OK so it is nearly 6pm on our last day in Barcelona and even though we thought that we would be able to get a few comments in before now it just has not happened. If some of you out there are unaware there is actually one or two things to do in this fantastic city so we decided to try them.
Our Barcelona trip started in Paris at CDG and oh my god what a pain in the arse that was. Just picture trying to get on a plane in the Easyjet line boarding with a bunch of Spaniards and being served by the French. Yeah not the greates cocktail but it did end up being one of the longest cocktails though. We go slugged another 60 Euro for not paying for our bags up front but other than that and the fact that the Spanish Bogan Society chartered the jet all the rest was good and we touched down in Barcelona on time and in good spirits.
Once outside we jumped on a very easy shuttle bus and made our way to Place Catalunya, the big square/round at the top end of Las Ramblas, not the end with Columbus. Our hotel was situated right across the road so it was a very quick walk and we were in and settling down as you do, you know the way that you can make a very clean room messy within about 5 seconds. How does that happen?? After a short rest and shower we headed out on foot to see how this city had changed.
Barcelona itself since the last time we visited had become a little more touristy which for us was not a bad thing. The fact that we had put a lot of effort into our French speaking and stuff all into our Spanish meant that we were a little worried about how we were going to communicate with people but never fear the universal language of English saved us again. Thank the goodness sakeses for that one. The city was just as we remembered even down to the occasional waft of some ungodly smell that seems to punch you in the face every now and again so we were rather comfortable getting about the place. We were also comfortable sitting down to our first Tapas dinner in Placa Reial were the big beers are a descent size of a litre and the smalls are a pint. Now that is civilised. Barcelona so far was living up to the memories that we had of it.
Day 2 was all about just bumming about the back streets of the Barri Gotic and visiting places that we had seen in times gone by. It is amazing that you can still get a sense of where you are some 6.5 years later, well at least Tara can. In the evening we did a Modernisme walk that took us to some of the turn of the Century bars and fooderies that were made famous by artists, writers and architects alike and at the end of it we bumped into a lone American named George and a Spaniard name Ivan who collected beer bottle caps. He mentioned that he only had one Coopers cap so we got his address and told him that we would send him the rest. With that news he seemed rather happy. After a few beers in the bar and a big meal at our local fooderie named Nuria we bailed back and went to sleep.
So that is the first two days good huh, the rest will follow.
P and T
