Travel in Groups

So where do y'all live?, originally uploaded by erdapfelgal.

Went to Barcelona for the weekend and ate loads. We tried delicious tapas and pinxos everywhere and more or less had a wonderful time. Highlights include eating little squids (chipperones), returning to my old pinxos bar haunt, and finding cutsey shoes for me. Finally, in a category all its own, we have eating dinner in a taverna in the Poble Sec neighborhood.

We arrived at 10:30 for a Barcelona dinner with a group of six. The entry way was as long a shop and filled with wine vats of all sizes, from table top to VW Van top! When we asked for a table, the gentleman looked in the dining room, looked at us, and looked back in the dining room again. Then he said, "What we're going to do is this: each of you take a glass for wine...." He insisted that we each take a little glass off the table and then showed us four vats (table top size). There were two red and two white. After giving us careful instructions to the tune of, "glass here, turn valve," he disappeared to find us a table, leaving us to amuse ourselves completely with the wine and cutesy glasses.

Already impressed, we were happy to hear that he had a table for us. Admittedly, giving us wine and vats at our disposal didn't translate into a rush to get into the dining room, but he eventually coaxed us to a table. Within a couple of minutes, the lights went out and in came a waiter holding a bottle of cava high over his head - with a sparkler stuck in it! A few minutes, the ritual repeated itself for another table. Luckily, one of us realized how the game was played, ordered cava, and we got our own special show. On top of all that, the food was super.