Since it has been far too long since I posted a piece on here, I think I'll take this opportunity to do so. The biggest news by far is that Sarah and I have finally gotten married! This is excellent for a number of reasons. It finally draws to a close the arduous process that is marrying in Spain (I'll detail that in a later post), it allows me to get a visa as the spouse of a student (although I have to fly back to the United States to do so) and, of course, it means I am married to a wonderful girl with whom I get to share the rest of my life (if all goes to plan). And it only took four months of cajoling, wandering blind, weak and desperate from office to office and a near breakdown to do it! Piece of cake. I owe a great debt of gratitude to all of our new friends in Barcelona who helped make our wedding day so special and I shall one day recount the story of the happiest day of my life. Today is not that day.
A friend of mine on Facebook asked me a few days ago to detail the experience of moving overseas in my blog, which I naturally intend to do. I shall thus begin with this tidbit: I now appreciate wine. Being the prude that I was throughout my high school years, I didn't have my first taste of beer until the ripe old age of eighteen. It was not love at first sip and, despite my best efforts to hold my nose and imbibe to the point of inebriation, I could only stomach enough to get a bit of a buzz. Eventually, though, I overcame my initial misgivings and learned to love many different types of beer.
It wasn't until Sarah that I expanded my repertoire to liquor and even then I stuck primarily with fruity cocktails along the lines of Margaritas. The primary exception was Jameson; I turned my nose up at it when I first met my wife and now I love her almost as much for introducing the Irish whiskey to me as I do for anything else she's done for me. (Just kidding, Kiddo.) But I steadfastly refused to enjoy any decent wines.
Then I moved to Barcelona. You can visit and even live in Barcelona without enjoying wine, but it would be a little like going to Chicago and not eating one of their tomato-engorged pizzas. The world would be a lot less colorful for you, the air a little less fragrant, the people a little less Catalan. Your friends would have a little less respect for you if you came home without stories of wine-infused delights like sangria or tinto de verano. I would tell you what the latter is, but then you would have one more excuse for not coming here. You must experience this for yourself, basking on a warm late summer afternoon in square Gracia while on your way to Park Guell.
One of the beauties of wine in Barcelona is that even the cheap stuff is a pretty damn good value. Carrefour-brand wines can be had for under one euro, although you should probably part with at least a euro and a half and get something of a bit better quality. They get more expensive from there, but our tastes have been more than satisfied with wines less expensive than five euros. And while I don't have enough experience with wines in America to tell you with complete confidence that the wine here is better, I can say that it is cheaper and quite delicious and when you finally do cross the pond, you should be ready to experience your trip with a little shine from the glass of Rioja (that's a Spanish wine-making region) you took with your 2pm lunch.
Spain hasn't got the market cornered on delicious wines, though. On Sunday, Sarah and I decided to have a post-nuptial picnic on a grassy knoll in Park de la Ciutadella. As we sat and enjoyed the tap dancers and their accompaniment on the gazebo and watched the pigeons flock to the stone gryphons guarding the enormous, opulent fountain, we supped baguette, brie, salchichon and a French syrah from Chateau Valmy nearly as decadent as the golden chariot adorning the capital of the cascade. It was tres magnifique! And none of it would have been as splendorous without being willing to try wine in the first place. I owe my friend and former boss Bob a huge "Thank You" for turning Sarah and me on to such a delectable spirit.
I shall leave you with these parting words and a picture or two: travel with an open mind and don't forget your camera.
Try RIOJA Marqués de Cåceres *2002 or even **2007. A fantastic Red Spanish wine. *$12USD **$20USD Also available at Bern's, but a bit more pricey. Oh well, you can enjoy one of the best steaks there while you're sipping the wine, but the airfare will kill you.
ReplyDelete