Barcelona Surprised Us!

GRINS: We were looking for the blankets when we were ready to tuck into bed last night ... for our first sleep-over in Spain. Only to discover ... there were none.  Just a thin sheet. We surmised that it must be because it is hot here!! Its Barcelona! ☀️🌡
GAFFAHS: But ... we have air conditioning in our room and wanted to use it so we would sleep better.  So ... although I thought I was finally going to be able to pack my polar fleece jacket at the bottom of my backpack ... I wore it to bed instead. Ha ha ... you must adapt to whatever your travels toss in your path, right?

GRIMACES: And guess what we woke up to?  Rain. I was a bit surprised because they had changed the forecast to less rain.  It appeared from the revised forecast that we would have 90% chance of rain all day ... 10 -15 mms! 

GAHS: Its interesting to think we made it through 5 really rainy countries without getting too wet ... some rain on the morning we left Scotland and Amsterdam was went for 1.5 days ... but now ... Barcelona was expected to offer us the most precipitation!  ⛈

I had no idea how to dress for the day though. Too hot for my raincoat but too wet for no protection.  Bare legs dry more quickly than wet pants ... so ... on with the skort ... and John finally unpacked his shorts!  And we were off to acquaint ourselves with the beauty of Barcelona.

Plan A: Find a Tourist Information office so we could get maps and multiday tickets for transport ... and tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus. Google led us easily to a train station. Yeah!  That was not open.  GAH!!

Plan B. Google the Hop On Hop Off Office to see if it was nearby.  Nope. No such luck.

Plan C. Google the nearest metro and hope we could get a metro map at least. This was fruitful.  We found our way to the city centre and got maps and our seats on the Hop On Hop Off ... we took the Green line!

The city seemed very different than our harried introduction last evening during rush hour!  It struck us as a very well ordered city ... taxis and buses share a lane ... vehicle lanes ... tram lanes ... bicycle lane and of course  pedestrian paths.It was interesting to see that some of the Tram lines were edged with grass.  We wondered who mows the grass ... and ... when.  It looked very nice! And the bicycle paths have protective bumpers that allow bikes out but no other vehicles in.  Brilliant!

GRACE: Barcelona has such a wide open feel to it!  Even many of the intersections have large squares in them ... some decorated with elaborate statues and some are just left empty and roomy!

The architecture is visually so compelling!  Most buildings have balconies ... many with iron railings. And ... people display their patriotism through flags that they hang from their windows or balconies! John took lots of photos ... and Google made a little movie of the snaps. We have included it here.

GIFTS: Gaudi's masterpieces of architecture are really worth seeing!! So unusual and so artistic! John isn't sure he's a fan. He thinks "Gaudi is gawdy" and "should have worked for Disney". Gaudi's style reminds John of Dr. Suess in some way. I happen to really like it.

We saw some places where we'd love to stop and spend some time. I'm almost afraid we will run out of days before we get bored here!  We hopped off in the Gothic Quarter because we really wanted to explore it ... but ... then the rain came.  We opted to have some tapas and wine ... hoping it would blow over.  But no. And so ... like scared gophers we descended into the metro and headed home to do laundry! By the time we popped up at our stop the rain was over. We still did our laundry ... but to improve the moment ... we dipped into the $1.95 white wine while laundered.  And, it was great!

We grabbed some sandwiches for supper and plan to tuck in early. They are calling for more rain tomorrow ... humidity is 100%! So ... who knows what tomorrow will bring.  We are mapped and ready for whatever greets us!

Warmest smiles from our hearts to yours ... k&j Czytaj więcej