Mission Europe 2: Spagatto, Birthday Lettuce and An Art Filled City

A new post so soon?  Yes, that is how special you all are.

Things do happen in my day-to-day life that do not revolve around my upcoming trip to Europe.  Not a whole lot, but things do occur.  So that  you have the proper context for the following anecdote, allow me to set the scene:

I have seen countless Disney movies in my lifetime.  No, not just the animated ones.  The ones who people don’t realize are Disney movies, the ones that were in black in white, the ones with actors whose names few recall.  My family owns the Disney edition of the game “Scene It“.  I play often with the family, mostly my youngest two sisters.  My general game plan is, no special treatment regardless of age (I do not believe in discrimination), play hard and take no prisoners.  It is a princess colored, silver screen size mess of a massacre.  No mercy.  Even Maleficent would cry.

I played the game the other day with my youngest sis, Arianna.  Aged 9 at the time.  She got a trivia question about the classic, Lady and the Tramp.  The question was: “In what kind of restaurant do Lady and the Tramp have dinner?”.  Her first answer was more of a question: “French?”  She noticed the ever so slight shake of my head and was quick to change her answer… “A street restaurant?”.  Cute, but not quite.  I prodded her to be nice…”They are eating spaghetti; where does spaghetti come from?”…  She thought furiously glancing nervously at the shrinking seconds on the timer.  Then in a moment of sheer genius, her eyes lit up, she flapped her hand and in the best faux italian accent said with utter confidence: “SPAGATTO!”

After I got over my laughing seizure, we finished the game where for the first time ever, she managed to beat me.  I suspect it had something to with a not-so-innocent-spagetto-strategy.

Arianna had a birthday last week.  So now she is aged 10.  I love how simple she is to please.  She truly appreciates any kind gesture.  She went on a walk with the other devious young sister, Sophia, age 12.  They headed to the neighbor’s house to purchase lettuce, green onions and tomatoes for the house.  The neighbor gave her an extra free lettuce due to the fact that it was her birthday.  She walked in all smiles and said: “Hey Chan, look at my nice birthday lettuce!”  What kid do you know that would enjoy getting a lettuce for their birthday?  I know one and she is just the bee’s knees.

Now back to the issue at hand, the one on my mind everyday: Mission Europe Take Two!  Here is my progress report for the day:

– Train transportation, booked.
– Letters of attendance to be signed by chef instructors, printed.
– Couch surfing host in Alba, found.
– Travel insurance, purchased.
– Currency conversion and time zone apps, downloaded.

So dear readers, I am not boring, at least I don’t think so.  There is only so much trip planning and hard work I can do without my batteries depleting.  Case in point, I had a minor exhaustion episode that left me in bed for 2 whole days without energy to even eat.  But now fully recovered, I am on track and soon to depart.

I leave you with a few photos from the cultural city tour I participated in the other night.  A wonderful initiative for this quaint little country.  Every 2 months art galleries and museums allow free entrance, have special exhibits and the government supplies free bus transport.  If you are ever in town, I’d be happy to take you along.  I have been 8 times already and loved every one!

Until next time…

Feeling very muerte-mexicana-ish

Part of a close-up photography series I did of things on the tour

Practicing bokeh at a restaurant during the city tour

Paper art at the Contemporary Museum of Art and Design

Textures and contrasts…

Mirror magic + camera fluke = interesting photo

Photo exhibit at the Alianza Francesa

Study in perspective…Looking across the street at another museum

Different things to see at galleries and museums…

Part of a close-up photography series I did of things on the tour