Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Fireworks and BBQ's for the 4th of July? In Catalunya?
Been a busy week, thus the lapse in posts. My sister and Dan's visit coincided with the fourth, which ironically, coincided with Tarragona's annual fireworks competition. This is a weeklong event with fireworks "teams" from all over Europe competing--the winner getting to be the main firework supplier for the big Santa Tecla festival in September. We got to watch from our terrace, even from bed one night, but we came up from the beach after the biggest sandstorm imaginable crossing paths of hordes of folks armed with lawn chairs and blankets staking out a good place early on. Felt like the T in Boston on the fourth, but there was a lot more domino playing here.
The week also included a visit to the mother of all cranes and cathedrals, the Sagrada Familia. Here we are, as promised wearing La Chusma T-shirts...our friend Juan's band who is collecting photos of people all over the world wearing their garb in front of famous monuments.
And last but not least, our week of the fourth ended with a wonderful bbq at Bernat's place, the chair of my department. Bernat bought a house in Senan a few years ago, a beautiful village, and I do mean village, 60-70 residents, about an hour north west of here. The mayor, a bit hippie (aka perroyflautas) has installed a shade area in the main plaza with solar cells with provide energy for the town's streetlamps. One day, it would be nice to be Bernat's neighbors....After a leisurely lunch and siesta where we all retired for an hour to different rooms, (perfect:) we went to see the Vallbona de les Monges, a twelfth century convent on the Cistern Route. We had seen the other two back in the fall. Altogether a glorious day, only here can a lunch date literally last ten hours!
We're off for our last mini-getaway this weekend, then one last "train the trainer" workshop in Vilanova next week before heading back to the states on the 24th. See more photos of all these and stay tuned for the few last blog postings!
¶ 10:14 AM 
Been a busy week, thus the lapse in posts. My sister and Dan's visit coincided with the fourth, which ironically, coincided with Tarragona's annual fireworks competition. This is a weeklong event with fireworks "teams" from all over Europe competing--the winner getting to be the main firework supplier for the big Santa Tecla festival in September. We got to watch from our terrace, even from bed one night, but we came up from the beach after the biggest sandstorm imaginable crossing paths of hordes of folks armed with lawn chairs and blankets staking out a good place early on. Felt like the T in Boston on the fourth, but there was a lot more domino playing here.
The week also included a visit to the mother of all cranes and cathedrals, the Sagrada Familia. Here we are, as promised wearing La Chusma T-shirts...our friend Juan's band who is collecting photos of people all over the world wearing their garb in front of famous monuments.
And last but not least, our week of the fourth ended with a wonderful bbq at Bernat's place, the chair of my department. Bernat bought a house in Senan a few years ago, a beautiful village, and I do mean village, 60-70 residents, about an hour north west of here. The mayor, a bit hippie (aka perroyflautas) has installed a shade area in the main plaza with solar cells with provide energy for the town's streetlamps. One day, it would be nice to be Bernat's neighbors....After a leisurely lunch and siesta where we all retired for an hour to different rooms, (perfect:) we went to see the Vallbona de les Monges, a twelfth century convent on the Cistern Route. We had seen the other two back in the fall. Altogether a glorious day, only here can a lunch date literally last ten hours!
We're off for our last mini-getaway this weekend, then one last "train the trainer" workshop in Vilanova next week before heading back to the states on the 24th. See more photos of all these and stay tuned for the few last blog postings!
¶ 10:14 AM
