Opa (Grandfather) turns 80...

Mr Mar's father will be 80! years young this coming friday. That's why we are off to Hamburg to celebrate. It's party time!

can't get enough of this

(seen during a walk, XXL version here)

urban scene

Municipal elections take place today in Spain. Whenever there are elections, this elegant note is put up in our neighborhood to remind all citizens to go vote. "Vote, Manolo!" Author unknown.

photo hunt: colorful

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This is Puppy, a forty-three foot (thirteen meter) tall floral sculpture of a West Highland White Terrier puppy executed in a variety of flowers on a steel substructure (with an internal irrigation system) by Jeff Koons , it is located in front of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Learn more about Puppy here. I have posted another picture of it previously . I love this flower sculpture, it's cute and indeed very colorful, isn't it??

the special birthday and the eating out meme

*First of all, today is a very special day:

Happy birthday to my dear sister X! and many, many more!

**Secondly, we enter the meme zone, as the charming coffee lady Sanni tagged me with the following:

The Eating Out Meme.

These are the rules:

1. Link to the name of the person who tagged you.
2. Include the state and country in which you live.
3. List your top 5 favorite places to eat at your location (locally).
4. Tag 5 other people (preferably from other countries/states) and let them know they’ve been tagged.


This is a thrilling, delicious yet difficult task. I live in Barcelona, Spain since the early 90's but still haven't tried all the different restaurants this lively city has to offer and won't ever be able to. So I will share with you some of the places we enjoy , here is the list, in no particular order.

1. Merendero de la Mari, beautifully located at the old port with a great view! large terrace and fine cuisine, Mr Mar loves their "tronco de merluza" (hake). They have wonderful salads if you'd rather have a light dinner. Remember dinner in Spain is not served before 9pm, with rare exceptions. It is hard to find a good restaurant serving a warm meal at 7pm. Just for your information.

2. Cerveceria Catalana - it is actually a beerhall but it's mainly known as a great place for Mediterranean tapas, the display will blow your mind! This is a great option for an early tapas dinner (say 7pm!) since the kitchen is open all day. It's a busy, busy place, must get there before the business people leave their offices and arrive here after work!

3.

Grupo Tragaluz has a fun website with a great view over Barcelona facing the Mediterranean. You can see the whole list of restaurants which belong to this group on the left, click on any of them and the site will show you the location on the same view of Barcelona, it's fun to take a look. I was actually looking for the link to my fave from this group, El Japones, Asian cuisine : fried dishes and tempura, light sushis and meatrolls. Even if you are not a sushi fan, like me, but they have wonderful and tasty dishes, all in small portions so you can eat a whole variety. All in a minimalist-decorated ambiente. Very pleasant. It's clever to make reservations.

4. El Glop de la Rambla - here you can find Mr Mar and I having lunch if I happen to go downtown Barcelona during the week. It's a nice place offering a daily menu for about 8 euros/ 11 USD

5. Fresc Co , a wonderful self-service restaurant, perfect for an outing with the girls!! They offer a large salad buffet, pasta (I am happy with any restaurant offering these two!), just check their "menu and prices". This is the place where my sister and I have lunch when she is visiting and we do our shopping tour downtown Barcelona.

So far, so good. Only I don't tag so maybe you can share one favorite place of yours in the comments to please our Sanni and those hungry bloggers! If you include a link I will list you right here :) Bon Appetit!!

Gastronomic suggestions from the gourmet visitors:

(be the first one!!)

1.

2.

3.

***Special Friday bonus for the meme zone: Lovely Links Of Love


alexia.com
I was tagged by our distinguished Cyber Cruise Captain with this meme... Since it’s about making connections through the Blogosphere and there is a list of blogs to visit, kindly click here to find out all about it!!! Make sure to go to Alexa and see your blog rankings..!

13 lines on thursday... almost!

This is the picture I posted below for wordless wednesday. And because some of you asked, let me tell you I took the pic some years ago in Northern Spain and truly couldn't figure out what was going on! I guess he needed to transport that basin somewhere else and it was easier to do it rowing, lol!! Is it possibly a container for fresh fish?? I really don't know! but it was fun to watch anyways!

I have been very busy making a photobook on-line, I spent several days among picture piles and negatives , scanning pics, but I am done now! (well, at least for the purposes of the book, which is a bday present for the FIL) . Can't wait to see the printed version, which will arrive in a few days. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun and it was also the chance to sort out old pictures to (re)discover old treasures like this one! But I still have lots to do in order to have all my old pics organized... I have got new pics as well, the ones below were sent to me, may I introduce my parents' new pet, isn't he just adorable???

wordless wednesday [53]

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7 things...

I have been am busy with a photobook for my FIL, whose 80th birthday is coming up. But I am taking a break since Gattina, the charming cat lady, tagged me with this meme:

** 7 things meme **
The rules: Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well . At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don´t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

01. I don't have pets. I have enough to do with a predominantly male household : Mr Mar and Mr18 11/12 (he will turn 19 in June!)

02. I post my weekly memes (ww, t13 and sph) the night before, right before I go to bed. This fact is constantly being reminded to me by the cat lady.

03. I dye my hair to cover my gray hair to enhance my natural hair color!

04. I drink too much coffee and diet coke...

05. I don't like exercising, but I am a good sport and I go to the gym twice a week, it's a gym class.

06. I live 6915 miles/11128 km /6009 nautical miles away from my family. I calculated this from this site.

07. It seems this list doesn't include good gossip nor family secrets...sorry about that.To top it off: I don't tag!! it's against this blog's own rules.

You are encouraged to play along, please do! and share your 7 things. Or at least a couple of them in the comments...

photo hunt: what's cookin`?

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A self-portrait, slowly cooked under the passionate Spanish sun, served on a fresh blog post, with a dash of silliness , spiced up with tasty comments. Serve warm. Or cold. Whatever. The most important thing: enjoy your weekend!

happy friday

A happy friday doesn't include housework , that's why I am posting this gem from my mailbox. You may have seen this before as I had, but I still got a chuckle out of it!!

PHILOSOPHY OF HOUSECLEANING!



I don't do windows because ...I love birds and don't want one to run into a clean window and get hurt.

I don't wax floors because ...I am terrified a guest will slip and get hurt, then I'll feel terrible ( plus they may sue me.)

I don't mind the dust bunnies because ... they are very good company,I have named most of them, and they agree with everything I say.

I don't disturb cobwebs because...I want every creature to have a home of their own.

I don't Spring Clean because...I love all the seasons and don't want the others to get jealous


I don't pull weeds in the garden because ..I don't want to get in Mother Nature's way,SHE is an excellent designer!

I don't put things away because... my husband will never be able to find them again.

I don't do gourmet meals when I entertain because...I don't want my guests to stress out over what to make when they invite me over for dinner.

I don't iron because ...I choose to believe them when they say "Permanent Press".


I don't stress much on anything because ..."A Type" personalities die young and I want to stick around and become a wrinkled up crusty ol' woman!!!!


REMEMBER . . . .

Thursday Thirteen [50]

what? is it thursday already?

01. what I am wearing: cotton (almost) all over. Slippers. My watch.
02. what I had for breakfast: what I have everyday - OJ, coffee, and these two:

03. what I said last: bye! ( I was on the phone)
04. what I am thinking: Mr18 will do just fine on his driving test today. I hope so! He passed the written test, he now needs the driving test to get his license, pleeeeeease!Update: It wasn't meant to be, a stop sign appeared in the very last second...oh, well. He has to wait 3 weeks for another try.

05. what I'm drinking: coffee, black
06. what always makes me smile: my loved ones coming home
07. what made me cry this week: a sad memory
08. what I'd like to do : have coffee with my sis
09. what I am doing this afternoon: going to the store, French class
10. what I bought this week: see them right here:
11. what I will be doing right after publishing this: going to bed, it's almost midnight . I always post my TT late on wednesdays... It is thursday then somewhere in the world!
12. what I will be doing first thing in the morning: make coffee, turn pc on :)
13. what I will be doing after that: visiting your tt's! and off to the gym.

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wordless wednesday [52]: let it swing!

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nobody 's perfect

Did somebody mention bad habits? If you ask Mr Mar, he will most likely immediately tell you that I have a tendency to leave drawers open (among other bad habits, ha!). Hate to admit this is true, although I try and try to be organized.... Support this blogger - pls share a bad habit of yours... I promise not to tell!

Hamburg's Welcome Point

Moin! The Cyber Cruise welcomes you in Hamburg , Northern Germany, today. A place I called home for nearly 9 years! A sunny sunday is a perfect day to go out to visit Hamburg's Willkomm Höft, the Welcome Point . This place is about 18km/11 miles from the city center on the Elbe River.

The place's name is Schulau because this was the name of the independent village, first officially mentioned in history books in 1419 , which was integrated to Schleswig-Holstein (Hamburg's neighboring state or Bundesland ) in 1909. Technically, therefore, this is not Hamburg but the neighbor state, and the place to welcome the ships heading to or leaving the port of Hamburg! . There is a lovely restaurant which opens a terrace during the warm season (which can be very short up north!).

Here is the bridge to walk directly to the welcoming station

Each incoming or outgoing ship has been greeted here since 1952. It is a lovely tradition and fun to watch. The port of Hamburg is located to the left of this picture, therefore the container ship pictured below was actually leaving .

And this is how it works: Right in front of the bridge there is the platform with huge loudspeakers, from which the ships are greeted. From the cabin (next to the exit to the terrace of the Ferry Station Schulau) each incoming and outgoing ship is greeted with the help of a computer system. Over 150 national anthems in nearly all languages of the world are saved on a hard disk. In the meantime the Hamburg flag on the mast, which is 40 metres high, is dropped automatically from the cabin in order to greet the incoming and outgoing ships (the sailor calls this the dipping of the flag) and the international signal for "Have a pleasant journey" is hoisted.

The respective ship answers the greeting by also dipping its flag. The captain working at the ship welcoming station receives information about the motions on the river but (...) he still has to recognize the nationality of the approaching ship with the help of a magnifying glass in order to be able to choose the right anthem and flag.

Afterwards he provides the guests of the Ferry Station with all kinds of information about the ship which has just been greeted with the help of loudspeakers, our more than 16.000 index cards and the daily harbour report being his main sources of information.

If a ship is not greeted from the loudspeakers but only by dipping the flag, it means that this ship is under 500 register tons or that it will not leave the German coast. Source

See below Hamburg's civil and state flag: it shows a white castle with three towers on red background. More about this flag, first adoped in 1751, here

After seeing the ships you can go back to the terrace to enjoy a cold drink and something to eat . Here you can still see the ships and listen to the greeting through the loudspeakers. Almost everybody here was having a beer, something I have tried and tried but already stopped trying because it's not my type of drink. But I am sure everybody can find something on the menu! Cybercruisers are known to be thirsty people...thirsty of adventures, that is!

On such a lovely day it's a pleasure to enjoy this beautiful view of the Elbe River!

Happy Mother's Day if you are celebrating it today. Mother's Day was last sunday in Spain. But I think the rest of Europe is celebrating today as well. Have a lovely sunday anyways!

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photo hunt : five

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Five cars can be seen here...I actually wanted a pic of the ferry behind. This is Marseille and the ferry takes you to the little islands. Not a fun picture...not at all, but that's all I could find...and that's why I am showing again FIVE toes:

which I find much more fun because it was such a fun weekend up by a lake in Wisconsin, some 10 years ago...!

be here tomorrow ! take your mom out to Hamburg as part of the cyber cruise :)

friday fill-in

A lovely friday meme, gotta love memes! busy doing paper work... :(


1. It's Friday! Woohoo!
2. Only 13 14 more days til my dear sis' birthday!
3. It was sunny yesterday!
4. I love my boys
5. Money is something that doesn't matter, unless you are unemployed...
6. Mothers: they rock!
7. I'd like to do rest and relax this weekend.

thursday thirteen [49 ]

01. The picture I posted yesterday was a bouquet seen last weekend at the wedding.
02. It was such a beautiful one, I have to post it again:
03. and this is what the lower part looked like, with beautiful green leaves:

04. And since we are at it, here's the wedding cake again :

05. Next major celebration: FIL's 80th bday on June 1st!

06. While many US college kids are home for the summer, ours still have classes until early june and they are ready with finals by the end of that month.

07. I enjoy spring time more than any other season.

08. I love the warm weather, can't stand the heat so I wish it remained like this until september...
09. Mothers' Day was celebrated last sunday in Spain...
10. Click here, you will get a black page. Click your mouse anywhere (or everywhere) on the page to see what happens. Better yet, click & drag your mouse over the black page!
11.

This is what you can find today if you walk downtown Barcelona.
More pictures here

12. A total of 23 sculptures from Igor Mitoraj, a Polish sculptor.
13. The open-air exhibition will last until july 1st . Hurry!


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wordless wednesday [51]

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54321 meme

The Expat 54321 meme is herewith stolen from Mausi. It's an expat meme but it can actually be played by anyone who has moved to a different home.

I came to Spain as an expat almost thirteen years ago (originally for 3 to 5 years...) from Hamburg, Germany...

5) Name five things you love in your new country:

* the weather, oh yes, sunny Spain is sunny! some cities claim an average of 320 sunny days per year!
* I didn't have to learn a new language right away when we moved over here since Spanish is my mother tongue
* excellent food
* did I mention the weather?
* it's a fun place with many festivals and traditions

4) Name four things that you miss from your native country

* family and friends
* the Andes. There is a strong sense of protection when you are surrounded by mountains.
* the food (particular flavors) I grew up with
* the Chilean accent :)

3) Name three things that annoy you a bit (or much) in your new country:

* people speak very loudly and they all speak at the same time. It is sometimes very difficult to follow a conversation in a restaurant/coffee shop
* they have a natural ability to litter...
* there is not such a word as "punctuality" in their dictionaries.
* bonus: the late dining hours...still can't get used to going out to dinner at 10 pm. I was told the cook arrives at 8:30 pm so 9pm is the earliest you can have a warm meal... and then you are all by yourself because people don't arrive before 9:30pm...that's why I love luncheons instead!.

2) Name two things that surprise you (or surprised you in the beginning) in your new country:

* I could speak Castilian Spanish. But people in Catalonia have their own language and at the end I went back to school to learn Catalan.
* Names. For example female names like Salud (Health) or Camino (Road)...

1) Name one thing that you would miss terribly in your new country, if you had to leave it.
* this view of the Mediterranean Sea from my home:

happy monday

It was a busy and fun weekend as we flew to Germany to go to a wedding. We left on friday , visited friends, enjoyed wonderful spring weather up north (this is not always the case!), had lunch on saturday right next to the Elba river in Hamburg and attended the wedding afterwards. The couple got married the weekend before in Venice, Italy so the event on saturday was the party itself and the bride wore a beautiful evening gown instead of a bridal dress! One of the highlights was of course the bridal cake. This wasn't a traditional one but an original creation: a huge heart , a cake with delicious red fruits on top!!

Here is the view of the Alps as seen yesterday on our way back:

I think this peak below is the Mont Blanc, but since there were no further indications and too many clouds I am not 100% sure....it looks like it, though, don't you think?


The sunset as seen from the plane was breathtaking, absolutely gorgeous. I took many pics of it but this is one of my favorite ones: