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Barcelona

This is one of my favorite cities because it reminds me somewhat of San Francisco:  a port city with laid-back folks and an artsy, funky attitude.  We arrived at one of the worst times possible, of course.  Easter weekend was upon the world, and most of the world was in Barcelona.  After calling from a train station in Paris, trying to get a room at the Hotel Peninsular and failing miserably due to my lack of Catalàn skills and general lack of vacancies, we decided to wing it. Upon arrival in the city, we trudged over to Las Ramblas and promptly found a room in a hotel near the Peninsular.  We were fortunate enough to get a room with a balcony that overlooked Las Ramblas.  It was great fun for us because at any time of the day, there would be entire families strolling along the paved walkway, just taking their ease and watching the street performers pulling gags on unsuspecting tourists.  We had several good meals on the advice of the people at the hotel but were surprised that their dinner hour didn't start until 8:30 p.m.  La Fonda was the first place I ever had fideus. 

Exploring Barcelona was hilarious.  It's a bit more sprawling than Paris or maybe it was my imagination, but I remember walking a lot and trying to follow a confusing bus route.  We climbed the unfinished spires of the Sagrada Familia and marveled at the sculpture adorning it.  So intrigued were we at Gaudi's style, that we took a trip to Parc Guell.  It truly is a wonderful and whimsical place.  While there, Casey acquired a stalker in sky-blue pants.  If it weren't for her pants, and the fact that she was looking at Casey every time I saw her, I might not have noticed the little tramp!  But she showed up (I'm sure it was by coincidence of being tourists in the same city) in several places that we visited.

The second day we were in Barcelona, I decided to walk in to the Hotel Peninsular to see if they had any rooms because our hotel was a bit pricier than I had anticipated and I really liked the Peninsular and the staff there.  The manager at the desk immediately started up with, "Remember me?"  And I said, "I was just about to ask you the same question!"  I asked him if there were any rooms available and he told me, "For you?  ALWAYS!"  Sadly, the next two days were filled with stomach trauma for me.  I subsisted on Spanish Saltines and 7up until we left.  Of course, Casey was well pleased with an unbelievable looking Belgian waffle we bought while strolling around.  I was still too sick to even contemplate taking a nibble and only assuaged my waffle-envy 4 years later in 2002 when we actually went to Belgium!  On that same stroll we came upon a 100 peseta store.  It was the Spanish version of a dollar store and we bought a very lovely plastic canvas shopping bag that we still have to this day!  That store and that bag started Casey's addiction to plastic canvas shopping bags.

Top Left: Our hotel had a balcony that opened up right onto "Las Ramblas", allowing us to watch the people stroll by into all hours of the night.  Walking about 5 minutes to the right put us at the sea.  Right: The famous "Sagrada Familia", under construction but still open for tours.  Perhaps tour isn't the right word, since after paying the admission fee we were allowed to run amok throughout the entire structure.  At one point I squeezed through some bars and was about to head up into one of the spires before better judgment prevailed.  Weeks later in Florence, when scrambling around the duomo, I would not exercise such sound thinking.

Two faces, which one is the statue?

Left: Sagrada Familia style sculpture.  Right: We are in the tall section of town at Yao Mings house.

Left: Casey hugs a Parc Guel local woman.  Right: Emily rides the blue iguana.

Left: Gaudi design in Parc Guell.  Right: Girl (stalker) in blue pants.

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