Fain In Spain, Stay Mainly In...El final

So we have come to the end of the journey and there are still some pictures I would like to share. They don't belong to a specific itinerary and so I would just lump them together.

Food. I have always been a conservative eater. Epicurean experiment is just not my forte and likely even less so when I am on my own but I had made a conscious decision to be adventurous during this trip. So I am proud to report that I hadn’t had one single meal of Chinese food or sushi during my entire stay, just once I had committed the offense of fast food and that was only because I need to gulp down a meal within fifteen minutes to meet my schedule.



My first stab at Spanish gourmet took me over ninety minutes of roaming back and forth to make up my mind. Fortunately thanks to their grand tradition of siesta Spaniards tend to have late supper, it is not unusual to have dinner at ten or even eleven at night. It was with great trepidation that I stepped into the above restaurant but that small step for me is a giant leap for mankind, I hope!





No waiters can speak English and there is no English menu but I managed to get myself some cold salmon



I have no trouble resisting the sinful temptation of booze, water is always my choice of drink but unlike America where it usually is free (probably because they are tap water), bottled water is served in Spain and they come with a charge.

It was a late supper once again the second night but it had to do with the late arrival for the Flamenco show. This time I just picked a restaurant from the guide book



This restaurant has a bar section and a dining section. The bar section is right at the entrance but you need to pass through the kitchen in order to get to the dinning section. How many restauranteurs in Hong Kong have the gut to let their patrons see what their kitchen is like before being seated?



I want to have something light because of the late hour. Besides, escargot (snails) is what the guide book recommends



Proof that it is the restaurant's speciality, even their register is in the shape of a snail



Next is probably my favorite of the entire trip. Even though it located in the tourist area (Barri Gòtic) and it does come with an English menu (a sign of catering to visitors), all its diners are actually native when I was there



Keeping the spirit of variety, I went with duck confit (油封鴨) after a night of fish and a night of escargot.



In true European neighborhood restaurant fashion, there is only just one waiter. In equally European dining fashion, I spent a whole hour to devour that duck leg of mine but it certainly was tasty. I wouldn't mind being a repeat customer



Originally I planned to go out with bang for my final meal in Spain but I was turned away by the fancy restaurant of my choice because I didn’t have a reservation, so I had to settle with this down-to-earth bistro, well at least it doesn’t look terribly touristy to me. However, what really sold me with this restaurant was their flat screen TV showing the ATP World Tour Final match between Rafael Nadal (who else?) and Robin Soderling.



I know the Spanish words for soup (sopa) and fish (pescado), so I was expecting something like fish chowder when I ordered from their Spanish menu. It turned out to be crab (not crab meat) soup. That is not a problem; the problem is that it seemed I am supposed to eat with fork and knife (I had noticed that Europeans even eat pizza with forks and knives, a rare sight in US). The women next to my table gave me this shocked look when she saw me eating the crab with the only way I know how – with my hands



After a relatively elaborate soup, the main course, sirloin steak, seemed a little anti-climatic



Both Madrid and Barcelona are haven for street performers



He is having the puppet play the violin for him. I think that is a pretty cool trick. By the way, there was a street performer playing erhu (二胡). Another sign of Yellow Fever?




I cannot believe how many people actually buy that she was suspended in the air when I show them this picture




如有雷同實屬巧合


The Sant Jordi Film Award of Barcelona is one of the few film festivals that gave its nod to Wong Kar-Wai's 2046. Here is another evidence that the movie has an audience in Spain


Toy figure from the 70s Japanese cartoon series 'おしえて' (飄零燕), how retro! Dig out the treasure underneath your bed, you might find something that worths a fortune on eBay


Bollywood is taking over the world


A subway resident that is not unique to Boston only


Table tennis is actually being played in the public park. I don't think I have ever seen that in US. The kids aren't shy by the way, they waved to me when they saw me filming them



Coffee in Spain is not as strong as what I found in Paris. Also when you ask for milk, they actually give you warm milk, unlike in US where it is usually refrigerated

AFTERWORD

As I have alluded to at the beginning, this trip is part personal because it was, to a certain extent, motivated by the sudden passing of a net acquaitance, whose (unrealized) dream is to visit Barcelona. Although we have never met in person, I hope by bringing his wish into fruition is somehow validating his legacy, for one person’s unfulfilled goal is another person’s inspiration