Spain

Peter is very enamoured of trains so was particularly keen to try the overnight from Paris to Barcelona, a twelve-hour trip. We booked 3 sleeping compartments, each with 2 bunk beds. Jessye and I shared, Sophie and Rosie shared and Peter had his own. The little beds were remarkably comfortable and we awoke to a very nice continental breakfast served in the dining carriage with real linen serviettes!

Hotel Jazz, Barcelona, was quite upmarket with modern, tasteful yet hip and cool decor. We had nice street views from both rooms and the girls investigated the beautiful pool on the rooftop which, it being winter, we didn't venture into.

Having settled in we celebrated Peter's birthday with candles stuck into a cake alternative and then wandered about our neighbourhood which took in the central part of the old city and the Ramblas, a main shopping strip. We dined at a very good tapas restaurant, the first of many, and stumbled onto an interesting exhibition of wierd and wonderful interactive contraptions in the University grounds. It was part of some competition which is held in a different city every year and one of the student types running it said it had been in Perth the year before. Peter and Rosie headed back to the hotel but Jessye and Sophie were keen to try all of them so we stayed till closing time at 10 pm.

Several cities have open-top double-decker tourist buses doing a circuit of the main attractions and we decided to avail ourselves of one in Barcelona. The highlight of the day was the fascinating and awesome cathedral-in-construction, Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi. We jumped off the bus, met the cathedral cat and explored the outside and inside including a lift ride up to the towers where construction can be seen close-up. There's an amazing view of the whole city from up there too. Another stop on the bus's circuit was a park which was also designed by Gaudi, quite nice once we got there but did involve quite a walk there and back after exiting the bus. The stop was made worthwhile by a very nice lunch at a little local restaurant which was off the beaten tourist track where we were served by a nice waiter who spoke a little English and made a valiant attempt to explain the all-Spanish menu to us.

On our last day in Barcelona we did more roaming around the shops and markets, popped into the old cathedral (photos either not allowed or I forgot) and set out on a mission to have churros and hot chocolate somewhere. We found a cafe that seemed to specialise and Peter tried the coffee with cream as well. When they say cream they really mean cream! There was about a cup of whipped cream sitting on top of the coffee. The hot chocolates are thick and rich, like drinking liquid chocolate, great for dipping the pastries into but almost too much of a good thing to just drink. We passed a shop which had about 50 different types of bottled water. For our last night on the town we ventured into new territory to a busy tapas restaurant recommended by someone at the hotel. It was very popular amongst the natives which augered well and we weren't disappointed. The food was excellent and it was nice to walk back home appreciating the Christmas street decorations.

Peter picked up a rental car early the following morning for the 3-hour drive to Valencia. Due to a last minute flight cancellation by Alitalia of our scheduled flight from Valencia to Rome we ended up hiring a car, popping in to Valencia for a day and a half and then driving back to Barcelona to catch a flight from there to Rome. Valencia is another beautiful Spanish city, much smaller than Barcelona. On arrival we immediately went to check out the amazing new building complex which includes the Science Museum and the Aquarium. Parts are still under construction. Against a brilliant blue sky the white and the shapes and combinations of shapes were a stunning showcase of Spanish architecture. It is one of the most beautiful "landscapes" I saw on the whole trip. We found the 4-seater pedal cars in which the girls used to terrify pedestrians on the Wellington waterfront so we rented one for an hour to tool around in before heading for the aquarium which was beautifully done with a spectacular dolphin show.

At dusk we headed for our hotel which was a block away from the impressive and beautifully lit Town Hall on a lovely square with a fountain. The Christmas decorations were gorgeous and in the middle of the square was a life-size nativity scene. These are really big in Europe. Every church, big or small, has one and sometimes eg in the main Cathedral in Valencia, people queue up for ages to file past and have a look. Some were simple but most were quite elaborate with a few really going overboard, not just presenting the immediate scene of the birth of Jesus but a full panorama of the town of Bethlehem, shepherds in the fields, wise men on their way etc. Jessye wasn't up for it but Rosie and Sophie were clamouring for Macca's so I took them to one just opposite the bull-fighting ring up the road - it was packed. They had Happy Meals. Who said music was the universal language? We had a mission the next morning. I had been to Valencia with the MSO 2 years ago on a day off and some of us had found a great cafe for churros and hot chocolate. I was determined to find it again even with my lousy sense of direction. While I lead us up the garden path following my nose, we came across a fantastic market, a famous one that Peter had read
about in our guide book so we had a gawk. When we came to the squid and other squishy, gelatinous creatures department Rosie couldn't take it any more so the girls went out to the clothes stalls nearby while Peter had a more thorough look at the market. Believe it or not I finally found the cafe but it was morning and they weren't serving churros till 4 pm! After recovering from the disappointment we noticed there was another beautifully tiled cafe very close by so we went there and they weren't too precious to give us our churros and hot chocolate in the morning. On our way out of town before heading back to Barcelona to catch our morning flight to Rome, we drove past some familiar landmarks including the old city gate which is a massive structure looking isolated and out of scale now that the accompanying wall is no longer there. It was now Dec 23 and Christmas was just around the corner!