Spain in a Week
by Steve West on June 30, 2012
We're back in the USA after a week in Spain with layovers in Paris and Amsterdam. Barcelona and Madrid were incredible. We saw more things than my brain could catalogue and looking at the pictures we took I find myself repeating, "Where in hell were we when I shot this?" I'm okay with just knowing it was Spain. The guides for our tour were fantastic and now that I know about the city I could probably find a lot on my own but all of them (a team of about five) added a local flavor to the trip. They all spoke with Castillan accents which is refreshing and authentic to Spain. The food at the local restaurants was exciting and new if not always to our liking and many of the sights were unlike any I had ever seen, unique to that part of the world. The architecture was one of a kind because of Gaudi, you couldn't escape his influence throughout Barcelona. The thing that struck me most visually was the bus trip we took from Barcelona to Madrid. The landscape for hours at a time was largely scrubland with some farming (grapes, olives and almonds) and very few small villages. I had no idea that such large stretches of land were so uninhabited. And it was dry. Not a whole lot of green to be seen out there. Yet it was exotically beautiful nonetheless. Swimming in the Mediterranean was a highlight for Lauren even though she got a mild Spainburn and she adjusted to the beaches being topless. She was more concerned about what I was seeing, the little prude. So I'll stop writing before I write 20 more pages that will be meaningful only to Lauren and I but I will say that Spain is a place you must see given the opportunity. This may well be the only trip I'll take to Europe and if so, it was worth it.
Web Junkie
Steve West scours the Web searching for interest or absurdity and then shakes his head ruefully when he finds it. Read more »
Christmas Tree Shopping
We finally went out and got our Christmas tree. Lauren and I trekked to the local Knights of St. Mickey who offer good trees annually and they're pretty nice folks. Go »There Really Are Superheroes
And most of them wear capes. Oddee does a nice roundup of ten real-life superheroes - people who actually dress up in costume and prowl their respective cities with a willingness to foil criminals and their crimes. While you may question their sartorial wisdom, you gotta admire their desire to make a difference. Go »A Christmas Story for Christmas
Definitely early for Christmas, but there's an interesting item for auction on ebay that closes in a week or so. Spend Christmas Eve and morning in the house used to film A Christmas Story. I suppose there could be other events to make it a Christmas Con like a movie viewing, a shoot your eye out contest, and stick your tongue to the frozen pole game. Go »Halloween Is For The Dogs
Last year for Halloween, I took all of Lauren's stuffed dogs and sewed their mouths to parts of my shirt and pants (with fake bleeding cuts on my arms and face) and went as an attack dog trainer. This year, I need to adopt or at least rent a dog so I can dress it like this for Halloween. Holy Kibbles & Bits Or this... Go »Things Remembered
When I was in kindergarten, a girl brought a doll to class. It was so pretty that even the boys liked it. Everyone played with it but I was the one who broke it. Go »
