We’re finally here, finally home! Boxes have been unpacked, furniture has been purchased, pictures have been hung. And, after nearly two weeks, an internet connection has been installed. Four hundred and fourteen unread messages in my email inbox, but in a way it was kind of nice to be unplugged for a while. I wouldn’t want to do it again.
We spent four days driving from Budapest to our new home in Sitges, Spain, a town 35 kms south of Barcelona. Tomorrow I’m taking the boys to the big city for the day. G’s excited mostly about the train ride there.
Anyway, I hope to bring you pithy and thought-provoking prose soon enough (or at least the crap I usually write), but for now I’m going to leave you with one photo from each of our overnights along the way, and some shots from our first fortnight in our new home.
First night: Trieste
Second night: Genova
Third night: Aix en Provence
Fourth night: Finally in Spain! A town called Roses.
Here at last, and first trip down to the beach. They look confused, as though they’re not quite sure what to do with so much sand and sea.
But after a few minutes they start to get the idea.
Old-fashioned bicycle-powered carousel at a street festival.
Walked along the coast to some secluded nudie beaches.
Sunrise from our bedroom
Happened upon this festival at a nearby town
Sitges’ 17th-Century cathedral
We’re gonna have shells around the house, it would seem. Lots and lots of shells.
You have to love the sea views at the local playground.
Long before we moved I promised the boys a lobster dinner when we arrived. Promise kept.
Sitges is set between the sea and Garraf National Park, about 10 minutes from our house. We went for a short hike one day and found this massive grasshopper.
Sitges puts on a fireworks display to welcome anyone who moves to the community. This one was for us.
View of the coastline
Sunset from the boys’ terrace
Field Notes From Fatherhood 
What an amazing place to live, MM! Exploring a new spot with your offspring is deeply pleasurable – whatever their age, I find. Your pictures (great, as always) captured that beautifully.
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Welcome to Spain!! You seem to have chosen a place to live full of spectacular scenery – that coastline is fabulous! I hope you three have a great day in Barcelona today. The human towers are called castells – they’re UNESCO Intangible Heritage (along with flamenco) http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011&RL=00364.
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Thanks, Fiona! We already really like it here, and the settling in has been reasonably easy. We take our scooters down to the beach, sometimes even after dinner for gelato, and ride the bus back up. The kids are far more timid in the sea than I was at their age, but they’ll surely get used to it. Barcelona was a bit of a mission, and I’m sure I’ll write about that at a later date. Cheers for the welcome! Perhaps we’ll meet some day!
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Congratulations on the big move! Moving is tough and tiring but you can’t tell from the beautiful photos. Looks like everyone is having fun. Enjoy!
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Oh man,Mama, this has not been a lot of fun. They say that moving to a new home is the third most stressful life event after the loss of a loved one and divorce, and if the amount of sniping the wife and I have been doing over the last two weeks is any indication then they’re absolutely right.
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Two words: Drink. Wine.
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On it, my good woman. Spanish wine is both excellent and remarkably cheap. I knew I could count on you for fantabulous advice.
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