9.90 Euro - 2 tapas + paella
Sweet. We signed ourselves right up--low on cash, this was just the meal price we were looking for.
"What'll you have to drink?"
"Oh, nothing, thank you."
"I'm sorry, but I can't serve you if you don't order a drink."
Catching each other's eye, SilentR and I each ordered water (knowing it'd probably be a bottle of it) to pacify our server. Out came our 500ml bottles of water--which we drank--our tapas and paella--which we ate--and our bill--which we gawked at.
3.60 Euro for a bottle of water? Each?!
If we had to go back and do it again (as someday we probably would), we'd order alcohol. For probably pennies more (if any at all), it'd be worth paying to get drunk!
I think what made it the suckiest was that each of us had planned for a long day and each had a 1.5L bottle of water in our bags. Boo.
Definitely not like back in North America where it's all about ordering exactly what you want, and all the free tap water you could drink. Because later that same night, Silent and I ventured out of late night tapas. Neither of us were hungry enough for a meal, so we stuck strictly to the snacks, and we were shafted for it.
At first, we were seated and our table set for two--two placemats and two sets of utensils. After we'd ordered only 2 tapas dishes (we started with just 2 because we didn't know how much we could eat), the man who appeared to run the restaurant came by, seemingly scolding our server in Spanish, and re-set our table. He whisked away one of the placemats and moved the remaining one to the middle of the table, and removed both of our utensil rolls, replacing them with just one (which contained 2 forks, at least).
You shouldn't have to bite off more than you can chew, just to get regular service.
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Picking Barcelona
In all of the city descriptions our (now lost) Lonely Planet book had to offer, the one warning that was consistent for each of our destinations was: beware of pickpockets.
In my mind, a pickpocket was first and foremost a classic Oliver Twist character who picked things out of your pocket. Hence, I didn't keep anything important in my pockets.
Second came the more modern image of the ploy of someone (or several someones) bumping in to you as you're walking, causing a distraction whilst nimbly relieving you of something valuable. Hence, I always, checked my person immediately after if anyone bumped into me.
However, I've realized that more than the classic notions (that I had) of pickpockets, these people are sleight of hand artists. This is after a foiled attempt (foiled by fast acting SilentR) of a petty thief today.
Tired after yet another mountainous climb, Silent and I sat down for a meal and to write some postcards on an outdoor patio. In addition to putting her postcards on the table, Silent pulled out her iPhone to check the time. A second later, a man come up and tried to offer her fliers. She kept telling him "no", but he continued to fan them in front of her, spilling some onto the table. Another firm refusal, and a quick gathering up of her belongings onto the other side of the table out of his reach was finally enough to discourage the man, not to mention our server barrelling out to shoo him away as an apparently known thief of the area.
A quick assessment of our stuff told us we still has all of our possessions.
"Quick thinking to grab your phone, eh?"
"I know! I swear he'd already pulled it closer to him--it wasn't where I'd had it on the table. I knew when he wouldn't leave me alone that he was up to something because when the lady at the other table refused him, he'd left right away and came here."
A close call, a wake-up call, and another adventure to add to the list.
...
Marilyn Manson is playing somewhere in Spain this December.
"Marilyn Manson is so 90s."
Indeed.
In my mind, a pickpocket was first and foremost a classic Oliver Twist character who picked things out of your pocket. Hence, I didn't keep anything important in my pockets.
Second came the more modern image of the ploy of someone (or several someones) bumping in to you as you're walking, causing a distraction whilst nimbly relieving you of something valuable. Hence, I always, checked my person immediately after if anyone bumped into me.
However, I've realized that more than the classic notions (that I had) of pickpockets, these people are sleight of hand artists. This is after a foiled attempt (foiled by fast acting SilentR) of a petty thief today.
Tired after yet another mountainous climb, Silent and I sat down for a meal and to write some postcards on an outdoor patio. In addition to putting her postcards on the table, Silent pulled out her iPhone to check the time. A second later, a man come up and tried to offer her fliers. She kept telling him "no", but he continued to fan them in front of her, spilling some onto the table. Another firm refusal, and a quick gathering up of her belongings onto the other side of the table out of his reach was finally enough to discourage the man, not to mention our server barrelling out to shoo him away as an apparently known thief of the area.
A quick assessment of our stuff told us we still has all of our possessions.
"Quick thinking to grab your phone, eh?"
"I know! I swear he'd already pulled it closer to him--it wasn't where I'd had it on the table. I knew when he wouldn't leave me alone that he was up to something because when the lady at the other table refused him, he'd left right away and came here."
A close call, a wake-up call, and another adventure to add to the list.
...
Marilyn Manson is playing somewhere in Spain this December.
"Marilyn Manson is so 90s."
Indeed.
International boob-tubing
So, in every country we've visited, we've caught a little TV during each stay. The one thing all three countries (Greece, Italy, Spain) have had in common so far, is that they really enjoy darker genres of shows and movies.
In Greece, we had 2 English channels. They played movies like Derailed, Perfect Strangers, and another movie in which women were murdered and no one went to help. For shows, they had The shield, and haunted investigations. In Italy, we only caught whatever was on (and all dubbed in Italian) the common TV, but the first movie seemed to be about depressed women, and the second was about explorers that all died exploring the supernatural. Spain had either the BBC and CNN channels on loop, or English shows dubbed into Spanish like Law & Order (I think). On the last night in Spain, I was able to watch Twilight in English, but only because SilentR was there to "dub" it back for me from Spanish.
Oh. And Spain had porn.
"Are there anymore movies on?"
"No, just the news."
"Oh, well I'm just going to channel surf then."
"Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
*starts flipping*
"...I was surfing earlier and they're showing commercials for some really, uh, hardcore, girl-on-..."
"WHOA!" *quickly changes channels*
"Yeah, see?"
And to think, what we saw were actually only commercials...
Our next place to stay in London is advertised to have 3 glorious channels--in English! Superb!
In Greece, we had 2 English channels. They played movies like Derailed, Perfect Strangers, and another movie in which women were murdered and no one went to help. For shows, they had The shield, and haunted investigations. In Italy, we only caught whatever was on (and all dubbed in Italian) the common TV, but the first movie seemed to be about depressed women, and the second was about explorers that all died exploring the supernatural. Spain had either the BBC and CNN channels on loop, or English shows dubbed into Spanish like Law & Order (I think). On the last night in Spain, I was able to watch Twilight in English, but only because SilentR was there to "dub" it back for me from Spanish.
Oh. And Spain had porn.
"Are there anymore movies on?"
"No, just the news."
"Oh, well I'm just going to channel surf then."
"Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
*starts flipping*
"...I was surfing earlier and they're showing commercials for some really, uh, hardcore, girl-on-..."
"WHOA!" *quickly changes channels*
"Yeah, see?"
And to think, what we saw were actually only commercials...
Our next place to stay in London is advertised to have 3 glorious channels--in English! Superb!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Lights out
Our day began at 3:45am--perhaps early enough to say that our previous night had never really ended. Bleary-eyed and still exhausted from our arduous trek back from the city (via BUS again--damn Sunday-night train schedules), SilentR and I dragged ourselves to the front desk to be picked up by the airport shuttle.
Needless to say, we arrived in Barcelona (much) later that day, still exhausted, but we wasted no time before beginning to tour the city. By the time dinner rolled around, we threw in the towel. Without the energy for even just eating that last meal, Silent took a shower and rolled into bed and I followed suit right after. Some BBC got my eyes tired, and so it was time to turn out the lights, so I did.
And something exploded.
Frozen, with my hand still on the light switch, I assessed the situation, overall hoping that I at least hadn't woken Silent, who'd been having trouble getting any good sleep.
"Uh, mel?"
Dammit.
What seemed to have happened was that my turning off the light had somehow short-circuited the breaker and blew out the desk light bulb across the room (which had been off all night anyway). While the experience had been startling enough for me, Silent had woken up convinced she was done for.
"I'd been having a dream that I was being chased. And then when I heard the bang and the breaking glass, I thought someone was shooting at us through the window!"
I felt so bad, even though I technically hadn't done anything (except turn out the lights). Her heart rate did not slow until well after we'd made our way down to the front desk and returned with reinforcements to at least clear out the glass.
The rest of the night passed without any other incident (and Silent was so exhausted she fell right back to sleep, thankfully), but I guess the whole thing hadn't helped that, again, after booking our hotel, we found a review of our area of town, telling us it wasn't exactly the best. But hey, it wasn't an Omonia by any stretch.
Needless to say, we arrived in Barcelona (much) later that day, still exhausted, but we wasted no time before beginning to tour the city. By the time dinner rolled around, we threw in the towel. Without the energy for even just eating that last meal, Silent took a shower and rolled into bed and I followed suit right after. Some BBC got my eyes tired, and so it was time to turn out the lights, so I did.
And something exploded.
Frozen, with my hand still on the light switch, I assessed the situation, overall hoping that I at least hadn't woken Silent, who'd been having trouble getting any good sleep.
"Uh, mel?"
Dammit.
What seemed to have happened was that my turning off the light had somehow short-circuited the breaker and blew out the desk light bulb across the room (which had been off all night anyway). While the experience had been startling enough for me, Silent had woken up convinced she was done for.
"I'd been having a dream that I was being chased. And then when I heard the bang and the breaking glass, I thought someone was shooting at us through the window!"
I felt so bad, even though I technically hadn't done anything (except turn out the lights). Her heart rate did not slow until well after we'd made our way down to the front desk and returned with reinforcements to at least clear out the glass.
The rest of the night passed without any other incident (and Silent was so exhausted she fell right back to sleep, thankfully), but I guess the whole thing hadn't helped that, again, after booking our hotel, we found a review of our area of town, telling us it wasn't exactly the best. But hey, it wasn't an Omonia by any stretch.
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