We flew on bmi baby from Birmingham to Barcelona, I must have done that flight 100's of times now, and it was a perferct flight and landing so no probs there. We had a nice full day before flying, I went to church and Al cooked lunch before going as it was a late flight. Arrived on sunday 16th at 8ish and got the train to Barna Sants and the usual train to Cubelles. My darling tiets had waited for us at the flat, and it was about midnight bless them, to welcome us and get things ready. Tieta had even prepared truita de patates or potato omellete so we could have a nibble once we were settled. The night was hot and they both said the weather had been boiling this summer so we were excited. Now I'm back we are both enjoying the cool again but when we arrived there we were desperate for HEAT!
We were able to catch up with els tiets before they set off again in the car for Igualada, and we knew we would see them in a few days for the big family gathering too. Then once we'd unpacked we sat on the balcony to enjoy the cool (in inverted commas), enjoy the beer and supper together. Loving the holiday!
That first week was blissful, honest to god getting in the mediterranean for the first time in 2 years was bloody beautiful. I honestly don't think I'd be at all bearable without my top up of the med every so often! Lol... Pictures below are of us on the beach in Cubelles, one of the few we haven't deemed as either of us being too fat, double chin or white to be published! And of one night in Vilanove. The one of me is at our favourite bar their called del mar, very creative I know, but there's a really relaxed feel and a nice view.
It was so weird in Cubelles. Not that it's turned into Benidorm over night but I heard french german, italian possibly dutch and english as well as spanish and the obligatory catalan. In fact catalan was in the minority. I get a bit scared and bored alex rigid going on about it... Ayuntamiento de Cubelles, si leas este blog, por el amor de dios, cuida de tu pueblo que lo quiero mucho y no lo dejes que los ingleses vienen demasiado! El encanto de Cubelles, the delight of a holiday in a place like Cubelles is that the menu's aren't translated, the food is caught and made fresh, the bar owners are friendly, everything is in walking distance, the things you leave on the beach are not going to get robbed, your children are safe, the beach is clean... in summary people travel 1000's of miles nowadays for that kind of experience to, I don't know, Alaska... I always hoped Cubelles would remain a secret. Boring it may be but for me and Alex it's our kind of holiday!
On the friday my cousing Edu and his girlfriend Neus came in the car to pick us up - Neus drove actually. At the same time the tiets were off to Lleida to collect Laura and Luis. So after a tour of Edu and Neus' apartment and a mini beer moment we were all back at the tiet's, all of us, Edu and Neus, me and Al, Laura and Luis; the three cousins and partners together in Igualada for the first time. For that whole weekend tieta was mother hen and happy as larry. The pictures below are snippets of our very happy family gathering. The festa major allowed Al to see Igualada at its best. We took a walk down the Rambla for a drink with Laura and Luis; down C/ San Agustin some games had been organised for the children and the Rambla had been pedestrianised so we weren't drowned out by the scooters. Later on after L and L (sorry it's quicker than writing Laura and Luis each time) had gone to meet an old friend of Laura's we had a look around the shops and the Rambla filled up with a street party. A long line of tressle tables were arranged down the mmiddle of the road and hundreds of families broaght food; impromtu bbq's and grills were set up, hot plates and even open spit roasts were going on. The smells of cooking snails, pork, paella and everything else you can imagine filled the air as well as a sense of excitement. We were loving it, just walking through it... Then we went back to the flat where the first of 2 family meals were to take place. Neus' parents, Edy and Neus, L and L, me and Alex and the tiets all gathered in the flat downstairs to eat in iaia's old living room (something I can't remember happening since I was about 7 and the golden wedding). The big old table was laid out in the midst of an otherwise almost bare room (the flat is undergoing extensive redevelopment) and the lunch was delicious. It had been 6 years since I'd been in Igualada (pretty shocking, what with visiting Cubelles other years it hadn't felt that long) and I'd worried about Al but he really seemed to enjoy it. Food is never a problem, he can eat pretty much anything, but it's pretty scary not knowing what anyone is saying to you, even so Al has picked up quite a few words and even managed to complement tieta on the food and say hello, goodbye, encantado, please, thankyou, yes, no and those sorts of things. I was dead proud of him.
Below are the photos of our gathering at tieta Natalia's house, that's tieta's sister, where we caught up for the first time in ages with David and his little boys Oriol and Arnau. Arnau isn't pictured cause he was in his baby bouncer-sleep-thingy. The next picture is of me and Rosa Munconill. That was a surprise! I had been planning to call Rosa on the sunday as I'd heard she had wanted to catch up but it was the saturday night when me and Al were out for the festa waiting to meet Edu and the gang. We were looking for something to eat (again - that's basically all we did that holiday!) when I did a double take at this blonde lady. "That's Rosa!" one of mum's best friends. We had a lovely chat, far better than by phone and Toni even managed to get us a table and we eat like kings listening to the live bands in Cal Font (they were pretty good, too). I was so happy! Al had seen how genuinely kind and lovely everyone we met in Igualada was and felt part of the family, there was a fresh evening air, everything was perfect! Then we found out that Rosa and Toni had already paid for our food. The waiter was such a dude! He said he'd been sworn to secrecy and as they'd already left to walk home we couldn't even thank them. Loved up doesn't describe it! I'll always treasure the memory of that night...
Later on at 2am I called Edu to find out if there was any danger of them making it away from their house party to the street party and though Edu promised they'd leave any minute we decided to call it a night. Apparently the boys didn't get away til 3am so even though wwe missed them it was probably the right decision. Still, it feels weird to have been at a festa major and not danced...
The view over lake Windermere from Fin's pushchair
Happy gang
Fin
Boa
Wow otters!
