Off to Barcelona; we munched some ham and cheese we’d had in the room; flirted with checking our bags but decided to hang onto them. It was raining as we came in, but improved for a pleasant evening. We are in the heart of "fine shopping" so we will need to go elsewhere to have fun. Probably do a bus tour tomorrow, Gabe's been here briefly before but certainly lacks the familiarity he has with Sevilla. On the way in from the airport, the silly man asks me how many days we have the rental car to drive around and get used to manual transmission before we head into the mountains. ZERO of course ... rent the thing and run!
Took 2 bus tours yesterday, saw many MANY sights and learned a lot about how Barcelona grew from a simple seaport to a large metropolis. Many of the small towns which were absorbed keep their original name as a neighborhood identifier, and each seems to have a specialty area to attract visitors. Lots of Gaudi – hadn’t realized how MUCH! – and of course the massive cathedral still under construction. Traffic here beyond description; on many blocks vehicles were at a standstill, including two or more of “our” tour busses. Though I sat “up top” for both tours, the sunscreen Gabe picked out in Sevilla worked well. At the end of the second ride, I enjoyed a Gabe-guided tour of La Rambla, a combo of shopping street and flea market. He had been here before and remembered where the REAL market was – straight out of Cleveland’s West Side Market but about 10 times the size. We picked up some nougat & some beverages and Metroed on back to the hotel. Wish we had laid in some of the beautiful produce!
Barcelona was busy with survey-takers in the areas where we were walking, so it was not a surprise when a young woman stopped Gabe and asked for a minute. What WAS a LOVELY surprise was that she assumed he was a Spanish national “because you don’t have any accent!” She pursued a few followup questions (was he a permanent resident??) in hopes of recruiting him for some program, but he was just glowing with the casual compliment, as he should have been!
The room mini-bar had a sign prominently notifying you that simply removing any item from the ‘frig would automatically charge it to your room. So we went off in search of ice, finding a machine in the fire stairs by the elevator lobby. The machine on OUR floor was out of order, but with some patience we were able to fill our needs from machines on the adjoining landings. With cold beer and wine available, we settled in to watch The Social Network, which Gabe had not seen. Despite the hefty fee, it was a worthwhile investment.
Finally, looking forward to our return to the city, we booked tickets to a guitar recital which should be a special treat.
Random observation on differences between Europe & USA … haven’t had a hotel with more than one fire-escape route so far. At home, of course, a minimum of two and often more options. Happily, no fires or file drills either though!
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