I’ve been remiss is keeping up this journal. We spent a very busy week with Caroline, cramming in a lot of Barcelona and Gaudi buildings, and then took an overnight trip to see Salvador Dali’s house, hike in a natural park with volcanoes and stroll through Girona. Now, Liz is here!

I’ll spare everyone a boring travelogue (at least for now). But ( Read more... )

Yesterday we toured the bullfighting ring and went to its museum.
( Read more... )

On Thursday, a cold front from Siberia swept into Spain. It’s not as bad here as in Eastern Europe, not by a longshot (and it's still warmer here than in Vermont), but it’s been colder and the wind is just howling. It was particularly upsetting to see some beggars in bare feet. (I still can’t get the image of one old lady out of my head - she was ( Read more... )

A few more notes about food, illustrated with photos:
( Read more... )

Thoughts on Spanish and English, and visits to two museums.
( Read more…and see pictures! )

Success! Found oatmeal. The big Carrefours supermarket was no help (but at least it was a big supermarket compared to the dinky one we went to yesterday), but we passed a health food store along the way that had it. I did learn that vegetarians (at least, the vegetarians at this health food store) won’t eat honey.

Today we went to the Reina Sophia ( Read more... )

Several people have asked me what the "best" part of the trip was. I had so carefully planned this vacation that there were few disappointments. But there were some special highlights.

The hike in Gamla.

Gamla is an isolated spot in the Golan Heights. The Golan is a disputed territory, but not like the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. It is a beautiful ( Read more... )

"The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries (P.S.)" by Marilyn Johnson: I love learning about parallel universes, and this is one: people obsessed with obituaries. This book has one of my favorite all-time lines from a book, which came from an obituary of a Mormon:

“After mentioning that Allred was ( Read more... )

Pete was a very big man, overweight -- although apparently he had lost some weight recently. But 52 is still much too young.

He was a great deal of fun to work with -- he was one of the reasons I looked forward to going into the office. He was a journalist with his priorities in the right place. He sat across from me, and I enjoyed catching his eye ( Read more... )

So I’ll talk about what could be the polar opposite of football: “Twilight.”

A week or so ago I finally got my hands on “Twilight” and read it. I just don’t get it the appeal.

The writing is horrendous - and I tend to be pretty lenient when it comes to bad writing (within reason - but in general if there is a good plot and reasonable ( Read more... )