evidenced by this picture. Scary!

But this woman has it all figured out. She brought her own arm-extender!?!

This is when I wish I knew how to put in those arrows and stuff.

7. In case you were wondering, The Help in Spanish is not called La ayuda or even Los Ayudantes, but rather

8. I apparently have decided that traveling allows me to eat whatever I want, whenever I want. Gelato and cookies for dinner!


9. Speaking of food, the whole menú del día thing really needs to catch on in the US.  Today for lunch (at 3:30pm) I had a an appetizer of some noodle dish, fish with potatos, bread, a glass of wine, and a coffee or 12€.  See what I mean about no vegetables?

10. Tomorrow I am going on this tour. I'm pretty excited about it! And no, I did not pay that price for this trip. Frugal Aaron exists in Spain, too.

Coming "home" to Barcelona.

I'm finally back to the civilized world! Leaving France and coming back to Spain felt like I was coming home.  I returned to a place where I know the language, where I knew how to get to my "house," and generally knew what the heck was happening!

Taizé was overall a good experience, but definitely not what I was anticipating.  If I ever return, I definitely know what I will and won't be doing. In the next few days, I will be posting some of the entries I wrote while there with pictures! I'll do my best to keep them in chronological order and as concise as possible.  If you have other questions or want to hear the full story, let me know!

Now, since I returned sick and I'm in bed at 8:00pm I will leave you with a little ¡yay! story and a few pictures before I type up those other posts.  The people I'm staying with must think I'm über lame.

Today I was on the bus to Parc Güell (whoa - two umlauts in one post) and this woman sat beside me.  I wasn't 100% sure of where I was going but from eavesdropping I found out lots of people were headed in the same direction. Seeing as I kept craning over her to look for the next stop, the woman asked where I was going. I told her and she informed me she worked there.  We began to chat a bit and eventually she asked where I was from because my Spanish was really good!!! Oh yeah, doing all of my Bible reflections in Spanish last week was worth it. (More on that later.) And for all of my readers from the Valdivia clan, she was Cuban :)

Now for fotos...

My view from the bus. So quaint.

The top of the church which has a very interesting interior. There were a few of these.

A little waterfall - part of the "silence" garden.

The view from Taizé. Umm I think I stepped into a painting or a set from Pride & Prejudice.

ACErs, I found Kubb!

And just in case you missed me.

Taizè Intro

I am here! This post will be brief as the French keyboard is quite difficult and the flies are flocking. There were a few hiccups of course in my travels, but the beautiful French countryside more than made up for it. Taizè is remarkable. The music is of course quite famous, but I am in awe of the international community more than anything else. I hqve been ''blogging'' on paper until I can get to a computer so until then think about me without diet coke for 8 days...

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Spanny Legs

I think I've found my sea Spanny legs. All it took was this guy. And the fact that I could finally get money. Yay for money!

I then proceeded to walk around the city all day.   I got lost for a bit and then went on a "free" walking Picasso tour.  After the tour, I explored the harbor area and the beaches.  Point 1 for Barcelona over Madrid - beaches.  Why, Aaron, how ever did you get a picture from so high in the air?

On my walk, I took the cable car to Montjuic! It's a beautiful area I will be exploring more of when I am wearing my tennis shoes.  Up the hill, I was able to cross of my first Spanish bingo item. I did a repeat little later. Then, I found my mom's heaven. Two pools and the beach.

Mom, you are definitely faster than all the people in this pool. 

After I got lost some more in the same neighborhoods, El Born, Barri Gotic, and Barceloneta. (Pardon the mix of Catalan and Castellano.) I had a typical Spanish lunch of a bocadillo in a bag while I walked. Think Subway.

Came home for a brief siesta to get caught up and then I walked even more, did a little shopping and then stopped for tapas. I kind of crossed off another bingo thing with this lovely tapa del día. (I didn't know what it was going to be or what was in it.)

Drink and 3 mini empanadas = approx. 3.67US

Now I am just getting everything ready for a morning of sightseeing and afternoon departure for Taize.  In a bit, I am headed out to meet a friend of a friend for drinks.  Love this country where people meet up at 11pm to start their night. 

"Well, Bessie Bones, nothing is ever easy for you."

Thanks, Mom. (She said this to me after the following ordeal.)

Let me explain. Whenever life is tough for someone, my mother calls said person "Bessie Bones." Today I arrived in Spain and it did not go the way I planned. The flight was fine. I can't really feel my butt and I think one kid burst my eardrum from his yelling, but the movies were great and there was free champagne so I can't complain. Landing in Spain was an entirely different story...

I pick up my luggage to find out that one of the wheels has been damaged. Awesome. So I know have a three-wheeled  43 pound bag and a bum shoulder. I could have handled that. What I couldn't handle was none and I mean none of my credit or debit cards working. And of course this terminal didn't have a a physical money exchange place. Oh yes, and the only way for me to get to where I am staying is by taking the bus. For which I cannot pay. So basically I wander around the airport trying pay phones to call Capital One collect. No está funciona. Eventually after going up and down the stairs with said luggage three times, I burst into tears. I try talking with the bus woman, but an all-nighter plus emotional breakdown meant my Spanish was not working. Next thing I know this man is asking what is wrong and what I need. "I just need to get where I'm stayyyyyinnnnngggg." He proceeds to buy my ticket and wish me a good holiday.

This girl<------------------pathetic.

Then I proceeded to get lost in the middle of Barcelona with the dang bum luggage and shoulder. The streets he told me to take do not in fact exist by those names. Needless to say I was a hot, sweaty mess upon arrival.

You're probably thinking, well silly didn't you call and tell your cards you were traveling. I did!!! Twice! The debit card I didn't and that's totally my fault because I swear last time I didn't have to, but after getting credit card scammed last week, I was super on top of those. UGH!

So I still don't have cash, but I can at least charge things if necessary.  Like at a Super Mercat for a Magnum White and a Coca-Cola Light. I'm calling it lunch and dinner because I just don't have it in me to leave again today.

Wish me better luck tomorrow!

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