Blades of Glory

There is an ice skating rink in Placa Catalunya in the lead up to Christmas! We went ice skating with our cousin Philippa from South Africa (Mum has a LOT of South African cousins), who is staying with us for a few weeks until we all go to South Africa, and Gerry who is here from Australia. Gerry held Leo while we all skated.

We had to wear helmets in case we fell down. I was actually pretty good compared to the last time I went skating.

Philippa was REALLY good!

Dad was quite good too.

Mum thought she was really good.

Olympia just fell down!

It was great fun.

with likes,

Phoebe

A Storm of Swords in Vic

Spaniards love festivals and the Mercat Medieval (Medieval market) we visited this week in the Catalunyan city of Vic (pronounced Bic) was well worth the train trip.

The city of Vic is very beautiful  and there were hundreds of stalls set up for the festival. Everyone was dressed in medieval costume and selling local produce.

These young maidens had photos taken with these knights,

which caused a fight.

This man showed us archery.

He hit the target!

We saw some falconry. 

Hawks, kestrels, falcons, an eagle and many owls were sitting on their perches waiting for their turn to fly. 

While they waited they wore their special leather hoods which kept these birds of prey quiet.

There was so much to eat. We liked the look of this.

 

So we ate it.

There was lots to drink as well. My dad drank a horn full of mulled wine. And then another one.

It was VERY cold.

There were smiling logs everywhere but we're not sure why. I think it's for Christmas.

with likes,

Phoebe

Spanish lullabye

My sister and I have been very excited  to see some flamenco music and dance in Spain. Mostly we love the beautiful dresses. While we were in Granada dad bought us some some flamenco dresses. Flamenco is very popular in the south of Spain and this is where it first began - in the Andalusian region. Even though it was very cold in Granada my sister wore her dress a lot.

Last week we visited Spain's capital Madrid (more on Madrid later) and stayed with our good friends Jimmy and Michelle and their children Mimi, Ruby and Ned in their apartment right behind the Prado Museum. This made Mum very happy. 

Mimi and Ruby are very serious about flamenco.

We visited them at their flamenco lesson, when they are practising their dance for the Queen of Spain (!)

and they showed us where to buy handmade and vintage flamenco dresses. We were very excited.

My sister even wore a flamenco dress when we visited the Prado Museum. No one was looking at the Spanish Masterpieces (or John Galliano who was following us!).

Now that we are back in Barcelona, we have been practicing our Flamenco dancing and Flamenco posturing every day.

Mum has been trying to find some Spanish music for us but dad found this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIIW7nxBgc

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Phoebe

tarragona (take two)

You will remember we went to Tarragona twice, to see the some of the sites we missed when we got caught in a storm. Tarragona has some very important Roman ruins, including an amphitheatre, a theatre in the round. You can see the ocean in the background and some ships, waiting to bring things into the port of Tarragona.

You can see down underneath the theatre where they would have kept the lions, gladiators and naughty children.

Mum and Dad bought us two wooden swords so we could pretend to be gladiators. Mum says this may have been a poor parenting decision.

We made some films in the shadow of the Roman circus (where you can see the tracks of the chariots that used to race around the circus). Here is one of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VGETsJ_nL8

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from Phoebe

morocco and switzerland come to barcelona

We have had lots of visitors! This week my Mum's cousins Carey and Lindsay came to see us from Rabat, Morocco and Lausanne, Switzerland respectively. Lindsay is named after my Granny Lindsay who is her godmother and they are from South Africa originally, so they also sound like my Granny Lindsay.

Dad made his special paella!

It was great to meet them, beacause even though I did meet Lindsay 6 years ago when she came to see me in Barcelona I didn't remember her. After dinner we ate some special chocolate that Lindsay brought from Switzerland.
Carey brought us these slippers from Morocco They are called babouches. The little yellow ones are for Leo.

We all went to see the Magic Fountain of Montjuic, which was built in 1929 for the Great Universal Exposition. The fountain is set to music and lit with different colours and it really is a little bit magic!

After we saw the fountain we went for a 'late' dinner at a groovy restaurant called Flash Flash in Gracia that has been opened since the 1970s.

One of the best things about coming to Spain has been meeting my family!

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Phoebe