So paris was pretty great. We sight saw for about 10hours straight each of the two days we were there, but we sure did get alot in. It was mostly museums:
The Louvre
The Orsay (impressionism)
Eifle Tower
Arc De Triumph
Picasso Museum
The Pompidou (modern art)
Montmarte
and a whole lot of walking in between. Our hostel was very scary and the woman who ran it was a distant cousin to the hunchback of notre dame. somewhere along his bloodline. The city had a much different feeling than barcelona, it seemed more relaxed, a little quieter, and everyone was dressed much much better. things were just classier in general. barcelona has this very grungy, super artsy, underground feel to it, which is great, but paris made me want to wear all black and pearls, which its a good thing i didnt bring because the hostel keeper might have eaten them or used them in a spell or SOMETHING. It was all very tiring, nonetheless.
The last two nights my dorm has been competing in futbol and basketbol matches against "evil camp tigerclaw" (remy?) or the rival dorm whose name i dont know. It was alot of chanting and 17 year olds wearing face paint and drinking on bleachers. I went out for a little bit when thegames were here and it just felt too much like being at a homecoming football game in highschool and I had to go inside and read kafka to feel smart again. No, but seriously.
I AM GOING TO LONDON ON FRIDAY!!!!! It is going to be a relaxing few days filled with cooking in natalies kitche and going out for dinner and to plays. And then onto to Prague where my money will be worth so much more, especially after using the pound for a few days. And then katie and I are going to vienna for 2.5 days and staying with mom's friend Bea. And then back to good ol barca.
the air is starting to get crisp here, but not really. it still gets very hot around midday. I am still wearing flipflops 75% of the time. I am very much missing fall, especially when I realize how soon Halloween is :(
lhiam.
11.10.06
Paree etc
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3 comments:
I just checked in after several weeks--what a series of adventures and it's only October! When do you go to class?
Came across this article in The New York Times this weekend: no mention of ham so far so I thought I'd remedy that.
If you’re walking down La Rambla in Barcelona and happen to pass the incongruously named Café Viena, it’s a good bet your impulse will be to keep walking. Don’t.
The cafe’s plastic menus show pictures of a number of marginally appealing sandwiches and hamburguesas, and though the marble and wrought-iron interior is classic, it doesn’t promise much more than a nice snapshot. My friend Charlie insisted I go, however, and he knows both food and Barcelona. So on a recent visit, we went and ordered just two things: the flauta d’ibéric d.o. jabugo and a beer from the porcelain and brass tap. The flauta is a flute — the name for a bread that we might call a small sub, or a long roll.
The rest of the name means jabugo ham — what many believe is the world’s best salt-cured ham. Jabugo (just recently available in the United States) is, like prosciutto, cured with no more than salt and air. But it costs around $75 a pound, because down in Jabugo, near Seville, the pigs are special. Let’s just say that the Iberian cerdo negro (black pig) is a good breed, a direct descendant of the local wild boars, carefully raised and eventually set out to pasture, where their diet includes ripe acorns. The results make common prosciutto and even jamón serrano seem, well, common.
It’s not just the ham, though. The flauta is so good you could fill it with supermarket boiled ham and have the best sandwich you’ve had this month. It’s deep brown, like a perfectly baked baguette. (The owners of Viena, which is a small chain of around 20 restaurants, claim to have a secret process, and I believe it.) When you take a bite, it crackles. The combination of crisp crust and the tender, chewy interior is nothing less than stunning to someone who’s eaten bread around the world. A bit of tomato is smeared on the bread, adding just the right amount of moisture and acidity.
So that’s the sandwich, wrapped in waxy paper and thrust at you with no ceremony, though I assure you that it’s something Ferran Adrià or Joël Robuchon would be proud to serve. There’s not much of the ham because it’s so expensive, but also because it’s so strongly flavored. It drapes over the bottom layer, its fat stark white, the lean deep, deep pink, just about purple. It is salty, of course, but also rich, sweet, even floral; there are subtleties that make you pause. But this gets a little technical; let’s just say it’s the best sandwich I’ve ever had.
Café Viena, La Rambla del Estudis 115, (34-933) 171-492; www.viena.es. The flauta costs 5.60 euros, or $7.15 at $1.30 to the euro.
That description of that ham sandwich is nearly orgasmic! Zoe,
you must go eat one and report back
to your avid blog readers!!
And your blog entries are as funny as Chris's letters, but drier.
Is your dorm near Las Ramblas?
That was me....anonymous!
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