BARCELONA

"With warm, crystal-clear waters lapping its sandy shores and mountains nuzzling up to its northern edge, this glittering jewel in the Mediterranean is blessed with desirable geographical genes. From the buoyant, revamped port area to the atmospheric medieval streets of the “Barri Gotic” and the beautiful Modernistic buildings of the “Eixample”, “Barcelona” has it all. A host of treasure-filled museums, architectural wonders, lively beaches and enchanting squares provide the icing on the cake."

March 8, 2008 Saturday We left for Spain at 6:30 p.m. Seattle time. We had a three hour layover in London. We arrived in Barcelona at 5:30 p.m. Spain time Sunday evening March 9th.March 9, 2008 Sunday
We took a taxi over to the Barcelona Hilton (Michael had to update his Hilton points so he wouldn’t lose them so we stayed here one night) checked in and walked around for awhile. It was raining pretty good. Needless to say we were pretty tired. We got some dinner then walked back to the hotel and went to bed around 9:30 p.m.March 10, 2008 Monday
We got up around 8 a.m. Michael had to be to work so I hung out at the hotel for awhile. He came back at lunch and we got our stuff and checked into the “Rey Juan Carlos I Hotel.” Out our hotel window far on the hill is a castle. I zoomed into it to get a picture.  It's “Tibidabo” it’s a castle and an amusement park. Now that’s a weird combination.
I was trying to get some rest last night on the plane. I was listening to my playlist on my phone, I heard Elton John’s song “Daniel” I thought it was pretty cool hearing it on our way to Spain. The words are: “Daniel is driving tonight on a plane I can see the red taillights heading for Spain. They say Spain is pretty though I’ve never been, Daniel says it’s the best place he’s ever been. He should know he’s been there enough.” It’s really a pretty song I just remembered that and thought I’d write it in my journal too.
Michael came back to the hotel about 11:30. We were starving so we went down to the “Tapas’ bar in the hotel. It was pretty much finger food and drinks. My coke was about a 10 oz. bottle that cost us $9.

"Tibidabo"

We could see it out our hotel window but I had to really zoom in so it's kinda blurry!

Michael had to be back at the convention center for a 6:30 welcome meeting so we hoped on the metro and walked down the “La Rambla.” It’s a famous street in Barcelona that has tons of stalls with tourist things, human statues wanting money for their performance etc. It’s an open air market.

There is no better place on earth to experience the Spanish ritual of the “Paseo” (stroll).It’s funny Michael compares the Spanish men strolling to Pigeons with their hands behind their backs strutting their stuff. The little old ladies walking arm in arm.

This wide pedestrian street is anything but pedestrian. It’s an array of activity day and night. It’s best to ignore the “Find the hidden ball” it’s usually played on makeshift tables with a nibble fingered trickster. It appears at first to be a game of chance and you may win a few but pretty soon you start to lose and you will walk away with a much thinner wallet or none at all. There are usually about three or four other people gathered around acting like part of the crowd but they are all working together. We read all about these things before we left and we actually saw a team of them at work. They must have unfortunately come across a local because she was on to them. They were yelling some words and she took their picture. Michael said the guy who was the trickster was really mad at the girl for calling him on his little game and taking a picture. It was quite the scene. Needless to say we watched at a distance. It was funny to see the four other people that were all watching pretending to be bystanders all walk away together with the main guy! You have to watch out for the gypsies too! While Michael was on his mission he said they were terrible. Their whole life style is thieves and con artists. When he was on his mission they had gypsies who lived a couple blocks away. They lived in a shack. The missionaries would throw rocks at them. That’s funny but sad at the same time. He said because of the government (dictatorship) and “Franco” they didn’t wear name tags back then. Good thing! Fine example they would have been. Ha.

“La Rambla”

We also walked around the “Boqueria Market.” It’s a shrine to food. It’s Barcelona’s most famous market. There’s everything from fruits and vegetables to curried hams, to cows tongue, pig’s feet, cow’s stomach lining, and bull’s balls. Yek and people actually eat this stuff. It was very pretty and smelled so good.

We walked some more and ate dinner at the "Hard Rock Cafe.'"We went back to the hotel and Michael went to his meeting. I checked out the spa and the pool then walked down the main Blvd. for about 10 blocks, got a drink and walked back. I looked over my Barcelona books and maps. Tomorrow I will get a 2-day tourist bus pass. Its 25 euro’s it takes you all over Barcelona. You can get on and off anytime you want. The bus stops in all the same 20 stops every 15 minutes. That way I don’t have to deal with the metro as much.

On the bus tour there are 20 stops. The first one I took was stop #5 “Park Guell” The luck of the young artist Antoni Gaudi turned when count Eusebi Guell recognized his talents. In 1886 he commissioned Gaudi to build a mansion that would set him apart from his wealthy neighbors. It has elaborate pillars with mosaic ceilings. It’s a park with walkways and stone walking paths. There’s a whole sitting area and all around the sides are seats made of colorful tile. The weather was beautiful in the low 70’s but walking made it seems hotter.