[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-spain-book-tour-sitges":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"So almost every English person I know has been to Spain at some point in their life, but guess what, not me; this is my FIRST VISIT EVER. Here's one of the first characters I met; I think it would make a good companion to one of the Poglites in my upcoming \u003Ci>Cakes in Space\u003C/i> book with Philip Reeve. I love how it looks like one of those Japanese warrior costumes you see in the V&A Museum, and it even has a shield. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/chimneypot_sitges_zpsd50c257c-6ffbf2bc57.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was slightly nervous about agreeing to spend a week touring with total strangers. For the plane ride, I'd brought along a Patrick Ness book called \u003Ci>A Monster Calls\u003C/i>. I was reading it, and suddenly we were landing; I was weeping copiously over the story and realised I had only a few minutes to pull myself together because I really didn't want my hosts to meet me while I was a sniveling wreck. (First impressions and all.) So I took deep breaths, got off the plane, and met \u003Cb>Gary and Anny of Bookbox International\u003C/b>, who turned out to be lovely. Big relief! They drove me from Barcelona to the smaller town of \u003Ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitges\">Sitges\u003C/a> and we had Sangria de Cava on the beach front.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nSo we're going to be touring international schools all week, and a lot of the kids will have limited English skills, so it'll be interesting to see how much I rely on drawing and acting things out and stuff. I'll attach a few more photos of Sitges, just because it really is a lovely place. I took a very long walk around it after I checked into the hotel. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_street_zps03fddb8b-b39f812982.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSee those windows in the photo? They have amazing carved stone capitals, based, I think, on folk stories. Here's a close-up of one of them. It looks a bit like a Maurice Sendak drawing, I might draw it later, myself. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_capital1_zps1c0ad4b4-683f3fa8fb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd another, I love the monkey. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_capital2_zps0110f8c1-560a1f7bde.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nCool windows:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_windows_zps33fac168-610596a764.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSome pretty tiles:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_ladywindow_zps4947fd5a-bc34b4fda8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd a fairytale tower:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/sitges_steeple_zps42a4533f-1824e84add.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe're off tomorrow to Caxton College in Valencia, and I'll try to post more news soon!","2014-05-04T22:40:00.000Z","spain-book-tour-sitges",[],"spain book tour: sitges",1776628726395]