Only comment regarding the flight is that after the wonderfuly exotic food we got on Qatar Airlines going to China, AA's attempt at sustenance was terrible. Since Mom was still recovering from her bout with a nasty stomach bug and I was saving room for Tapas and Paella in Barcelona, everything worked out just fine.
So we arrive in Barcelona....and suddenly, as we are trudging along looking for our rental car, what seemed like a success story as far as packing goes turned into an epic failure!!! I loaded up our stuff on a cart and we looked like the "Beverly Hillbillies". I don't know where all that stuff came from!
Then....we saw our car. Hmmmm.....we managed to get our bags and us in the car, leaving us to wonder where we will put Caitlin tomorrow. In true southern fashion, we decided we would worry about it later....tomorrow is another day....and headed to the hotel.
When we checked in, the girl at the desk offered to upgrade me to two beds. I laughed, said "its okay...its my mother, we can sleep together", to which she looked sort of shocked and INSISTED on upgrading us. Well, when we got to the room, I was thankful she was so persistant. Each bed was a small twin....and while I love my mom....not ready to spend a vacation pushing each other out of a tiny little bed. The hotel is adorable, in a great area of town, and just what we were looking for......now that we have two beds!
We decided to go explore a bit and grab a bite to eat....found a perfect little tapas y desayanos place where we shared a Bistec y pepper and a Bikini (grilled ham and cheese). We headed back to the hotel....opened our window and listened to the sounds of the city....until 11.....then 12.....and then 2.....and finally about 4 the night was over for the Barcelonans and they started to quiet down! When we got up this morning we wondered how they do it.....and then figured it out.
We were out and in the streets at about 8:30. We were the only ones out and in the streets.....we went to the metro - almost empty - , rode down to the harbor - deserted - and started exploring - alone in the streets. Finally about 11:30 or noon people started stirring and hustling about...by 2 it looked like a city, alive and thriving. Now its 11 pm and people are out and about having dinner! The sounds coming from the street are so much fun to listen to.
Barcelona is an incredibly beautiful city.....with everything from a medieval portion of the city (still inhabited)...where the streets are narrow and the building built on a smaller scale and you expect to see a burly guy come busting out of a door with a chalice of grog....to incredible mansions designed by Gaudi that look like Alice in Wonderland should live in them.....to ornate cathedrals that make you give thought to the history of the Catholic Church in Spain and wonder what those walls have witnessed.....to incredible modern skyscrapers. We could have easily spent a week here...but managed to skim the surface of what Barcelona had to offer in a day.
And then....we had dinner!!! Of course I have to talk about dinner. We went down to Barceloneta...the old city of Barcelona on the waterfront...and decided we would just pick one of the little local places to try paella and the other fresh sea fare. Well, the place we decided on was really small....and the only reason we picked it was because when we slowed down to peek in, the young man who would be our waiter looked so hopeful to have some business that we felt compelled to go in. There was one other couple in the place at the time ( it was still very early for diner by Barcelona standards). There was a very large bald headed bartender, our waiter, and a short, round man who appeared to be the cook and the owner. We ordered the paella mariscos (seafood/rice specialty) and some papas bravas, at the waiter's insistence. I also ordered Sangria for one. Well, when my Sangria came...it was a pitcher full!
The other couple started laughing and that started up a conversation which grew into a social event!!!! Rogelio and Sandra (Barcelona natives who had been coming to this restaurant for 35 years) ended up being great fun....they ordered us some additional tapas that they thought we should have...and insisted on paying for them...as well as an afterdinner shot of something that "would sooth our stomach"...that even Mom couldn't say no to. Rogelio was loud and funny and so happy to meet someone from Tejas. His English was slightly better than my Spanish...but we did just fine. Mom gifted Sandra with one of the crosses that she had made before the trip and you would have thought it was a precious jewel. What a great experience and time with new friends.
All in all, I would say that Barcelona was a GREAT DAY! We leave tomorrow to go meet Cait in Valencia, where we will get to see the finale of the Fallas Festival! We'll let you know just exactly what that entails!!!!
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