Barcelona Day 4 aka Last Day

By now it should be no surprise that I had breakfast in the hotel but today they did have both my melon & my pastry so I was off to a good start.  My first stop was the Museu D'Historia de Barcelona.  This was actually pretty interesting.  They had actual excavations of how they used to do laundry including information on how they used urine (yes you read that correctly) to help get stains out.  I think that's what they said they used for it either way they used it for something - gross!  They also showed how they used to make wine so of course I enjoyed that.

I left there & ended up at Placa Reial which was really pretty.  Then I was back at Las Ramblas.  I think I forgot to mention that Prostitution is legal here but I never saw a prostitute just a couple of peep show places.  I then headed down Passeig de Colom trying to find an actual beach.  All the boats reminded me of our harbors at home.  There were some really nice boats or so I thought until I came across this yacht.  And then I saw this little bitty guy.  I mean when is a boat too small to have it in the ocean?  No way would I ever get in that thing because one small wave & you'd be done for or at least I would since I can't swim.

On my path to the beach I came across the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya.  Colton & Gabe, I took some photos of some old guns, a cannon, rocket launcher, torpedo looking thing & of course a motorcycle for you to see.  Dad, you got one of a ship.  Time for another tangent.  So most (not all) public restrooms here are crazy!!!  There's one main entrance for the men & women to share (not the crazy part) but once you walk into the main part you see that the bathroom is indeed unisex with the stalls right next to each other.  There are not separate sides.  However, in their defense the walls & doors do go all the way to the ceiling & to the floor.  Still strange if you ask me & if you got-to-go you got-to-go.

I continued on to find the beach & noticed these things on the ground & they were coming from this palm tree.  Dad, aren't these dates?  Anyway, I know where Kadafi is (is there a reward?) as the biggest yacht I've ever seen (including Arabic writing on the side) was docked pretty close to where I saw the possible dates.  This thing would put any celebrity yachts you've seen on Perez or in US Weekly to shame.  I really wanted to take a photo of it but decided just to be safe & not take the chance of someone on the yacht seeing me & them plucking me up to never be seen or heard from again so I didn't take one but it was ginormous.

I finally got to the beach & it was packed.  The water was really clear and not too cold.  It just felt really good after a long walk.  So obviously because this is Europe there was some topless sunbathing but what I was surprised by is that everyone was in bikinis.  I didn't see one Tankini or one piece bathing suit & trust me there were people who should've been in them.  Colton & Gabe, there still weren't any shells so I picked you both another rock.  There was a little restaurant right on the beach so I figured it was a good time & place to stop for lunch.  You could see a group of sailboats (yes dad I got a photo of them for you) off in the distance it was really pretty.

I finished my lunch & headed for the Picasso Museum.  There are all of these trees here that have this unusual bark but what was interesting is that I saw one that looked like a normal tree underneath with the weird bark covering it.  Anyway, I finally made it to the Picasso Museum & got in line.  I was eavesdropping on the two American couples in front of me & low and behold one of the couples was from Chicago (suburbs but still a little taste of home) & they were all very sweet.  The museum was pretty remarkable.  Then I headed to the Museu de la Xocolata.  The ticket was a bar of chocolate but again with the dark chocolate people, really?  They had recreations (in chocolate of course) of all different things including their trash, recycling & composting bins; see attached.

From there I headed back to the hotel so I could take the souvenir box to the post office.  It wasn't that it was extremely heavy it was just an awkward shape for a short person so I hopped in a cab with map in hand.  Good thing I did because he was still a bit confused when I showed him where I was & where I wanted to go & it was just three blocks away.  Heavens!!  But I got it there & it should (better be) on it's way.  I have to say though that shipping internationally REALLY makes you appreciate those one-rate shipping boxes we have back in the states.  With that done I set out for my last night of wandering around Barcelona & I picked up a few souvenirs I still needed.  Earlier that morning I had heard some people talking about how beautiful the sunset was from our hotel's rooftop terrace so I wanted to be back in time for that.

Side note - the other day I happened to run across a store for the company of the SIM cards for the int'l phones Sophie had bought us & no one in the store spoke a lick of English but through my Spanglish I was able to load some minutes onto the card.  Anyway, I headed back to my hotel to go enjoy the rooftop at sunset & call mom & dad.  I wasn't sure they'd answer as I was sure the number would show up all crazy & they'd just think a telemarketer was calling.  Sure enough dad answered & I said, "Hi" thinking he'd recognize my voice.  Not so much.  He acted all funny & then I either said hi again or dad it's me or something cause he figured it out then & then immediately yelled for mom to get on the phone; it was pretty cute & lead me to believe they actually missed me.  Who knew but how could you blame them?  But then I stood up with the phone on my shoulder so I could take a photo of the sunset & I accidentally hung up on them.  Normally when we get disconnected it takes a couple of minutes for them to realize I'm not there anymore & hang up the phone (it does) but this time they were on top of it & had already hung up by the time I called back.  So we got to catch up for a few minutes & then some lady speaking WAY too fast Spanish was on the line (I realize it was a recording) & alerted me (I assume this is what she was saying) that my pre-paid minutes were up.  When she quit blabbing I heard dad say I think we lost her & then we said a fast goodbye as we didn't know now much time we had left.  The sunset was beautiful & I was so glad I didn't miss the opportunity.

After the sun officially set I set off for my last dinner in Barcelona & there was no doubt as to where I was going....Taller de Tapas on Calle de Argenteria as it was the best food I'd had since I'd been there & ironically was my first dinner.  The second best place was definitely Picnic where I'd had my first lunch but Taller was closer to my hotel & since it was dark & I was by myself I opted for the safer route.  See mom I'm being smart about stuff.  Anyway, I had those yummy peppers (again), grilled calamari (which was really good HOWEVER they way they do it leaves the insides kind of "mushy" & takes some getting used to), fried artichoke pieces (they slice the heart & a little bit of the leaves really really thin & then fry them-you almost don't even recognize them when they first arrive) & the standard bread with tomato & olive oil.

Then it was off to the hotel to pack which I pretty much have down to a science now & go to bed.  In the morning it's off to Madrid.

Barcelona Day 3

I started out this morning like the others with breakfast in the hotel...it's getting kind of redundant but it's already paid for so I might as well.  They had the melon but not the pastry thing; oh well you win some & you lose some.  After breakfast I headed to the Museu de Ceramica.  It was in this beautiful building in the back of a walled in park.  The ceiling of the entryway over the stairs was the show stopper; see attached.  There were some cool pieces but not what I had hoped for.  This building also housed the Museu Textil i d'Indumentaria & Museu de les Arts Decoratives & they were part of the package so I went through those too.  There was some intricate old furniture & some pretty dresses as well.  The most memorable was this collection of body forms used to make the pieces.  Tim Gunn would have loved it!

I walked back through the park on my way to the Metro & headed to the Museu Egipci de Barcelona.  Now is the time to discuss the maps they give the tourists.  Yesterday when I walked from Sagrada Familia to Parc Guell it was quite a hike but was easy to do.  Here's the issue when you get close to an area that has more than one attraction they typically leave the street names off the map & I don't just mean the streets in which they are on I mean the like 5 streets surrounding it.  Anyway, the normal reaction would be ok look up & find the building that way.  The problem with that is I'm either too short or the buildings are too close together so you can't see what you're looking for.  Regardless the maps suck & everyone from the States that I have met agrees with that.  And then to top it off the way the buildings are numbered doesn't make any sense.  In the States if you are looking for building 284 & you see number 281 it is safe to assume that 284 is on the opposite side of the street from 281 give or take a few buildings, right?  Right!  Not so in Barcelona!  Here 304 can be across the street from 281 with the 284 you are looking for on the previous block.  Talk about frustrating!  Anyway, this is what I dealt with on my way to go see my people at the Museu Egipci de Barcelona.  The museum was just ok & dad that thing that we (Egypt) supposedly gave them either wasn't there or they were hiding it from me.

It was now time for a snack so I headed back to Passeig de Gracia for Churros & Hot Chocolate.  The hot chocolate is really just for dipping the churros & it was good but it was more like dark chocolate & I'm more of a milk chocolate kind of girl. I know, I know dark is better for you but that doesn't make me like it more.

Time for another tangent...Barcelonians who by the way have been very nice thus far.  I've noticed for the most part they are very pretty & of normal size meaning not too skinny but not thick either; just normal.  I think the majority of the people I've seen that are overweight tend to be foreigners.  Here's the thing they eat pretty healthy you know olive oil, fresh meats, fruit & veggies so no preservatives BUT they all smoke like it's their job.  I would love to know the lung cancer rate & the life expectancy age because they can't live very long with as much as they smoke & every now & then you do get a faint smell of pot too.  Then there's the hair issue...there's two things they obnoxiously love to do to their hair but not necessarily at the same time as that might be overkill.  The first is dye it the fakest jewel-red you can find & the other is grow a mullet.  I finally had to start taking photos of each so you'd believe me.  And the last thing about them is that they LOVE their tatoos-not colorful ones only ones that are shades of gray.  But regardless the language is beautiful!

Back to my walk...as I came to the end of Passeig de Gracia I came upon the Placa de Catalunya which is the far end of Las Ramblas.  Las Ramblas has turned into a tourist trap with tacky souvenir shops & pick pockets but you still have to walk the mile that it makes up just so you can say that you did.  One of the first stores I saw was Springfield, which apparently is a man & woman's clothing shop, so I just took a picture but didn't go in.  I had read about their street performers but thought big deal we have the same thing.  Um no, we don't & Chicago needs to catch up to this guy as he looks like something straight out of Men In Black...by the way is Will Smith still getting divorced?  All I get over here is CNN International & BBC Worldwide...thank heavens no Fox News-sorry Dad!

The next thing I came across was La Boqueria Market.  This is basically a ginormous farmers market with each vendor having a permanent booth - I would've been in heaven if I was actually able to shop here but since I'm just a tourist I had to keep myself in check.  If you want it they probably have it here & I'm not even kidding.  I've never seen such beautiful fruit & veggies other than Grandma Nelson's farm veggies of course.  Nor have I seen the butchers do their butchering...not from the beginning mind you but even just breaking the meat down.  There's a famous tapas place inside here that I wanted to try but with the smell of fresh seafood in the air (no matter how much I love it) it wasn't gonna happen.  Leslie, I don't think you could've stepped foot inside there the smell was that strong.

I left La Boqueria Market (yes NCC girls with your olives) and headed down the remainder of Las Ramblas until I reached the Christopher Columbus Monument where my bags were starting to break (as they don't believe in double-bagging here) so I decided to protect my purchases & just take a quick cab ride back to the hotel...famous last words.  So I got in the cab & said the name of my hotel along with a cross street & an extremely popular tourist site near by (just in case of any confusion).  My instincts said his path was off but I being the tourist thought maybe there's a round-about way that's easier.  When that wasn't sitting well with me I said in Spanish to the cabbie that this was not correct & that my hotel is in the city by the cathedral.  He was not shy in showing me his disgust in me questioning him & please keep in mind this happened a couple of times.  When we were finally exiting the HIGHWAY (because I couldn't before, again because he was on the HIGHWAY) I was able to point to the map of where I wanted to go where he then started to yell at me as if it was my fault & yelled at me for not asking him earlier about the direction we were headed.  I mean what was I gonna do?  You have me on the highway with a little bit of Spanish & now owing a not so nice lump sum for my journey to Montcada Pueblo not H10 Montcada Hotel & oh yeah I'm in a foreign country by myself.  I'm going to take my lumps, pay the bill (so I don't end up in jail) & then go have a glass of wine while I curse you.  I hope your grandchildren enjoy my contribution to their college fund jerk face!  Moving forward I will not get in a cab outside of the States without showing the driver a map of where I am & where I want to go so this doesn't happen again...lesson learned.  Again jerk face!  Now I know what our Chicago tourists feel like!

Like usual I tend to be harder on myself than others so I was a bit grumpy for a bit but I pulled through & stopped being hard on myself...well eventually anyway as the glass of wine & the bowl of olives helped.  I walked over to the Catedral de Barcelona (since it was closed the day before) & got a nice surprise as admission was free.  The Catedral was breathtaking & I really can't say anything beyond that that would do it justice.

Then I went to check out the post office while stopping for a cafe con leche on the way.  My plan has always been to ship the souvenirs home so I was trying to be proactive & figure it all out a day early.  So after some Spanglish I was on my way back to my hotel with a big box, two things of bubble wrap & tape.  On my way back to the hotel there was this young woman walking towards me just carrying her cat like it was no big deal so I had to take a photo because Gloria will barely let me hold her for five seconds let alone carry her down the street.

Before dinner I did some more wandering & ended up at Palau de la Generalitat.  It was really pretty.  There was a tourist site that I'd been looking for but couldn't find due to their crazy maps so I decided it was time to break down & ask for help.  I started with a security guard at a retail store & he had no idea either so I didn't feel so bad considering he's a local.  I then moved on to a real guard at a building I don't remember the name of & again it was right in front of me but you'd never know it.

I wandered back to the square in front of the cathedral for dinner.  I had patatas bravas, fried calamari and some other thing with something I didn't know, peppers & goat cheese.  The fried calamari is a bit different here because they only use the rings (and I actually like the fingery ones) & the fried part is more like a funnel cake fry than a fried calamari fry.  It was all very good but too much food.  After that it was time to pack up that big box of souvenirs & head to bed.  Luckily it all fit with some room but not enough to downsize to the next size.

I can't believe tomorrow's my last real day in Barcelona!!

Barcelona Day 2 aka Gaudi Day

Ok here's the deal with the photos...It's not possible to upload photos directly from my iPad so what I have to do is upload them from the memory card which for the record takes no time at all & I can do it anywhere.  I then had to purchase an app for Picassa that I have to upload my photos to.  This requires Internet so I can really only do this at the hotel & it takes forever.  So I apologize that there haven't been any photos yet.  I've been adding the photo comments so I remember what to add in where.  Anyway...

I slept an hour later than I had planned but considering I haven't had more than 4-5 hours a night since I got here I felt it was justified.  I got ready in my itty bitty little room & headed downstairs for breakfast.  They had the typical hot food, pastries & fruit including my new favorite melon but also meats & cheeses & fresh juice.  There was this little thin pastry that had something in it that was similar to strawberry jelly & it was really good.  I hope they have that & my melon tomorrow.

I crossed the street to take the Metro to Sagrada Familia.  I found the end of the line & it was long but it moved pretty fast.  I purchased a combo ticket for Sagrada Familia, the elevator in it & the Casa Museu Gaudi at Parc Guell.  I noticed right away that my elevator ticket had a time on it of 1pm-110pm as that's when I was slotted to go so they don't have huge lines waiting & I get it BUT it was around 1130am.  It is gorgeous in there but there is not enough for me to see to spend an hour & a half there so I looked around, took photos & left.  I walked around the block & got some souvenir shopping done.  I bought this kind of creepy looking tiled cat figurine that looks like Gloria & it was the two year anniversary of her adoption day so I thought it was fitting.  Again, as I've said numerous times who would've ever thought that I'd have a cat.  That just shows how sweet she is well to Ollie anyway not to me as the only time I feel like she likes me is when I'm trying to fall asleep & she attacks my feet & tries to bite off my toes & when I've been gone for a couple days but that's it...strangely I miss that.  Anyway, talk about a tangent but it still wasn't 1pm yet so I knew I'd made the right decision in not waiting around.

I decided to explore the city on my way to Parc Guell instead of taking the Metro.  Immediately I saw amazing buildings with a small park in the middle including a dog park so it'd be perfect for the 3 of us!  There was a pointer playing in there & I really wanted to pet him but I figured his owner would probably think I was crazy so I decided against it.  And then as I'm walking down the street what do I see but a shout out to the "Herz Herd" all the way from Barcelona...a restaurant called...Nebraska.  Here's a photo of it for you.  Then as I walked past a grocer I spotted that melon I love.  Here's a photo of it.  Mom, do you know what is?  Anyway, then I found a pet store & I went in to see if they had anything that Ollie & Gloria don't already have or is not similar to something they already have & I've come to the conclusion that my kids are really spoiled as there wasn't anything new I could get them.

As I have been walking around the last day or so I've noticed that there aren't really alleys (in the Chicago sense) they're more like side streets.  So the question then was where do they put their garbage & of course do they recycle?  So some areas they kind of go New York style & put it on the curb but for the most part they have these bin type things where you step on a lever & that opens the lid so you don't have to touch it.  Way to try & keep it hygienic Barcelona!  See attached photo.  These just sit out on the streets & there are bins for composting, recycling (sometimes with plastic, glass & paper separate but usually not) & then just regular trash.  While we're on a smelly subject I LOVE the fact that Barcelona is so dog friendly but I do in some areas think that the smell of dog pee tends to be a bit extreme.  I think it's due to the fact that in the center of the city there is no grass it's all just cement (yes Erin I did say it the Missouri way) so it's not absorbed.  Hey you, random-picker-upper-of-stuff-you-find-on-the-street (you know who you are) this is another reason why you can't do that...just sayin'.

I have seen some fast food establishments from the states; those being Burger King (every time I see one of these I have to remind myself where I am & that it's not ok to go in there-I love a whopper with cheese no matter how messy or disgusting it is), Domino's, McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway (just like in the States I have no problem avoiding this nasty place) & Dunkin Donuts.

It was quite a walk to Parc Guell but I did it & little did I know how big it was.  Holy smokes!  I walked & I walked & I walked.  I was able to take a lot of cityscape photos thanks to my hike.  The Casa Museu Gaudi was pretty cool & had some interesting old pieces.  I went into the Casa del Guarda that's also in the park.  Then I was off to see more of the city.  The detail that has gone into the architecture when they were building this city is truly magnificent.  I love all the big regal doors & the archways they stand in as evident in my photos. 

I then made my way down Passeig de Gracia.  Passeig de Gracia is kind of a combo of Michigan Avenue & Oak Street.   La Pedrera (one of Gaudi's) is also located on this street.  It was really neat to see.  I'm not sure why but they sold this crazy purse in the gift shop.  It's made out a sea sponge from the ocean.  After I left there I crossed the street & started my leisurely stroll.  In tourist fashion I had one hand on my camera (that's also wrapped around my neck) & my other hand touching the zippers on my crossbody traveler bag.  I being aware of my surroundings (yes mom & dad that comment was for you) due to the large amount of pick-pocketing that goes on here looked over my right shoulder to see a questionable man coming closer than I wanted him to.  I immediately started to turn so I wouldn't have my back to him when I thought I noticed him signal this other guy.  I waited for them both to scatter & then I noticed two policemen quickly walking in the direction of the first guy.  I started walking again & then I saw that the two policemen had stopped the guy & was "interviewing him."  I then wandered over to the Catedral de Barcelona but it was already closed so I'll have to come back tomorrow.

It was definitely time to find a place for dinner & as I turned the corner I saw where I was going to have dinner.  A restaurant called Gloria how's that for ironic?  I had Gloria's salad to start & then shrimp with veggies.  It was a lot of food & was good but the shrimp dish was definitely on the salty side.  While I was sitting on the patio who should appear but the guy from earlier & no mom he wasn't following me. :)  I did see him case the patrons of the separate patio opposite me.  It was a long day but I got a lot knocked out including a lot of souvenir shopping.  From there I went to the rooftop terrace of my hotel & finished the night off with a glass of wine while starting this post.  It's time for bed now as tomorrow is the Museu de Ceramica, Museu Egipci de Barcelona and Las Ramblas.