Travelog for: Duchy

Hello there everyone

My name is Duchy -Im looking forward to traveling around the world seeing new places and meeting new people and meeting other toy voyagers too

I will miss my family-but look forward to shaireing my jouney with them along the way And Of course i also look forward to returning to them !

I love pic-niks,statues and monuments,partys ,beaches and shopping centres (yes i love to see what food you buy !)

Infact i love Everything you want to show me ,and mostly i want to be loved I look forward to traveling on monday to my new holiday destination.............!!

If you want to host me ...please let my mum know She would love to host you too!

Hello mum,family and everyone!!

How are you??

I'm well!! happy to start my adventures around the world

I've arrived this morning in Barcelona. Here it's too hot!!!!  but I'm so happy, here everyone is very nice and as soon as I got out from the package,I had a welcome party prepared by my new friends here!


In this moment we were listening to the radio some hits like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMxX-QOV9tI Is not about the money,money moneeey ♫♫ ♪~~

We had lots of fun, and I drank a new drink; Horchata! (you can see it in the picture above) It's a soft drink made from tigernuts (the tuberous roots of a kind of grass) mixed with water and sugar, and served icy cold. It looks like a milkshake and tastes of a very sweet non-dairy milk. Too sweet for my tastes,but it is surprisingly refreshing! My new friends told me during the hot summer months,there is no better drink!!

After the party, my host took me to a park near her house! Ohh I needed to breathe fresh air after 9 days of travel, I felt like I was in a jungle!! running across the grass,and even jumping in a statue hehehehehe


I'm the king of the park!!


Mmmm...Fresh air!


Ready to conquer! muahahahahaha


In the jungle, the pretty jungle, Duchy doesn't sleep tonight...but be afraid this morning! muahahahahaha

After the park, we went back host's home to had lunch.

I spent the afternoon with my best friend here, MacTigri. He's a tiger,so we have lots of things in common and we can talk about everything and anything for hours!
As he has an awful pronunciation in English, I taugh him a little, and he started to teach me Catalan.
Catalan It's the co-oficial language in Catalonia, the region where I am in Spain. And it's the mother tongue of my host and family!! It's a little bit complicate but you know, I'm a clever lion!! hihi


Here we are with the dictionary English (anglès)-Catalan (català)

And you know? I can say some words! I will write you, if you want to learn it also! Hehe

Hello!-->hola! [ˈɔɫə]
Yes-->si [ˈsi]
No-->no [ˈno]
Good morning!-->bon dia! [ˈbɔn ˈdi.ə]
Good afternoon!-->bona tarda! [ˈbɔnə ˈtarðə]
Good night!-->bona nit! [ˈbɔnə ˈnit]
Goodbye!-->adéu! [əˈðew]
See you later-->fins després [finz ðəsˈpɾes]
Please-->si us plau [sis ˈpɫaw]
Thank you-->gràcies [ˈgɾasiəs]
You are welcome-->de res [də ˈrɛs]
How are you?-->com estàs? [ˈkɔm əsˈtas]

Well, and after studying all the afternoon, we need some relax!! So, this night we are watching The Big Ban Theory on TV



See you tomorrow!!

Have a nice day, and take care!

Duchy

Hi mum,family and everyone!

How are you?? I'm doing great! This morning I went shopping with my host to La Maquinista, an open-air mall located in one of the suburbs of Barcelona.





My host loves this mall because it's the largest mall in Barcelona and there's the only shop in Spain of Forever 21.It was open this year,on June,and it is huge!! more precisely 3500 square meters. I was soooo surprised!!!

Before went back home, the last obliged stop was in front of the Hollister shop. Again, it's the only shop in Spain of this brand clothes.

But my host said me she would never buy anything in there because of the prices. She said me, the first time she entered there, she went to ask the shop attendant where was the price in clothes, and the shop attendant said: here! (showed her the number she though was the size!)48€ for a basic T-shirt??what???

So,she said herself she would only come back to this shop to see the nice looking guys, only wearing red surfer shorts and sunscreen on their noses that are standing in the entrance.

For this simple reason, I went there...Somebody can explain me why girls do these things??? LOL

Well, after Hollister, we went to buy some ham for the dinner. Here is typical to eat bread with tomato and cold meat for dinner. So, this night I tasted this misterious cured ham and heeyy!! it's so good!!Yummy!!!!!!


mmm...pig,pig,pig...If I met you before, these legs would be mine muahahaha! So yummy!!

And this afternoon, we went to the Besòs River. It's a very calm and nice place to sunbathe a part from the beach. I spent a great afternoon there!! I enjoyed so much, I relaxed, and I pursued lots of seagulls!!



My host told me people usually come here in the weekends to sunbathe,eat,play football,cycling and so...That's the reason why we found a football match.


We began to watch it, but players had nothing to do with F.C.Barcelona! it was so funny!!


You can do whatever you want there, the only thing you can't is to set food in the river except if you want to be Hulk or Spiderman or definetely a radiactive hero...Water is soooo contaminated!!

Finally,before went back host's home, we went to El Parc del Molinet (Park of the mill). There aren't mills only in Holland!hehe! The mill was beautiful,so I wanted to take a picture there!



Soo...It was a nice day!

See you tomorrow!

Mum and family;take care!

Hugs,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!

How are you??

It's so hot today, and sunny as always here...Sometimes I miss British clouds! hahahaha

Today I went to CaixaForum. The only museum in Barcelona with free entry!



My host explained me the CaixaForum inhabits a modernist building called the Casaramona Factory, designed by modernist architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch as a textile warehouse for his patron, Casimir Casaramona i Puigcercós in 1911.

We visited Belle Epoque exhibition and other exhibition considering the influence of film on perceptions of reality "The Cinema Effect: Dreams.

I really enjoy the second exhibition! It was about impact of the cinema in our visual culture.As I entered there, all was dark and the only light I could see was from the small-screen videos and large-scale projections,that were along the room. My host told me that was the idea of going deep into the most dark places of imagination and fantasy through cinema.

I was shocked to discover on the entry wall text the use of the past tense in describing film as the medium of the 20th century. But it is true; the cinema was an art form of the last century; now we are digital...

Anyway, we saw a very strange film: "Eight".It revolves around a birthday party, a young girl and a house on a rainy night. So crazy!!The storm appears both inside and outside her house, following the young girl, who walks from one space to the other, trying to salvage the birthday cake. It was the first time I felt so confused after watching a movie lol.

Sadly, as it's forbidden to take pictures inside the museum, I can't show you the exhibition, but I took a picture from the outside!



After Caixaforum, we went for a walk near there. We saw the Plaça Espanya,one of Barcelona's most important squares,and the Barcelona Olympic stadium that was the venue for the 1992 Olympic games. Today it is open to visitors to take a look around and see where all the action took place!





Ohh and I took also a picture with the Olympic Torch burner!!


My host showed me a video where I could see how was the lighting of the Olympic Flame...it was sooo spectacular!!! check it out at [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N42BivbrUC4/url]

And that's all for today! See you soon!

Take care family,

kind regards!

Duchy

Hello mum,family,and everyone!

Today I've been an authentic tourist!!I went to Sagrada Familia!!!!

First thing that my host told me Sagrada Familia it's just a temple. Not the cathedral as lots of tourists think.The cathedral of Barcelona is gothic and is in the city centre.

Gaudí's Sagrada Familia is the most unique and beautiful building I've ever seen!!!!!!!!

It's one of the most crowded monuments in Barcelona. And in August it was just crazy the queue! when we saw the everlasting line of people we decided to look at it just from the outside. Oohhh...Just from the outside is magnificient and so much beautiful!!! Isn't it??


(look at the building,not at me, I know I'm as gorgeous as the building hahaha )

And we saw a car that I liked a lot! GoCar...It's for tourists and it's cool



Sagrada Familia surprised me as it's unfinished, some architects say it'll be finished for the centenary of Gaudí death in 2026.But my host told me she thinks they are very optimistic lol

So...the temple it's unfinished and I was really shocked! Isn't it funny? It's still under construction...To complete it, my host told me that Gaudi estimated at least 200 years, but his death in a tram accident hadn't allowed him to proceed as planned.You know?When Gaudi was asked about the exceptionally long implementation, he supposedly said: "My client is not in a hurry" lol



Gaudí’s original blueprints were destroyed by anarchists in the Civil War.This means we will never know his true design.So...My host told me, look at both sides, east and west and tell me...Are they similar??The answer is no. It's soo obvious the west side is not Gaudí stuff. It is made by Subirachs, a contemporary catalan sculptor.


This is east facade


And this, the west

The intended building is based on "sketches" of Gaudí since the original plans were lost during the Civil War. But everyone in Barcelona knows Gaudí never did a sketch about any of his work, he always did a blueprint and worked and took decisions on the way...So,take your own conclusions...hahaha

Anyway, after Sagrada Familia,we went back home and heyyyy! during the lunch I tasted a new fruit! Watermelon, it's so refreshing and so yummy!!!



Well, that was my first touristic day! yaaaay!!!

See you soon,

Take care!!

Hugs,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!

Today I went with @Anxova to the city centre as she wanted to inquire about new courses of Casa Asia (Asiatic House) and the Asia Festival from the 16th to the 25th of September.

My host told me Casa Asia is a place to promote better knowledge between Asian and Spanish societies. And as she is an ethnology passionate, she really enjoy some activities of this house.

When we entered I said...WHAT???!!!


This is the entrance...I thought it was a normal building,with a lift and bored walls, but NO!! Casa Asia it's located at the Baró de Quadras Palace, a Modernist building made by the architect Puig i Cadafalch catalogued as a National Interest Historical-Artistic Monument. Really cool!


This is the floor where the information point is! awesome!!

After that, we continued walking to a place that @Anxova told me was a surprise!
While we were talking a lot,as usual, I saw a curious building; The Casa Terrades.
It's a building designed by the modernistic architect Josep Puig i Cadalfach.
My host told me that one of the most remarkable aspects of the house,are the towers with their conical roofs. This is the reason why the house for barcelonians is popularly called "Casa de les Punxes (House with the Points).



After that we continued walking and...Ooooh!!! surprise!! We arrived at Passeig de Gràcia!!!!!! one of the major avenues in Barcelona and also one of the most important shopping and business area, containing several of the city’s most popular buildings. Furthermore, this street is the home of posh brand shops and boutiques hehehehe such as Chanel, Gucci and...



That's the reason why this street is more full of tourists than barcelonians!hahahaha @Anxova told me shops here only survive thanks to Russian and Japanese tourists!

As you can imagine,in terms of the cost of renting or buying property anywhere in this avenue, this street is nowadays the most expensive street in Barcelona and also in Spain.
We walked through this "Passeig" and ohhh!! we saw La Pedrera!! A building designed by the Catalan architect Gaudí (the same as Sagrada Familia) You know?it's part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site!!!Awesome!!!! it was the first time I see something so important


The visual effect evokes waves in the sea,huh? @Anxova explained me the architect was inspired by Mediterranean Sea. Gaudí made the most of naval enginnering techniques to construct this building, decorated with wrought iron balconies which lood like plants. It's so beautiful!!

In the night I tasted an absolutely typical dish of Catalan people...Pa amb tomàquet (bread with tomato)! My host told me it's one of the most well-loved, the most widely eaten and the most famous dish from Catalonia.


Look at the poor tomato lol

Pa amb tomàquet is so simply!! bread rubbed with ripe tomato, drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt. It's sooo yummy! It's true what my host says "bread without tomato is savorless!!!"
And topped with ham,cheese or what I tasted "butifarra blanca o negra" (Catalan sausage)...is awesome!!!

What an amazing day!!!

See you soon!!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!!

It's been a week since I came to Barcelona and I've been having lots of fun here! I miss you, but this city is very beautiful and I'm enjoying everything! Everyday I'm doing lots of things with @Anxova and my friends here!!

Today, all my friends prepared me a party for celebrate my week here!!
With the help of @Anxova, they prepared cupcakes,bought sweets,candies and did some post-its with very nice words for me 



At this moment, we were listening to Leona Lewis as Nevat (the white polar bear) thought it would be glad for me to listen a singer from my country hahaha! So we discussed a lot about English music,Prince Henry and Kate Middleton...And more!!

I'm soooooooo happy!!!!

See you soon!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!

How are you??I'm doing great!

Today I went with my host to Festa Major de Sants. It's an admirable display of community spirit!!!!



@Anxova told me Festa Major de Gracia is an annual festival that is celebrating in Sants neighbourhood until Sunday,28. One of the highlights of the festival is discovering the handful of streets which are participating in the annual decoration competition.



Participating streets receive the ultimate make-over from residents who enthusiastically throw themselves into the task of transforming their road from the ordinary to the extraordinary. If I live there, I think I would participate...It has to be so entertaining!!



Preparation begins every year in February, collecting materials...Most of the decorating items are recycled and repurposed materials.So, they save bottles,cans,tins and boxes during all the year just for create different atmospheres!! It's very curious!

The residents take this very seriously because streets then competes against each other in a bid to be crowned the best decorated street in Sants!

We walk throughout Sants and it was very funny!!!
I took some pictures of my favourite street! Let's see if you like it too It was Plaça de la Farga.

This street represents Barcelona's Airport. Sortides means Departures!


Show me the passport please!!



Let's take the plane...



And in Spain you have to pray a lot, to find out your suitcases!



It was a fantastic day!!! I really like decorated streets!

I hope you'll find them beautiful as well!

See you soon!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!

How are you? I'm doing great, specially because yesterday rained!! only in the afternoon, but I was happy to see it!

Today I went with @Anxova to Passeig de Gràcia to meet one of her friends. There, I could see Casa Batlló,one of the two great buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi on Passeig de Gracia (the other is La Pedrera)

@Anxova asked me what I see in the facade....mmmm it looks like it has been made from skulls and bones???



More or less told me my host.The "skulls" are in fact balconies and the "bones" are supporting pillars.Gaudí found as inspiration for his creativity in this building the colours and shapes found in marine life.It is supposed those skulls and bones are from marine criatures,

And she told me to look at the facade:the colours of it, are simmilar with natural coral!

It's very strange! I can't say if I like this building or not...It was the first time I see a bulding with "skulls"!!! lol

Next to this house there's Casa Amatller.Another Modernist building! But this is geometrical and more normal!haha! I find it very beautiful!



@Anxova told me this building along with Casa Batlló and Casa Lleó i Morera, form the "Block of Discord" (La mançana de la discòrdia).
This building was originally designed as a residence for chocolatier Antoni Amatller...Maybe that's the reason why the facade ends simmilar to a chocolate tablet??

The last building we saw, was Casa Lleó i Morera. @Anxova told me,unlike many buildings constructed at the time, it was not named after its owner; rather it is named from the lions (lleó) and mulberry trees (morera) motifs in the decorations.



That was also fantastic!!

And after this visits, we turned back my host's home.But for this, we needed to buy a T-10 (T-10 multiple journey ticket)



And let's travel with the subway!! "directly" to my host's house





Another interesting day done!

See you soon mum!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!!

How are you? I'm well!

Today we visited "Arenas de Barcelona". A new shopping center in Plaça Espanya.


As you can imagine it was built inside an old bullring...We prefer to see in how it turns!! and I love its arquitecture!

We entered in an optical shop,because my host needs new glasses. Salesgirl was as nice as most salesgirls in Bcn (ironic mode ON) and wanted @Anxova to spend 790€ for her new glasses. Ok, she has quite diopters but...Hello?? she is wearing glasses since she was 3 years old and never costs her more than 300€...From 300€ to almost 800€ there's difference!!mmm...economic crisis it's too bad!LOL! She'll go to another shop,that's for sure!hahahaha!

After this scary moment LOL we went to buy some cookies I ate with my friend Nevat in the afternoon!!:P



And we walked seeing some more shops...



And before went out of the building, we went to the top of the shopping centre to see the views of Barcelona. @Anxova was afraid because she is acrophobic (she can't stand heights) but as I am a very strong lion, I took care of her! I know,and you know, I'm a lovely lion hihihihi

That's what I could see!


This is Plaça Espanya


Montjuic

And this is Parc de l'Escorxador the sculpture you can see on the left,is a work of Joan Miró. Its name is "Dona i Ocell" (Woman and Bird). Yes, I know what you are thinking: It doesn't look like a woman with a bird hahahaha!



It was a good day!

see you soon!!!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum, family and everyone!!

How are you doing? I'm doing great!

Today I went to Parc Güell. This park was designed by Gaudi and the site now falls under UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

When I entered in the park, I was absolutely surprised!!!It was like in a fairy tale. All the buildings are very organic and fun looking!!!
The pavilions,seem to be taken out of Hansel and Gretel, with curved roofs covered with brightly colored tiles and ornamented spires.



Just in the entrance there's the most representative thing of Barcelona...Gaudí's dragon!! (el Drac de Gaudí,in Catalan)

The dragon is composed with many different colorful tiles and rocks.And right up the dragon there is a rose petal bench.
This bench is designed at an angle so that it is shaddy in the summer and sunny in the winter. Gaudí, you are a genius!
And down there was a fountain with a snake head. The park runs with an ecology system because this water that came out from the snake head,is actually the rain water from the roof! very interesting!

Every tourist takes a picture here so,I had to run to find a place to take a picture!


say cheese!!

Following the steps we reached the high columns areas.
The first idea of this part of the park was to be a market. The ceilings are all sun medallians and are composed of dishes, coffee cups, bottles...That's the fun part of mosaic! there's an order in the mess!!
The high ceiling in this area is ideal for music performance because the sound will echo and bounce back and forth.That's the reason why always there's someone performaning. Today there was a violonist!



Upstairs from there,we found La Gran Plaça Circular.
It's a very colourful square! And the ceramic serpentine bench, twists snakelike around the square! And The view from there is spectacular!




Walking around the park there are many huge block of rocks staking up to form a chain of benches. I suddenly feel like I am Fred Flinstone!!hahahaha


Wilmaaa! Come on, Wilmaaaa, open this door! Willllllmaaaaaaaa!



What a nice park and amazing visit!! This park is awesome!!

Tonight I will dream about fairy tales hehehe

Good night all! see you soon!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!!!

How are you?? I'm well!!

Today I went to the beach!! We went by car as @Anxova lives in a neighbourhood quite far from the beach area.



Mmmmm very nice to see it and feel the sea breeze!!



My host told me she rarely go to Barcelona's beach because is absolutely stressful!!! Why? I asked...

Because besides in Barcelona the Sea isn't very clean and sometimes when you are in the water, something touches your leg and you escape thinking "oooh it's a jellyfish!" but no...it's a bag from Zara shop!! Also, there's always a lot of people in the sand with their towels, tents (is very common to use them if people go to the beach with kids) and...mini fridges!!!

Mini fridges?????yes!! here it's very typical to bring a little fridge to the beach!! People eat a lot in the sand...crisps,fruits,nuts,and even have lunch there! It's typical Spanish LOL
Sometimes you can also find women (specially grannies) with their portable radios as well!

Apart from that,there's always two or three men who sell lighters,sunglasses,pirate dvd and bracelets ,another ones who are everytime shouting "Coca-Cola,Beer,Beer",others who shout "Coconut,coconut...nice coconut from Cuba!!!!"And when you think everyone has offered you everything at all, there's always a girl who offers you to do a massage...
Soo...@Anxova asked me...Is it or not, so stressful?? hahahaha!Yes,I think so!



But today as Summer Season has ended I could relax...



Before went host's house, we went walking around the beach! Look at this, am I in Dubai with palm trees and Wella Hotel??!!



And we arrived at the harbour! Very beautiful!!



This afternoon a new toy arrived. He is Cheerio from San Francisco!! We did a party for him but he went to bed very early...Poor duck,he had jet lag!!

And tonight,during the dinner, I tasted Spanish omelette! Here they just called potato omelette...Maybe because we are in the hometown of this type of omelette LOL. I wonder if French people say "french omelette" or just...omelette?? egg omelette??hahaha

It tasted yummy!!



Today I'll dream of fish and chips!! I almost saw both!!!LOL

See you soon!

Take care,

Duchy

Hello mum,family and everyone!

Next week my host will have two exams, so she needs to study hard.

As I'm a very clever lion, and I've learned Spanish and Catalan I could help her underlining her notes!



To get one's strength back we needed a good lunch! mmmmmm macaroons and olives



And this afternoon we went to walk around the neighbourhood and we saw these strange sculptures...They seem lighthouses,don't you think so??



Mmmm...Talking about lighthouses you have to listen to this beautiful song by Sopa de Cabra! It's in Catalan and it's called "El far del Sud" (The South Lighthouse). Is one of my host's favourite songs ever and she said me she loves and loves and loves this band!!10 years ago, Sopa de Cabra broke, but their music is still essential in my host's life since she was a little girl

I listened this song for the first time there, and it's really cool...What do you think?
Sopa de Cabra-El Far del Sud

And look at this park near there



What an intellectual day! hahaha

Take care mum!

See you soon

Duchy

DUCHY  is ready to set off and explore once again :0)

He is so very excited! He hasnt been on holiday for quite sometime , and simply cant wait!!