Sitges - Day Two

We all were up around 8 this morning. I used my AeroPress to make coffee for Aliza and me so we were off to a good start. We all went to Cafe Roy this morning for breakfast - cafe con leche and croissants and a bikini for me. A good start to a quiet Sunday morning. Since then Sitges has come alive. Many people are out walking and shopping and eating and drinking. I went for a walk up to the train station and then through the San Sebastian area to San Sebastian beach where I spent time simply sitting in the sun on a bench and watching people walk by. I then walked to the church and found that the museums that were being worked on the past two years are now open again. A sad note, our favorite jewelry store is part of a block under major reconstruction. The storefront is still there but nothing behind the facade. I'll post a picture another time.

 

Jason and Mary made it here, arriving around 12:30. We are still waiting on Aliza's bag, and it turns out Mary's bag. Hers went to Puerto Rico.

 

We had lunch at La Salseta which was, as usual, wonderful. We started with a rosado cava and calcots and croquettas. Aliza had squid, Jason duck, Katie beef , and bacaloa for me, some vino tinto, desserts, and coffee. All delicious. The bacloa was probably the best I have had in Spain. It is now 7:15 and Katie, Aliza, and I just got back froma walk. We got a loaf of bread and some cheese for dinner tonight and some excercise. We are now in for the night. Jason is crashed on the lounger in the living area, and Mary is out in one of the bunk beds.

 

 

 

Sitges - Day One

Katie and I arrived on time in Barcelona - around 9:40 and quickly made it through Passport Control. I knew I was in Barcelona when the Passport agent said "Vale" when he was done with me. We waited a while for our bags and then sat down near where Aliza's bag was scheduled to arrive. Aliza showed up about 45 minutes later but her bag never showed. We had plenty of time before our scheduled bus at 12:40 so Aliza waited in line to report her missing bag. Then we went out to grab the MonBus, which was about 45 minutes late. While on the bus I saw another sign I was in Catalonia - a bus stop hooker standing by chair at a bus stop.

With our arrival in Sitges we went from hurry up and wait to lots of activity as we settled in. We dropped our bags and then went for lunch - it was already past 2:00. We headed to the pier only to find that it is closed for major remodeling. No pier for us! We ended up at inside at Cafė Amore. The outside tables were taken and we were hungry! I had sopa de pescado and Katie and Aliza had gaspacho to start and we were very happy! As we ate we worked on our shopping list - all essentials for the piso such as paper goods and soap. Then we worked on the list for the essentials for our well being - vino, pan, queso, jamon.

After lunch we took a break at the piso until 5:00 when the shops reopened and then headed for the market. We divided and quickly worked through the market list. We stopped at my favorite liquor shopping spot and got cava, vino tinto, and vino rosado. I picked up a loaf of bread at my favorite bakery then we went to the piso to unload. While there I decided to have a shower - which turned out to be a cold one as we had no hot water. The water heater had not been plugged in. Yet, a cold water shower was better than no shower! Next stop the carceneria for jamon!

Aliza and I put dinner on the table around 8:30. We had jamon, olives, salad, cheese, and bread. A delicious feast along with cava and vino tinto. We then did our best to stay up until 10:00 then we all crashed.

 

On The Way To Spain

Katie and I are off to Sitges today. First to Miami and then to Barcelona via plane and then a bus to Sitges. As I write we are about two and a half hours into our flight to Barcelona. We started out i. Chicago this morning. Sharon dropped me off at O'Hare and Katie had a friend drop her off. We checked in and breezed through security and to our gate. We flew a 777 to Miami and were in bulkhead seats with loads of legroom. This was and felt like a large airplane. After an uneventful trip to Miami we walked quite a bit in the terminal and then had a nice lunch at a Cuban restaurant. We were surprised it was not table service but we enjoyed ourselves nevertheless. We boarded our flight to Barcelona and found that after a 777 a 767 seems small. We are currently in the middle of the "Main Cabin Extra" seating section between Business Class and the rest of us cattle. We do have plenty of legroom so I cannot complain. I could not however get my backpack into the overhead over our seats without taking a few things out. O.K., I did not pack light, but sheesh, my backpack is not large. My ukulele is under the seat and my hat is hanging from the seat in front of me, Not a lot of room in the bin. We had a decent light dinner and now I have to try to fall asleep to pass the next six hours - after I finish writing.

I've now listening to Pink Floyd on the iPad. This is my goto overnight flight music. It is something I can doze to. The Hawking movie is playing in the cabin, but my seat's audio connection is missing. Also, while the seat has a 12 volt outlet it does not have a 110 outlet. This is an old plane. I left my 12 volt to USB connector at home, knowing I would not need it. Now I do as I am down to 50% power. Oh, well, maybe sleep will come.

We meet Aliza in Barcelona and then take the Monbus to Sitges. Katie and I have already made plans for lunch on the pier and covered our major shopping needs. We are ready to relax in Sitges.

 

Argh!

A couple of weeks ago I purchased a wireless device that enables me to move photos from my SD cards to either a USB device or my iPad. It is a bit slow in use but does the job it was designed to do. No I can back up all of my photos onto a USB thumb drive of portable harddrive.

Today I cannot find it and I am frustrated! I have looked everywhere that I suspected it to be and everywhere where I used it. No luck. I continue to wonder where I could have put it or where it might have fallen. I am confident I will find it and will abuse myself for finding it where I find it, but i. the meantime I am very frustrated.

If you run across a RAVPower Wireless File Hub, let me know!

Update! It is found!!! It was in the bottom of my backpack where I looked several times.

Madison and Ukuleles

Yesterday we started with a trip to Mundeline for a Memorial Mass for a good friend, John Poletto. Just had a tough two years fighting lung cancer and the cancer won. He was a good guy, wicked smart, a hard worker and player, a funny guy, and a good friend. We miss him, but have many good, happy memories.

After the service we drove to Madison, Wisconsin to see and hear The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. If you have not heard of them, follow the link or look them up on You Tube. They are fun, funny, very talented uke players. We enjoyed the concert and spent the entire time grinning an laughing - a wonderful experience.
Madison is a very interesting spot. It is a college town, and the walk from our hotel to the theatre confirmed that. Saturday night and the kids were about. Lots of bars and cafes line the main street from the Capitol to the heart of campus. There is quite a cafe culture there with many outdoor drinking and eating venues. There also seemed to be a large homeless contingent.

Observation on the audience. Many of the folks in the audience seemed to be very local and they knew each other. I suspect many were University employees. The average age was not that of students but much older. Many I overheard knew of the Ukes but many had no idea what they were about. It was an interesting group likely typical of a University.

We had a pleasant stay, had an excellent steak dinner at Johnny Delmonico's, loved the concert, nice walk to and from the concert, and a nice free room at the Hilton. Life is good.

 

A Short Trip To Davenport

This weekend we drove to Davenport on Saturday night to spend Sunday with the Knoxes. We had a very nice, relaxing visit with Katy, Kevin, and Brady. It is only about a 2 1/2 hour drive so it is easy to do for short visit. Why don't we do this more often? Brady is one of my favorite subjects.

 

Great In Low Light

My new Panasonic Lumix LX100 with a f1.7 lens is great in low light.