Tricks!!

I don't know what Dad is trying to do, but it looks like fun. Guess I'll just imitate him and see what happens...

Here's Mom's sunnies. Something's not right......

Kung Fu in the park

Well, since I can't catch any pigeons, I'll just have to practice my tai ji and kung fu.

And for my final move, here Dad, here's my steel finger claws into your ears and brains. Hiiaahhh!

Pigeons in the park

Here I am chasing the pigeons in the park. There are so many of them and so quick, I can't catch any of them.

Why are they all running and flying away from me?

Chinese New Year Day 1

It can get lonely in Barcelona, especially on festive occasions. Thank goodness, Dad's friend and his family are in Barna for HMDP too. So for day 1, we are celebrating by having lunch in Dragonfly. This Chinese restaurant serves really good food like rollo de primavera, gambas con pan de frito, pato Peking & pinchos (spring roll, fried bread prawns, Peking duck, dim sum). Yums!

This place is really quite drama. Here we are sitting in the middle of a restaurant, surround by red stringing, like a pavillion. Cool!

Valentine's Day

Hey it's Valentine's Day today!! Here's wishing all lovers and those still in love a very happy Valentine's Day.
Here's the cake my parents brought from the cakery that's near our apartment.
And after cake, it's time for me to make a Valentine's day card for us!
See u.

Sunday morning in Girona

It's Sunday morning and we're up early, courtesy of Russell 'the alarm clock'. We're having breakfast at Restaurant Blanc in the hotel, which is included in the hotel price. It's typical European fare, mainly cold dishes but good quality ones. Russell is helping himself to a croissant and at least he's self feeding now.
The plan was to explore the old town, as it was Sunday and most of the shops were closed anyway. So we wandered down the Rambla, through the Jewish old quarters, and up to the Cathedral.
At the steps of the Cathedral. It's quite a grand facade.

Thereafter we went to see the Arab Baths, nothing much really. Then we walked along the old city walls and finally back to the hotel.

Crepes in Girona

Russell was asleep on the backpack and gently snoring away. Here June and I are doing our favourite activity, exploring an old town for suprises like comfort food. Nothing like freshly prepared chocolate crepes in a cool winter evening in old europe to warm your hearts. The old couple was extremely friendly and the crepes were hmmmmmmm!!!

In the bridge that leads to our hotel. It's getting cooler as the sun sets. At least Girona is a very small town and very walkable. After crossing this bridge, within 20 steps we back at the hotel. Extremely convenient.

Girona old town

Here's a picture of Girona old town, from across the river Onyar. This is one of the many bridges that span the river, which divides new town from old town. It's a really beautiful day, with temperatures of 18 deg Celsius, highly unusual for this place in winter, where the norm can drop below 0 deg.
Here we are on the main bridge. You can see more bridges spanning the river, and the beautiful city behind - the old city. This is clearly dominated by the Gothic cathedral, which has the largest nave in the world.
This is the Rambla de Llibertat. This is the main avenue in old town, lined by modern shops and cafes, set in an ancient town. Wonderful! 

Nothing's too difficult for me!

Life's a breeze, be it asking for more food from my parents or others. All I have to do is show my cutsy face and food comes. Here I'm getting my Gerber star biscuits.
Pressing the button for the lift is no prob too, even though the lift button is something I've not seen before.
Unlocking the main door and escaping is a piece of cake too. Russell 'Houdini' at work here, in his pampers and Dad in his underwear, desperate to stop me. 

Near Hotel Ciutat de Girona

In case you're wondering, the above name means the city hotel of girona. It's a very modern hotel, which is just next to the shopping street of Santa Clara, and just a little bit further, a bridge that crosses River Onyar to go to Old Town. What a great location!

It's also unseaonably good weather, so we could walk around in light jackets and soak in the sun.
Here's lunch at Casa Marieta, which is a famous Catalan restaurant at Plaza Independencia, the main square just steps from our hotel. That's for mom and dad. There's duck, pate and bacalao (salted cod). Yums!!! I had some too. Shh!!! Don't tell Grandma!
A view of the lift to our room. Dad's using the backpack to move me around. He's like a workhorse, since I weigh more than 14 kg now.

Weekend trip to Girona

Here we are at Sants Train Station in Barcelona. We've just booked a train to go to Girona, for a Valentine's weekend break. We had to book a regional train ticket to Girona, and it was confusing to say the least (for me..). There were 4 sales area, one for different type of trains, eg high speed train, regional trains, local trains. I could not see any signage for each, so we just hit the nearest information counter and got into the right queue . We got the tickets but now did not know where to go. We finally figured we had to go to platform 2 and by then the train had left.

So now, we had to find our way to another platform but couldd't find the necessary information. So back to the information counter and got our platform. Almost missed this train as well (1 hour apart).

I guess in the future, we will arrive earlier and be ready for any confusion that may occur in the train station. We are quite unfamiliar with train travel and it shows. The train was free seating. Thank god we got 3 seats for us, as the train filled up rapidly after 2 stops. There were quite a few people standing around.

To keep Russell entertained, he watched video from my PDA. Also, with Russell's introduction, we made friends with a British grandmother and her daughter, who was just sitting behind me. Actually Russell pulled the old lady's hair. They adored him, as usual. And it turned out they were going to Girona as well. Conversation with them made the hour plus trip pass much faster.

Video conference with my Grandparents

Here I am multi-tasking. I'm having my lunch and video-conferencing with my grandparents back in Singapore all at the same time. They are singing songs to entertain me and showing me all my favorite toys back in Singapore.
 

Exploring Barcelona

It's Thursday afternoon and Dad's back. It's time to go out!
Here I am running around Arc de Triumph and the walkway that leads to Parc de Ciutedella (City Park), where the zoo is based. I'll be a member of the zoo soon, as Dad has already applied for membership for me.
Going for pastry at Escriba, only the most famous cake shop in Barcelona. This small branch is based along La Rambla, good for people watching.