Barcelona at Chez Coward

Unfortunately, I didn’t keep very well track of the weeks leading up to or after my weekend in Barcelona, which was the first week in June, mostly because these two weeks were filled with work, work, and more work, thanks to the numerous papers I had! However, Barcelona remains firmly ingrained into my mind as another FABULOUS week-end.

Friday June 5^th:

Thanks to an accident on the Metro, I arrived at the airport 40 minutes before my flight, and was treated very unkindly by one particular French woman who single-handedly decided that I was too late for my flight and that I had to check my bag (Mom: it was your tiny lark week-ender!!!). She doesn’t merit going into detail about, but I will say that I’m glad that I’ve met a million other French people, including one of her co-workers, who have been nothing but nice to me.

Finally, at around 11:30 PM I arrived in Barcelona and saw Ms. Laura Chandler (2 visits in one European adventure: lucky me!!) and Mr. Corwin Coward approaching me. Corwin’s wife Arline has known my mother since they were eleven years old, and saved me from drowning in a swimming pool when I was three years old, prompting her to be my Godmother. Corwin and Arline have lived in Spain for 35 years.

So after our quick hellos, the three of us headed to our fantastic lodging at Chez Coward, where my godmother and some fabulous tortilla, courtesy of Emy—their fantastic chef and helper, awaited us. Laura and I caught up until the wee hours in the morning, and woke up late the next day.

Saturday, June 6^th:

We explored, explored, explored and saw such great sights as as La Boqueria, a huge market with 1 euro fresh juice, the “Old Port”, and Las Ramblas, a long street with a lively character. We even ran into Brett Henderson, my grand-big sister in Chi O who just graduated from Berkeley!

That night, Arline, Corwin, Laura, and I met up with Alex (Arline and Corwin’s son) and his girlfriend. I had some DELICIOUS paella and it was nice to catch up and converse! The “kids” then took us to two bars—one that was pirate-themed and one called L’acensor, where we enjoyed really good cocktails called Capriovskas and talked politics and music—two of my favorite subjects. Finally, around 3:30 AM, Laura and I said goodbye and caught a cab to Razzmatazz—the biggest nightclub I have EVER seen in my life. It was AWESOME and we stayed there just long enough to catch the first metro home, at around 6:30 AM!!!

Sunday, June 7^th:

I coerced Laura into waking up at around noon (after going to bed at 7AM) so that we could make the Picasso museum before our guide said it closed at 3PM. We DID make it, but it did in fact close at 8 PM, rendering our lack of sleep totally unnecessary! It was worth it though; it’s no secret I’m a huge Picasso fan, and the museum focused on his early and late works, allowing the museum go-er to peek into a part of Picasso’s life we rarely get to view elsewhere. My favorite painting was of a woman from his Blue Period that was done in Paris.

Next, Laura and I said a quick “hello” to Cristina, another Chi O who was in Barcelona at the same time, and then headed down to Corwin’s sailboat, where we enjoyed some Cava and snacks, with Corwin and his sailing partner Joh.

Finally, after a necessary siesta, Corwin took us for some AMAZING tapas at a wonderful and crowded tapas bar.

Monday, June 8^th:

Laura and I slept in a bit, and then headed off for a day of Gaudi. First, we went to the Cathedral la Sagrada Famillia, which is still a work in progress. After properly examining both facades of the cathedral (the nativity and the passion) Laura and I went inside, and got to see the modern stained glass. I can see why the cathedral is considered a modern architectural masterpiece; it was stunningly beautiful and intricate and seemed as if it were coming from nature.

Next, after successfully finding some great and well-priced tapas, we headed over to the Park Guell, the whimsical area that Gaudi and Guell had originally intended to be a high-end neighborhood. What surprised me most about Gaudi’s architecture was how far ahead of his time he was; a lot of the fluid motifs and bright colors were stylistic features that I typically associate with the mid-nineteenth century at the earliest.

Finally, we retraced some of our steps from earlier in the week and headed back to Chez Corward, and then off to dinner around the corner with the whole Coward crew.

Tuesday, June 9^th, we woke up around 8:30 and I headed home to Paris and Laura was off to London!

It was an absolutely AMAZING week-end, and I was so glad to share it with the wonderful, easy-going, fun, and Spanish-speaking Miss Laura Chandler, as well as with my hospitable, interesting, and intelligent god-family (is that the proper term….?) Barcelona is on my list of places I MUST go back to, especially after the world-class treatment I received at Chez Coward!