One of the extraordinary experiences I had in Barcelona was eating tapas at Cal Pep.

Cal Pep is a small hole in the wall:

with a genuine Pep

This restaurant has a backroom that you can make a reservation for, but the real experience is had by sitting at the bar.

The restaurant has a fixed menu of tapas as well as an a la carte offering. My wife and I went with the fixed menu.

The menu began with a tomato, olive-oil and bread appetizer:

Then we were presented with a variety of fish and shell fish dishes:

That were followed by a series of dishes

and and

and ended with two sublime deserts:

and

If you are ever in Barcelona, go to Cal Pep you will not be disappointed.

Over the July 4th weekend, my wife and I went to Barcelona, Spain. She was attending a conference. I was the spouse.

We stayed at Hotel Turin, a fine little hotel located near La Rambla.

But what made Hotel Turin special was it’s proximity to La Boqueria.

I love food. But what I really, really love to do is buy the ingredients of what makes a great meal. I’ve been to farmer’s markets in California, but nothing prepared me for La Boqueria.

The entrance is unassuming enough.

But once you step inside you realize you are in a completely different world.

The fruit:

And the meat:

And the eggs:

When was the last time you ever photographed eggs and put them in your blog? One of the cool things about this vendor is that he sells First Eggs. What’s a first egg? Why the first egg a chicken lays. Seems it’s tastier than normal eggs.

And the charcuterie:

But what made Hotel Turn and La Boqueria special was that bceause of the proximity of the two, I had some extraordinarily tasty breakfasts:

and

Driving in Greece can be very dangerous, especially for wussy Californian drivers who are used to the point-and-click driving of the Bay Area.

One of the most important rules of the road, a rule that is not in any guide book or any law book is how to negotiate the inter-city roads. In Greece the breakdown lane is a valid driving lane. So if you are a law-abiding American driving below the speed-limit inside the only lane on the road expect to be spat-upon, insulted and sworn at by every driver behind you. The reason is that the break-down lane is where slow traffic drives and the actual lane is used for passing by faster traffic.

I discovered this in my first drive from Athens to Ioannina several years ago. I carefully and slowly drove in the only lane. Drivers behind me honked at me, drivers honked at me as they passed on the right, drivers showed me an open palm (the moutza) and of course as a self-righteous Northern California driver I was wondering how all of this illegal driving could possibly be safe.

As I learned, faster drivers will pass you (on the right, in the other lane) so it’s actually safer to use the breakdown lane to drive.

Please note, that cars do actually use the breakdown lane for brokendown cars. As I learned this weekend in Crete. So be aware of your surroundings.

My wife and I spent the day having a Tahoe winter experience.

The morning was spent snowshoeing around Meeks bay. My wife had a long standing desire to walk with snowshoes in the snow with her dog. We decided that we would rather be cross country skiing using back-country skiis than snowshoeing. We had a great time, but cross country skiing is just more fun. The dog didn’t notice or care. He had a blast. He was running all over the place, sniffing everything, burrowing his head in the snow, chasing snowballs, barking at falling snow. By the time we came back to the B&B he was fast asleep.

In the afternoon we went cross country skiing at the Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area. This is a cross country ski area that is right on the lake. The snow is not as superb as Royal Gorge but the location is vastly more convenient. A 15 minute drive instead of a 45 minute drive each way from the west shore.This place has a certain amount of charm that the more corporate Royal Gorge somehow lacks. The trails are groomed and the few we did were pleasant. What’s really cool about the cross country area is that they allow dogs on a certain number of their trails. Which if you have a dog and have to deal with the unrelenting war on dogs that seems to be going on, brings a smile to your face. The trails are open to dogs from 3-5 PM on weekends and all day during weekdays.

We originally planned to do the Blue trail, but at intersection H we decided to take a left onto Green. We then skiied until the warming hut and had a fantasy about doing another 4KM loop. But then we realized that the cumulative energy drain that was snowshoeing+skiing was about to kill us. Hence we turned back. On the way back we wanted to do the Special Green loop, but even that exceeded our ability to move. Pushing on with what limited energy reserves we had, we arrived at the lodge, exhausted but happy.

If you are looking for a great Bed and Breakfast that also let’s you have dogs I recommend Tahoma Meadows B&B. It’s got a set of individual cottages that you can keep your dog in. You can leave the dog in the rooms if they can be crated. Since my dog, Tony, is both crate trained and very civilized I am very pleased with the arrangement.