{"id":2804,"date":"2020-02-20T07:05:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T06:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2804"},"modified":"2020-02-20T07:23:22","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T06:23:22","slug":"week-07-walking-around-the-city-cycling-around-the-mountains-polish-dinner","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=2804","title":{"rendered":"Week 07: walking around the city, cycling around the mountains, Polish dinner"},"content":{"rendered":"

An eclectic week, with the usual activities of working, cycling, and walking around the city. At the end of the week, we had a true cross-cultural experience: my Puerto Rican wife made a Polish dinner for our Spanish friends.<\/p>\n

7_1<\/strong>
\nThe week began on Sunday with the usual bike ride in the mountains. The almond trees are in bloom everywhere:
\n\"1150732\"<\/p>\n

7_2<\/strong>
\nI am training for a 200 km brevet on Saturday the 22nd, and this is the first part of the route, between Agost and the Maigm\u00c3\u00b3 mountain:
\n\"1150737\"<\/p>\n

7_3<\/strong>
\n\"1150740\"<\/p>\n

7_4<\/strong>
\nThe parking at Maigm\u00c3\u00b3, 35 km from my house, a natural place to take a break. I am used to having it more or less to myself, but on this Sunday morning lots of people had driven to Maigm\u00c3\u00b3 to hike in the beautiful landscape:
\n\"1150743\"<\/p>\n

7_5<\/strong>
\nOn Sunday afternoon I went to the city to buy some things in the Chinese grocery and to have a beer at Malatesta. Sadly, the bar was closed (some of the local bars have opening hours that could be described as “random”), but it was not a total loss; a walk in the centre is always nice:
\n\"DSF7573\"<\/p>\n

7_6<\/strong>
\nUrban fauna and peeling paint:
\n\"DSF7571\"<\/p>\n

7_7<\/strong>
\nStrange graffiti, questioning the ability of Alicante cooks to make paella. Perhaps the work of extremists from Valencia:
\n\"DSF7572\"<\/p>\n

7_8<\/strong>
\nWhen I came home, our friend Eliot came to visit for a bit; his wife is visiting friends in Barcelona, so he feels lonely:
\n\"DSF7574\"<\/p>\n

7_9<\/strong>
\nOn Tuesday afternoon I attended a talk by senior IP staff from Panasonic on their IP strategy; we get visits like this from time to time. Here, Iris is introducing our guests:
\n\"R005761\"<\/p>\n

7_10<\/strong>
\nThe talk was only mildly interesting, but I was entertained by the innovations in English grammar visible on this slide:
\n\"R005768\"<\/p>\n

7_11<\/strong>
\nWednesday morning was nice, and I took a walk on the beach, enjoying the clear air and some fluffy clouds:
\n\"DSF7578\"<\/p>\n

7_12<\/strong>
\n\"DSF7581\"<\/p>\n

7_13<\/strong>
\nDuring the lunch break, I had to go to the centre to buy a few things at the Eastern European grocery. Before going inside the store, I took in the urban life on Plaza Seneca. A woman and her dog caught my attention:
\n\"DSF7587\"<\/p>\n

7_14<\/strong>
\n\"DSF7589\"<\/p>\n

7_15<\/strong>
\n\"DSF7590\"<\/p>\n

7_16<\/strong>
\nTypical Spanish mid-week scene; the mother is at work, the grandmother looks after the baby:
\n\"DSF7591\"<\/p>\n

7_17<\/strong>
\nIt is evident that the large, paved square is popular among young skateboarders:
\n\"DSF7592\"<\/p>\n

7_18<\/strong>
\nThursday morning, another early morning walk to the beach and the bakery. This time, I looked at the sky:
\n\"1040238\"<\/p>\n

7_19<\/strong>
\n\"1040241\"<\/p>\n

7_20<\/strong>
\nA cat in the neighbour’s driveway. That house is empty at the moment, and I hope the local cats take up residence–we have mice in our garden:
\n\"1040243\"<\/p>\n

7_21<\/strong>
\nOur lemon tree:
\n\"1040244\"<\/p>\n

7_22<\/strong>
\nOne thing I like about my Panasonic GX80 camera is that it serves as an excellent platform for some of my Leica lenses, such as the 90mm Tele-Elmarit, one of my favourites. At the office, I tested the combination on my Greek colleague Eri, always a willing victim if I ask nicely:
\n\"1040251\"<\/p>\n

7_23<\/strong>
\nOn Friday night, my wife, our daughter and I went for dinner at a restaurant called Brel on the beach promenade in El Campello. Despite the Belgian-sounding name it is an Italian restaurant, very popular around here. We had a reservation; those who didn’t had to wait:
\n\"1040256\"<\/p>\n

7_24<\/strong>
\nMonica studies the menu:
\n\"1040253\"<\/p>\n

7_25<\/strong>
\nEnjoying the excellent bread and olive oil:
\n\"1040257\"<\/p>\n

7_26<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday morning, I started the day by cycling to the French bakery (I usually walk there, but I wanted to take a morning ride after breakfast, so I was in a bit of a hurry):
\n\"1040262\"<\/p>\n

7_27<\/strong>
\nAn example of why I always have my camera with me. A young woman with her elderly little dog finishing breakfast outside the bakery. Like many of the customers and the staff of the bakery, she was French (I had overheard her speaking with her companion), so I asked her nicely in French to pose for a couple of pics:
\n\"1040261\"<\/p>\n

7_28<\/strong>
\nLater that morning, during my bike ride, one of the goats outside Busot looking at me warily:
\n\"1150748\"<\/p>\n

7_29<\/strong>
\nIn the afternoon, Monica and I went for a walk near the harbour of El Campello. It was not that warm, but it did not stop this man from enjoying the sun:
\n\"1040266\"<\/p>\n

7_30<\/strong>
\nThe beach promenade was full of people strolling around, and many dogs out and about as well:
\n\"1040267\"<\/p>\n

7_31<\/strong>
\nOn Saturday night we had invited some Spanish friends for a Polish dinner. One of the manifestations of the multicultural nature of our household is that my Puerto Rican wife likes to make Polish food occasionally, something she learned from my late mother and my sister. Here she is, serving the barszcz<\/em>:
\n\"R005779\"<\/p>\n

7_32<\/strong>
\nThe star dish was go\u00c5\u201a\u00c4\u2026bki<\/em> (“little pigeons”), cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of meat, spices and rice:
\n\"R005778\"<\/p>\n

7_33<\/strong>
\nLike many traditional Polish dishes, go\u00c5\u201a\u00c4\u2026bki<\/em> is a lot of work. This is not food to be made in mid-week, unless the person cooking it does not work outside the home:
\n\"R005777\"<\/p>\n

7_34<\/strong>
\nBut they are delicious, and fortunately there were leftovers for the next day:
\n\"1040265\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An eclectic week, with the usual activities of working, cycling, and walking around the city. At the end of the week, we had a true cross-cultural experience: my Puerto Rican wife made a Polish dinner for our Spanish friends. 7_1 The week began on Sunday with the usual bike ride in the mountains. The almond […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2755,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2804"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2804"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2811,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2804\/revisions\/2811"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}