Slithering into the new year ...

Well, after a pretty intense week in Barcelona, we're back home and have 'settled in' ... sorta.
Edmund has been, and still is, pretty sick. At least he takes his medicine without as much fuss now!! Still, I think he only sits still and takes it for the little choccie he gets afterwards ...
Daniel is still building and modifying the Lego he got for Christmas and his birthday - not just the castle Lego Advent calendar, but a giant castle (mostly funded by money from a grandmother & great-grandmother!) and another, 'lesser' set. Not to mention the Lego Atlantis & Hero Factory sets! He's not too big on Lego City ...
Aislinn got a heap of books, which suited her no end! She also had an Advent calendar, but hers was fairy Playmobil ... which has now taken over her dolls' house, despite the issue of scale.
Jessica & I got some nice choccies, and a few other things.
The funniest presents arrived in the mail after we got back from Barcelona - Christmas CDs for each of the kids, mailed from Australia by Pam. We would've received them over a week earlier if she'd just packed them in her luggage, and she would've saved herself a bit of postage (over $5 per letter!).

Barcelona ... an interesting little city, with some lovely, twisty lanes and alleys connecting some fairly broad streets ... La Rambla was great, with the broad walkway down the centre full of shops! Also managed to find a nice little second-hand English bookshop (Hybernian - check it out next time you're in Barcelona!); we bought a couple of books (read: over 20) from their great range ... and the prices were pretty good too.
The meals we had were varied and invariably cheap - instead of 50 francs for two dishes at a Chinese restaurant, we had a full meal for a family of five for under 50 Euro (including drinks!). We even had enough left over to take 'home' in a doggy bag to feed two more people ... went for breakfast.
The apartment in which we stayed was okay, but a little unusual for us - no bathroom window (!), tiny little rooms, tiny windows, narrow corridor winding through it, washing line outside on the wall (with a four-storey drop to the floor of the little unroofed 'courtyard' (about 2m x 4m, with air-conditioning pipes and no clear doorway access I could spot!) ... luckily our washing machine didn't work anyway, so we didn't have to risk using the washing line above the drop. Oh, forgot to mention the lift - squeezed into the centre of the stairwell, a three-person lift, which looked older than Australian Federation. Still, the location was good - on Paral-lel, easy walk down to the sea or over to La Rambla, a nice little supermarket on the next block down and the rubbish bins conveniently located outside the building next door.

New Year's Eve was, for us, in Barcelona. Kym & Sally were feeling sick (oh, did I mention we met the Statons in Barcelona? Well, we did ... sorta. Kym, Pam & John came to Zürich first, to celebrate Christmas with us at home, then we flew separately to Barcelona. Sally & Liam met us all there.).
So, Kym was feeling sick, then Pam & John offered to have a 'quick' dinner then be back by 20:00 so Jessica, Liam, Sally, Lella (a Montessori friend from Italy) & I could go out to party. By the time John & Pam got back (after 21:00 ...) Sally was also feeling sick, so offered to babysit the kids in our apartment. J&P went to sleep, Sally settled in on our lounge, Kym had been asleep for an hour or so already, and we set out: Liam, Lella, Jessica & I. Our mission: dinner.
We wandered over to La Rambla, passing a few back-alley restaurants on the way (in which I would have enjoyed eating, but nobody could really decide what they wanted ...). Looking around, we saw the Ideal Restaurant (literally - that was it's name!). It advertised pizza, among other things, so we finally agreed on that. We got into the place, and discovered they were doing a limited New Year's Eve menu - soup and entree fixed, with a choice of three mains and three desserts. We agreed, waited for our table to be prepared (and were asked four times if there were really four of us!), then sat. A glass being dropped and smashing behind us as we sat down was not the best welcome, but we made the most of it. The football chants from the basement were entertaining, and definitely added atmosphere.
The service staff, I have to say, were amazing: it was amazing people got the meals they'd ordered, even with a limited menu! At one point the chef came up with a paiella, looked around, was ignored by the serving staff and finally took the food back down to the kitchen. We had to order drinks two or three times, and then were only charged for half of those which arrived ... but the food was nice, and the price wasn't too bad.
Afterwards we wandered for a little, then headed back to the apartment. I didn't mention earlier, but will now, that the Statons & St Pierre's were in the neighbouring apartment ... theirs had a washing machine and heating that worked, as well as an indoor drying rack! They also had a bathroom window ... :/

Won't go into all the stuff we saw in Barcelona, although I may edit this post later to add pics - right now, can't be bothered as I feel pretty tired - Edmund getting me up and down all night, and ensuring that Daniel's had his insulin and breakfast on time, means that now I need to head back to bed ...

... after I mention our new friends!

Somebody posted on an ex-pats forum about being new in our local area, with kids between the ages of ours, and some points they needed clarifying. I replied with a couple of helpful tips, and the information that we also lived in the same area. Various messages were exchanged, and then an invitation to dinner at their place came. We accepted, and met a lovely Scottish family: Mark, Claire, Johnathan & Niamh. They live in a flash townhouse up the hill, and have been there two months now - finding the local school a bit of a challenge for their eldest (Johnathan). Not just due to language, but the student body - which is not very 'Swiss' to start with.
The afternoon chat went well, talking about various things which makes life more comfortable for foreigners with no local support networks, kilts, and wedding parties. The kids (mostly) got on well, although Edmund spent most of his time with the adults (still not feeling well), and dinner was fabulous. Claire had spent a lot of time researching Coeliac (for Daniel) and come up with a lovely meal, with no risk of gluten. Including merangues for dessert (one of his favourites!).
We left in good time to get the bus home, got in about 20:15, and were all in bed by 20:30 ... now, if only Edmund had let us sleep through, Jessica & I would be refreshed and ready to go!!