Barcelona

It’s nearly impossible for Spain to disappoint me after France, but bravo Espania! Way to kick France in the head. I am pleased as punch to be in Barcelona. We took Auntie Marlene’s advice and got a 3 day pass for the hop on/hop off bus tour. It worked out really well because we were a little worn out from our bus adventure from Montpellier and not keen to try to see all the sights on foot. There was a group of English ladies on the bus for a while who, I am pretty sure, were carrying the entire contents of their hotel mini bar - complete with mixers - in their purses. After passing the Olympic stadium and a few other sites, our first hop off was at Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona stadium, and I was able to convince Larissa to do the tour. there was a game that night, but the tickets were sadly too steep for our budget. (Sean- you and I will come back to Barcelona once we’ve made our millions to see a game.) I could have stayed at Camp Nou for the rest of the day, but Larissa looked like she was ready to drop so we got back on our bus. We saw some of Gaudi’s sites from the bus, but we didn’t get off again until we were back int he city centre near our hostel. Mediocre dinner before a thrilling evening doing laundry. Not as bad as it sounds - the Barcelona-Seville game was on tv in the common room at the hostel, so I watched Barca beat Seville 5-0. The game didn’t even start until 10pm! The Spaniards sure love to party late.



Day 2 was spent doing the second route of the bus tour: the beaches, Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, Tibidabo, Gaudi again, and back to the city centre. We got off at the Sagrada Familia and Gaudi’s apartments but didn’t go in any… deterred by admission costs and long lines. After the fastest visit through the Museu Picasso of all time (we spent longer waiting in line than we did in the museum) and a very sketchy burger in a very shady “restaurant,” we hustled over to the Palau de la Musica for a flamenco performance. These dancers are not messing around. Michael Flatley could learn a thing or two from them about what “feet of flames” really means.

Our final day in Barcelona has been a success, if for no reason other than that I got the time right and didn’t wake Larissa up an hour too early. We have been in separate rooms at this hostel, so we’ve arranged times to meet for breakfast in the mornings. This first morning, I was an hour early because I’d set my alarm wrong in the dark the night before. My bad. The next morning, I was fooled by daylight savings - not for the first or last time, I’m sure. The days was a success for many other (and better) reasons as well. We took the metro up to the Park Guell to get a better look. It was fantastic! The park was designed by Gaudi and has a great view of the city. Then we spent a while meandering through the Gothic area and had tapas for lunch. I can’t really say that I care for the prevalence of seafood here… We capped of the day wandering along La Rambla and the beach until the sun went down and it got a bit chilly. I could spend several more days in Barcelona, but tomorrow morning we relocate to Valencia. Sorry, Uncle Mike. We didn’t get to the zoo- I blame France for that.



Happy Halloween!