Happy June (junio)! Kids got out of school (escuela) last week (semana) (23 June) but they know their US friends (amigos!) have been out for weeks! They go back I think sometime early September but recall they have all kinds of bull shit Spanish holidays (aka awesome slack days) off - plus 2+ weeks over Christmas, a week for Easter, and a ‘ski week’ as well as 1.5 weeks for spring break so don’t feel bad for them!
They wrapped last Thursday (juves) which was San Juan (Saint John) day (HUGE holiday here to ward off evil spirits with fire, fireworks - look it up but it is the official kick-off to summer and the eve of the day (formal day is 24 June) is the BIG event - beaches, rooftops, etc - the kids made it well past midnight! There are so many different ways to look at this holiday from Malaga to Barcelona and all of Spain - again look it up there is too much to type! We spent it with great friends on an amazing terrace (terraza) in the eixample part of Barcelona (the grid people are familiar with). A make-your-own-pizza-party with a pizza oven, magnum bottles of wine, and FIREWORKS all surrounded by amazing people…but it’s no Parkville Thousand Oaks 4th of July (best ever) I’ll tell ya that….
We relaxed and chilled last weekend (fin de samana) while still getting into new places in Barcelona. The kids headed for camp this Monday (lunes) for a week (semana). Ashley and I are relaxing around town and on quiet beaches early this week and prepping for Mitch and Lindsey and their kids to arrive on Wednesday (miercoles). We will tour them through Barcelona a few days then to Italy (Tuscano and Veneto) with our kids before they fly home to Iowa (and we fly to Sardinia). BUSY SUMMER SEASON IS HERE (la temporada de verano ocupada está aquí!)!! Many Americans that live here in Barcelona head back stateside for the summer but those that stay (unless they have a formal job of course) travel all summer through Europe….they leave in July to get away from tourists and explore and in August the country (as does much of Europe) closes down to give the people a good rest and allow them to enjoy the beaches (every worker here from poor to rich gets most of august off and fully paid (don’t get me started on the maternity/paternity leave policies here (they are amazing!!)).
The Cost of a European/Barcelona trip!
Ok, so I know some friends/family say they will come to visit us and others simply don’t want to (this is fine!) or have other things taking their time and money (of course all good!). Just so you know the rough cost breakdown (assuming flying from America) you are planning a week to 10 day trip you are looking about 500-800$ flights from Kansas City (cheaper from bigger cities - Chicago routinely has sub-400$ flights ROUNDTRIP). If you stay with us there is no cost for hotels (or 100-200$ per night), taxis are cheap, the subway is about 1$ anywhere and walking of course is free. Coffee is 1-2$ and lunch 5-20$pp with wine (plenty of it and decent wine). Dinner 20-40$pp with wine/drinks. Train (tren) tickets (boletos) to other towns are under 30$ per person for day trips, some as low as 7$. Do the math, its not ‘expensive’. Want to fly to Paris for a night? Its 100$. Go to Italy for lunch? - yeah…why not it’s 50$ roundtrip. Portugal, Munich, Zurich (and many many more) are all in the 40-100$ round trip range. So, it is not ‘expensive’ and I’d say it is hard to put a price on experiences -COVID should have taught us all one thing - the experiences we have is what matters - not the tile in the bathroom or the color of the rug in the living room or the updated car or best 4k TV out there. Not even how sexy you look in a swimming suit or what your balance is in your 401k. What would your 60-year-old self say to you? LETS GO!!!!
Girona facts! (pics below)
62 miles (99 km) north of Barcelona - it’s a 30 min fast train ride (20€ per person).
The nave in the Cathedral is the widest in the ‘catholic club’ (my words, not theirs!) outside the Vatican. It was HUGE!
Most of the town was built by the Romans in the 1st century. It’s well preserved!
Season 6 of Game of Thrones was filmed in Girona! (I never watched that dumb ass show tho).
It’s a great old ‘walled’ medieval city from the old times…we love these in Italy (Lucca, Montepulciano, San Gimignano, Cortona, etc) but this is our first in Spain. The wall is thin so no bike trails but the kids enjoyed walking/running it!
There are 16 Michelin restaurants in Girona. No shit! Barcelona has 22 (Girona is 104k people and Barca is 3.2M metro). Girona is home to the #1 ranked restaurant many years in a row (El Celler de Can Roca). Goodnight! Necesito reserva? Oh many places are booking to May 2023!!!!
Pics below!
Our Casa! (sorry the pics suck, and I left some out (terraza, cucina, etc)
We have a 5 bedroom (Jon/Ash, Hayes, Ellory, Jon office, and a service room) 4 baths - 2nd story walkup. It is 280 square meter place in ‘old Sarria’ - huge for most standards here. 15’ ceilings and a sweet-ass terrace of around 70 sq meters!
It’s 140 years old and has TONS of character - original floors, wall tile, moulding, etc but is new where we want (kitchen and bathrooms).
We have a semi-renovated kitchen (cucina) in the last few (maybe 8-10) years and bathrooms are about the same age. I forgot a pic of the kitchen below!
We have one TV! Its 65” which seems overkill for the space. We had way too many back in KC and one was a movie screen - they are really not missed.
It was 100% empty when we moved in…it is not easy to go from zero to full! We did a great job we feel…it is our ‘home’ for sure.
We are 5 min walking from the FGC station (one of the subway systems). The location is absolutely AMAZEBALLS.
I shared pics of all the markets, stores, restaurants, etc nearby in May 10th blog - if you didn’t see. See it with this link here. Probably 9 bread shops, 5 fresh fish markets, 5 fresh meat markets, and 10+ places to get fruits/vegetables/etc plus coffee shops all over and 30+ restaurants within 5 min walk. Gym = 15 min walk!
We can be in the ‘old city’ Barcino in 20-25 mins via subway, the beach in under 30, and the mountains to ski/hike in 80 mins. It’s a perfect location for us. Not to ‘city’ but not the sleepy suburbs either.
Kids!
Ellory had her final tryout for a futbol (soccer) club last week. She can have her pick of a few leagues based on her skill-level. We are being careful to not overcommit her to one sport (or us to running around 3-4-5 nights a week and weekends - we fell into this craptrap in America and do not wish to do it again here). Coach Jenn, if we return to KC she is yours if you have a space for her!!
Hayes’ best friend here (Brin) is moving to the UK. He is sad as are we but it’ll be good for him to have a new crew next year as well!
Hayes is doing amazing with Spanish. He is ordering his food, asking for the bathroom, waters, and paying the tab (with my card of course) in a Spanish restaurant - all in spanish. He is speaking at home when not prompted and his Spanish instructor says he is one of her most engaged students! El nos sorprende! Mi hijo es muy intelegente!
Ellory and I had a well-deserved Father/Daughter date. We went downtown, window shopped, got our toes done, had a great Italian dinner, dessert, and came home after the sun was down. We had a riot!!
Props to them - they have had complete change and are thriving. Challenges of course, but with a new language(s), new house, new friends, new foods, new school, new routines, new city, new hobbies, etc etc etc thinking about their first day of school this year to last day of school makes me proud of what they have accomplished. They inspire me every day to learn more, get better, and enjoy what we have (each other). Yo quiero mas de esto!!!
Friends
We miss all our friends in the states but we have made some amazing friends here as well. Keep in mind a best friend of mine and his family live here so that made integrating much easier! We are in a transitionary place though and we are already having friends leave. We had some amazing people move back to California after their house swap was finished here and another good friend of mine here left for the summer and may not be back (I hope you guys come back E&V!). And as I said, Haye’s best friend is moving this week as well. Most here never want to leave Barcelona but life (and work) takes them away sometimes. Unlike Kansas City where we really didn’t have any close friends leave town (great neighbors moved over a neighborhood tho!). I guess we were ‘those friends that moved away’……..now that I think about it….Wow. Realizing that is a little hard (sadface here).
Fotos aquí!!!
One other thing - ladies get to make their own decisions here. Prostitution is legal (no pimps tho!!) and many don’t wear tops on the beach. Other choices are theirs as well….as it should be. Nuff said.
Next blog - SUMMER TRAVEL SEASON - KIDS CAMPS - VISITORS AGAIN!