falling in love with barcelona and spain.
-in 1986, Jay hitchhiked through Andorra, in the Pyrenees mountains; expected a quaint country, found a Costco-like tax-haven -Jay's first trip to Spain, first trip to continental Europe; thought all in Spain speak Spanish, found other languages also spoken; Barcelona was not only beautiful but also at the time "undiscovered"; he greatly enjoyed the city's lifestyle; noticed the longevity of its residents; Picasso and Miro museums; architect Gaudi; on his trip in 2005 he saw tremendous difference, including wall-to-wall tourists -took a three-week Spanish class in Catalan-speaking Barcelona (much like he took French lessons in Belgium acl19) -very friendly people, welcoming, community orientation -lots of smoking and drinking; strange ways of "controlling" smoking and non-smoking areas; coffee, alcohol, and cigarettes integrated into culture; business secondary to lifestyle -train from Barcelona to capital Madrid in 1986 eight hour trip; Toledo and El Greco -in 2000, went to Canary Islands; Mormon missionaries had a hard sell -Portugal was also beautiful and friendly; Jay had some trouble getting around because of his difficulty understanding spoken language; capital Lisbon, wonderful architecture, people; Sintra, Faro -to Morocco, flight to Canary Islands -part of Spain is in Africa; difference between Spanish part and Morocco difference between Spain and Morocco -Pick any spot in Spain, find beauty, friendly, wonderful people -Seville, where he was warmly taken care of by a gracious, generous family, their "Walnut Creek"; high school smoking -in 2019, Spaniards life expectancy 83.5 years, only 77.5 years in USA -in 2005, Barcelona, Bilbao, Basque-speaking, Frank Gehry-designed museum; San Sebastian -in 2012, Valencia, another beautiful city with wonderful architecture; Santiago Calatrava, architect, also designed bridge in Redding, CA; Córdoba; attention to detail and style; "wherever in Spain, you can't go wrong" -journalist, writer Malcolm Gladwell; the book is titled The Outliers, see introduction "The Roseto Mystery" -Catalan, not Catalonia 1 hour 08-16-21 debug comment |