Barcelona!

Ok... I've been lazy and awful and am just getting around to writing about Barcelona here at the end of my trip! As I'm doing a round of laundry, no less!

So I took the dread night bus to get here... from Paris no less... but oddly enough it wasn't that bad. My bus from Lancaster to London was worse... And I *did* get to pass through some lovely French country in the early morning... Think lots of vineyards and rolling hills! And then we were in Barcelona! I can now say I've been through Basque country... tho I wouldn't know it from anywhere else...

The Airbnb is a lovely place with just small drawbacks. The couple here is clearly using this as an income source... so there are nice touches everywhere. But at the same time some things are missing that could be obvious. A soap dish... a shower door to keep out all the water... that kind of thing. (Once again I'm impressed by the guy who renovated my house... I have the same kind of half wall shower... but the water stays *in* the shower very well. Here half ends up on the bathroom floor and even bedroom floor. Also I have a rain shower... Omg signs of shower home sickness?)

And of course they were waiting for my call and I didn't know I was supposed to call... so that was fun for about a half hour! All in all, tho, the place has been great! Nice bed and pretty private. And I've really only used it to fall down in at the end of the night until this evening's laundry chore...

And omg you should see the architecture here!!

Ok... so what have I actually been doing here... other than just enjoying the pleasant weather... (rained in Paris the *whole* time AND it looks like it's going to be raining in the British Isles too... SIGH!) So I *really* enjoyed this weather... oh so much! Or mucho mucho!!

Still... I did do stuff. Day 1: Picasso Museum, a veggie restaurant called Catbar (it's fun with felines here - especially as Cat is a fun pun on Catalunya and such), and in the evening a late showing of FF7 en Español! That was a blast btw! I understood a good chunk of it... and it was almost more car porn than the first time watching bc it was a more visual experience...

Fun lines: Él no juege por tus reglas... No tengo amigos. Tengo familia... La calle siempre ganá...

Day 2... I decided this day I would *walk* oh heaven help me! This was my Gaudí day. I saw Park Güell and Sagrada Familia and several other apartments he'd designed... tho I didn't go into these others... and a fountain at the Park Ciutadella... Oh my how I love Gaudí! His stuff is all so happy and full of fun! You'll see in the pics...

I also found a fun (actually a fabulous) English language used book store that I returned to on day 3... and I had tapas, tapas, and more tapas... even tried some vermouth as it turns out that's the Catalan specialty. Who knew?

My evening was spent with a coffee and chocolate croissant at a café right on the playa in Barcolenta... Swoon!!

Day 3: so I don't know if you got a sense of how much walking I did yesterday... A LOT... feet falling off blisters occurring and popping kind of walking (you're welcome for that).

So today I wanted to chill a bit while still seeing stuff...my last day here and all... AND I had to do the flipping laundry with flipping European washing machines and dryers that take 9 hours to do one load. So I had to keep running up to the flat to check on it... I had a bit of a leash today...

But that wasn't bad either. I wandered the market on Las Ramblas... The crazy High Street shops at Plaza Catalunya... A few more Gaudí buildings... the beach and the beach again... and just wandering around the teensy alleys in the Barrio Gotic where I'm staying. Wicked!!! And I ate... and ate... and ate... More tapas, goat cheese, veggie paella, and a bit more vermouth. And one more espresso and chocolate croissant...

And that leads us to now...mas o menos...

And the never ending laundry...

And then the packing... so now you're *really* jealous of me! Just wait till tomorrow... I'll get to report on wrong side driving!