Tuesday, 23 September

We arrived in Barcelona, tried to figure out the subway, and find our hostel. As we were walking, Jen and I realized that we were passing all of these places from our tour book – check that off etc. We found our hostel which was up 3 flights of stairs and was exhausting. We could have taken the elevator (about 6 feet tall, three feet by five feet – teeny tiny), but we were a bit claustrophobic and opted for the stairs. Our room was ready and we unpacked and then headed out to Barcelona.

Now, if you know our family history, you understand Jen and my relationship. Let’s just say that yes, we did fight, but only every hour on the hour, so that left 50 minutes of every hour to enjoy Barcelona!!!! She had her tour book and I had mine, she wanted to lolley gag and I was purpose driven, she kept us going in circles and I kept checking things off of my tour book list. Overall, it was fabulous for both of us!!!!

We made our way through Las Ramblas, which is the main walking street down the center of Barcelona. We found the Placa de la Boqueria – mosaic sidewalk and the Art Deco dragon umbrella shop. We walked to the Gaudi’s Palau Guell restoration building with the cool colorful chimneys. We took the tour which only included the ground floor gift shop and the basement. The remainder of the building was closed for restoration. We made it to the pier, which was full of shops. Mind you, that all of this is taking part during rain. You can tell the chapter in my book from Barcelona – it is all wrinkly from getting rained on.

Then Jen got brave and crazy and we walked the boardwalk and found some cool artwork. We found out from someone that most of the artwork was the American interpretation of Gaudi. We found this restaurant that was highly recommended in her book. We found it and celebrated – even though it wasn’t open yet and people were lined up. We figured we would join the wait. It was worth it, because we actually got in on the first round of seats!!!! This place was called something like Chef Pep – Jen will correct me. Well there are only 23 seats at the bar and that’s it. The English friend sitting next to me said that he comes to Barcelona every year for festival (what luck that we were there during the best time of the year!!!!) and he has been number 24 more times than he can count. Which means that you have to wait until people at the bar finish eating so you can take their place. The person who helped us was Chef Pep – his picture is on the placemats. He has the raspiest smokey voice – and he was so excited about his food etc – you could feel the energy. He asked us if we wanted to try the best – we said yes. They spoke English here – so that was relaxing – just like Valencia. We have no idea what we did get, some was amazing and some was questionable as to what it was. We sat and visited with our English friend and he gave us lots of pointers for what to do. We got our pictures taken with that guy, as well as with Chef Pep.

We then headed out and found the Central Government Buildings – which had a stage in front of – something we would have to check out later. We headed back to the hostel for a nap.

After resting we headed out to see the Picasso Museum (I am very spoiled after partaking of such beauty!!!) and the Olympic Village. We also found the beach and ran and stuck our feet in the sea – in the dark.

I saw this cool restaurant that people were waiting to go into. I told Jen that we were going to have dinner there “Now!” It was great. We had Australians sitting next to us – who were very entertaining. Our waiter was from Switzerland. We asked him how he got to Spain – he said “Love.” We smiled and then he said – “It isn’t what you think. My girlfriend is English, I won’t live there and she won’t live in Switzerland, so we live in Spain!” We ordered Cava – which is Barcelona’s champagne – yummy! Our friend Sandra would really love it – if she hasn’t had it already. Jen asked him about the Spanish cheese plate – his response “I am from Switzerland and you want to ask me about Spanish cheese?” We didn’t order that!!! We had sooo much fun!!!

We then walked back to the Central Government Building to see if anything was happening. We couldn’t go very far – because the center was jammed with people. They had the coolest light show happening. It was reflecting images off of the other building. The show was so detailed and very long – It was truly an experience I won’t forget.

We decided that we were too awake to go home – so let’s go to Las Ramblas and have a beer!!! Excellent idea!!! The festival parade was beginning to start and we stumbled upon it, and got to watch the whole thing. Tons of kids throwing confetti – right at breast level – so Jen and I had tons in our bras. They had marching bands, bands on top of trucks with people singing, dancing dolls that were 20 feet tall. These dolls remind me of the part in the Nutcracker where the woman has all of her children under her dress. These dolls are made on top of a stool with a harness. The people get under the stool and lift the harness on their shoulders and then march along. They take lots of breaks to rest and change carriers – I imagine because they have to be really heavy. We followed the parade down our hostel street. Once they stopped, we decided we would get a beverage at a bar. It was such a fun day.