Last night the winds were blowing pretty strong… My little house shaked and craked. I went to bed relatively early at 21h30 because I was tired. However I couldn’t sleep. I heard every crak. I felt every shake. I realized how having Happy around helped me feel safe before. She’d lie on the floor on her blankie next to the bed and just hearing her breathe I knew I wasn’t alone and if something was to happen Happy would be there to help me. Like in “Blanche” when the clinic sets on fire in the middle of the night it’s the dog that wakes Blanche up to save her. Happy would do the same for me. Except last night she wasn’t there. So I went to sleep in the guest room. There, the wind seemed less strong, it wasn’t hitting directly on any of the room’s walls. The bed wasn’t as comfy, but it was warm. And I eventually fell asleep.

2 days of weekend. Strange no dog in the house. No reason to go out at night or in the morning. No one sleeping on the floor near me when I watch tele. No funny drinking noises. I did craft, prepared a gift for the person at work I am the angel for. I made cards for my three colleagues who just lost their father. Work will be good, will be busy. Will help me keep my mind clear.

Yesterday I did grocery. I know they noticed Happy wasn’t there. They didn’t say anything though. I sent all the stores/schools/work/public places I went with Happy a card to thank them before the trip. Cold is still there, mostly blocking my nose. Cleaned the windows outside with mom today. Made crêpes. Yum.

Used my new bath tub plug, with a tiny rubber ducky on it. Mom told me all her holiday souvenirs for everyone got stolen, probably on the train between Barcelona and Madrid, the only place with luggage unattended. She noticed her suitcase was less full in Madrid but didn’t make the connection.

Did a lot of laundry. Too bad the weather outside is not nice for it to dry there. Watched tons of shows I missed: ANTM, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Survivor, Bones, Prison Break. Looking forward to Amazing Race tonight. Sleeping better, woke up at 5h yesterday and this morning at 6h30.

Have lots of computer stuff to do: finish the Poissonnerie contract, get a gift order ready and prep my pics for online. Can’t do contract, don’t have pics of the fish. Can’t do gift order, don’t have pic to prep the canvasses. Could do the pics for online.

Mom and I got up very early at the hotel… At like 5h we could sleep! Mom showered, I watched tele, played on the comp, I showered, we went back to rest in the bed, killing time before brekky. At 7h15 we went down to eat! Yum!

Then we went for a walk in Montreal, by the Basilica, through Chinatown, the main, St-Cath. We took a break at the Place de la Cathédrale with a hot choco for me, coffee for mom, waiting for La Baie to open. I went to buy a few L’Occitane soaps and we went back to the hotel for a nap.

We packed, checked-out and were on our way to the airport! Yep! Again! We got there a bit early for check-in so we ate… Some St-Hubert. Then as went were done and went to check-in at Air Lab we found J. right there! Yay! We got our travel partner back! We passed through security measures, and of course I got the pat down manual search…

We waited a bit at the gate. Then on the aircraft! Much smaller than the British Airways one, but still, can’t complain, this one has a flight attendant and a toilet! In Sept-Îles, where we change planes, the lady said Blanc-Sablon’s weather wasn’t looking good and we might end up in Goose Bay. Fab. Just great. By now we just all wanted to be home, not in Goose Bay! We got on and hoped for the best. This plane is the second to smallest one of their fleet, no toilet and one seat on each side of the alley. And we did land! YAY!!! 4 planes and 2 days later, we were home.

Sure, a bit bittersweet for me, without Happy. But a nice holiday in my mind.

We got up fairly early, had brekky, checked out, left our bags at the hotel and were out to explore a bit more of London by 8h30!

We went to the Pimlico Underground station, bought our tick and went to the platform. One train comes by EXTREMELY full, so much a tall guy had to bend his head in the door when it closed..! Anyways, sardines. We wait… A second train is full too. A third full too. Each train maybe 1 person got out and 3-4 from the 15 around each door on the platform got on. We decided this was way too nuts and walked to Victoria station hoping this would be better, since it was a major station… But surprise! Here the line-up started meters before the entrance of the station outside!!!! How do Londoners deal with this every morning?!

J. and mom decided to queue for a cab. The line was a bit long but moved quickly enough. The drive went well! We went from Victoria to Picadilly, passing by Buckingham Palace. The flag was flying over it, meaning the Queen was there! Neat! Last time I was in London she wasn’t there… We walked in the Picadilly area and then took the subway to go see the London Tower and Tower Bridge. And it was time to go back to the hotel for our shuttle to Heathrow.

The shuttle was booked for 12h50 but at 12h20 when we arrived at the hotel it was already there! The dude said he’d taken a bit of advance on his schedule and if we were ready we could go now. Sure! We got to the airport waaayyyy too early for our check-in so we went with our luggage to eat. I had yummy spaghetti! The food in England is much more like ours, comfort food. After we exchanged the rest of our Pounds. I got 140$ back. Then we checked in. Passed security which was like they were on speed, really pushing passengers to be quick. And other passengers in a ultra-hurry! Man.. Relax!

We waited a loooong time at the gate. I went shopping with my Pound coins… I had more than 12 Pounds in change! I bought drinks and a book. And when we finally boarded the plane we waited an hour in our seat before pushing back and leaving! The captain explained there were radars problems in the South of the country for hours now and it was just back and now there was a congestion in the sky with all the planes wanting to leave.

The flight went well, though I was extremely tired from sleeping bad the previous night because of my cold and not being able to sleep on this plane. I watched Sex and the City for the second time and listened to music and ate. We landed in Montreal, got our bags and J. went with her bro that picked her up, mom and I headed with a cab to the hotel I’d booked for us in Old Montreal. We arrived at about 22h, I showered and fell asleep right away in the super comfy bed! Ahhhhhhh!

We left our apart in Madrid early morning at about 8h30… I called a cab using my prime Spanish “taxi in la calle ___ numero trenta y ocho por favor,” the lady asks a question where I understand the word “ahora”… Think quick… Means now! I answer “si, gracies.” And our lovely cab driver arrived a few minutes later in front of our building! The ride to the airport went smoothly.

We checked in at EasyJet and went to our gate. We read a bit… Ate a bit… Spent the last of our Euros. The flight went fine. We arrived in London! Yay! I guided mom and J. to the trains… I’d been at Gatwick before and did this exact same thing, so it felt a bit like home! I got us ticks for the train into Victoria station, which was near our hotel. Mom, J. and I decided to roll our luggage to the hotel instead of taking a cab. I thought the street’s number went up and number 89 would be close, but they went down… Getting to 89 took some time! Mom was tired and angry with me for making her roll, but J. reminded us all we’d agreed on doing this so just stick to it and we got there eventually, just a bit more tired.

After resting a few moments we headed out to Pimlico station to go to see Big Ben! It was overcast/rainy, but we were happy to see a bit of London. We walked in the area, seeing London Eye, Parliament, Abbey, Downing Street (which was in renovations), guards at the Cavalry…

No time to visit the inside of these plases, but mom and J. wanted just that, a quick London visit! We then went to the other side of St-James Park to eat… We’d read in my book there was a nice resto there, but it was a resto, and once we saw it we realized we felt more like eating in a pub. Mom asked someone and he told us the nearest one… We went there!

As we arrived at the pub, 2 Englishmen were done with their beers and got up from the table! PERFECT! We sat. The pub was crowded with business men in suits after work chilling before heading home. We must have stood out a lot! But we enjoyed looking around and sinking in the atmosphere. I went to the bar to order/pay… I took 3 local beers and 3 fish and chip plates, plus a sharing appetizer plate. Mmmmmmmm! We were all hungry! It took a while for the food to arrive, but it was really good! Mmmm! We went back to the hotel after.

Oh yea, I now also had a cold. Yep! I started feeling my throat hurting a bit a day earlier, and by now my sinuses were full and big throat pain. The plane ride was painful in my ears too because of that! And exploring London with a Kleenex to your nose isn’t exactly fun!

This morning we left to go to the Royal Palace. It was a very sumptuous place to see! We started with the armory. It was impressive to see the horses’/knights’ equipment! Wow. Then we saw many rooms inside the Palace with big chandeliers, nice carpets, beautiful ceiling paintings, etc.

After we wanted to eat at Hollywood to have a taste of home, but it was closed. So we went by Metro to eat near the Reina Sofia but finding a good place was tough. Our resto, my lasagna was cold, there was a bug in my juice and the waiter was crap. He almost threw the things at us and a mistake on the bill (8 Euros difference). I really didn’t like it.

We then went to a place near the Reina Sofia and listened to the trombone players. J. went to give them money but broke the ceramic shoe they had for donations! What a funny moment. Then the Reina Sofia was closed too! So we changed the plans, took the Metro, walked and went to the Thyssen. We saw paintings by many artists like Rothko, Lichtensein, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Dalí, Miró, Picasso, etc. Still it was interesting!

Then we came back home, exhausted from a lot of walking..! On the way to the Metro I was looking around and the lens cap came off of my camera, rolling away on the sidewalk towards the street. I hurried to pick it up, but a nice Spanish guy bended down, picked it up, and handed it to me with a nice smile! Ahh! Thank you! In general, Spanish people were very friendly with helping you when you dropped something (it happened a few times)!

On Monday we went to walk in the area near the Paseo del Prado. We walked around and saw big buildings, the Parliament, the communications building, the Ritz… We wanted to stop at the Thyssen museum, but it was closed..! Grr!

We were then hungry so we looked for a restaurant. We found Casa Gilda… We ate a nice lunch for 10 Euros each, really a good lunch and friendly people, for example a local who got up to come to our table and answer a question about a special Spanish pastry we had.

We walked further to the shopping area but it started raining. We went to a store to pass the biggest rain shower, Rosa Negro, with all gadgets. In front of the Communication’s Building there was a big crowd, with journalists, as if someone would come out soon and they’d hog them for news or something!

Then I went to El Corte Inglès to buy pantyhoes, red ones for with my Lacoste dress and gray for everything else. By now the rain had stopped… We stopped at Lala to buy a necklace and J. offered me mine. We then went to Desigual to buy some clothes for me, I got pants and a button shirt. I liked them very much! Mom and I also bought a gift for my bro.

Back in our neighbourhood we walked miles to get to the supermercado, asking people along the way… They gave us direction in Spanish and we followed them best we could. We bought stuff for two evening meals and headed home.

The day started nicely, with a beautiful sunrise over the city… The view from our penthouse apart was very pretty! Then a little while later as we left to go to the flea market El Rastro, the weather changed… It was now raining! Mom bought an umbrella along the way, J. had hers and I had my raincoat. It didn’t stop us from exploring the huge market! Mostly it is locals that go, and there’s deals to be made on everything from undies to blank CDs to kitchen gear. Mom and J. bought a lot of stuff, while I was good and only bought 2 coloured scarfs, one nice blue and one bright red.

After walking for a long time in the crowded market, where we had to continuously watch out for umbrellas piercing our eye, we went to find a place to eat. We stopped at Tirso de Molina, a little café/restaurant. My pizza took a while to arrive but it was good! Then we went by Metro home to bring the shopping back. We rested a bit before going to walk in the old Madrid, seeing things like the Calle and Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, etc. We wanted to visit the Palacio Real but it was closed on Sundays. Still, the exterior was impressive. Old Madrid…

We sat and looked in my book to find a resto. It was 18h30 but we were all starving! We found one that seemed neat, the oldest resto of Europe, Botín. We got there, but it was closed, opening from 20h to 00h for supper! We ended up eating at a highly overpriced resto at the Plaza Mayor. Yucky food for the price. We were all dissapointed. It was a good exploration day though!

Yesterday morning, after brekky, we went to explore another area of Tossa. It was quicker than we thought and still had some time to spare until taking the bus… So mom and J. went to do some shopping while I went to read in the room.

At 12h we checked out and headed to the nearby bus station. At 12h40 we were on the way to Barcelona, then a cab from North Station to Saints Station and then the train to Madrid! But we had a while to wait… So we put our luggage in lockers and went to eat/walk around. At 16h30 we went in line to get aboard the train, I helped my travel partners load the luggage on the train, we settled in our seats. They were wide/comfy. The ride went smoothly. We reached a top speed of 301 km/h.

In Madrid we took a cab to our apart, but the taxi driver was mad we were so close and tricked us… He went in rounds/zigzags to reach our apart! GRRRR! Our apart here was spatious with 2 levels… Main living area downstairs, 2 rooms and bathroom upstairs. The only thing is that it’s 6 levels up (penthouse) and mom doesn’t like the lift… Still she gets in it! I went to the nearby depanneur to buy the bare essentials (juice/milk). It’s always strange when people spoke to me in Spanish but I didn’t understand anything, sometimes they’d be speaking without break for 30 seconds before they stopped and I could say I didn’t speak Spanish!

We had our car ready to go… At 8h, we went down to get brekky and headed to the car! We settled in… Mom’s friend the driver, me the co-pilot with the map and mom in the back. We drove to Cadaquès using the main road/highway inland and a very swirly/mountainy/small road to the Coast. We arrived at around 10h. We explored the village. It was where Salvator Dalí lived/painted. I wanted to visit his house/museum but I learned at the information centre that reservations were needed. When I called the lady only had space at 14h! Oh well! Cadaquès was a cute village to visit still.

After Cadaquès we drove to L’Escala for lunch. I’d been looking at a cute Lacoste striped navy/white dress in Tossa, but they didn’t have my size, either 40 or 36! In L’Escala there was also a Lacoste store… And the mannequin in the window had my size on! 38! The clerk undressed the mannequin, I tried the dress, PERFECT! Yay! Mom bought it for me as my “thanks for being our guide” gift! We ate at a café a sandwich and were on our way!

The next stop was the medieval town of Peratallada. It was very well preserved, small town centre surrounded by walls. We wandered around. We then continued our route to Begur. My guide said there were nice views on the cliffs/sea. We tried to find it but got a bit lost… We decided to park near the town of Begur and walk there to the Castle instead. It was nice too!

Finally we drove back! I filled up the car with diesel… 35$ worth of it for the little driving we’d done! Expensive here! And the station attendant wasn’t very nice either… Mumbling that I was slow.

We brought back the car well on time, with 30 minutes to spare! We took a nap at the hotel and headed into town. We did a bit of shopping, for example I bought a nice silk painting! And then went to the resto. I had a local dish, suquet, but it wasn’t good at all! The fish was hard. And dessert was supposedly a lemon mousse but it was more like lemon butter… Expensive and crap.

Thursday morning I got up at around 9h and headed out to eat brekky. Then we went to find a car to rent for the following day. We needed an automatic and that turned out to be a little difficult… After much time/speaking/busy travel agency, we decided to just wait. The travel agent dude was being waayyyy too pushy! We went to a café to have a drink and relax. Then we decided to take the car that was available from 18h today to 18h Friday though originally our plan would have been to stay longer on the road, until like 20h-21h… But that deal was better than nothing at all! We wanted to be able to explore the Costa Brava!! So the car was finally settled, 2 hours later.

After a pitstop at the hotel we then headed to the beach! I swam in the nice Mediterranean sea, the water was a bit cold, but with my technique of quickly going in, it wasn’t bad at all! I enjoyed swimming! Then a bit in the sun to dry and we were off to find a place to eat…

Passed by a resto with a 12Euros menu, another with a 14Euros menu, then one with a 15Euros menu… We ended up going there as the sales man/waiter really sold his menu well to us! His P.R. was really good! They did everything to make us feel extra welcomed in their establishment (with words)… Almost a bit too much! I had mozza/tomato appetizer, salmon main, Catalan crème for dessert. It was a very good mood!

After lunch we walked up top the Medieval fortress, all the way to the lighthouse. There were pretty views. On the way back we shopped a bit until 18h when we went to rent the car. After a bit of rest at the hotel, we headed for supper… Still a bit full from lunch, we went to a resto by the sea. I had a simple lasagna.

Wednesday morning I finished packing my suitcase, then I headed out to buy stamps. Mom had bought stamps at the newspaper/tobacco stand… The salesman had told her were good for Canada, but it wasn’t so… 60cents stamps, while we needed 78cents ones!! And apparently they can’t sell us 18cents stamps to make the difference so I had to repay to stamp them all again! Mom’s 12 cars and my 6… Grrr! But finally they were off!

At noon a lady came by the apart. She handed us our 200Euros deposit back and we left. I hailed a taxi and we headed to the bus station. We bought ticks and then waited for the bus with a lunch snack. The bus ride went well, 1h30 and we were in Tossa, at around 15h30. We were wondering where our hotel was, and turns out it was 1 minute away on foot, so we rolled our luggage there. We checked in and got our room, a triple, with three single beds, not too big not too small with a view on the old city/Medieval fortress.

We headed out to visit the city a bit… Walking towards downtown, we arrived at the beach after some window shopping along the way. The beach was big sand pieces/small tiny pebbles, not too comfy to walk on!

We went to put our feet in the water. It’s neat, on the beach the locals put their boats up/down to go to sea…! So people put their towels between the boats! Then we explored the old city/Medieval fortress area, very charming area! We ate at Lluis, it was good, I had a salad and pizza. Then for dessert we went to another resto near the beach… It was funny conversation with lots of laughs. The fortress at night was very pretty with the lights!

This morning we left around 11h to go to Parc Güell. We took a local bus near our apartment and it brought us at the footstep of the parc… Perfect! We explored the whimsical parc… Giant towers, a beautiful staircase, a very long bench, all made out of mosaic tiling… We also saw the viaducts and the house where Gaudí lived a few years, now a museum. It was a nice visit!

In the afternoon we came back at the apart… From 13h30 to 16h30 we did like the Spanish people and observed the siesta! After resting, we headed out to the main shopping street near the Cathedral. I bought a S.T.A.M.P. watch, some basic tees at Bershka, a cute Wintery dress at Mango, a short-sleeved blouse at Salsa Jeans and most of all an amazing hoodie at Desigual! I LOVED EVERYTHING IN THAT STORE!!! At the end of my holiday in Madrid I will surely go back!

At the apart I made an omelet and waited for J. and mom to return as we’d lost each other while shopping… Mom came back with the skirt I almost bought from Desigual!!! So funny…! And J. also got some stuff there…! And they also thought it was a great store!

Tomorrow we’ll explore Tarragona.

Today was a Gaudí day! We started off walking towards the Sagrada Familia from our apartment… A nice 10 minutes walk! Lucky us! Along the way we stopped for mom and J. to get money out of the ATM but it wasn’t working!!! We had to try many different ones…! Finally mom was able to get some money out, but only a little amout was allowed (40€ at a time, not 120€ for example) which is strange…

We visited the outside of the Sagrada Familia, looking at all 3 facades. Then we went to visit the main inside area. There was a mass on the other side… We could hear the singing/music, which made the visit even more special! It’s amazing to see how it is such a work in progress that church! After visiting the museum area we headed to find a place to eat.

On Sundays the city is EXTREMELY quiet. We finally found one resto that was opened, but it didn’t really appeal to me. We walked lots more. Ah! Another resto! This one was more expensive and not really more nice food choice..! Crap. But by this time we were tired/hungry so we went in anyways. The food wasn’t so great, but it did the trick I guess.

After eating we went to the Casa Milà, another Gaudí work. The apartment building was amazing! No straight lines really gave it LOTS of visual interest! I also loved the balconies’ iron work! We went inside for a visit… Seeing an apartment with old style furnishings, the attic’s museum area and the rooftop terrace/walkways was neat! You had to look everywhere because the amount of details was incredible!

Then we came back to the apart for a rest and to change for our concert. We headed to the Palau de la Música Catalana a bit past 19h. We arrived early enough to pick up the tickets and then have some tapas bites and drinks. The hall was really intricate, the decorations were fab! Lots of detailing again, colours, mosaïques, glass work, etc. The Spanish guitar show was alright for me (6/10) as I only knew 2 songs… Mom and J. gave it a better review (9/10).

On this morning we started late… We came back late from our restaurant outing and went to bed late… So we got up at noon and were out at around one!

We headed to the Montjuic, using the funicular and a telepheric. Mom wasn’t too fussy about the telepheric but came along anyways, closing her eyes all the way. The view going up was pretty neat, so it was worth it! We explored the castle area.

After we took the tourist bus to do a reconnaissance tour around the parc. Then we went to the Catalonian Art Museum. It was nice, but they need to work on the rules… For example having someone tell me my bag is too big and I have to store it when I enter and they security scan it would be nice, instead of once I walked all the way through the museum to go to the room I want to see… Grr! Also, putting on your pamphlet that pics are allowed and when I go to photograph the Picasso a lady comes to tell me no, instead of having at least a sign in this room informing us of no photos allowed at all. Apart from that, I liked visiting the museum! Inside…

Then we took a small snack break and walked to the Poble Espanol. A village created in 1929 for the Universal Exhibition, with houses from different architectural styles from all over Spain. In the houses, shops and craft people sell stuff. Mom and J. bought a lot of different stuff (nothing huge) while I was good and kept my money still!

We then took the bus and metro back at the apartment, stopping by at a supermarket Bonpreu for some groceries for the evening meal and brekky. I would have loved to find some vla or chippies like in Holland, but they didn’t have them… I did see Holland cheese though! The best purchase was an old style Danone yogourt… In a small glass jar, the fruit in the bottom, the thick/yummy yogourt on top. Mmmmmmmmmmmm! I wish they made those back home!