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 »
I'm Too Young To Be Old
All of this landscaping has taken a serious toll on my aged body, apparently. I actually had to take a day off from work to recover from an aching back. When younger (twenties), I could chop a load of firewood blah blah blah. Go »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 »If I Were To Make A Children's Show...
...it would be similar to this promo for The Crime Channel featuring Gali the Alligator. The lyrics are a little hard to understand so I've attempted to transcribe them here. Go »Love Letter and Goodbye
I had a very strange thing happen to me this morning. Overnight, I had a dream that featured my ex-wife, Betsy. I told Brenda about it and wondered what the image of Betsy represented in my subconscious that made me wake with such a clear image of her. Go »Punched In The Nose With A Stinky Fist
The complete culinary compilation of Steve, Don't Eat It! at Sneeze.com. My reading was interrupted by a need for defibrillation - laughed so hard my heart stopped. Go »
