Supriya Uchil

All my friends are off doing different things this weekend, a bunch of them head off to Portland for a wedding and some are off to Las Vegas to celebrate a friends Bday. I am a wee bit jealous that they are having a good time but I am in Seattle, which is not such a bad thing because its gorgeous out here right now even though I am cooped up in Daves basement.

Packing packing packing what an insane thing to do, being in the basement all day and packing away. But I am friends with all the spiders in Daves basement by now. There are many different kinds of them but we have this notion of personal space. They go about doing thier own thing and I do my own. We stay away from each other as much as possible. My goal is to clean off the basement by this evening but as usual I am procrastinating on it.

Gabriels Mom and Grandma are coming upto Seattle tomorrow and I get to see them which will be super nice. My friend Saurabh told me he cancelled his weekend plans to hang out with me but he is busy making other plans. I dont blame him, who would want to hang out in the basement with me.

I spend my first weekend in Seattle and it was so beautiful here. I actually had an excellent weekend. I met my friend Matt Green today and spent nearly 7 hours with him at Alki Beach talking. I learn so much from Matt, he is awesome. Over the next week, I have to pack my stuff for Philly. Eeeks, not looking forward to it at all.

My four days in Philadelphia were quite successful since I have found a place to stay. I signed the lease on Monday at 10:50am. Since then I have been doing a lot of touristy things and walking around a lot. I actually am liking Philadelphia, I was really nervous about the place initially.

I head off to Seattle soon and then will start packing furiously!!!! My Dad arrives in mid July and we might go to see the musical Lion King. I havent seen it before and I am looking forward to it. All of my friends are invited to Philadelphia to come and visit me! 

We are in barcelona again and yesterday went to this lovely restaurant called La Fonda just off  the Rambla. There I had goat cheese and salmon salad, grilled sole with baked potatoes, and creme catalan. Yummy!!!! Tomorrow is the last day of the tour and then I head off to Philadelphia to try and find a place to stay.

Its my Dads birthday today. Mom and I bought him a longines watch from Switzerland and tonight Mom invited a whole bunch of his friends for a party. I just finished chatting with him and he is really happy. As usual there will be a feast at home, have a good time Dad. Happy Birthday to you!!!!

We have been traveling a lot. Right now we are at Granada and just finished having a relaxing morrocan meal. It was yummy and I was getting super tired of spanish tapas. There is a lot of oil in every tapa I have tried and couscous and vegetables with mint tea was a welcome change.

My tour leader is this gorgeous Italian model who speaks several languages and wants to attend my wedding in India. I have so many people who are ready to attend my wedding, I just need to find the groom now.

There are several Australians on the tour, we tease them a lot about thier accents. Its a fun loving group and every night something is going on. I really liked Sevilla and Rhonda on this trip. Tomorrow we are going to an Arab bath house and then to a tea house for some fresh mint tea. I am going to buy a mint plant when I reach Philadelphia and drink mint tea everyday. Life is good and now I understand why people want to move to Spain. Its a beautiful country and what a wonderful relaxing lifestyle. I wonder if my MBA will allow for siestas.

I am visiting several parts of Spain on my tour now. The group size is 12 and we have a gorgeous hot headed Italian as a tour guide, Francesca. I am getting used to the crazy schedule of waking up at 11am and then going about till 4pm,taking a siesta from 4 to 6 and then staying uptill 2 or 3am every morning. The food in Spain is excellent and I am in Tariffa now which is supposed to be the southern most part of Europe. You can see Morrocco from here and the place is super windy because it sits at the junction of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic ocean. I am drinking a lot of ´tiento de verano´ red wine of the summer and eating a lot of seafood.

Right next to the Hotel Plaza Mayor, I went to a spa called Medina Mayrit http://www.medinamayrit.com/. What a great idea, so relaxing and they give you this really nice tea at the end. Its a hammam and they have three pools at different temperatures. Its kind of like the spa all the girls went to at Vancouver for Jignas bachelorette. But its based in a century old cistern and the tea comes out of a tap. They have a massage and a dip in the pools. Its super cool and I am glad I went there.

I thought I would write about all the different places I have been jogging in Europe…

1. By the river at Inverness in Scotland. The river is the most beautiful one I have seen, and it has these tiny islands on it all linked by running bridges. Its the coolest.

2. At Skye in Scotland, again next to the ocean. The bridge at Skye in Scotland has magnificient views of the ocean. Very quaint.

3. In Switzerland at Engelberg next to Hotel Terrace, running up and down the hill where you can see the enormous snow covered mountains and breathe the fresh air.

4. At Germany, in this village by the sea. We stopped there for the night and didnt know that the sea was right next to us. Pleasantly surprised around a bend.

5. Barcelona near the arc de triomphe and the Zoological Museum. This one is the freshest in my mind. This morning when I was jogging I saw a parrot fly by me with a little leaf in its mouth. It flew so close to me I could see its eyes.

There are so many people in Madrid and its so easy to get lost here because of all the criss cross streets. I arrived in Madrid today and immediately followed Audreys suggestion and went to the Prado Museum and the Plazo Mayor. Audrey, a big thanks for making my life easier. Now I dont have to go about trying to find things to do. The hotel I am staying is called the Hotel Plaza Mayor, it is exactly 10 steps from the circle called Plazo Mayor. I went there and had some hot chocolate. In Spain the chocolate is so thick and warm, its like warm pudding. Its fills your soul. Then I walked to the museum and looked at Spanish painting. Tomorrow I intend to go running by the river here. I have to write about the different places I have been running in Europe. A different post….

My posts will now be infrequent because the cost of internet is super high here. So I will keep you updated when I can. I will be in Seattle from the 22nd June till the 13th July. Jigna and Matt Joe, no I dont want another farewell party!