Some Best Eats in Barcelona

Some Favorite Places to Eat by Neighborhood:

Gracia
Cal Boter (rec by McKendree)
C/ Tordera 62

L'Eixample
Me
París, 162

Tapaç 24
C/ Diputació 269 off Passeig de Gràcia


Las Ramblas
Bar Pinoxto
Mercat de Boqeria

Mont Juic
La Bella Napoli
C/ Margarit 101


El Born
La Fianna
Banys Vells, 15

The Palace Bar Barcelona (Just for a drink and maybe some football)
Carrer Vigatans 13


Helpful Websites:
Veggie Options
http://www.sincarne.net/index.htm

Street Culture
http://streetsofbarcelona.com/

Barcelona by Neighborhood

Gracia
Low key area north of Eixample and Avig Diagonal


L'Eixample "extension" (left and right)
Home of Modernist architecture sites such as:
Gaudi's Casa Mila, Casa Batllo and Casa Calvet
Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and Park Guell

Las Ramblas the main artery of the city divided in five sections
Rambla Canaletes
Rambla dels Estudis/Rambla dels Ocells ( Avenue of the Birds)
Rambla de Sant Josep/Rambla de les Flors (Rambla of the Flowers)
Rambla dels Caputxins
Rambla de Santa Monica
Ends at the sculpture of Columbus at Port Vell and the Mediterranean Sea

Raval
South of Eixample, west of Rambla
Home to MACBA and CCCB

El Born
Santa Maria del Mar is a Gothic church from the XIV century
Picasso museum on Montcada

Barrio Gótico
Medieval centre of the city

Mont Juic
Home to the magic fountain made for the World Fair in 1929 and where you can experience the Mies van der Rohe


Helpful websites:
http://www.barcelona.com
http://wikitravel.org/en/Barcelona

Barcelona December 2009

I haven't had time to process. I realize that even with digital technology to help speed things up, I still like the speed of film and time to process. Not having had my own space for some time now, my mind is just jumbled with external information. Maybe living quietly in the country would suit me. Just me and Meta. Though I am recognizing the desire for a partner, I am also recognizing that finding an good mate might be a life long challenge that only fate can arrange. Openness on my part is what I can control, but the rest...Meanwhile, I have started my search for alternative life plans.

For now, here is my basic itinerary from my trip to Barcelona. 


Day 1: Friday, 4/12/09

Arrived early in the morning, after about 7 hours in the air from JFK.

Aerobus to the center of town at Plaça de Catalunya (approx. 30 mins)

Missing my intended stop at Plaça de la Universitat, I back tracked in the beautiful morning light towards Carrer de Muntaner and my Barcelona apartment. Instructed to walk "up" Muntaner, against traffic, I finally arrived at my destination: 93-5-3 Muntaner. And by fifth floor, I mean 7 flights up with luggage. Not fun, but the apt is very special. Like being on my own little boat with small boat-sized compartments, bathroom and bedroom. The apartment belongs to a photographer named Darius. Upon arrival, I was amused to see so many similarities in choices of books, films, ways of organizing...
Generally, I find male photographers to be organized, clean and able to plan ahead. Darius is prototypical. The only difference is there are many photos of nude women laying around the apt, while I just have the one of a young boy, casually left unframed on the shelf in the kitchen. After acquainting myself with the shower and hot water situation here, I joined the masses in siesta! Set the alarm to wake me for the Modernist Building walking tour and crashed. Cold and tired, as close to the electric heater as I could safely manage.

I woke up a bit late and my hair was crazy. Tried to tame it and get out the door as fast as I could. Didn't have time for a leisurely stroll toward the Placa Catalunya Tourism Office, so had to hail a cab. It's always hard to know what the protocol is for hailing cabs in different cities and countries. As a New Yorker, I just raised my hand and stood by the nearest intersection. It took a few rounds of lights, but got one! 4 euros later I was back in Plaça de Catalunya looking for 17S, not knowing yet what "S" could stand for. Asked a uniformed man where the office was in my best Spanish and he pointed toward the center of the plaza and said go down the stairs in English.

Found the right desk, but no attendant. Ran outside and found the group, but the guide told me to I had to turn in my voucher first and get the program. Needless to say, they left me while I waited in line to talk to someone about the damn voucher. Pretty lame. At least I left with the pamphlet and map of the tour. Heading out, I tried to "catch up" to get something out of the 12 euros I had spent, but alas, I was meant to walk it alone. Blessings in disguise. So, after a bit of fumbling and orienting myself to the map, I wandered up Rbla. Catalunya, passing number 2 on the tour, Casas Pon i Pascual, at the corner of Pg. Gracia.

The Official Tour Book lists these sights:

1. Palau de la Musica Catalana

2. Casas Pon i Pascual; Cases Antoni Rocamora

3. Casa Pia Batillo

4. Editorial Montaner i Simon - Fundacio A. Tapies

5. Mansana de la Discordia, Casa Batllo, Casa Amatller & Casa Albert Lleo Morera

6. Casa Vidua Marfa

7. Casa Pere Milla i Camps "La Pedrera"; Casa Ramon Casas

Day 2: Saturday, 5/12/09

Jet Lag. Woke up at 4 am and planned the trip to Cadaques. Fell back asleep and woke up around 4 pm. There goes the day. Good thing I'm in Barcelona, where the night is just as important as the day!

Met Barry for a coffee. Spent a few hours catching up! Things are going well for him and he has done some really fun things since I knew him in Athens, GA.

Will post some links to some commercials he stared in. Every artist has a day job at some point in the trajectory. Looks like he has been having fun! And much more lucrative than my non-profit work and even the editing/production work. I'm considering getting into voice work...

Day 3: Sunday, 6/12/09

Katie P arrived

I began to loose track of things...

Day 4: Monday, 7/12/09

00073 TALGO

08.37

10.24

1 h. 47 min.

We missed the train, but were able to catch one a bit later. In order to keep the promised pick up time with out hotel in Cadaques, we had to skip the Dali Museum and head straight from Figueres Train Station to the Bus heading for Cadaques. All worked out in the end, but we were off to a shaky start. Travel is all about being able to react quickly to unforeseen events. Part of the adventure.

BARCELONA-SANTS

Renfe Train to Figures (€18.60 round-trip

Estació de Renfe-Figueres

Autobús Figueres - Cadaqués (Sarfa Bus to Cadaqués 60 min, €4.75)

Arrive in Cadaqués

Car from Hotel waiting for us...Cadaqués to Port Lligat.

Check in to Hotel Sol Ixent, Sant Baldiri, 10, +34972251043

reserves@hotelsolixent.com

Walk to House-Museum Salvador Dali

Cala de Portlligat - 17488 Portlligat

TICKET PICK-UP

Tour Portlligat (50 mins)

Dinner at the Hotel Sol Ixent. (approx $60)

Day 5: Tuesday, 8/12/09

Woke up before dawn and walked out toward the edge of the cliff by the water to watch the sun rise.

I needed this alone time and felt grateful for being able to see a sunrise over the Mediterranean Sea.

Breakfast Buffet then Check out

Self-guided tour the natural surroundings of Cap de Creus and town of Cadaqués

Sarfa bus back to Figueres (60 min, €4.75)

Arrive in Figueres

Walk to Dali Museum

Renfe Train to Barcelona (approx 2 hours, $30 round trip)

Arrive in Barcelona

Dinner at Made in China, just across the street. Really nice spot and very good food.
Bonus: wifi (pronounced wee-fee) libre!

Day 6: Wednesday, 9/12/09

Days back in Barcelona, started off slowly.

 I headed out leaving Katie in the apartment.

CCCB had an amazing show of photo journalistic images.
WORLD PRESS PHOTO 2009
International professional photojournalism exhibition

For the fifth consecutive year, Photographic Social Vision Foundation, in collaboration with the CCCB, presents World Press Photo 09. The World Press Photo exhibition - a collection of the winning entries in the World Press Photo Competition - is internationally recognized as the most important touring exhibition of photojournalism in the world. As well as displaying the best photographs of 2008, it is also a historic document of the main news events of the year.

MACBA had a couple shows up: John Cage and other conceptual artist influenced by Modernism.

Without working cell phones, it was hard to know what to do in an event that one of us missed a meeting time, so after waiting for an hour and a half, I decided to find lunch and go ahead into MACBA, but i rushed through worried about Katie and what had happened. I walked around the Rabla Area until I found an internet computer station, where it cost me 2 Euro for and hour. Finally, was able to reach Katie through email and find out she was in the apt. Locked in...A comedy of errors. But actually she was happy to stay in and get some work done. I rushed home and we went for dinner at Los Caracoles in the old Gothic Area. After dinner, we went to Club Pippa, which is off the placa Reial. A place I had learned about through researching Barcelona prior to the trip. It was a pipe smoking club by day and an bar by night. THIS is the night I got my phone stolen! Walking after dinner from the Gothic are across to lower Raval, in search of the absinthe bar. Everything after dinner, was a bad scene.

Day 7: Thursday, 10/12/09

Park Guell

Exterior of the Sagrada Famila (in time for night lights)

Walked to the Gracia Area and found Cal Boter, which was recommended by McKendree.

Lovely neighborly place.

We walked back and wandered into a neighborhood pub called the Philharmonic where we met Rob, the bartender and sound technician from Glasgow Scotland.

Day 8: Friday, 11/12/09

La Sagrada Familia

-under construction since 1882...

a location for one of my favorite films: Antonioni's The Passenger (1975)

Back to Sagrada Familia to go inside and up the tower on the lift.

Evening Mont Juic for the Magic Fountain Show and see the Mies Van Der Rohe Pavillion.

Ai Weiei had performed an intervention in the pool, filling it with a milky substance, transforming the clear water plane to a white opaque filled object. At night, the fountain and light show reflected on the glass walls of the pavilion, making it even more magical that I could have imagined. This is the place dan told me he didn't pay to go inside because he didn't see the point, when he could just look inside the glass walls. He has no idea. After seeing it for myself, I can tell you it was more than worth the 4 Euro to enter and walk through the space and experience the space from within.

Dinner at Napolian's south of the Mont Juic area.

Day 9: Saturday. 12/12/09
Carrer Gracia in Eixample Area
Tour of a couple of Gaudi's most famous buildings:

Casa Mila
1904 -1906 Case Batllo

El Born Area at night
Picasso Museum on Montcada to see special exhibit
English Pub called Palace
Dinner at a recommended pan Asian around the corner...

Day 10: Sunday, 13/12/09

Chinese for lunch in the neighborhood

DHUB
"Dressing the Body" Exhibit at Pedralbes
Avinguda Diagonal, 686 (Palau Reial de Pedralbes)

Aquarium
near Port Vel

Barry's Party...lost then re-directed to Lebanese Dinner

Day 11: Monday, 14/12/09

Early Morning cab to the airport.

Was just the right amount of time. Worn out and missing Meta and my home...

On Chasing a Dream: Researching how and why it went terribly wrong

I am working on figuring out the time line and details, as i am uncertain of the details of how I was transported from Tagong to Chengdu. In short, I suffered from serious Altitude Sickness and had a serious reaction to some drug interaction, as I was not sure what medicine I was given, but taking any and everything hoping it would make me feel better. I found out later that there is a warning on the interaction with diamox and aspirin, which may have been the reason why I did not wake up that Saturday morning, May 16, 2009, in Tagong, China.

May was my last month in China. I wanted to see a different face of China by traveling to Western Sichuan and into Yunnan. Beijing is in the North East about the same latitude as New York. Sichuan and Yunnan are Southern and reaches West. I had heard there are more minority groups there and wanted to get a feel of what Tibetans are like without having to go through the visa trouble and deal with extreme altitude of Lhasa. I had overlooked the fact that one of the main highlights of my month long planned trip started in a place called Tagong, which sits at the same altitude as Lhasa, 3700 Meters. I just wanted to go horse treking through the western landscape. Just me and a guide. See and live in nature from a very different perspective than I have ever experienced. Well, in focusing on the dream and cultural aspects I chose to remain relatively ignorant to some really important realities of traveling up to Tagong. It was a choice to try and live more suíbiàn. To try going against my nature to challenge my self and experience life differently. I guess there is a time and a place, and this was neither the time nor place to loosen up. Or at least not about logistical details that put my health in danger. Im lucky to have survived and come back without too much damage. The damage or scars are psychological and emotional, rather than physical. It feels like i tried for a beautiful and seemingly innocuous wave and wiped out bad. Really bad. There is always a chance for disaster, but i couldnt have even foreseen anything to this magnitude. Now, I am a bit scared. Scared to take chances and scared to believe in the good nature of things. Its like those kids that dont survive long because they were born not feeling pain. So they bang into things and hurt themselves all the time. They cant learn, because they are missing the critical component to learning. The pain. I feel the pain, but i mentally and emotionally cant except some things that seem so brutal. But its just nature. Maybe my missing link is that I can't seem to process the reality. I could be doomed to disillusionment and fall into obscurity hiding from reality. Im really afaid of that more than anything. I want to understand and be able to work within the difficulties, but I think I am a bit weak right now. A few major blows and I havent gotten back up. I need a little help. But what can you do? We are all responsible for our own well beings right? If i fall back and have to catch up when i regain my strength, then so be it. I think I am a survivor. or I used to think that. Now that i have seen how fragile I can be, it has just psyched me out a bit. I need tech support.



Some Interesting Facts and Figures from data collected post hospital trauma.

Elevation Comparison:

Tagong 3700 Meters (12,139 FT)

Kangding 2,560 Meters (8,399 FT)

Chengdu 500 Meters (1,640 FT)

New York 234 Meters (768 FT)

Beijing 43.5 Meters (142 FT)

Never been interested in climbing mountains, but here is a good resource to compare elevations by continent.


http://www.health-care-information.org/injuries/high-altitude-illness.html

Advises to not to increase the altitude at which you will sleep by more than 1,000 feet per day.

High altitude pulmonary edema - This refers to the abnormal deposition of fluid into the lungs, resulting in compromised air exchange and shortness of breath. The patient requires IMMEDIATE descent for the symptoms to abate. This problem usually occurs above 8,000 feet and its onset is progressive over 1 to 3 days.

High altitude cerebral edema - This refers to an abnormal swelling in the brain and is the most difficult complication to treat. It seldom occurs at levels under 12,000 feet.

High altitude illness, more commonly known as acute mountain sickness, refers to the effect on the human body from exposure to a lower barometric pressure (more precisely, the lower amount of oxygen).

Everything I can remember taking in the 3 days prior to being admitted into Hospital:

Sanlietong (Chinese aspirin)

Tibetan Rhodiola (Herb for altitude sickness)

Xin Nao Xin Jiao Nang (Chinese Pharma for altitude sickness ?)

Diamox (for altitude sickness, one dose taken, one not taken)

http://www.healthsquare.com/newrx/dia1131.htm
Acute Mountain Sickness

The usual dose is 500 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams a day in 2 or more doses, using either tablets or sustained-release capsules. This medication is to be started 1 or 2 days before attempting to reach high altitudes. It attempts to prevent the effects of altitude sickness from quick ascents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetazolamide
Special warnings about Diamox

Be very careful about taking high doses of aspirin if you are also taking Diamox. Effects of this combination can range from loss of appetite, sluggishness, and rapid breathing to unresponsiveness; the combination can be fatal.


The highest I have ever been before Tagong:
Gunnison, Colorado, United States
Plateaus rise 1,200 to 2,400 meters (4000 to 8000 feet)
Even at this relatively low altitude, I remember how quickly water boiled and how easy it was to become intoxicated.

Water normally boils at 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit under standard conditions at sea level (at one atmosphere of pressure). At higher elevations, where the atmospheric pressure is much lower, the boiling point is also lower.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_point

Silence

I was just packing my things and found this poem on the inside door of Emma's closet.
Wanted to share it with you.

<3
SJ

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrman

(c) Max Ehrman 1926