Monday, June 15, 2009

BARCELONA, DAY 1



I am really not sure how I want to go about telling you the story, so I will start at the very beginning...a very good place to start. After leaving home at 4:30 PM Friday afternoon for our trip to Logan Int Airport for an 8:00 Lufthansa flight to Munich and then a 2 hour layover and then a two hour flight to Barcelona and then a short taxi ride we arrived here...the Hotel Regencia Colon. It is now 2:30 Spain time and we have been up for 27 hours at this point and knew that if we so much as laid our heads down we would be dead to the world and our internal clocks would be screwed up for the entire 9 days...or was it eight days by this time? So, we got a map from the front desk and off we went. We were staying in the Gothic section of town aka the old part and once we saw the huge Cathedral in the square we knew that we would be able to use this landmark to find our way back. No bread crumbs required.

I have to say that I think Barcelona was my favorite, OK second favorite, place we visited. There is a lovely vibrancy about the city and a pleasant juxtaposition of the old, the austere and the new. We walked until 8:30 with a break for a dinner in the square where I unwound with 2 glasses of wine. I am such a floozy while on vacation, lol.

The next morning we got up about 8:30 and went out to find coffee for me. We found a cafe, which it turns out is a chain, but who cares, we are in Spain. The menus have pictures, no need to get that rusty High School Spanish out at this point, but the waitress spoke not a word of English. I had cappucino and a croissant with a cream filling. Quite tasty and I learned by much trial and error that the Spanish word for Sweet and Low is ...drum roll please...saccarina.

We went for another walk in a different direction and found that the Cathedral, which is under construction from the side you see from the Square, has a back entrance with an enormous courtyard. Very beautiful. My new banner is a picture from the courtyard...so very mossy and green. We have many pictures of the Cathedral, alas many Cathedrals throughout Europe, but this is not a travelogue about the great Cathedrals of Europe or the many tourist attractions one expects to see. This is the story of a middle aged couple experiencing the cities we visited in the most stree free way possible. We made a pact before we left that we would each choose something we wanted to see in each place and just relax. So most of the pictures I have chosen from the over 1,000 are of windows, doors and fun things that will always remind me of the trip. So, get the wine and sit back and enjoy Installment #1, aka Barcelona.


Apparently some kind of political statement
The cathedral


Entrance to the Boqueria...all things food

Wonderful bakeries all over the Mediterranean







One of our sons manages a Pizza Hut so we take pictures of them whenever we travel


I find these living statues a bit creepy, but apparently this street ( Las Ramblas( is known for them. Some are quite good and some are cheesy...you decide







That's all for tonight folks. I will finish Day1 in Barcelona tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. Oh! I am loving this tour. We have talked about traveling to Spain. This is great! I am not a fan of the living statues -lol.
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  2. good thing my passport is current! i love your barcelona. it appears very empty- or were you just careful with the shots? somehow i expected more people. anyway, you got the important things: architectural detail and food!! so glad you were able to unwind comfortably! was the bed comfy? did you adjust to the time diff? jkj

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  3. You did the right thing the first day, just keep going and then collapse in their time zone, it's the only way!! Didn't the bed feel fabulous after being on your feet so long?

    Great tour of the city - thanks for sharing and looking forward to more.

    Love your banner pic.

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  4. I am so lovingthis tour Janet...as I told you on FB, I So want to go here...to see the places in the Med. The colors, the life...oh my.
    Just seeing your photos makes my heart race!
    I am so happy you got to be there and experience it all...thank you for sharing it with us!

    Love,
    Sue

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  5. How wonderful Janet! My favorite picture (besides your banner!) is of the brighter pink building with all of the ironwork - this is my favorite thing to see when I'm in new places!! Just beautiful! Can't wait to see more....

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  6. Who ever took your photo's has a very good eye for the perfect shot. Your trip looked amazing and brought back good memories of barcelona and capri for me. Take care Steve S.

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  7. Hello Janet. I saw Mary's praise of your blog and so came over to see your wonderful tour adventure posts! I am soooooo glad I did!

    Love your "stress free" decision about traveling, which would suit my hubby and me to a T.

    The photos are beautiful and interesting, and your commentary is delightful. In fact, I will add you to the sidebar on my blog so I can keep up with your future posts.

    Sara in SoCal

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Thanks,
Janet