Comida Español en Barcelona

During a recent trip to Spain during my spring vacation, I was fortunate enough to try a whole host of new food in Barcelona. The first night, we followed the suggestion of our hotel concierge and went out for tapas at a restaurant a couple blocks away called the Ciudad Condal. When we got there we knew it had to be good because there was a half hour wait even though we were eating early by Spanish standards (8:30pm).  Since there were four of us, we decided to split 8 tapas dishes amongst ourselves and some of us had Sangria, a type of wine fruit punch. Afterward, we stopped by Amorino and got some gellato for dessert. The next morning we bought breakfast at a local Panadería, which we enjoyed on the rooftop terrace of our hotel. I am not entirely sure what I ordered, but it was a delicious breakfast pizza with hard boiled eggs and a type of Spanish omelet with tomato sauce and cheese. I also tried the Spanish Bi-Frutas drink for the first time, and it was an amazingly delicious blend of fruit and milk, although I think it tasted mainly like peach juice. For lunch that same day, we visited a Spanish eatery on La Rambla, where some of us split tapas, paella, and sangria. Finally, for dinner we revisited the Tapas place from the night before, where we all tried a couple new dishes. Overall, Barcelona truly provided a  culinary feast. I can't wait to try to make some of the dishes when I return home this summer. For now, however, pictures while have to suffice. Enjoy and buen provecho!

Leftovers from Prawns

Roasted Red Peppers Stuffed with Pured Cod Covered in Cheese

Roasted Peppers and Goat Cheese

Potatoes with Spicy Sauce and Mayonnaise 

Fried Squid

Spanish Omelet 

Grilled Mushrooms and Asparagus

Sangria

Amarino Gellato

Breakfast Pizza

Bi-Frutas Milk/Fruit Juice

Tapas - Starting Upper Left: Cod, Crab, Egg, Ham & Cheese

Paella

Fried Artichokes

Fries with Spicy Sauce, Mayonnaise, and Fried Eggs

Le Plus Cool Pâtisserie à Paris

Chez Bagato is by far the coolest shop I have found in Paris. Not only do they sell pastries and candies, but they also have classes (I learned how to make a Tarte Citron last month) and the décor is beyond cute. Overall, I wish I could have everything they sell, but I think I might have trouble fitting it in my suitcase!

La Vie Quotidienne - Rue Daguerre

I have class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday starting at 9:00 and oftentimes have a large break afterward before my classes in the afternoon. During this time I have been encouraged lately by the good weather to go out exploring. While I walk by some shops everyday without going in, I decided to take the time to walk around and investigate. Enjoy the photos!

Really Cool Clothes and Accessories

Flowers I Want to Buy Everyday

Cute Children's Toy Shop

View of Rue Daguerre Facing the Market

Discount Grocery I Frequent

Typical Fruit Display at the Market

Seafood Display

This Place Has Really Good Lunch Deals.

This Supermarket is Everywhere!

Indiana = Native Americans ? The French Apparently Think So.

ZAZ

Tonight I went to the ZAZ concert at L'Olympia near the Opéra Garnier. While there were an abundance of annoying children on parents shoulders blocking my view of the stage for most of the concert, I really enjoyed hearing her play live. I love her voice and her lyrics are easy to understand for someone who is not fluent in French. Check out some of her music in the clip below.

Catacombes et Gellato

As promised, today I visited the Catacombs during my break between classes, followed by gelato for lunch (pistachio, nutella, and coconut). Before going to the catacombs I did a little research and this is what I found out.

The Catacombs of Paris or Catacombes de Paris are a famous underground ossuary in Paris, France. Located south of the former city gate, the "Barrière d'Enfer", at today's Place Denfert-Rochereau), the ossuary holds the remains of about 6 million people and fills a renovated section of caverns and tunnels that are the remains of Paris' stone mines. Opened in the late 18th century, the underground cemetery became a tourist attraction on a small scale from the early 19th century, and has been open to the public on a regular basis from 1867. Following an incident of vandalism, they were closed to the public in September 2009 and reopened 19 December of the same year. The official name for the catacombs is l'Ossuaire Municipal. Although this cemetery covers only a small section of underground tunnels comprising "les carrières de Paris" ("the quarries of Paris"), Parisians today often refer to the entire tunnel network as "the catacombs".

Unassuming Entrance to the Catacombs

Illicit Use of Flash Photography...It was just too cool to pass up.

Fermé

On Monday, myself and a friend ventured out during our lunch break to try and check some things off of our Parisian tourist to do lists, however, Paris was not exactly accommodating. First, we planned to visit the Catacombs located near the metro stop right by our school and get gellato at the market afterward, however both the Catacombs and the gellato place are closed on Mondays. Thus, we decided to take the metro up to Les Invalides to visit the Rodin Museum and see Napoleon's Tomb, however, yup you guessed it, both of these places were closed too. I could have understand if Monday was just a universal day off for some people in France, however, the Hôtel des Invalides is only closed on the first Monday of every month, which ads so much more to my frustration with the strange French system. Nevertheless, we decided to make the best out of the good weather and walked around the outside of l'Hôtel des Invalides and a nearby park.

Afterward, I took the metro back to school and on the way I stopped by a chocolate shop to admire their window display for Easter and ended up buying a candied clementine, which I have been meaning to try since I found out that they existed during my vacation in Nice, however, I am still not sure weather I liked it or not. It had a very different consistency that I had expected, with a tough outside shell and a liquid inside. Next, I decided to visit the Montparnasse Cemetery, which was very interesting, because it was very different from those in the United States with it's above ground tombs and the detail that goes into their construction and decoration. Overall, despite everything I wanted to visit being closed, I still feel like I made the best of the time I had and am looking forward to visiting the Catacombs and getting gellato tomorrow.

Fontainebleau et Vaux le Vicomte

Here are some of the photographs from my trip to Château de Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte this past Saturday.