Oh That’s Right… Barcelona!

On June 2, 2012January 26, 2020 By StevenIn International Travel - Europe7 Comments

Before last month, whenever anyone mentioned Barcelona to me, this is what came to mind:

Last month, a long-time friend of mine and her husband were visiting Barcelona for a family birthday event last month. I love exploring new cities, but I always have more fun if I’m doing so with another person, so this was a great chance for me to see Barcelona while catching up with Christina. On the Tuesday of that week, headed over to the Munich Airport. From there, Lufthansa took me to Barcelona for a very reasonable fee. The flight time from Munich to Barcelona? About 90 minutes. Easy peasy.

Getting around in Barcelona is also pretty great. The Aerobus takes you from the airport to the city center. It runs every five minutes during most of the day. Once you’re in the city itself, the taxicabs are very affordable, and there’s an extensive underground Subway system. A four-day/unlimited rides pass was just over 20 Euros. You can also rent bikes, if that’s your thing. I got around for the entire trip using just public transportation and two or three cab rides.

A quick note about technology: Whenever I leave the borders of Germany, I lose the ability to use my phone for mapping and location stuff- roaming data is absurdly expensive, so I just turn it all off. On this trip, I managed to get around for the entire stay using just two apps regularly.

The first app is a simple Metro app that uses your GPS to figure out the nearest train station, and it plots a route using the subway. The second app was the TripAdvisor app. This one has a huge list of attractions, hotels, and restaurants, and it uses the GPS to locate you on a pre-loaded map- no roaming data required. It also combines the GPS with the phone’s compass to make a really nifty “Point Me There” feature. Without this feature, I would never have found my hotel, and I would have gotten lost over and over and over again.

I won’t bore my six and a half readers with the day by day travelogue styled post that I originally wanted to write. Instead, I’ll give you the highlights.

Gaudí, Gaudí, Gaudí!

Antoni Gaudí was an architect and certified crazy genius who was responsible for a slew of Barcelona’s most famous sites. I’m going to nutshell them here, because I could easily write pages and pages and pages about these structures.

La Sagrada Familia – This enormous church has been under nearly continuous construction since 1882, and it’s expected to be finished sometime around 2028 using Gaudí’s original plans. One side very ornately shows the Nativity and the life of Christ. I’m standing in front of that side of the building in the picture below. The other side is more austere and it shows the Passion, the death of Christ. The columns inside were designed to resemble trees and branches.

Parc Güell – This is what happens when you set Antoni Gaudí loose on a park and garden complex. I only saw a fraction of this park, because it’s enormously huge and I was on foot and kind of turned around.

La Padrera – An apartment building designed by Gaudí, this is now part museum and part office space. You can go up on the roof, tour the attic, and even visit a sample apartment.

Casa Batlló – This building has a skeletal, fish-scale appearance. This was originally designed as housing for rich Barcelona folk.

Not Gaudí, But Still Impressive And/Or Interesting.

Arc De Triomf – Built for 1888 Universal Exposition, this is your typical enormous stone gateway. Very eye-catching, don’t you think?

Placa Espanya – Placa Espanya holds several very impressive structures. First of all, this is where the Font Màgica (Magic Fountain) is located. Thursday through Sunday nights, after about 9pm, there’s a water show set to music. If you’ve ever seen dancing fountains at Disney or the Bellagio, then this is nothing new to you, but it’s still fun to watch. Also in the Placa Espanya are Venetian Towers, a scale replica of the originals from Venice which were a gift to Barcelona for the 1929 Universal Exposition.

Palau de la Música Catalana (Palace of Catalan Music) – Often referred to by travel writers as the most beautiful concert hall in the world, this amazing space seats about 2200 people, and during the day it’s illuminated entirely by natural light. The sculptures behind the main stage are the figures of 18 muses. Their lower bodies are depicted in mosaic, and their upper bodies protrude from the wall. Each muse is playing a different musical instrument. If you take the tour, you get a lot of background about the decorations, the lighting, and the acoustics, as well as a demonstration of the pipe organ.

Flamenco – While flamenco didn’t actually originate in Barcelona, it’s still a long-running tradition; there are several Flamenco shows in Barcelona. We went to a dinner and show off Las Ramblas at an establishment which has been there since 1970. Dinner was at 10:00 PM and the show began at 11:30 PM, so it was a pretty late night. They have earlier shows, though. The food was spectacular, and the show was amazing.

There was a lot more. There is so much more to do than what I’ve shown here. I was there for four days and took over 600 photographs. Many of those photographs are visible in my Barcelona Flickr gallery, including many more detailed pictures of La Sagrada Familia and everyplace else I went in the city.

If you do visit Barcelona, you should try the tapas. The food was excellent almost everywhere I went. I particularly enjoyed my meal at Cafe del la Princesa in the old gothic quarter (Barri Gotic) near El Born.

I’ll close out this post with a few more photographs of things that I thought were interesting.

During our visit, we took a guided tour of the city, and it was pointed out that people who are frustrated with the Euro-zone financial crisis have “redecorated” the facade of the city’s main stock exchange.

Wandering around the city, playful children and live street music were everywhere. In that order:

And lastly, the Barcelona airport has a rather interesting feature- from the gate, inside security, you can walk out onto a sun deck and get some ice cream while waiting for your flight. This is brilliant.

Dining Out In Germany

On May 25, 2012September 9, 2014 By StevenIn Life In Germany7 Comments

When I was planning my trip to Berlin last month, I had a conversation on Ye Olde Facebook with my friend Heather about restaurants in Germany. I offered a lot of advice regarding how the experience is different from dining in the US, and I realized (not for the first time) that I really ought to post about this. I’ve been meaning to write this one for a long while. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

When you arrive:

Most restaurants in Germany do not have a ‘please wait to be seated’ sign. When you arrive, you are expected to simply sit down at a table of your choosing, although you should avoid any tables that have a ‘Reserviert’ (Reserved) sign. When in doubt, you should ask the staff.

Placing Your Order:

In places accustomed to tourists, it’s not uncommon for a restaurant to have an English menu. Sometimes you’ll be handed the English menu as soon as they hear you speak.

Typically, your drink order is taken first, and then they come back a little while later to take your food order.

During the meal:

In the US, a glass of water is standard in most restaurants. Here, you shouldn’t expect a glass of water with your meal unless you ask for it. When you do ask for water, the waitress might ask you if you want it with or without gas. This is because carbonated water is very common and popular here. If, like me, you prefer not to have carbonation in your water, you can ask for ‘still’ water and it will be given to you “ohne Kohlensaure,” without carbonate.

Don’t expect ice in your drink in most restaurants, either. There are exceptions, but not many- even cola is typically served at room temperature here.

Some restaurants have longer tables where you might find yourself sitting with strangers- I’ve found myself in this situation a few times, and the preferred behavior is to politely ignore the other person. Sometimes you might find a talkative seatmate, but I haven’t found that to be the case.

When you’re finished:

The waiter will not bring you the check until you ask for it. It’s not uncommon for German folk to sit for quite some time after eating, have an espresso, and talk. More than one German traveler I’ve spoken to has expressed that the American habit of putting the check down while they’re still eating feels extremely rushed and rude. In Germany, nobody rushes you out the door.

Cash is king, especially when dining out. Credit cards are usually accepted in major places like hotels, but many restaurants won’t accept credit cards at all. American credit cards are especially problematic in Germany, because the banking systems are different here. If you don’t see credit card logos on the door of the restaurant, assume that you’ll need cash.

When the check is brought to the table, you will often be asked who is paying, if one person is paying, or if the check should be split. It is a common practice to split the check right there and then, and the waiter will give each person a subtotal based on what they ate.

You pay your check at the table, and the wait staff always carries a money pouch to handle the transaction. When the waitress brings you the check, she’ll give you a total. You say how much you’re paying- including the tip- when you hand over your money. For example, if I have a check of 23 euros and want to tip ten percent, I would hand them thirty and say “26 euros” (I usually round up), and they’d give me four back. Don’t leave your tip (Trinkgeld) on the table- that’s typically considered rude. If you want them to keep the entire amount you’ve handed over, you can say ‘stimmt so,’ or, in Bavaria, ‘passt so,’ and this is generally understood to mean keep the change.

Tipping is usually done at 10-15%. Any more and they’ll think you’re nuts. Absurdly generous, but nuts. In the US, people who wait tables have a tiny tiny wage and live or die by their tips, but here, they have a decent living regardless, so if you tip 10%, you’ll seem normal, not stingy.

That’s all the restaurant tips I have for the moment. I may revisit this post in the future.

Short Post: Leberkäse

On May 22, 2012May 18, 2012 By StevenIn Life In Germany7 Comments

It took me a while to really get used to Leberkäse, but now I think it’s delicious.

Leberkäse, literally translated to “liver cheese,” doesn’t always have any liver or cheese in it. It’s kind of like Bavarian meat loaf, and it’s delicious. Some people compare it to bologna. It typically consists of corned beef, pork, bacon, and onions, ground together and then baked like a loaf of bread until it has a crunchy brown crust.

One very common way to eat Leberkäse is to make a Leberkäsesemmel- you cut the Leberkäse while still hot in a slice roughly the thickness of a finger, and put it on a semmel (bread roll). Add some Bavarian sweet mustard, and sometimes sauerkraut, and enjoy.

There are a lot of variants on this food. I’ve eaten Pizza Leberkäse, and it really did taste like a pizza. Delicious! Some other popular variants include cheese or bits of paprika (bell pepper). Generally, though, it just looks like this:

leberkase — This Leberkäse was eaten at the Weltenburger Klosterbrauerei. It was served with Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) and spicy mustard.

I’m going to be so overweight when I leave Germany. The food here is just too delicious.

Short Post: American Style

On May 15, 2012 By StevenIn Life In Germany11 Comments

One of the things that has been continually and steadfastly amusing to me since my arrival is the German marketing gimmick of referring to something as American Style to drum up interest. Here’s a couple of examples that made me laugh.

American Pancackes — The only place I’ve actually seen pancakes besides the grocery store is at an “American” diner.

American Sandwich Toast — Very few foods are less German than plain white bread. Real German bread has a lot more varieties- and a lot more flavor.

American Style Pizza — I’ve had long conversations with the guys in the office about “American style pizza,” during which I explained the differences between New York style, Chicago style, deep dish, pan, and a few other varieties of good old American pizza. None of them really resembled this “American Style” pizza. The first time I saw this, I knew I had to try it. It was edible, but wasn’t all that great.

Hot dog style? — American hot dog style? Germans put a lot of strange things on their pizza, but this one is actually kind of appealing.

Short Post: Spinat!

On March 20, 2012May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany

I’ve done several posts on how the food and grocery shopping experiences here are different than what I’m used to, but I’m still constantly finding more. For example, frozen spinach!

In the US, frozen spinach is typically in a pouch that can either be boiled or microwaved. Here, the frozen spinach is actually in frozen cube form. Pictured here is a sleeve with two cubes of frozen spinach. There were four in the box.

This spinach is also microwaveable, but in this case, you just spoon five or six spoonfuls of water over the spinach cube before you microwave, and then cook it for the specified amount of time. The end result is spinach that only requires a little bit of fork-on-greens action to change out of a cube form into something that is more recognizable as a leafy green vegetable. Here they are in their cooked but still cubed state: