The more you know
May. 24th, 2011 03:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaTHINGS I HAVE LEARNT:
* "Orxata" is not "horchata". Or rather, the "horchata" here is not the "horchata" back in NAmerica (which raises the question, which one was Vampire Weekend singing about?). It is made out of nuts and tastes like Mexican horchata would if it contained soy.
* There are wutong trees everywhere! Were they imported? Exported? Do they range across all of Eurasia? IDEK what they're called in English. Struck up a convo at a tapas bar with an Italian dude who said they have'em in Rome, too, but he didn't know what they were called in any language. Unnervingly they grow TWICE AS TALL as the ones in Shanghai, but the buildings are generally twice as tall along the tree-lined boulevards, so.
* Shanghai could actually be this nice, if it weren't so incredibly polluted. It has the same historio-psycho-geography of spurts of concentrated easy money, combined with private-sector civic pride. The Olympics on top of the Art Nouveau on top of the 19th century on top of the proper old stuff... (Also the big metro stations have the same smell.) Judging from the accumulated evidence, Barcelonians as a body have the best taste in architecture ever. You'd basically have to be a Gaudí just to stand out from the crowd.
* Traditional espadrilles are cheap, extremely breathable, come in a wide variety of colours, and have zero arch support.
* I poked my head in at the 4gats in honour of Tin rly XD; at least so it goes in my head. Also bought three frocks at a teeny store in the Gothic Quarter where all the photo models looked like Tommy february6, a tatty old bilingual François Villon for reference, and some Catalan Symbolist poetry I can't read. Or rather I am the image of Julia in the book who wanders around the Mediterranean basin speaking Latin with the endings mumbled, so I can sort of read it when I'm drunk. Once you get used to the fact that "txll" is an acceptable combination of letters in a word. (In the same edition there was an exegesis of Rizal, so I really thought of Tin, but that's too advanced in Catalan for me. XD; If someone else wants it, though...)
* If you hit up the right places, sparkling wine is as cheap as beer. I can live with this.
* This is not really possible, but I suspect it would be a major experience to do the Gaudí trail sans spoilers. XD; Like, if you'd never seen any pictures of the dude's work and just let someone take you around to all the buildings and parks, for the full-blown WTF!?!?!12 factor. I'm not saying the Casa Batlló is not a beautiful house; in fact, once you get in there you realize it's a meticulously practical house. All I'm saying is that there was a photo up of the original Batlló family, and surprisingly none of them had visible facial tentacles. What the alternate Temeraire-verse Gaudí might have accomplished in terms of dragon habitat one can only imagine.
(The ppl who own it now live there - or at least, three of the floors are closed off and there's laundry strung out the back to dry. XD; Gaudí had designed a glorious set of laundry rooms in the attic, but they've been put on display. La Pedrera is owned by the bank, but it seems to be occupied too. It's a bit less consciously... shrimp soldiers and crab generals and pearl oyster ladies-in-waiting... but the rooms of the model apartment open out of each other in an odd way, and everything curves in toward the light well, and eventually you realize you're on the inside of a conch shell.)
* Tomorrow, Dalí. What is it with Catalonia and melty things that shouldn't be melty, does it just get too hot here?
* "Orxata" is not "horchata". Or rather, the "horchata" here is not the "horchata" back in NAmerica (which raises the question, which one was Vampire Weekend singing about?). It is made out of nuts and tastes like Mexican horchata would if it contained soy.
* There are wutong trees everywhere! Were they imported? Exported? Do they range across all of Eurasia? IDEK what they're called in English. Struck up a convo at a tapas bar with an Italian dude who said they have'em in Rome, too, but he didn't know what they were called in any language. Unnervingly they grow TWICE AS TALL as the ones in Shanghai, but the buildings are generally twice as tall along the tree-lined boulevards, so.
* Shanghai could actually be this nice, if it weren't so incredibly polluted. It has the same historio-psycho-geography of spurts of concentrated easy money, combined with private-sector civic pride. The Olympics on top of the Art Nouveau on top of the 19th century on top of the proper old stuff... (Also the big metro stations have the same smell.) Judging from the accumulated evidence, Barcelonians as a body have the best taste in architecture ever. You'd basically have to be a Gaudí just to stand out from the crowd.
* Traditional espadrilles are cheap, extremely breathable, come in a wide variety of colours, and have zero arch support.
* I poked my head in at the 4gats in honour of Tin rly XD; at least so it goes in my head. Also bought three frocks at a teeny store in the Gothic Quarter where all the photo models looked like Tommy february6, a tatty old bilingual François Villon for reference, and some Catalan Symbolist poetry I can't read. Or rather I am the image of Julia in the book who wanders around the Mediterranean basin speaking Latin with the endings mumbled, so I can sort of read it when I'm drunk. Once you get used to the fact that "txll" is an acceptable combination of letters in a word. (In the same edition there was an exegesis of Rizal, so I really thought of Tin, but that's too advanced in Catalan for me. XD; If someone else wants it, though...)
* If you hit up the right places, sparkling wine is as cheap as beer. I can live with this.
* This is not really possible, but I suspect it would be a major experience to do the Gaudí trail sans spoilers. XD; Like, if you'd never seen any pictures of the dude's work and just let someone take you around to all the buildings and parks, for the full-blown WTF!?!?!12 factor. I'm not saying the Casa Batlló is not a beautiful house; in fact, once you get in there you realize it's a meticulously practical house. All I'm saying is that there was a photo up of the original Batlló family, and surprisingly none of them had visible facial tentacles. What the alternate Temeraire-verse Gaudí might have accomplished in terms of dragon habitat one can only imagine.
(The ppl who own it now live there - or at least, three of the floors are closed off and there's laundry strung out the back to dry. XD; Gaudí had designed a glorious set of laundry rooms in the attic, but they've been put on display. La Pedrera is owned by the bank, but it seems to be occupied too. It's a bit less consciously... shrimp soldiers and crab generals and pearl oyster ladies-in-waiting... but the rooms of the model apartment open out of each other in an odd way, and everything curves in toward the light well, and eventually you realize you're on the inside of a conch shell.)
* Tomorrow, Dalí. What is it with Catalonia and melty things that shouldn't be melty, does it just get too hot here?
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 02:34 am (UTC)ask for either the octopus, the calamari, or some sort of fish. they're brilliant.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 04:04 am (UTC)Re: Your Catalonia and melty things comment--I LOLed.
Re: Wutong tree--it's called the Chinese parasol tree in English, apparently.
Now, back to lurking! :-)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 10:56 am (UTC)The Encyclopedia of Life has a page about it (http://www.eol.org/pages/584813). When you click on maps, it shows mostly the places where it has been introduced. One of the localities is Barcelona. The map doesn't show any records for the mainland of Asia, although the one of the sources (http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=200005230) for the descriptions say that it was originally native to southern Japan and introduced to the mainland of Asia, where it now grows in China and Pakistan.
This concludes today's moment of geek. ^^
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 11:11 am (UTC)The correct page (http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=620&taxon_id=242322646) shows that it's native to large areas of China and Japan, and is cultivated in Europe and North America. Now I'm done.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 06:07 am (UTC)i did this toooooo! it is essential XD
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 09:30 am (UTC)You probably have a comprehensive list of places to eat already xD; but do get churros from the xurreria on Banys Nous and take them to La Granja (several doors down) for dipping in chocolate y cognac. La Granja has no sign up atm so it is a bit hard to spot (there is a plaque in the ground where a welcome mat should be). Also paella + rose cava at Pitarra (no reservations needed if you're early).. And "1906" (the stuff from the bottom of the barrel they ferment the regular Estrella Galicia/Damm in) is pretty special. I missed some restaurants (Sant Joan, Cafe de La Academia, Cal Pep, Can Culleretes) through poor planning / no reservations / actually being in Coruna until the weekend
Also this is horrible you are the second LJ friend I have missed meeting up with in under six months how did I not see any of your planning posts (I didn't post about mine because.. I largely did not plan for it until we were there. thank god for yoigo 3G)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 10:36 pm (UTC)La Granja and Pitarra, noted. Thank God for the Time Out Barcelona app and the fact that the Gothic Quarter seems to be blanketed in wifi; this city is v. hard to navigate. XD; I did make it to Can Culleretes tonight (all the way back on the Media Distancia from Figueres/Girona, 10min before the kitchen took last orders, rolling), it was pretty epic.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 10:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 05:30 pm (UTC)Anyway I yam missing you already. :D Have fun at Mutek!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 09:22 pm (UTC)GAAAAAH you just blew my MIND. Am now desperately wanting vast side-branches of Temeraire-verse where the architecture of Spain and Istanbul feature (even more) prominently.