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As I’ve been wandering around Barcelona, I am struck by the following about the oh so cosmopolitan Spanish…. The men are sexy….there’s a certain smoky directness that’s most appealing! They love: – Shoes and boots – even the security guards have stylish footwear. – Coffee – the best café con leche. – Chocolate – hot, cold, liquid, …

For as long as I can remember, seeing Gaudi’s fantastic architecture has been on my travel list.  Eager to get going, I bundled up against the +1 degree morning and set out early.  An easy Metro trip brought me to the foot of the steep hillside on top on which Park Guell sits.  The uphill climb …

On learning I had arrived in Spain, my helpful brother sent along these phrases.  Heaven help me if I need to use them! On learning I had arrived in Spain, my helpful brother sent along these phrases.  Heaven help me if I need to use them! ¿Puedes llamar a un doctor? Un pastor alemán me …

It’s 7:36 pm, January 21, 2011, and I am sitting in the ‘lounge’ of the Garden House Hostel in Barcelona.  Thanks to Lonely Planet, I figured out how to take the bus from the airport to the Plaza Catalunya, in the heart of the city.  From there, after a couple of missteps, I took the Metro …

There is nothing as cold as an English toilet seat in winter.

My generation (late 1950’s on) is the one that witnessed and participated in unprecedented change, in society and technology.  Raised by parents who had steadier, more stable lives we were the ones who found ourselves on Change’s heaving back.  For our children, change is wallpaper…it just is.  I’ve become interested in transition – the space …

Warm, rich, sweet and oh, so decadent, I discovered a sensuous respite from London’s January freeze in Harrods Chocolate Bar. The little 25-seat café, decorated in cream and dark chocolate colours and tucked into a corner on the second floor, is a chocoholic’s fantasy. Oh, where to begin? Pure Ghanian chocolate melted into a hot toddy, …

Our host Op squatted on the bare planks of the verandah held on stilts over the sea.  Spread newspapers before her were topped with an assortment of plates hilled with chopped vegetables, roots and herbs; a wooden chopping block and knives.  She worked efficiently, chopping, measuring, mixing and tasting, drawing on an array of ingredients …