This was a busy week, with two business trips, and lots of work back home in Alicante. But spring is here, with sunshine and temperatures that are pleasant but not yet baking hot.
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I flew to Brussels on Sunday afternoon. Much to my delight, the weather was sunny there too, allowing me to spend a few hours prowling the area around Place Ste-Catherine and Grand’ Place. I have put up a gallery of that trip, but there is one picture, taken in the metro on the way back to my hotel Sunday night, that I like so much that I also post it here:
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Back home, May 1st was Cheeta’s 12th birthday, and this is the official birthday portrait of the old, but still lively, girl:
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Later that day, I flew to Stuttgart where I had a meeting Thursday morning. In the evening, I took the metro to the centre to find a restaurant where I could have a decent meal and watch the Barcelona-Bayern Munich Champions League semifinal. On the way back to my hotel, the result was one of the news headlines:
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A bit of Spanish cultural influence in the land of Angela:
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Thursday morning I was so desperate for pictures that I looked for something interesting in my boring hotel room:
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Thursday afternoon, Stuttgart airport. My colleague Francisco is multitasking:
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Friday, I took my team for lunch at Hostal Maruja, my favourite beach restaurant:
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Looking north from Hostal Maruja, towards Santa Pola:
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The beach is just a few metres from the tables:
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A dish I have long wanted to try, breaded sheep brains. In the background patatas bravas, a classic tapa:
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This is the kind of raw materials used at Hostal Maruja, fresh octopus at the Mercado Central in Alicante:
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On Saturday I did a long bicycle ride, stopping to add to my collection of photographs of puticlubs, places where prostitutes and customers meet to transact business:
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These places are often in the middle of nowhere and are characterized by supreme kitsch. This is what fascinates me about them:
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Varadero beach in Santa Pola, with one of Jim Shulman’s girlfriends:
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And finally, Saturday sunset as seen from my back terrace:
