Let's go to Africa... Pleeease!

From Cadix we were heading for Tarifa. After a while we decided to stop at a beach for a bit of fresh air. Then we kept on driving. We we finally got to Tarifa, we went to the southermost point. From there we could see Africa! Morocco, to be exact. You can barely see it, but in the background of the picture above here, you can see Africa!!!

Tarifa is the southernmost point of Spain. It's very small but it has several castles and some very very big walls. Both the castles and the walls are about a thousand years old. It's the closest point in Europe to Africa. It was so windy there that we could see at least two dozen windsurfers out. At Tarifa, we stopped at a beach, and I played around some. As I said, it was very windy, so, when I went to hide behind some rocks that would block me from the wind, I fell over and got some nasty cuts on my chest and my knee.

After that we went back into the direction of Arcos de la Frontera, and we stopped at a lot of beaches to check them out and take pictures. I fell asleep for about an hour. When I woke up everybody had sandwiches that they were eating for lunch. For us lunch was at five o'clock that day...

On the way to Arcos, we stopped at a really nice town Vejer de la Frontera. When we got to Arcos de la Frontera, it was almost eight o'clock. The hotel had an actually gigantic swimming pool, and the most comfy beds that I have ever slept in in my entire life. We left our bags at the hotel and went at a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant had tapas, bocadillos which are like montaditos but still a bit different, a bar, full meals and desserts. It was super good. Then we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Who Would Like a White Chocolate and Jam Sandwich?

From Sanlucar we wanted to drive to Cadix. First we drove around a lot and kind of got lost. In about three or four hours we could see Cadix across the bay. Then my dad got really tired and took a nap on a beach, although it was only about twenty minutes. Then my brother had to go to the bathroom - I am not going to tell you what happened (you probably don't want me to tell you either)... When we got to Cadix, we could not find our hotel even though we passed it about five times, and we had to call the concierge to give us directions to get there.

Cadix was very big and had a lot of churches. I liked it. The fortress walls were very cool. it is also well protected: we had to drive through the fortress walls to get in. Cadix used to be the biggest shipping harbor in the Atlantic in the times of the Greeks. Our hotel was right off the biggest square in Cadix (in the old town). It had a very nice patio right in the middle and was about six stories high. Our rooms were very small and cramped.

That night we were going to go to a tapas bar. We walked around, then found a super nice square that had a huge cathedral in it. We were also going to have ice cream after dinner, but in the morning we found out we could have had ice-cream right there in a Ben & Jerry's! We went to a "tapas bar" on the square. We were super hungry, and the tapas, from the prices, looked very small, so we ordered twenty four of them! When my dad went to the counter to order them the woman looked at him like he was crazy. We also saw some little sandwiches that people had, that looked really good, and kept wondering why we could not find them on the menu. When we got our dinner, every single thing we had was in small sandwiches, and, on the check, we found they did not have tapas but montaditos, which is the name for the sandwiches. Of course we had plenty left, that we kept for breakfast. The best one, I thought, was one that had white chocolate and jam - that was for dessert if you couldn't tell... After dinner we went to a great gelato ice cream parlor where I got very good strawberry ice cream.

The next morning we woke up and walked around a bit. My dad got us some candy, and, afterwards, we had some really good breakfast with pastries. Then we drove around by the water and found a really cool old fort - it was awesome!

Can we say "Terrorist"?

Today we are going to Andalucia. We woke up really early to leave for the airport. At the airport gate, while we were waiting for the plane to come, there were two people playing flamenco music with their guitars and singing. They were really good. On the plane, we were reading magazines, we read a section on what to do in an airplane, and one of the things was: press the button on your seat and pretend it's dropping a bomb on the people below, and then look down out the window and apologize to them. After that we also came up with a game that we called "what NOT to do on an airplane". On one of the magazines, I saw a picture of a nice slingshot that I thought was really cool. Then Lindsay said that I was crazy if I thought I could bring it back in the plane. Can we say "terrorist"? I just thought you should know that.

When we got to Sevilla, we got a rented car and stopped to buy a map of Andalucia. We were going to go in the direction of Cordoba but the gas station attendant asked my dad if we like good food. My dad said yes. Then he asked if we are prepared to drive for good food. Then again my dad said yes. Then the man told us to go to a specific restaurant in Sanlucar de Barrameda that he said had the best tapas in the world. Then we changed our plans and drove back in the other direction to Sanlucar. When we got there it was almost exactly lunch time (here lunch time is 1 or 2pm). We found the place. And that was the best tapas we have ever had: it was delicious (and cheap)!!! The best of all the tapas, I think, was kind of a shrimp casserole, just hard and crusty and it was so good we had four portions of it!

Sanlucar is also the place where a big river, called the Guadalquivir, meets with the sea. I think that if the rest of our trip is going to be as good as this, it's going to be a really good trip!

The Shortest Blog That I've Written (Isn't Exactly Short)

Today we went on a walk around our neighborhood which is called the Eixample- (pronounced ashomplay)-with my aunt and two of my cousins. We were going on the walk to see the kind of buildings that Antonio Gaudi made which are called Art Nouveau (Modernista in Spanish) which are really popular in Barcelona.

We went inside one of the two Gaudi houses around our apartment, called the Padrera. The walls on the outside are curved and the balconies were made of metal that was in the shape of horses pulling a chariot. The door looked like a spider web and when you walk in right in front of you is a really big spiral staircase that led to the top. Also right up the middle there was a big hole that went up to the top. The only thing that was in the top part that we saw were paintings. Lots, lots of paintings. On the top of the building there were chimneys that looked like things that I don't know about.

After the Gaudi house we walked around for about an hour. I don't know where we exactly went because I wasn't paying much attention. One thing that I do know is that we saw a house that looked really weird and went in it. The inside was really cool! There were some awesome stained-glass windows! After that we went home.

I am going to be gone for two weeks so I won't post then. When I come back I will write a lot about Andalucia which is where I am going.

Tarragona and the little engine that couldn't

Yesterday we finally went to somewhere other than Barcelona. But let me start from the beginning. Well in the morning we woke up and left at about ten thirty in the morning. We started terribly. First my mom took us in the complete wrong direction. Then when we were finally on the freeway that led to Tarragona my dad succeeded in getting lost again and took us on not one wrong freeway but two wrong freeways! Oh and I forgot to tell you that the only words I said on the way were "@!#%+~?!". A trip that should have taken one hour took two and a half hours!

Right before arriving in Tarragona, we stopped a place called Pont del Diable, or "the Devil's Bridge" in Catalan, built by the Romans. It used to carry water to Tarragona, but was destroyed probably by the Barbarians. It was really cool: first we had to go through a very small opening in the fence, then we had to walk straight forward through a bunch of trees to another gate, then there were about a million paths going in different directions. Right in front of you you could see a tremendous aquaduct that looks like a bridge.

When we finally got to Tarragona it was lunch time. We were about to eat lunch when my brother saw a train tour. And if my brother sees a train he gives us no choice but to go so we went on it. It was so boring. It was the worst in the world. It was totally uninteresting. The comments were so dumb that my parents were actually laughing at it! It was so bad that I can't even find the words to say it. The only good part is that my mom vowed that she would never take me on one those tours again.

When we finally got out of the @!#! train we ate lunch. The place where we ate was called Pigot. The first platos where really bad but the second platos and the desserts were delicious! Then we went to a museum and after that we walked around for a bit. We saw the Roman governor's palace, the old amphitheater, and the circus, all of which are about two thousand years old! Most of the streets were very small and made of massive stone. After that we had some Italian gelato. And then we left.

Shopping in Barcelona

Welcome to Cameron's guided tour of some of the best places to shop in Barcelona ( in my opinion I should put in, and you're not actually going to go there as I hope you know).

First: El Corte Ingles, description: humongous building with things from the newest cell phones to the highest fashions and from the most delicious foods to the most disgusting personal hygiene products. In other words pretty much everything.

Second: Fnac, description: gigantic building with every electronic I can think of. Even Wiis!

Third: The Bocqueria, description: a market that is completely outdoors except for a big metal roof that's about the size of a soccer field. Has around 100 stands inside that all have different kinds of foods, spices, and drinks. There are also other markets that are almost exactly the same like Sant Antoni or La Concepcio.

Fourth: Carrefour, description: Target (just French, much bigger, with produce and better food).

Fifth: Passeig (pronounced Passeo) De Gracia, description: A beautiful boulevard with all kinds of high end shops and boutiques (make sure you've got lots of cash because it isn't cheap).

Sixth: "Electronic Strip" (or Ronda de Sant Antoni), description: A very large strip where about every other store is an electronic store.

Also I should tell you that my brother got sick last week. Then I got sick and then my dad then Lindsay my babysitter and then my mom. That's why I did last week' s blog so late.

Barceloneta and Chelsea

A few days ago we went to Barceloneta. Barceloneta is a neighborhood of Barcelona that is right next to the harbor. We got to Barceloneta in the subway. We were supposed to take an immediate right to get to the aquarium but instead we took a slow right turn and we missed the right way: we ended up totally on the wrong side of the harbor. All around there were very cool buildings and restaurants. My first impression of Barceloneta was thinking that it was exactly like San Francisco, which I still do think now! We walked by a lot of restaurants, then by a large strip where people were selling all kinds of arts and crafts. There were necklaces, purses, and others. When we finally noticed that we had gone the wrong way, we had to walk all the way back down towards the old harbor. At the very end of the whole road was the big Aduana building, in other words an old customs building. In the harbor that we walked by, there were some pretty big ships, and also some sailboats that were always coming in and out. Once I also saw a gigantic cargo ship that seemed to come in and then go back out.

In Barceloneta we went to a very big aquarium called"L'Aquarium Barcelona". In the aquarium there were a lot of interesting fish and sharks. For instance there were some odd looking seahorse kind of fish that looked like a plant, except that it moved a lot so we could tell that it was a fish. There were also humungo sharks that swam over your head in the glass tunnel!

PS - you are probably wondering what the heck Chelsea has to do with this. Well, first, for those of you who don't know, it is an English soccer team. This is just a tip, but if any of the British teachers in my school ask you anything about soccer that involves the Chelsea team in any way whatsoever, always in some way or another answer "Chelsea is the best", or they will consider the answer wrong...