Day 2: To Sant Cugat

I started the day by getting myself locked out of the pub at 6am. I'd popped downstairs to see if we could have breakfast early and discovered that I'd managed to lock a door behind me. There was no way of alerting Sha or getting back up ... so I sat in the dark trying to read the signs on the walls: "Leaking cocks must be attended to. A fine of sixpence for each Leaking Cock will be strictly enforced." Later, when it was a bit lighter, I discovered that that was a rule from the Somerset & Dorset railway. Finally the owner arrived and I got back upstairs. Sha hadn't noticed that I'd gone :(

We ate a huge cooked breakfast very fast. Then jumped in the taxi. Our Afghani taxi driver did his best to speak Chinese and asked me about the size of the Universe. The flight was fun. Unfortunately we didn't have window seats, but still managed to get great views of the Pyrenees covered in snow and then the beaches near Barcelona.

Our taxi driver in Barcelona was very talkative. I've no idea what he said, but he talked all the way from the airport to Sant Cugat. He waved his hands around a lot. A few times he actually touched the steering wheel. The scenery is spectacular. It was hot and dry.

The view from our hotel window is great!! We can see the ancient monastery. Sant Cugat is lovely. Lots of small, cobbled streets with all the signs in Catalan. Lots of pig legs hanging up in the shop windows. We had lunch in a small cafe. We couldn't understand anything on the menu, but ended up with a beer, squid and "bacon with bones". We watched little kids jump around on ground-based musical instruments.

Then we decided to go into Barcelona. We were very proud of ourselves managing to buy some water and a train ticket. The journey was also great - through the countryside and then into the city. We walked down the main street watching lots of people pretending to be statues and finally ended up in the harbour. Very beautiful! We walked back to the huge Cathedral. For dinner we ended up in a small restaurant to eat the seafood and paella. errr ... that meal came with a large beer ... a very large beer. Unfortunately, I discovered later that the beer was Fosters ... but it was large! Then we staggered back to the train station.

Today we met mum!!

Sydney to Sant Cugat: Day 1

What a journey. It has (so far) been fun and crazy. The A380 Airbus was great. It was amazingly quiet. Too quiet. You could hear all the people snoring and the music that they were listening to over their headphones. From Sydney to Singapore, Sha and I had three seats to ourselves. Sha fell asleep. I watched The Last Emperor. We landed in London on time and got to Emma's house. We convinced Alexander that it was fun to hit people over the head with a large blow-up hammer and all went out for a walk in the park.

London is full of children. Millions of them! and daffodils.

The weather was great. A perfect introduction to Europe for Sha. She likes England.

During dinner (well cooked Emma) and after upsetting Alexander by telling him that I'd eaten all the sausages Sha taught him how to use chopsticks. I'm sure that he thinks that Chinese people are very strange.

Thanks Emma, Peter and Alexander for a great day!! We're now safely in Sant Cugat after getting locked out of the hotel in England around 6am, forgetting to return the hotel key, having the most talkative taxi driver ever in Barcelona (all in Spanish), having to order food in Spanish, working out how to use the train system and drinking a huge jug of beer.

The Easter Show

It's Easter. And so, after eating my chocolate Bilby that Sha gave me, we went to the Easter Show. The Easter Show is strange. The cats were getting prizes. I liked the big fat grey one and the one that ate its identification number.

The pumpkins were getting prizes. The chickens were getting lots of prizes. There were prizes for their shapes, eggs and carcasses.

The alpacas were getting prizes. One grunted at me. Apparently there are no alpacas in China.

The cakes were getting prizes. There were cakes in the shape of dogs, mice, trains, elephants and babies.

The dogs were asleep and, really, do look like their owners!

The pigs were very smelly.

Like the chickens, the people were also getting lots of prizes. By throwing a basketball through a hoop a few times I managed to win Sha a Super Mario Bros Character. After my initial win she was offered a mushroom, but demanded that I win her something better (which, with only a little cheating, I did).

We ate a lot! We started with a hot dog. Then a gozleme. Then a chicken leg, tuna sandwich, chicken kebab, chips, sea-food salad, fruit salad, icecream and everything being handed out for free.

and .... exciting news ... dad's coming to Paris!!! :)

Food

A food blog entry!! And ... Mel, you'll even get a recipe!!

Please remind me never to try Durian icecream again. I had a mixed day with food today. Sha started off by cooking another amazing fish dish. However, we then walked to Eastwood where I drank the most horrible drink which seemed to be water and salt and then tried to wash it down with the durian ice cream (10 hours later I can still taste it!).

Oh well ... Sha's taking over from me now ...

we began with buying some cutted fish slices and the secret thing ( a bit tricky), was that sauce package you can see from the picture. we cutted the fishes into pieces and boiled oil, put the one packet of special vegetable in, fried until when it smells good, the added 1000ml hotwater in ( very important, not cold water, otherwise the fishes will go smelly), then put another small packet of secret sauce in, then.......done! :P

Jiao zi again: Sha's cooking was amazing as always. I had a good cooking day recently when I succeeded in cooking a "Chinese dish". I thought that is was great. Sha had a slightly different opinion and told me that it wasn't Chinese.


We also had a flower tea. I want to know how they work!

We're off to Singapore, England, Spain, France, England and Wales soon. Oh dear! I haven't done enough organising for our trip yet.

Concert

I did it!! Got through the Carnival of the Animals on piano on 'cello. It's all Maureen's fault. She came around demanding that I play piano 2 with her and the Beecroft orchestra. The piano part is totally impossible. She ended up in hospital for a few days because of the first part. I was also asked to play The Swan. That has high notes. Anyway, amazingly ... it went well! I hacked my way through the piano music and got lots of nice comments about the Swan ... such as "I never knew Saint Saens wrote that ... I thought Tchaikovsky did". Sha, Chen Ding, Jessica, Bob and Dominic all turned up!

The concert also included a marimba concerto that was superb! We also played Walton's Facade with David Ellyard as a narrator. I've just discovered his rather interesting webpage!

Maureen, Sha and I went out afterwards for a beer.

Great fun.