Vilanova i la Geltrú

Yesterday we went to Vilanova i la Geltrú to visit the train museum. Spanish people are not especially interested in trains so there were very few people there. We bought a special combined ticket for 9 euros at Sants station, but it was free for Thomas (both the train and the museum). The museum was great with quite a few old steam trains which reminded me of when I first came to Spain with my parents when I was a teenager.

There were old electric and diesel trains too, all a bit faded from being out in the sun all the time.

There were quite a few things for Thomas to do - first they gave him a free book "Victor - l'Ou que es mou" (Victor - the egg that moves). There was also a small model railway for him to watch but it only ran every half an hour for some reason. Outside there was a small play area for kids but there was no café so we had to go to the Rambla for lunch where we found a branch of El Fornet in an old Modernista building with a small garden behind complete with grotto and turtles.

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach which has lovely fine sand and Thomas collected some shells. Then we played Crazy golf which cost 5 euros per person which Thomas thoroughly enjoyed.

Teddy bear picture

 
Here is a picture of a teddy bear that Thomas coloured in a week or so ago. He's getting much better at colouring than he used to be.

My inlaws have gone back to China

They've gone, they've finally gone. After all the false alarms my inlaws have at last gone back home. They went by taxi to the airport on Wednesday and I went with Tingting, Bo's cousin by bus and train which is a lot cheaper, which is worth knowing. It only cost us one jouney on a T10 ticket whereas a taxi costs upwards of 20 euros and the airport bus must be quite expensive now too.

We bought water at Pans and Company and some chips for Thomas (not crisps) but we didn't buy mayonnaise as it was 20 cents extra.

Now we're having to organize things ourselves but yesterday went well. I took Thomas to school in the morning and Bo fetched him in the afternoon. Bo did some shopping on her way back from handing in documents to our tax consultant (asesor).

Today the man is coming to fit the safety grille on Thomas's window (300 euros or so) but I'm not sure what else Bo has planned.

Yesterday I dropped in to see a company called budgetplaces.com which is just round the corner and they asked me to send them my CV so we'll see if anything comes of that.

Pato de Pekin

Today we met some friends for lunch at the Pato Pekin restaurant in the Olympic Port. For ten people we paid about 200 euros including Peking duck and a wide variety of dishes. It really is good value for money and the food is great if you have a Chinese person with you to do the ordering. This was probably the last meal out we'll have with my inlaws before they go back to China. After lunch we took a stroll along beside the beach and Thomas climbed to the top of a climbing frame on the beach. We then caught the 64 bus home and Tingting took a Bicing bicycle which we must get round to joining. I wonder how much it costs per year.

Thomas's first picture

 
Thomas said this is a picture of himself in the park playing with the sand with the blue sky above.

Labyrinth Park

Yesterday afternoon I took Thomas to the labyrinth park in Horta. We had to take taxis there and back as we were pushed for time. Both the taxi drivers were friendly. The first one told us about where to ride horses in Barcelona and the second one told me about St. Christopher the patron saint of drivers. He had a rosary and a picture of St. Christopher in his cab so I showed him the copy of the New Testament I carry with me at the moment to protect me and he commented that it was full of wise words. It cost 12 euros each way for the cab.

The park is really beautiful and I met Anthony there who is a business English teacher with his son Henry and we had a nice chat. I gave him Bo's card and suggested we meet for a drink sometime.

In the park we spent 25 minutes in the maze which was enough to find all the exits. When we came out Thomas found a feather on the ground. We saw an American couple who had had a picnic there and she was cutting his hair.

I can thoroughly recommend that anyone visiting Barcelona visits this park as it's one of the nicest in Barcelona.

Ensalada Rusa

On Sunday we had tapas at the La Playa bar in Barceloneta by the beach as we watched the planes coming in to land at the airport and the boats sailing past. There were still a lot of people swimming and playing on the beach and there are a lot of tourists in Barcelona at this time of year when the weather is good.