Global People Watching

Buenos Dias from Barcelona,

Well after the bus ride to Fatima, Dad decided he didn’t want to do the planned overnight train ride from Lisbon to Barcelona.  A quick trip to the internet and poof, plane tickets and a hotel room.  The internet is great for making last minute arrangements, although the can be expensive.  Our hotel was nice (pricey), but with the formula one race in town we were lucky to get this one.  Champagne and chocolates were waiting for us when we arrived.  Nice.  Here’s a travel tip for the women.  Bring tampons with you as I went to 3 stores in Lisbon and the airports do not have machines.  I finally found some at the Farmilicia in Barcelona, where the Pharmacist in a white lab coat brought me 4 boxes to choose from, then wrapped it up in colored tissue paper (like a gift). 

 

Here’s the view from our first hotel Boria for which we only stayed the one night.

 

 

 

Our next place was an apartment I booked on the internet.  The pictures looked nice.  The problem?  It was on the sixth floor with no elevator.  I told my parents we could look for another place, but after we had made it up the six flights with luggage in tow, and they learned how inexpensive it was they said it was okay.  Over the next four days I would be accused of trying to kill my parents and booking the apartment on the sixth floor on purpose.  It sucks to book travel for others when they’re not happy with the accommodations.  The good part it was one block away from the Ramba, which is the busiest street in Barcelona for shopping, food, etc.  The negative to that is you get people outside that stay up all night.  Mom swears she saw a guy dealing drugs on the corner.  I was too exasted every day to hear or see anything.  After full days of touring the town and the six flights up when I finally layed my head down I was out like a light.

We toured the Barcelona Basilica the first day.  The foundation was dated to the fourth century, but the Moors torn it down and burned it.  The existing Church dates to the 14th century. 

 

 

 

 

The next day we toured the Sangra Familia, a Gothic church designed by Gaudi.  Gaudi designed many buildings around Barcelona and from what I heard is a beloved son of the city.

After a long day  we thought we’d try one of the various cafes on the rambla.

 

Here’s a pic of mom & dad sampling the sangria.  Yummmmmy

 

 

 

My mom’s family on her father’s side were from Barcelona and left for America in the 1500s after having been given a land grant in New Mexico by the King of Spain.  Mom said they city was not what she expected.  I guess we all romantize a certain city in our minds, but when we get there it’s not at all what we thought it to be.

 

 

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2006 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.