Day 364 -- Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår

As we are closing in on the end of our first year in Denmark (Dec 30 is our anniversary of moving here) we thought we would mention the things we like most about our new country and the things we are grateful for.  It has been an interesting, challenging, frustrating, exciting, educational, and emotional 12 months.  But here are some things that we like about Denmark/Copehagen in no particular order:

1.  Ease of traveling around Europe.  This is hampered somewhat by having Charlie and having not yet found an ideal dog-sitter.  But in 2013 we (or at least one of us) were able to visit Warsaw, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Barcelona, western Denmark,and Malmo Sweden.  Next year we have Brussels, London, and Australia (not Europe and not any closer than from the US but still exciting) on the docket already, and hopefully more as the year progresses.  Living next to the metro we also have easy access to the airport which is really helpful.

2.  Warmer winter weather. It's gray and dark in the winter but so far this winter we have not dropped below 30 Degrees F and I am thankful for that.  I know colder weather is coming, but for now it has been bearable (now the lack of sun is another story but we're keeping this post positive...)

3.  Lots of summer sun.  In the height of the summer the sun rises around 4:30 am and sets around 10:30 pm.  It was not nearly as hard to adjust to as we thought it would be.  And after experiencing a winter here we can understand why the Danes get so excited when the sun is out.  The summer here was quite nice, weather-wise.

4.  6 weeks of vacation.  We haven't actually experience this yet since the Danish vacation system is a little odd and you earn vacation the year before you get it.  But I get a full 6 weeks starting in May this year (2014) and Collin gets 5 so we are close.   In 2013 I had 4 weeks and it's amazing how quickly that amount does not seem adequate.  Next year Collin and I are planning a trip to Australia (centered around a conference I am attending) and it's such a luxury to be able to plan 3 weeks away and still have vacation left for the rest of the year.

5.  Christmas in Denmark.  The Danes love Christmas and really do it right.  Lots of decorations, good food, and festivities, gifts and holiday cheer.  And time off work.  I have enjoyed December very much.

6.  "Free" healthcare.  Not having to pay a thing for my surgery was pretty sweet.  Of course, taxes here are another story...but we pay those whether we need surgery or not so it still feels good.  And being able to take as much time off work as I wanted without pressure to get back as soon as I could was a nice feeling.

7.  Public transportation.   The metro (subway) doesn't go to too many places right now but it does run every 2 minutes (normally) which is pretty great. They are expanding it tremendously but that won't be completed until after 2018.   and it hooks up to the train system which typically runs every 10 minutes and goes to most places in the area we would want to visit.   A car may be helpful for more remote places, or for buying lots of stuff at IKEA, but for the most part public transportation has been more than adequate.

8.  Danish design.  It might be expensive, and a bit repetitive, but the Danes really do furniture and aesthetics right.  I love the crazy lights we have in all our rooms.  A little color on the walls would be nice though.

9.  Candles.  The Danes love candles, especially in the dark winters, to convey a feeling of coziness or the famous, unpronounceable, untranslatable "hygge".  We have acquired all sorts of fun candle stick holders and tea light containers.  and have fully embraced candles in our house.

10.  Jerusalem artichokes (jordskokker).  Even though you can find these in the US, they are EVERYWHERE in Denmark and we had never cooked with them before moving here.  Collin, especially, is a big fan. And as long as we are discussing produce...  Danish strawberries and danish potatoes, when in season, can't be beat.  we enjoyed many of those this summer.

11.  Scarves and tights.  These again are available in the US of course, but they are taken to a whole new level here in Denmark.  I love all the different patterns, colors, and styles (of both) that are found here.

12.  Working hours.  We generally work 40 hour weeks without any expectation to work more.  I typically work 8-4 and on occasion when I am around until closer to 5 the place is really dead.  Being able to go home to your family is very important to Danes.

13.  Desigual.  This is actually a Spanish company but is very popular in Denmark as well.  I'm a big fan!  but enjoyed the Barcelona prices much more than the Danish prices :)

14.  The abundance of celebrating with cakes/cookies/sweets.  At work you bring in something sweet when it is your birthday, your work anniversary, you are going on vacation, you return from vacation, you return from any absence (including surgery), your wife is pregnant, you got a promotion.  It doesn't matter.   whatever it is, you celebrate it.  The Danes love to celebrate.

15.  Work canteens.  We have two different canteens at work that both serve pretty amazing food, buffet style, for only 22 DKK (that's roughly $4).  It's so much nicer than having to think about bringing lunch, and the cost is deducted right from your paycheck.

16.  Bike lanes.  Copenhagen, and Denmark in general, is a biking place.  Everyone bikes, young, old, rich, poor, fancy, casual, rain, snow, sun.  It doesn't matter what the circumstance.  And what makes it really positive is that Denmark has the infrastructure for it.  Bike lanes everywhere, even along the highways, that are shoveled in the winter and often have their own traffic lights.  and most, MOST, people follow bike rules, signalling for stops and turns, waiting at red lights, etc.  Now that Collin finally purchased a bike, I am looking forward to using the bikes more often.

17.  Heated floors in the bathroom.  I know these are available in the US but are usually a luxury.  Here pretty much every apartment has a heated floor in the bathroom.  I am thankful for it every morning.

18.  Accessibility of British TV.  We no longer have cable here, but when we lived in our temporary housing for the first three months it included cable.  It was fun being introduced to all sorts of British shows we had never heard of, as well as some that we had.  I do miss that aspect of cable...but not enough to pay the exuberant price for it!  some of the Danish commercials were pretty sweet too.

19.  Bakeries.  Yes, the US has bakeries, but the regular bread and "danish"-like sweet breads (they're not called "danishes" for nothing!) are amazing and so easily available.

20.  Pickled food.  Danes pickle everything from the famous pickled herring to just plain old pickles (although they are called pickled cucumbers here).  What a wonderful accompaniment to food.

21.  My coworkers.  They have been so accepting and inviting, and work hard to make both Collin and I feel welcome here.  I am very lucky to have them.

There you have it.  21 things about Denmark we have enjoyed/appreciate.  I'm sure there are more as well, but we will leave those for next year.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family.   We hope your holidays are as nice as ours have been!

Day 363 -- Christmas in Denmark

It's Christmas Eve (or Juleaften) and I thought I would blog about all the various Danish Christmas traditions we have experienced so far.  

1.  Advent Candles/Calendars.  These are all over the place in Denmark.  Some candles are sets of four, like we purchased and I have pictured below.  You light one each of the four Sundays before Christmas.  Another alternative is the single advent candle that is a tall pillar candle with 1-24 numbered down the side. On the Dec 1 you burn it until it reaches the 2, on the 2nd it burns until it reaches the 3 and so on.  Apparently this is a very popular one with kids.   Advent calendars are very common...they have the traditional ones you find in the US where you open a little door each day and get a present or something...Stores have these as well with each day offering a new deal.   Finally they have Advent shows on TV...24 episodes with one a day until Christmas.

2.  Christmas markets  (Julemarked).   We went to three Christmas markets, all very different from each other, yet all selling pretty much the same things.  Our first market was on the Strøget (the pedestrian shopping street downtown).  This was modeled after a German Christmas market and sold German sausages along with Danish gløgg (more on gløgg later), ornaments, winter hats, christmas trees and more.  The second market was the famous Christmas market in Christiania, the "free town" in Copenhagen that has been discussed earlier in this blog.    We got there right when it opened at noon.  It was fairly crowded, an indoor market with tons of booths selling various Christmas foods, ornaments, hats, and various handmade trinkets.   We left at 12:30 and the line to get in was wrapped all around Christiania.  The third market we went to was the also-famous Tivoli Christmas market.  Tivoli is the old amusement park in the middle of the city.  They open for a few weeks in December and the park is transformed with lights and animatronics and music and stands selling Christmas foods, ornaments, hats, etc.  (sound familiar?)  but this market includes stands from well known Danish stores like Georg Jensen and Illums Bolinghus.  They also have a few actual reindeer that live there in December.  The following pictures are from the Tivoli market (Christiania does not allow photographs)

real live reindeer

 

3.  Christmas "lunch" (Julefrokost).   We were invited to three julefrokosts but two occurred immediately after my surgery so we had to skip them.  So I only went to my work julefrokost and only have that one to discuss.  Julefrokosts are super-common Christmas dinners hosted by work colleagues or friends or family.  They are known as being lots of food, LOTS of drinking, and lots of fun.   Mine ended up being not very traditional as we had it at Favrholm (previously discussed in this blog) which is known for its creative and exciting food preparations...so the things we ate were twists on traditional foods...smoked salmon tartare appetizer, duck confit with brown potatoes (more on them later), and the very traditional ris alamande for dessert (more on that later as well).  There was no aquavit which is the common liquor at these events, but just lots of wine.  so nobody got as drunk as I was told would happen.  We had live music but that was it.  I heard these events get pretty crazy but my department tends to be pretty calm and lowkey (I'm certainly not complaining!)  Collin's department has a reputation for wildness but he didn't go to his so nothing to report there.

4.  Christmas foods.  There are a number of food items that show up in December and are served at julefrokosts or Christmas dinners.  I'm a big fan of Æbleskiver which is a kind of Danish pancake/donut.  They are traditionally served plain with a side of raspberry jam and powdered sugar.  Along with these you often have a glass of gløgg which is a warm mulled red wine.  very satisfying on a cold day.  Risalamande is a typical Danish dessert served on Christmas Eve.  It's kind of like a rice pudding with almonds.  A whole almond is mixed in, and whomever gets the almond wins a present.  I read that the person who gets it usually tries to hide that they did in order to keep others eating as much as they can in hopes of winning it themselves.  Brown potatoes (brunede kartofler) are small boiled potatoes that are then pan fried in browned butter and sugar.  Well-made ones are DELICIOUS.  not-well-made ones are oddly sweet and kind of not delicious.  one of the most common, and seemed to be well-liked, meats is flæskesteg, a type of roast pork with crackling around the edge.  I can't stand the crackling and can't understand how you eat it, it feels like crunching on rocks, but everyone here goes crazy when it's served.  For Christmas eve dinner most families serve duck with flaeskesteg on the side.  

5.  The three days of Christmas.   The official Danish Christmas in Dec 24, 25 and 26th.  Most people have off on these days and most stores, restaurants etc are closed on these days.  Danes typically celebrate Christmas on the 24th.  The whole family gets together for dinner followed by the lighting of the candles on the Christmas tree (yes, often REAL candles...although nowadays they often keep a bucket of water next to the tree just in case...) After dinner they join hands and walk around the tree singing Christmas carols.  Then AFTER that is all done (sometimes 9, 10:00 at night) the kids pass at all the gifts and they open them, usually one at a time.  This could take a long time.  Christmas day (the 25th) is a day of quiet recovery.  The 26th is often a day of family julefrokosts.  

6.  Julemand.  Translates to "Christmas Man"  This is what they call Santa Claus.  According to them he lives not at the North Pole but in Greenland.  He is sometimes accompanied by nisser which are little pixie/elf-like creatures that go around creating mischief.  You want to be good so the nisser aren't too mischievous with you.  

7.  Christmas decorations.  Danes aren't too much into color.  Most lights (except at Tivoli) are white, with maybe monochrome colored lights -- with blue being the most common.  Paper decorations are very common.  The julehjerter and julesterjner are handmade hearts and stars.  I bought some silver strips of paper to attempt to make my own.  The star directions were quite complicated.  The heart was a little easier.

This heart came from Novo (hence the two blues which are Novo's colors)

I apologize for the quality of pictures.  My phone is old and has no flash making night time pictures especially difficult.

Nyhavn (the port area)

Strøget:  the pedestrian shopping street

Magasin...the old department store

Hotel d'Angleterre :  Nutcracker decorations

animatronics at the mall

more animatronics

our own tiny tree purchased across the street

a little Danish pixie

8.  Pakkeleg:  This is a game played at Christmas time at julefrokosts or other get-togethers.  Everyone brings a wrapped present which goes in the middle of the table.  In the first round you take turns rolling a die.  If you get a 6, you get to pick a present from the middle of the table.  If not you pass it on to the right to the next person.  This continues until all presents are selected.  Round 2.  The presents are still unwrapped.  The second round lasts for a pre-determined amount of time (but no one knows the amount).  This time if you roll a 6 you get to pick ANY present you want from anyone.  If you roll a 1, you have to pass one of your presents to the left.  Sometimes people have other additional rules for other numbers but this is all we played with.  After round 2 the presents are all unwrapped and showed to everyone.  Round 3 is the same as round 2 except this time you know what the presents are.  After three rounds the game is over.  Some people end up with lots of presents, some get none.  It's a fun time.  

There are probably many more traditions that are Danish in nature but that is all I can come up with right now.  Here's a picture of the cookies I made this year.  The biggest comment they got "So much color, is that safe to eat?"

Glædelig Jul og Godt Nytår!!

Day 338 -- Happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.  A very American, very cozy kind of day.  Because this was our first Thanksgiving in Denmark, and because I was still home convalescing, my department offered to bring Thanksgiving to us yesterday.

Prior to my surgery I circulated a list of "traditional" Thanksgiving foods and everyone signed up to bring something, as well as a few of their own additions.  I couldn't completely NOT make something so I did bake pecan bars last week and froze them.  Collin cooked his first ever turkey, as well as the gravy and stuffing, and some sweet potatoes as well.  The result was perfect.  There were 16 of us total.  Someone brought a folding table and a number of extra chairs and we were all able to sit together in our dining room.

Although I did set the table prior to everyone's arrival, and prepared a few simple appetizers, I didn't lift a finger once everyone arrived... in fact, every time I tried to, whatever was in my hands was quickly taken away and I was told to sit back down.  My group did an awesome job helping Collin set everything up and clean up afterwards.   I felt incredibly lazy, but thankful and appreciative as well.

Our menu consisted of a perfectly moist turkey with gravy, delicious stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry relish, a few salads, green beans, a vegetable medley and bread/crackers.  Dessert involved an amazing pumpkin pie (made with actual pumpkins and not canned pumpkin...I didn't know such a thing existed! and what work!) with whipped cream, apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream, pecan bars, and citronfromage (a Danish lemon mousse).

Collin's resting turkey

Partially set table before Collin and I decided to skip paper products and use actual dishes and silverware.

In between dinner and dessert one guest brought entertainment.  We played a game around the table where you had to unwrap a present as fast and neatly as you could, with the first person to identify the gift winning it.  The catch was, prior to unwrapping it you had to don a winter hat, scarf, and huge skiing gloves and then use a knife and a fork to carefully unwrap it.  Meanwhile the person next in line was doing their best to roll a 6 with a die.  Once they rolled the six, you had to pass the clothing and gift on to them for their attempt, while the next person in line tried to roll a six.  As you can imagine, the gift was wrapped in many layers of wrapping paper and we went around the table multiple times until someone finally got the end of the paper.  It was definitely a lot of fun!

This was by far the most I had eaten in two weeks and I felt pretty stuffed when I went to bed last night but everything was so delicious and it really felt like Thanksgiving.  Who knows, maybe this will become a new tradition!  I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as I did.

Day 334 -- Part III An introduction to the Danish Healthcare System

And now for the real reason why I am all the sudden back to blogging today...and spoiler alert, the end result is good  :)

A few months ago I felt a small lump in my abdomen.  I tried to fool myself at first into thinking it was a small muscle developing.  After all, with all that unemployment last year I was going to the gym pretty regularly.  But it was only on the right side and kind of a weird shape for a muscle if I was going to be really honest with myself.  Then I spent a few months ignoring it, convincing myself I didn't really feel anything.  By the end of the summer, I realized it was growing and I could practically hold it in my hand.  I decided it couldn't be anything too serious since I didn't have any other symptoms, and I didn't really want to have to navigate the Danish healthcare system. But after it annoyed me during one of my infrequent runs I decided I really had to go see the doctor about it.

So in September I made an appointment to see my GP.  It was a lot more casual than any doctor visit I had been on in the US.  First of all, doctors here generally just go by their first name, as opposed to "Dr. Whatever".  The office kind of reminded me of Doc Martin, a very funny British tv show about a city doctor who moves to the country..but I digress.  My doctor checked out my abdomen and asked a few questions.  My blood was drawn by the receptionist while I sat at her front desk. The doctor then decided I needed immediate analysis at the hospital.  She got on the phone and spoke in rapid Danish, the only words I could understand were "stor tumor, meget store tumor" which means "big tumor, very big tumor".    Unfortunately the hospital had no openings that day.  I was told they would call me with a date in the next few days.  About 10 days later I was at the gynecology department in the hospital getting a number of ultrasounds done by a number of different technicians and machines.  The good news was they were all in complete agreement that I had just a typical, run-of-the-mill fibroid growing on my uterus.  Completely benign, normally not even noticed.  Except this one was huge...about 5 cm by 13 cm, an estimated couple of pounds. It was pretty sad watching all the happy couples holding their sonograms of their babies while mine just showed a large blob.  I did not elect to have a picture printed!

I didn't really have any option except to have it removed.  Once I learned what it was, I realized I did have a number of symptoms related to it that I had also just been ignoring.  So at this point all I could do was wait for them to send me a surgery date and begin preparing for the big day.

A few weeks later I got a date in the mail.  Tuesday 19. November.   I had about 6 weeks to get ready.  The time in between the hospital visit and the surgery date was difficult information-wise.  Although everyone CAN speak English, and everyone was more than willing to answer my questions, it felt a little like pulling teeth to get the answers, and I was constantly feeling like the onus was all on me to ask the right questions.   no information was just given without my prompting.  But between the conversations I did have, lots of internet research, and many phone calls to my mom, I felt I was as prepared as I could be when the date approached.

The week before the surgery I was busy at work getting everything ready there for a few weeks of absence.  I was told the recovery would be 2-4 weeks off work depending on how I was feeling.

Monday night I had to call to find out what time to be at the hospital. I was told to arrive at 7:30 am for a surgery around noon.  Collin took the day off work and we went to the hospital...which is a short metro and bus ride away, downtown on one of the lakes.  After checking in, we were taken to what was going to be my room for the next two days.  I had a roommate who was sleeping, after all, it was 7:30.  I was told to just hang out until 11 or so at which point I was supposed to change into hospital clothes.  I had not yet met with the surgeon to ask my questions and was told I would either up in my room or down in the operating room.  so with nothing more to do Collin and I just hung out in the room and tried to pass the time.

room with a view

Close to 1:00  I was given a medley of pills to take.  A little later the surgeon came in, introduced himself, and explained what the procedure would be, what he expected, what possible complications could arise, and what Collin should do in the meantime.  He was very nice and thorough.  Around 2 they finally wheeled me down to the operating room and Collin left to take care of Charlie.

I was wheeled into a hallway where I waited until the operating room was ready.  While laying there a number of nurses and the anesthesiologist all came up to introduce themselves and explain more of what would happen.  Each one started in Danish and I had to continually ask for English but they were all fine with it when I asked.  After a while I was wheeled into the room.  It seemed very clean and sterile, as expected.  I was laying down so I couldn't see too much but the lights were pretty cool.  Both the nurse anesthetist and the anesthesiologist talked to me a lot about what was going on and what they were doing.  They applied the anesthesia and I started feeling a little tingly and tired and then dizzy...the lights started moving all over.  When I told the anethesiologist I felt dizzy he said that was exactly what he was waiting to hear, and then that was the last thing I remember.

Next thing I remember I was having some sort of dream about the operating room and then all the sudden I was awake in the operating room.  Everyone was moving around and there was a lot of chatter.  Someone kept telling me to breathe so I just kept concentrating on breathing in and out.  I couldn't swallow and that kind of freaked me out so I probably kept holding my breath as I was trying to force myself to swallow.  But I kept being told to breath so I did.  Eventually I was able to swallow and felt a lot more relaxed after that.  They moved me back into my bed (from the operating table) and wheeled me into the recovery room.  I was in and out as I laid there.  But i remember them taking the oxygen out of my nose for a while, but a little later they put it back in.  I noticed other patients around me had nurses near them with cell phones, I assume calling their loved ones, and I was wondering if someone would call Collin so I worked for a while trying to remember his cell phone number (the problem these days with programmed phones and not needing to remember phone numbers any more).  After I remembered his number they actually came over and told me I was headed up to my room.  The trip there took a while.  Turns out the person wheeling me didn't know my room number and I couldn't remember it so we wheeled around in circles for a while until he figured it out.  When we got to my room Collin was there waiting for me.  It was a little after 5 I think.  The surgery was supposed to be an hour but actually took closer to 2 hours.

Tuesday night I felt pretty fine.  I was happily surprised and was able to email family to tell them how I was doing.  Collin stayed until 8 or 9 and then I was on my own.  That night was rough sleep-wise.  They came in every three hours to take my temperature and blood pressure, and my roommate was pretty loud all night, but health-wise I felt fine until early in the morning when I started feeling nauseated.  Most of Wednesday I was pretty nauseated and light headed, but at least not in much pain.  The surgeon came by in the morning to explain how the surgery went.  He had warned me I would probably bleed a lot with this surgery and expected about 500 mL of blood but I actually lost 1.1 L (about 2.3 pints) which was a lot.  But other than the excessive bleeding the surgery was uncomplicated and the fibroid came out easily.    They wanted to monitor my iron levels but once they got those, they told me I was either free to leave or welcome to stay one more night...you gotta love national healthcare!  My roommate had actually been discharged during the day.  So even though I was feeling better by the evening, we decided I would spend one more night there.

That night was better sleep-wise since they only had to measure my blood pressure once and I had my own room....hospitals are still very loud places though and sleeping on my back is not for me.  I was looking forward to going home.   I was woken up at 7:30 by the nurse and told I was supposed to go out and eat breakfast down the hall.  I was happy to find out I had an appetite, and was able to carry my own tray of food.  It did feel a little weird though to be completely left on my own to eat.  But not having any other hospital experience (thankfully) I'm not sure if that is normal or not. Collin came by 8:30, helped me dress and then we were told we could just leave.  Again, unlike a US hospital, we were on our own for walking downstairs and out of the hospital where we took a short cab ride home.

Since then I have been home recovering.  The pain is not bad at all, in fact I am only taking tylenol.  I have not felt nauseated since Wednesday.  Friday I had a small scare when I almost passed out but since then I have been pretty good and just concentrating on taking it easy.  In fact, now is probably getting even more important to take it easy because I am feeling better and can accidentally overdo it (as opposed to earlier in the week where I had no choice but to take it easy).  Today was my first day alone as Collin went to work.  And I am happy to say it was a success.  Things take me so long to do that it helps to pass the time!  Plus I am catching up on shows I've been meaning to watch..just trying to avoid the comedies for right now.  And reading a few good books.  I have an appointment Friday to get my stitches removed and my iron measured again.  But so far the recovery is going as well as I could hope.  I might even be able to figure out how to sleep on my side tonight which will make the nights much better!

Day 334 -- Part II What else did we do this fall?

Barcelona was the last of our trips this year.  The last two months we have just been hanging out in Copenhagen and settling down here.

Collin's work has been crazy busy.  He was offered the opportunity to join a new team within his department at Novo starting in January.  I'm sure he will blog about this himself one of these days, but in the meantime he has been busy finishing up the work he is doing with his current team, and getting ready for the switch.  I think they must be very happy with his work so far to ask him to join this team, and I'm very proud of him.

Work has been going well for me also.   I have been given increased responsibilities on one of my projects, and have had the opportunity to submit a number of abstracts to various conferences next year.  In February I will attend a conference in Brussels, Belgium and in May Collin and I will head to Melbourne, Australia for the World Federation of Hemophilia.  We're really looking forward to that trip.

In the Danish (or maybe just Novo) tradition of holding meetings at unique venues, I had a day long department meeting at the Copenhagen Zoo a few weeks ago.  The morning presentations were interrupted by the sounds of many animals waking up and being fed.  Our view out the windows were of camels, lions and polar bears.  At lunch we got to walk around the zoo and see the animals being fed.   Because the zoo is just down the block from my house I invited the group over for a small halloween-inspired party afterwards.  My coworkers brought me a jack-o-lantern.  Pretty impressive for their first attempt at one!

Day 334 -- What?! We have a blog? and we went to Spain?

So it's been a long time since we last updated our blog.  We have no excuses.  But I hope to make a few posts updating you on our first autumn in Denmark.

In early September Collin and I spent a long weekend in Barcelona.  We've always wanted to go to Spain and this was a great introduction to the country.  It was three days of hot sunny weather, delicious food and amazing sites.  The highlight of the trip was dinner at Tickets, a tapas bar by the former head chef of elBulli, Ferran Adria.  We just sat at the bar and ate whatever amazing things they brought us starting with the famed elBulli olives.  

Click here to watch a video from the New York Times of Mark Bittman and Jose Andreas enjoying Ferran Adria's olives.  They are truly indescribable.  

Collin popped up in many places that night.

In addition to our unforgettable meal at Tickets, we enjoyed some Gaudi architecture includng both La Sagrada Familia and Casa Battlo.  Casa Battlo was especially cool because we went at night and sat on their rooftop and listened to some amazing Spanish guitar.

        

 These shots are the ceiling of the cathedral  

 And the following shots are outside Casa Battlo

We also visited the Picasso museum which was great, and had a drink at the beach on the Mediterranean. We stayed at Casa Camper, an awesome, funky, boutique that included a hammock in our room and a rooftop where we could relax and enjoy breakfast and snacks.

rooftop of the Casa Camper

enjoying our 2 euro bottle of wine

view outside our bathroom window

The last few shots are of the amazing marketplace, La Boqueria.  And my cousin Maggie was right, the fruit smoothies were delicious!