Arriving in Barcelona, Spain 10/09

Rob & Jen - Barcelona for 4 days, then onto a royal Caribbean 8-day Mediterranean cruise, a DreamTrip with World Ventures.

Email excerpt to my son Rio, who is now 13 yoa:

"The flight was good, not THAT impressive on British Air, but it was nice. Watched movies, slept, etc.  Then at London Heathrow for a few hours - wow that's a NICE airport! I know you will see it, as it's a major hub for Europe, and we'll be back!   Then boring sleep flight to Barcelona. We then caught a bus to a nearby square after calling the girl with the apartment keys. No problem finding it - of course walking involved, but that's normal for Europe. Once again so grateful we pack light, following our One Bag rule, with just one carry-on bag only per person, plus either a day pack or large purse.

So far the little we saw looks a lot like Rome to me, as far as the shops, streets, cars, etc.  And much in Spanish and English, no big deal. We meant to go eat after we arrived, it was only 9:30 pm, but we were sooooo tired that we just had jerky and pretzels for dinner and went to sleep. And honestly, the dinner was GOOD and  surprisingly satisfying! Meat and bread for dinner, really, just both dried out, ha ha.

We are off for our Segway tour of the city.  Heard it was a blast, I'm excited. Then to an outdoor market nearby to buy some fresh fruits and veggies etc, as we do have a small fridge and 2-burner stove. Oh, and a toaster oven. It's about the tiniest kitchen one can still call a kitchen, it's a stovetop behind the front door with 3 cabinets and a sink, and all appliances you'd plug in (toaster oven, water pot for hot water, coffee pot, etc) are stowed away until you need them because there's NO COUNTER. It's not a room, or even a corner, it's the hallway one walk through when you enter the apt. Literally, if one opens the front door while cooking, the cook will get bonked in the butt by the front door!  Oh, it's just like the sink in our Rome apt, but imagine 2 hot burners where last time we had a little metal counter to put dishes. That's IT. Pretty funny, but it will do the job!.............

LATER SAME DAY:

We did the Segway tour, it was about 3 hours of many things around Barcelona. The Olympics were here in 1992, so they made some nice areas for it along the waterfront. But even though it's on the ocean, and even though it has a beach that they MADE for the Olympics that they still have, it's not at all a "beach" city. No waterfront feel to it at all. Sort of like how there was not "river" feel in Rome... As the tour guide there said, the "city turned it's back on the river and pretended it wasn't there."  Here the ocean view is not really very nice, and there aren't ocean sports to be found other than sailing. No "beach shops," etc.  

Those Segway machines are a BLAST to ride, OMG!!! Lots of cities have them, so we will rent them somewhere in the future. They are like being on a magic carpet. You don't actually have to touch anything to make them go, stop, and reverse, you just lean to do that. Sort of like leaning a bit into ones toes, then back into one's heels, but no more than when you start walking from standing (as he noted, you lean forward to do this). You really only touch one handle to turn left/right. The two handles are just to keep one's balance. People smiled and stared all over town, as here Segways are equal to $10,000, so very few people have one, as you can get a car for that!  In the US, Segways are about $5K. Rob was saying he wants to get one within the first 10 mins. I said, "Great, but nowhere to ride them in Phoenix, just like scooters." They'd be pretty darn cool in San Diego though  :-)  

Then we had gelato, then tapas, which are the little snacks so famous in Spain. It's like we eat at home at times!  A little bit of cheese, salamis,a little bit of bread, a few olives maybe, some tiny sandwiches cut into bite size, etc. Grazing, really. Little plates that you keep ordering until you are full.  It was fun to be in a place that has been open since 1928. Father and son work there. Father speaks Spanish, so we had a lively conversation learning a lot about them. Like in Italy, you can eat standing at a counter, no big deal. I wonder why we don't do this more in the US? What's with everyone sitting down, except at bars, where people stand when it gets busy and no bar stools left.

Then we napped! Still a bit jet-lagged, but gotta hit the market before it closes."