Reflections

Thank you for all of the kind comments about the blog. It sounds like it is a good way to preserve memories, so here is my proposal. I want to invite all of the students to write in. I will post the responses and it will serve as a way to finish off the blog. If all you want to do is a brief comment, then it is easier to just comment directly through this blog page, but if you include pix, then email me, HJarcho@hamiltoncentral.org or email me a Word doc. That way you can include favorite pictures as attachments that you want to share. We need some pictures from the plane flight home for sure, but I invite you to add any pictures you want to publish.

I'll keep checking for the next week and adding as we go. Once we are done, we can figure out a way to preserve a copy in case the blog becomes inactive.

Mr. J

Last Post??

We are on the bus home!! The flight was smooth and we made friends with a high school Spanish club from Connecticut that was returning from Barcelona with us and also took the same Madrid to NYC flight. Spirits are high and the energy is too, especially considering that it is 2:30am our bodies' time. Iberia Airlines was very congenial, but airline food still s**ks. We ate like kings all week, but I can't wait to sink my teeth into a cheeseburger. Hope you all enjoyed, we did.

Dear Mom - Send Money, we aren't coming home.

This just in, we took a vote and decided we're having too great a time. We're not coming back. Hamilton is nice, and we love you, but gelato is forever.

Thrusday - Another Day, Another great one.

Hola!!

Today was a really full day. Not everything went according to plan, but it all worked out beautifully.

We started the day by taking a bus to the monastery Montserrat. The monastery is at the top of a mountain which is unlike any other we have seen in Spain. It has very curious and interesting features. As tall as the mountain is, some of the students found ocean fossils at the top - score one for Earth Science.

Our tour guide was from Poland and talked nonstop for the hour it took us to get there. We learned a lot about the history of Barcelona and the monastery. Spain is a really interesting country in that it is not really one country at all except for purposes of taxation. Barcelona is part of the Catalan region and the residents have their own distinct language, culture and basically have never forgiven King Ferdinand for marrying Isabella of Aragon, which led to the domination of the Castillian culture in the newly unified Spain. The Catalans and the Basques are, more than 500 years later, still pressing for independence.

We all toured the church, then we broke up into groups. Some took a walk looking for great views, some started at the museum which, in addition to a collection of Catholic iconography and Catalan art, has a very nice general collection, including several works by Joan Miro, one very interesting Salvador Dali, and more than a dozen sketchs and lithographs by Picasso. Most of us also took the funicular (cable car) to the top of mountain. The view was spectacular and I have included a brief video.

From Montserrat we travelled to the Gaudi park, which contains some very fanciful works in mosaic by Gaudi. I have included two pictures of buildings as well as some of our students kung fu fighting.

Next on the agenda was a bus drive to the chocolate museum. It was actually pretty tacky in my opinion, but we didn't really care, because we really just wanted to buy really fine chocolate as souvenirs to bring back home.

After returning to the hotel to freshen, we took off on foot for dinner and the Magic Fountain. Apparently two email confirmations is not sufficient because when we arrived at the restaurant, not only did they deny any knowledge of our reservation, the cook had already gone home for the day. Time to improvise.

Today happens to be a major Catalan holiday, St. George's Day, as in the one who slew the dragon. The streets and the Metro were the most crowded we have ever seen and the prospects of finding a restaurant that could accomodate 41 seemed quite slim. We took the Metro to the Magic Fountain (packed like sardines) and spirits lifted considerably because the fountains were a ton of fun. Still not place to eat.

After some fast footwork by Frank and our hotel concierge, we secured reservations for 10pm (still the Early Bird Special by Barcelona standards) to a restaurant, "Danzarama" about 10 minutes from the hotel. It is a pretty modern, hip restaurant and dance club. Unfortunately, the dance club didn't open until 12:30am, so no dancing.

Dinner was great - a tapas experience. A tomato/onion/carrot/tuna starter, followed by a salad, followed by a tuna on toast dish, followed by a variety of croquettes (potato, fish, basil, cheese), and then the entree, either cuttlefish or lamb. Dessert was a cream/custard cake for students, and a somewhat more interesting cake with a fruit glaze and dark chocolate for the chaperones. For those of you who have been following the blog, I had a much lengthier description of the meal a half hour ago, but the internet crashed and I lost the entry and I am too tired to give you the full story again.

That's all for now. It is past 1am and I am ready for bed. I am going to publish the text and then try to add the pictures. We are scheduled to leave for the airport at 10am and will be back home in Hamilton sometime between 2 and 3am on Saturday (really Sunday).

More Adventures in Eating

Food has emerged as the dominant cultural phenomenon of this trip and I am happy to report that we are ambassadors with a seemingly unquenchable capacity to consume.

First of all, the internet connection is very, very slow tonight, so I will be saving this with text only and adding pictures after the fact. If you read it without pictures, come back later and it may be updated with pictures. I will also provide pictures of the other minigroups' day, but it is almost midnight and we have sent the students to bed, so I have no one else's pictures or stories to tell yet.

We walked to dinner, about a 15 minute walk ending in a dark, dank alley. Behind graffiti cover walls we entered a restaurant in lurid red, looking like a cave or the bowels of hell. We entered through the bar which had numerous couples ensconced on cushy sofas. We were escorted to the restaurant side of the establishment and, sadly, told that all of the tables, but none of the sofas, were reserved for us. Let the dining begin.

Our meal began with a Caesar salad with chicken. That was followed by a series of tapas - a chicken kabob served with a spicy sweet and sour sauce, a bread with garlic/olive spread, and goose liver pate topped with figs. OHMYGAWD!!

Our choices for entree were a tuna dish, a risotto, or curry chicken. I didn't try the tuna, but the risotto and the curry were amazing. Students were laughing and having a great time, as were the chaperones. Dessert was strawberry soup served with lemon sorbet.

We then walked back home after convincing our tour guide that we would rather walk off dinner than ride the Metro again. It will come as an enormous surprise, I am sure, to learn that about a dozen of our fine culinary ambassadors decided that they needed to have gelato before we ended for the night. Eventually I will have pictures of dinner and the gelato. We have now found the best gelato by everyone's agreement. The servers are the best looking (enhances the experience, apparently) and they shape the serving into roses. John A. decided to celebrate his second or 3rd gelato of the day by ordering the 8 scoop serving. Eight scoops, you say? Why eight? Apparently because they didn't offer anything larger.

That's all for now, I'll post this and then try to add pix.

Thursday 1st Report

Ola!!

After a very full Wednesday, we decided to chill a bit today. Each chaperone took a group giving kids a few options. Some groups went shopping and some did some sightseeing. I will report on my group's day and get back with reports and pictures from the other groups once we are all together again.

I took a group of ten who wanted to see some art. First we took the Metro to Joan Miro Park, to see one of Miro's most famous works, Woman and Bird. The sculpture is in a park which had a great climbing structure and the students got a kick out of getting some climbing exercise. We then took the Metro to the Contemporary Museum of Art. It was very interesting, extremely avant garde. It didn't have modern masters, as I hoped, but very contemporary works, a lot of video installations, a lot of photography, and paintings. I think that everyone found it interesting, many parts were definitely witty and thought provoking, many other parts flew past my understanding.

For lunch we broke again into three groups, Ms. West took a group that didn't want to go to the beach (it is overcast and only in the 60s). Ms. B and Mr. Rossi took a group that signed up for a formal French lunch, to make up for our lost Paris trip. Ms. King and I took a group that wanted simpler lunch, to visit the amazing open-air market on La Rambla, and then on to the beach. We had lunch at a place called Que Pasta, a fast food joint with fresh pasta that you choose a topping for. Pesto, 4-cheese, and tomato were popular, I think Ms. King hit the jackpot with a carbonara sauce - a white cream sauce with bacon. There were 17 of us and everyone loved their own choice.

We then walked to the market. It is amazing. Impossibly fresh fruit, meats, cheeses, breads, and fresh seafood so fresh that the shrimp, prawn, squiddy things and more were still alive on the ice - I am not making this up. Some had (of course) gelato. I got a half of a pineapple because I am such a health nut.

We then boarded a bus for the beach. Some of the boys bought a soccer ball and they got their blood pumping by playing beach soccer for about 30 minutes and then jumped into the Mediterranean for an icy dip. They all declared it heart-stopping cold. I will take their word for it, I played lifeguard from the shore.

We have a formal meal tonight. I will try to post again after dinner, reporting on the meal and on the day for the other groups. Adios!!

Best Day Yet!!

What a day!! We started the day with the choice to take a walking tour or a bicycle tour of Barcelona. Fifteen students and three chaperones took the bicycle tour, led by our fearless and hysterical tour guide, Buddha. He is from Sydney, Australia, living in Barcelona trying to make it as a chef, and running tours, I guess, to pay the rent until the chef thing happens.

On top is a group shot of the walkers, as well as the statue of Christopher Columbus. I can only take their word for it, but the walkers had a great time. They toured the gothic cathedral of Barcelona as well as many other sights.

The bicycle tour was fantastic. It was great to get some cycling exercise, and it was a ton of fun cycling on city streets. Everyone follows the rules of the road, and there are separate lanes for motor and nonmotor vehicles. Above is a group shot of the bikers in front of the Arc de Triomphe. After riding to a park we rode to the beach for lunch. A few brave souls actually went for a dip - most of us were content to order lunch and lay back in lounge chairs.

After a brief return to the hotel to freshen, we took the Metro to Gaudi's Familia Segrada, a church which was begun in the 1860s and is still only about half complete. It is impossible to describe the enormity of this church and Gaudi's ambition, which was to tell the entire story of Christianity from the birth, to the Passion, to the Resurrection of Christ in one building. The detail and design are mind-boggling and almost every student bought something, so you can either Google it to see right away, or you can wait until we get home.

Back to the hotel to change from sightseeing clothes to dinner and a show togs. The girls all looked spectacular and the boys went from scruffy to nearly presentable. Dinner was at a flamenco dance theater. Dinner itself was a seafood paella and almost everyone was great about trying this authentic Spanish dish, which contained shrimp, mussels, and prawns. Dessert was a flan in a strawberry sauce and it was great. Then the flamenco dancing began.

The show consisted of two singers, two flamenco guitarists, one violinist, one percussionist, plus the dancers, two men and four women. We didn't really know what to expect, but it was fantastic. We saw a variety of flamenco styles and all of the students danced their way home. Needless to say, we stopped for gelato and some of us rambled on La Rambla until we dragged ourselves back to the hotel and began planning for the next two days.

Getting funky now, I'm trying to upload two indie videos taken by our own Ms. West. In one, our students show off their language skills - your tax dollars at work; in the other, Ms. West throws caution to the wind and videos the bikers while riding.

Carcassonne

Here are some pictures of our trip to Carcassonne. As you can see, we drove by the Pyrenees. After lunch, we took a guided tour of the fortress city. The fortress has been in existence, in various incarnations, for over 2000 years, with Roman, French, Spanish, and cultures which predate France and Spain. Various parts show those influences. Even the church was originally Romanesque, but has been expanded in a gothic style. Our tour guide was very engaging and very informative. It was fun to hear about the various defenses built, how the population within and without the fortress walls varied over time, and about the art of the siege.

After the tour, we had a bit of time to wander and shop and then back onto the bus for the return trip. The group shot is of Mrs. B and the French students.

We arrived back at the hotel around 8pm, washed and freshened, and went back out on the town in our mini-groups. My group found a pasta joint that we loved and vowed to return to and then we went on our daily pilgrimage to find the wild gelato. Imagine our dismay to learn that the inconsiderate Spaniards had the Gaulle to close shops at 10pm, denying us our daily fix. Katherine swore that she would boycott our gelato store forevermore, a vow that I am confident will last less than 24 hours. I would tell you what other groups did as well, but other than fend off the advances and leers of randy European boys, I didn't hear much that I can report. We are learning that social mores differ, and that nighttime brings out the Eurowackos - more funny than threatening.

All for now, enjoy the pictures.

Carla Amman Lunch

Today was an eventful and wonderful day. The weather was sunny and mid to upper 70s. We boarded a bus at 8am for Carcassonne. The bus ride was long (4 hours) but this was our opportunity to go to France and the French students (and teacher) were foaming at the mouth at the opportunity to finally use their language skills. We drove through varied terrain, mountains, groves of trees that I can't identify, and lot and lots of vineyards.

When we arrived in Carcassonne, we surprised the students with a very special dinner. Many of you will remember Carla Amman, who taught foreign languages at HCS for many years. When she passed away the family established a fund to support foreign language and culture. The Amman's were kind enough to agree to sponsor a dinner in Carla's honor, and it was sublime. Quoting Phil D, "What was the sauce on that chicken? That is probably the best meal I have ever had in my life." Dinner began with a wonderful salad, the most interesting ingredient of which was fromage de chevre en moule (goat cheese). It was definitely a love it or leave it. I loved it, Phil had three servings, and Katherine made the scariest face I have ever seen when she tried a microgram of it. The entree was a chicken dish served with a tomato/pepper based sauce and everyone loved it once we debunked the rumor we started that it was rabbit. The rabbit (chicken) was served with pommes frites. Dessert was a chocolate cake with a cream filling, whipped cream and served with vanilla sauce. Adults had espresso with dessert.

On behalf of the students and chaperones, thank you very much Howie and the Amman daughters. You made a very special part of the trip possible.

More Pix from Day1 in Barcelona

Here are some more pictures from today, compliments of Mr. Rossi.

1. The Spanish countryside from the bullet train enroute from Madrid to Barcelona. Lots of vineyards, lots of scrub, some beautiful cliffs, and mountains.

2. Outside our bullet train, safely in Barcelona.

3. The overachievers posing in front of a church.

4. The boys get a room with a balcony while Mr. Rossi and I are in a shoe box. We'll fix that tomorrow.

5. Mr. Rossi catches Mr. Jarcho with his date at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Well, it's past midnight and just got word that Tommy has managed to lock himself in the bathroom, so it's time to go. A chaperone's work is never done!!

From Madrid to Barcelona

Ola from Barcelona!!!

Today we got up at the crack of dawn (9am), had breakfast in the hotel, and took a morning walk to an open air bazaar. Students bought a variety of souvenirs and got some fresh air.

At noon checked out of the hotel, we walked our luggage to the Metro, and said adios, Madrid. We took the Metro to the Renfe, which is Spain's high-speed railroad, for the 3 hour trip to Barcelona. The train is amazingly clean (as was the Metro and Spain in general). It is also amazingly quiet and smooth.

After our arrival in Barcelona we took the biggest travel coach bus I have ever seen to our hotel, which is located in the absolute heart of Barcelona shopping, on La Rambla, with the Hard Rock Cafe around the corner.

After checking in, we broke into our small groups to walk for two hours until our dinner reservations. Most groups did some serious shopping and people watching, wandered in funky little alleys, found bakeries (to mark for later days snacking), found gelato (Phoebe will disagree, but Phil's mango gelato with strawberry was the standout). Mr. Rossi's group, being overachievers, actually took advantage of the time to visit a beautiful church instead of just trying on dresses.

We have tried to be really authentic, but even the most orthodox travelers admitted that dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, with familiar American food, was a ton of fun.

Tomorrow we are getting on our tour coach at the crack of dawn (this time I really mean it) for the ride to Carcassonne, a medieval fortress that is back in France, and will be our one salvageable event from the French portion of our itinerary.

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El Prado, not La Prada

Before I get a lot of editorial comments about the fact that I sent us to a fancy shoe store instead of Spain's greatest museum, it's El Prado, not La Prada. Shows you how often I shop for shoes.

Here are the rest of the groups - too much space for 1 blog

Here are the rest of the groups - too much space for 1 blog.

End of the Day - Sunday - The Royal Palace

Today was a great day. After a late sleep in and breakfast at 11am, we walked to the Royal Palace Spain. We took a tour and the opulence is unlike anything I have ever seen. I have been to the Tower of London and seen the Crown Jewels of England, and, believe me, compared to this palace, the Tower looks like a homeless shelter. We toured around twenty rooms, each of which was filled with more gold work, in the form of art, chandelliers, gilt, etc., more tapestries, art, and sculpture than I have ever seen. As a Social Studies teacher, what ran through my mind is I can completely understand the peasants of France/Spain, etc. revolting and beheading because all of the wealth came from somewhere, and I don't think it was investing wisely in hedge funds.

The pictures on the previous entry are the five mini-groups when we break up into small touring groups. This blog has a picture of all of the group in front of the palace.

After touring the palace, we broke into our small groups to get lunch and to sight-see. We are totally continental at this point - we had breakfast at 11am, lunch at 5pm, and dinner at 9:30pm. In any case, each group is firmly convinced that it found the hippest, tastiest lunch, which is a great sign that all groups did well. My group and Karrie King's group ate at the same restaurant, although we didn't even know it until they were half way through their meal. Many of us tried paella, which was spectacular. My group was served goose liver pate encrusted with peppercorns as a free appetizer and it was delicious. All of my group tried it and loved it until we told them what it was, then, even though they had enjoyed it, some decided they had had enough. After that we window shopped, searching for the wild gelato - success!!

From "lunch" we took the Metro to La Prada, the national museum of art of Spain. It is magnificent and, unfortunately, we only had one hour to see incredible Goyas, Fra Angelica, Bosch, etc. This museum is classical art, great masters. In Barcelona we will see Picasso and Dali among others.

After La Prada we took the Metro back to our hotel neighborhood and had dinner at a restaurant need the hotel. We had a delicious steak dinner with sauteed vegetables and creamy cake-like dessert. Quite yummy. The restaurant had a lot of bull fighting photos, a real toreador outfit, and the head of an actual bull. Many pictures were taken with the bull. I included one sample. We then wandered around to a park we had seen earlier, but all of the booths had closed. Kids are milling and mingling in the lobby of the hotel, I came up to my room to compose this blog.

Tomorrow we will have the morning for sleep and to try again at the park. At 1:30 we board a bus to Barcellona - the adventure continues.

Greetings from Madrid!!

It has been a true travel experience and I finally have wi-fi to give you all an update.

As you know, after we left we learned that Orly was officially closed and our connecting flight cancelled. The flight to Madrid was calm and Iberia did a fine job. The flight took off on time and arrived early. They served two "meals" on board. Unfortunately, I chose the chicken-like substance - I am told the beef was better. Breakfast was also served and I give them an "A" for effort. Most of us got a little sleep and chatted away.

We arrived in Madrid and the airport is modernistic and gorgeous. Getting through customs was a breeze, much easier than my memory of entering the U.S. Frank, our tour leader got to work on figuring out what our next move would be and we soon learned that the French train workers, believing that a volcano was insufficient disruption to travel, decided to go on strike. The airport was teeming with stranded passengers and lines hundreds of people long to rent cars.

Rather than wander around the airport all day, we decided to take the Metro and visit Madrid for the afternoon while Frank explored our options. It was probably the 1st experience with a Metro system for many of the students, and it was a lot of fun. Madrid is beautiful. The architecture is varied and very impressive. We basically took the metro in to a random location and wandered around downtown and side streets for a few hours.

In the meantime, Frank looked into motor coaches to Paris, flights to elsewhere in France from which we could then bus, but to no avail. By the time we returned to the airport, he had booked us into a hotel for the night - ah, shower and a bed!! With more than one million people stranded in Europe right now, finding a hotel for 41 was no small achievement. The hotel is old-world, has beautiful common spaces, and surprisingly nice rooms. As far as I know, we have burned out none of our iPods yet, nor have we fried the hotel's wiring.

We arranged for a group dinner in the hotel - a rice dish, ribs, potatoes, and ice cream for dessert. By this time it was 10:00pm and we were running on about 4 hours sleep in the last 48 hours, so we were all pretty giddy, but it is amazing what a shower and a meal will do for spirits. The kids went off to bed and the chaperones huddled to make some decisions about our next moves.

As I am sure you know by now, we have decided to abandon the Paris portion of our trip. Our very best case scenario was a 16 hour bus ride to Paris, effectively killing a day in order to have one remaining day in Paris. We have no idea whether the train strike will end, so we would face another 16 hour trip back to Barcelona. The train to Carcasonne would also be iffy. So, we are substituting Madrid for Paris, La Prada for the Louvre. We think that we will still be able to go to Carcasonne from here instead, and as I went off to bed, Frank was busy arranging additional sights to see in Spain. All for now.

FYI, I can write these blog entries from the hotel lobby. I will do an entry as often as I can. Your comments are not posted until I "moderate" them, which is why they took so long to appear.