Travel Notes: Barcelona

Now and then, timing is everything, and during the last weeks luck was seriously on our side. I had to fly to Germany on business, the husband had to go there at the same time, and we managed to take a week off for a short well-earned vacation.

We flew to Barcelona, where we rented a holiday flat in the Sant Marti neighborhood. Leaving behind the winter in Buenos Aires and enjoying the summer temperatures in Spain was only part of the fun.

We took walks along the beach and through our favorite barrios. We ate fish and tapas whenever we could and went to our favorite church, the Catedral del Mar, and lit a candle. We spent one afternoon on the beach sunbathing and doing nothing, and we finally visited the city museum, a thing we hadn’t managed to do while still living there. But the best part of course was meeting old friends and catching up with them.

In one case, we did this up north on the Costa Brava coast in beautiful S’Agaro. Our friends took us there on a day trip to give us the chance to get away from the busy city streets and enjoy a break at the waterside. The one-hour-drive in itself was very nice since it took us through the green hills of the hinterland and gave us plenty of time to chat with our friends – and listen to the international music mix that our driver a.k.a. DJ Jaume played for us.

S’Agaro is one of the smaller coastal towns on Costa Brava with a beautiful bay and a small harbor. A well-maintained footpath along the coast connects the different bays and beaches, and we took it for a relaxed stroll underneath the pine trees, checking out the vista and the picturesque villas that stand along the way. We went as far as Sa Conca bay with one of the best beaches in Spain, and then returned to S’Agaro for a delicious paella and a glass of red wine. Ah, just one of those perfect summer days. Again, thank you, guys!

Apart from spending a very relaxing week free of work and recharging the batteries, our trip to Barcelona once again confirmed our determination to come back as often as we can manage and perhaps grow some form of roots in this amazing city. But for the time being we have returned to Buenos Aires to see what experiences this differently amazing place has in store for us.

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Birthday, Daahling

Is it a coincidence that for the third year in a row the husband wasn’t with me on my birthday? Or is it some sick cosmic sense of humor that always sends him away on a business trip on that day? In 2011, he had to go to a meeting in Germany and I organized my Girl’s day on the town. Last year, he had to go Shanghai, but luckily I was in Germany at the time and could celebrate with my parents and my best friend. And this year, he had to be in Mexico City and was only able to take the night flight and arrive back in BsAs the following day. So I was on my own again.

Taking the day off from the office was of course a given, as was setting up a full agenda to keep myself entertained. Luckily, this year I could count on a few good friends to share the day with me which made it more fun. I started the celebration with brunch at Oui Oui in Palermo Hollywood and a good natter with a German friend over a delicious (and huge) portion of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast which left me fully fortified for my next agenda item. 

I had booked half day with a photographer from the Foto Ruta team here in Buenos Aires who took me through the barrio of Montserrat. After a quick introduction to the basics of photography we changed the automatic settings of my camera to manual and off we went on the lookout for interesting motives, on which I could practice aperture and shutter speed. It was a windy day so the changes between cloudy and sunny kept me pretty busy, and to make it even more challenging the dials in my camera acted up a bit. But all in all it was good fun and I even managed to take a few artsy shots.

After a quick tea break it was then time for the weekly tango class that I also take alone when the husband is not around. Believe it or not but there are tons of things the women can learn without the male partner, such as the nifty adornos that the follower can bring to the game whenever she feels like it.

For my birthday dinner I had chosen Peruvian cuisine at the RAWA resto close to Teatro Colon. It is more on the economic side but like its flagship restaurant Chan Chan it serves great ceviche and fantastic Pisco Sours. Plus the décor is hard to beat with its colorful painted walls full of Machu Picchu scenery. I met my friend there after the class and shared a few of the typical Peruvian dishes to get the full variety. When it was time for desert my flan was quickly adorned with a candle and my friends sang and clapped the typical birthday ditty “Que te cumplas feliz” that I had already heard as a bystander a hundred times in the neighbors’ gardens. Well, when in Argentina …

It was a fun day and I really enjoyed it very much. And the best thing was that I got a repeat celebration when the husband landed the next day with a guilty conscience and invited me to Osaka, where we had a fantastic Peruvian-Japanese fusion dinner. Who says you can only celebrate your birthday once?