November 2016 – Doer & Dreamer

November 30, 2016 Castellón / Tourism

The €8 ice cream cone

We toured the Caves of St. Joseph in the nearby town of Vall de Uxó this past weekend. One of those activities we had been waiting for a car to get to, this one did not disappoint. With my Spanish host family in town after Thanksgiving, we decided to give it a whirl. Fun facts about these caves: they contain the largest subterranean navigable river in Europe, which goes so far inward that nobody has yet been able to trace its origin inside the cave. They have been known for over 15,000 years, and of course maintain a constant temperature

Finding the car(t)oris and driving stick

I have always been fascinated with mechanical things. As a child, I loved playing with LEGO building blocks and looking at the detail in the blown-up pictures of David Macaulay’s The Way Things Work. All of this is to say nothing about my lifelong fascination with every aspect of pinball machines, which as far as I can tell began with Sesame Street. When it came time to pick a major in college, I only wasted one year under the guise of Computer Science before switching to the obvious choice of Computer Engineering, first making sure every class I’d taken thus far

November 22, 2016 Adapting / Burriana / Castellón

This is what I’ve always wanted . . . right?

One of the middle-class, Midwestern American staples we decided to forgo in Spain is dependence upon an automobile. Yes, we occasionally rent cars – and I’m confident Doer will have more to say about these adventures in the near future. For the most part, however, I’ve come to rely upon other modes of transportation. And for the most part, I’ve been happy with this. We’re very fortunate that we were placed in a city that’s on a commuter train line, which can easily bring us to other train lines and even to an airport (with a little help from a metro

November 14, 2016 Tourism

La Pedrera – Gaudí Scares Some Witches

While Doer felt a slight preference for Palau Güell, I fell hard for Casa Milà, popularly known as la Pedrera (which translates to “stone quarry”). It’s famous for its undulating stone facade, and (of course) its iconic rooftop sculptures. This was designed to be an apartment building, and people still live in some of the units today. Once again, the roof was the crown jewel of the structure. Although they were the first part of the tour – you begin by taking an elevator to the rooftop, then you slowly make your way down – I’m going to

November 13, 2016 Barcelona / Tourism

Halloween in BarTHelona

We. Love. Barcelona. (and apologies for the Photoshop work above; it was an idea of Dreamer’s that made me chuckle) We had such a great time there Halloween weekend, and there is still so much more to do. By the way, Halloween is very much a thing here now. Lots of people in Barcelona in their costumes all day on 10/31 and 11/1 in the metro and on the street. Another American export the world can thank us for! Dreamer is writing about all the cool architecture we saw and I’m taking a stab at everything else here. Let it be said

November 12, 2016 Barcelona / Tourism

Palau Güell – Our First Brush With Gaudí

During our Halloween-weekend visit to Barcelona, the modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudí captured our hearts and imaginations. But we didn’t get our fill. Visiting the famous Catalan architecht’s works should not be a rushed affair; that, combined with sold-out tickets at Park Güell and a ridiculously long line at Casa Batlló definitely guarantees we will make a second trip to Barcelona (and hopefully many more – it’s an amazing city). Not to mention we didn’t get anywhere close to his magnum opus, la Sagrada Família. We saw it from a distance on several occasions, but never passed the threshold. Our first