Barcelona and Sitges

Barcelona is known for its stunning architecture as well as "La Rambla". Gaudi cetainly influenced much of the "gaudy" beauty that Barcelona offers. The Gaudi Park (Parc Guell) is amazing as is the Segrada Familia Cathedal that still is a work in progress, to be finished in 20 years. There are several Gaudi buildings in town, on the Passeig de Gracia, which is Barcelona's Fifth Avenue - it has it all. And the shopping is fabulous, the tapas bars are incredible. Our favourite was Txapela, offering "authentic basque pinchos" ie tapas, just north of Catalunya on Passeig de Gracia #8-10 ( www.txapela.angrup.com). Another good choice is El Gran Cafe Restaurant at Avinyo-9 (www.grupcacheiro.com).



Sitges is 45 minutes, 8 Euros pp, by train from Barcelona, accessible from the "Renfer" train station on P. de Gracia. It is a gorgeous Med resort city with long and wide beaches, a major seaside road, restaurants and hotels, an old town and Cathedral, and beauty like Barcelona yet on a smaller scale. We had lunch on a large terrace restaurant at the north end of town, on an elevated point overlooking one of several pretty bays. We would have liked to be there at sunset. Next time!

Villefranche and Vieux Nice

Moules et frites again at a great little place called La Grignotiere at 3, rue du Poilu - Villefrance telephone # 04 93 76 79 83. Michel owns the place and he is great, has lived on the Riviera his whole life, and he was just fun. Peter and he have the same sense of humour. Michel gave us advice on buying our Provence tablecloths in Old Nice and so we hopped on the bus #100 and went there. They had several shops selling Provence things and so we were happy with what we found.

Radda in Chianti

What a riot to go back in time to Tuscany and visit Radda in Chianti, Volpaii, and Castalina. We rented a car for 90 euro right at the ship in Livorno and took off. The car was expensive but it was Sunday and the rental places in Livorno were all closed. It was so convenient to just leave the Port and head toward Firenze and then Radda. I ttook us one hour and fifteen minutes and we were able to fly in our little Fiat. We ate at our favorite Enotecha Dante in the centre of Radda.

Shopping in Roma

Roma is just the best for shopping. Yesterday we took the train in from Civitavecchia to Termini (last station). Big mistake. It was chaos because of a special religious event where youth came from all over the world. The day before that was a National holiday and so the subway was impossible and the streets were full. No problem. We walked and we walked.

Peter solved his problem with his vodaphone that he bought last week in Rome. The SIM card had to be refreshed (financially) and when we tried to phone all of the numbers to find out why the phone wasn't working the reponses were all in Italian. Peter's next language is going to be Italian. The website is www.190.it and apparently we can refresh on the internet. What they really want is prepaid minutes. This is probably because their stock has fallen so badly.

Via Condotti is the shopping mecca and I splurged and bought a furla handbag. The famous Caffe Greco is near Piazza Spagna, n86 Via Condotti. Parallel to the Via Condotti is Via Frattina and the fashion is great and the prices are a little less. The Spanish steps couldn't be seen for the throngs of people.