Busy Days! Many Friends!

June opened with a bang! Our pal Annie and Jackie were both in town for Primavera Sound, a big lovely packed-with-goodness rock festival. Sean and I got tickets for Friday and Saturday, and rolled out with Jackie to catch as much ROCK as possible. By the sea. In warm weather. One of the highlights was seeing a hometown band, Thee Oh Sees, so warmly received and playing in front of throngs of extremely pleased fans. We heard lots of new bands (to us) and some old favorites. It was a real treat to have the time to get all 'festy'.Yay!!




Our pal Annie stayed on a few extra days with us, and we packed in lots of exploring and eating, to be sure. We even hit a flamenco show at the Poble Espanyol. June 3rd was our one year wedding anniversary, and Sean & I took the day off language classes and headed to the beach at Sitges for some relaxation, waves, and delicious food. All of it was world class wonderful. We got celebratory cocktails pre-dinner at a very funny tiki bar called Pay-Pay. Sean's drink had a live sparkler in it. woot! The restaurant was a recommendation (thank you, thank you) passed on by Annie - Alfresco.




The next day my awesome brother Karl and his boyfriend Geir flew in from Oslo for a long weekend in Barcelona, overlapping Geir's birthday on the 8th! It was such good fun to have them here with us, and to get more quality time with Geir. We all rolled to the Joan Miro museum up on Montjuic followed by sunset cocktails at Miramar, and one day Karl & Sean had a beach adventure while Geir and I hit the MACBA and the Tapies museum (which had a surprise Eva Hesse exhibit!)and then regrouped for dinner and drinks. Monday Karl, Geir, and I had a Gaudi fiesta while Sean worked - Sagrada Familia, followed by excellent dinner at Flash Flash! On the 8th, Geir's Birthday, we rolled back to Sitges for a day of rest and play, and then home to BCN for delicious Nikkei food in the Born. We even threw a little party one night so that the other travelers in town (Tiffani, Jason, Claire, and her cousin Anita) could meet the Handsomes. Busy Days, Happy Days.





(there will more pictures up on flickr soon, I swear).

Tiffani and Jason, dear friends from SF, were also in town during this time, and we got to see them for foodz and drinks and it was an utter joy. I didn't take that many pictures, unfortunately. Claire, another SF friend, had a flat in the Born, and she and I had some excellent days before she left town on the 10th. Those pictures will go up soon. Casa Batllo and the Temple on Tibidabo and meeting her wonderful Catalan friend Frank and his family being big highlights -- but the main thrill was just time with a friend in a beautiful city to talk and roam. And drink lots and lots of Cava. Ha!

more soon - but there's the outline of what we've been up to...