Melyssa-with-a-Y

 (With apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein)  What the heck? It's already summer!   The month of June started off with the Democrats Abroad "Yes. We. Vote" Scavenger Hunt, which I helped organize. We created it as a short (~2km) walk around the oldest part of the city, where the resistance to Franco and the Spanish Civil War was both overt and covert, and very active. We aligned it with resistance to the Orange Menace in the States. The teams looked for banned books at the Anarchist Bookstore; danced the Cotton-Eyed-Joe at Plaza Universitat; redacted a quote from tRump to make it truthful; and looked for Americans on the streets to remind them to register to vote. We all learned a lot about Spanish history, and then we had lunch at the rooftop restaurant at El Corte Ingles.  We were a little worried about the crowds that week, because Pope Leo came to town on June 9-10-11 to  bless the new cross that was placed on top of Sagrada Familia , and comme...

It used to be really hard to find gluten free food anywhere, especially baked goods. And I have come to realize that I'm a bread-aholic... Good sourdough and sweet baked treats are the way to my heart . Lucky for me, the array of gluten-free bakeries around Barcelona is amazing. It's so fun to just stumble across one as John and I are wandering around the city. Here's a list of my favorites. I'm sure I'm missing some - I can't wait to keep finding them and trying their tasty wares!  My local favorite is  chök  -  about two and a half blocks from our apartment. I've only allowed myself to go there once a month because everything is SO GOOD. They make cinnamon rolls, cookies, mini-cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies, and what they call "rookies" -- a rotating selection of cookie or brownie batter poured over the center of a cinnamon roll and baked. It's as delicious as it sounds! There's a chocolate brownie one (see pic -->) ,  a carame...

At the end of March, after all of our other adventures, John had a birthday. I figured we should go somewhere nice for dinner, since we were both feeling good, so we went to El Nacional. Jae went there with mom and dad at the end of our trip in 2016, but John and I missed it that time. It's a giant (fancy) warehouse-like building with bars in the corners serving a variety of food. In the back corner there's a seafood restaurant called La Llotja (the fish market). We had a lovely dinner (one of the more expensive meals we've had in town). Tuna tartare and pan con tomate (fresh homemade bread!) and then I had monkfish and John had tuna. Delicious... although we were way too full to try the desserts. Instead, we came home and I made quick little individual chocolate puddle cakes . (thanks, Smittenkitchen...)   We really enjoyed the Royal Film Concert Orchestra 's John Williams/Hans Zimmer and Ennio Morricone movie-themed nights, so I got us tickets to attend their Video G...

On Valentine's Day, we went for an amazing hike in the hills above Barcelona.  A couple of months ago, I joined a group called " InterNations " that brings together expats from around the world for events and meetups (it's an international organization with chapters everywhere). We took the funicular up to the meeting point, and it turned out that John and I were the only two signed up for this outing, so off we went with our guide to hike the hills. The views were gorgeous , but it was super windy, and being mid-February, it got dark early. John can see these hills from his office, so it was fun to be on the hill and see the BSC building below. In this photo, BSC is the wide white building in the center (to the left of the yellow crane) and Spotify Camp Nou -- the Barcelona futbol stadium -- is up to the right. But walking for 2 1/2 hours was A LOT. Especially in the dark. We took the funicular back down the hill, and the train back into town, and picked up doner ke...

As we recovered from the COLD December vacation in Paris, York, and Dublin, we found new things to do and see around town. And I did a lot of cooking and baking!  (What else do you do when it's cold outside?)  In Catholic tradition, Christmas isn't over until Epiphany (Jan 6), when the three kings come to town. In Barcelona, that means a huge parade! I looked at the parade route through town and found that the spot where the parade turned left was only a few blocks from our house, and was supposed to come by around 7:30pm. We were only half-heartedly thinking of going, since it was still cold out, but my friend Randall was in town and invited us to join him to watch the festivities. What the heck, why not? There was even a web page that tracked the parade's progress in real time, so we could stay warm in the bar on the corner while we waited. Unfortunately, by the time the parade got close to us, there were so many people between us and the floats that we barely saw any of ...

The last part of our holiday adventure involved a short flight (at a ridiculously early hour) from Leeds to Dublin. The Leeds airport is tiny but was amazingly busy for the Saturday after Christmas. We were on a prop plane, so we had a chilly walk out on to the tarmac. BRRR! (see pic below) When we got into town, we were given keys to a cute little apartment I found on Vrbo that was actually attached to the Qualtrics offices in Dublin. Six apartments facing a central (open) patio... when you get off the elevator, the offices are to the left and the flats are to the right. We figured maybe they have those flats available for their executives? Not that week - it was mostly New Years' vacationers like us.  It was cold and gray most of the week. We found the basement supermarket in the Dunne's department store across the street (like Corte Ingles) and picked up coffee, breakfast items, hot cocoa (Cadbury's, of course), and some snacks. As is our tradition on the first night in...