Restaurante Alejandro del Toro

Our hotel, the Westin Valencia was the most secure in town as it hosted the world banking community as well as government big wigs from Spain to figure out what to do about Spain’s tanking economy. Lots of police, security agents and metal detectors greeted us the front door every time we entered. We chatted with the President of the Central Bank of Columbia at the bar, but couldn’t get any inside information from him.

The Ritz Carlton Hotel Arts is a great hotel. However, it’s not infinitely better than a number of hotels we’ve stayed at. This one in particular is on the Mediterranean which makes it special, especially in Europe. Personally, I would have rather stayed in the old part of town. Nevertheless, number 59 is done.

On the train.

El Bulli was ranked the number one restaurant in the world a record five times in a row before closing in 2011. It was described as “the most imaginative generator of haute cuisine on the planet.” The chef, Ferran Adrià, is credited with creating modern molecular gastronomy. His number one protégé, Paco Perez, has two restaurants, Miramar and Enoteca. The latter just happened to be in our hotel and we were lucky enough to get a table.

We ordered the 11 course tasting menu and, without question, it was the best culinary experience I ever had. Everything was completely unexpected. If described beforehand, I don’t think I would have ordered half of the items. I mean, a small cone with guacamole and lime ice cream doesn’t sound right, but it was amazing.

The head chef, Paco’s #2, chatted with us for about twenty minutes and answered all of our many questions. He then gave us Paco’s cell phone number so we could arrange a table at his Miramar restaurant the next time we came back.

It took some effort, but we finally found this BC artifact.

The Temple of Augustus in Barcelona was a Roman temple built during the Imperial period in the colony of Barcino (modern day Barcelona) as a place of worship for Emperor Augustus. It was the central building on Tàber Hill, currently in Carrer del Paradís number 10, in the city’s so-called Gothic Quarter. At one point in history the temple was demolished, and its ruins were not discovered until late 19th century, when three of its columns appeared on the construction site of Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.[1] A fourth column was then exhibited at the Plaça del Rei and was later added to the structure, as it can be seen nowadays. The temple is likely to have been built under Tiberius, who instituted a cult of Augustus.

At the Picasso Museum.

At the Four Cats Cafe. Picasso had his first art exposition here when he was a teenager. He also designed their menu cover.

We had dinner at Dos Palillos, a Barcelona staple. It’s heavy in the Asian, light on the Spanish fusion. We did the tasting menu. This is probably Tom’s kind of place. I’m glad I tried it, but won’t be eating eight different kinds of sea weed and conch any time soon.

Sagrada Família. Something you have to see to believe. Gaudi began overseeing the construction in 1882. It is expected to be completed in 2026.

Remnants of a Roman aqueduct

La Boqueria

Christopher Columbus Monument

The Magic Fountain of Montjuïc

Hiked to the top of Barcelona and through Park Guell.

Park Guell

This is Brit’s most recent recruiting video. The hardest part about being gone is missing her play today. Against all odds, they beat their third premiere team in as many weeks and have advanced to the National Cup Elite 8.

When we’re talking world wide, the Barcelona Footbol Club is the biggest thing in sports hands down. We had front row seats of what was essentially a meaningless game since Real Madrid won the league a few days before. Even so, the 98,000 seat stadium was completely sold out. We watched Messi, the best player in the world and probably of all time, score four goals and extend his record of the most goals scored in a season to 43.

On the bullet train to Barcelona.

The Flamenco is one intense dance. We will not be learning how to do it anytime soon.

It’s amazing to think that this restaurant was established in 1725. It is listed by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest eatery in the world. The artist Francisco de Goya worked here as a waiter while waiting to get accepted into the “Royal Academy of Fine Arts”.

Botin and its speciality of cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig, which we had) are mentioned in the closing pages of Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Sun Also Rises. It was Hemingway’s favorite restaurant in Spain.

Our hotel room overlooking Plaza de Santa Ana.

Our Hotel

Restaurants and bars in every corridor and alley

Puerta del Sol

Jamon and Paella

Plaza Mayor

The Royal Palace

Setting my watch to the King of Spain’s clock.

Added this Seinfeld print to my graphic art collection. If you don’t like graphic art or Seinfeld, you won’t get it.

Tired of lugging two different lenses, I invested in a new 18-200mm, one-lense-does-all. And since I take more photographs than a Japanese tourist, I’me calling this goal complete.

The Cinderella tournement continues. Brit’s team took on the #2 rated team in Southern California and played to a tie until the final minute when Brittany orchestrated a fast break and passed to her best friend for the game winning goal.

A doc centering on El Bulli, the number one restaurant in the world until it closed last year. Superb.

Reality TV Star, Bethenny Frankel, wearing Basically Me.

She couldn’t be more nervous.

Today was the first National Cup game Brit’s team has ever played. It’s the tournament that decides the best gold or premiere team in the country. Since Brit’s team is a gold team, they weren’t expected to win, but they played for all they were worth and pulled out a 4-3 win over a bigger, faster and stronger team. They live to play another game next Saturday.

Finished Imagine. A book my Dad got me for my birthday that scientifically explains creativity. It reads much like Freakonomics did.

Enjoyed a bike ride to North Hollywood for breakfast.

It was 90 degrees in Burbank, so we headed down to the beach, only to find it cold and foggy. We returned back to the valley, took a nap and watched this documentary that will make you love your family no matter how dysfunctional it is.

It was ok.

Before…

After…

Certainly not happy with the shutter colors, but no longer having hoarders next door is a big boost to our property value.

Los Angeles scored two restaurants in Pellegrino’s top 100 restaurants in the world. Tonight, we enjoyed Jose Andres’ The Bazaar. I won’t try to describe the experience because I would fail miserably.

Our kitchen. Lots of black. We’re going to try and tone it down a bit and change up the backsplash.

An enjoyable violent drive.

After knocking out work early, it’s turned out to be a leisurely Sunday.

Watched Brit play a brilliant game in the morning, then took in the Galaxy-Portland game in the evening. Both Donavan and Beckham scored, so it was a great game to be at.

That was painful…

Birthday dinner at Michelin star award winner, Asanebo. We thought we knew the best, but this was better.

And I didn’t even get top billing at the office party.

We took a break from throwing the dice.

After breakfast in bed, we headed to downtown Las Vegas to visit the newly opened Mob Museum. Loved this place.

We followed this up with some horrible rolls of the dice and gave back all of our winnings from last night. But hopefully oysters and a steak at Mastro’s Ocean Club will help us roll better in the evening.

Lunch at China Polano

Dinner at Jaleo

Watching MLB on the TV while winning enough money at craps to cover it all. A good day indeed.

Where else did you expect us to spend Easter weekend?