If you haven't been online with us for the past couple of days then you'll want to make sure you read the December 29th entry prior to reading this one!
Had a wonderful day in Barcelona today!! What an amazing city and a great place to kick off what is sure to be a fantastic year.
Last night as I was finishing off the blog entry I was literally falling asleep doing it. LOL.....today is a much better day :-)
Both Lynda and I slept like the dead so are both switched over the local time zone and ready for action. Were awakened this morning (thank goodness!) by mom and Karen (my sister) at 9:00 as they were worried we would miss the complimentary breakfast that finishes at 10:00 a.m. Boy oh boy....are we ever glad they woke us up!!! What an amazing breakfast it was. There was a full Spanish style table with everything from cold fritatta and prociutto ( I have no idea if that is spelled right-sorry)to olives and palm hearts. There was every kind of french pastry on another table, another table full of american style breakfast foods, and still another one with just different kinds of freshly baked bread. On top of that there were at least half a dozen different kinds of juice and well....you get the picture. We figure it was just a teaser for what is still to come cuz....oh yea....I guess I haven't mentioned it yet....we're heading out in the morning to catch a boat that will take us on a 12 day Mediterranean cruise. I'll leave the ports of call for later blogs and just concentrate on today's events on this one though.
After our AMAZING breakfast (and the best shower we've seen in quite a while) our group of 9 tried to hire a van that I would be designated as driver for but....alas...or perhaps I should say thankfully....there was no answer at the rental company so that option was out of the running. Our next attempt was to hire a 9 passenger taxi van to take us on a 3 hour tour but that was just too expensive and they would only be able to take 8 of us! They wanted 360 Euros (almost $600 CAD) so further discussion was required. In the end our group decided to split up into a group of 6 and another one of 3. The 3 planned to take a taxi to the red tram where they'd be able to see fantastic views of the entire city and the rest of us decided to hire a 6 passenger taxi van to take us by a couple of places and to drop us at the famous pedestrian street, La Rambla.
Our driver, Rafael, turned out to be another iteration of the guy Lynda and I found in Toluca two years ago (Jesus)! We had the best driver, the best tour, and the best time we could have hoped for!!! Rafael quoted us only 75 Euros for the trip and ended up spending almost 2 full hours driving us around AND giving us a full review of where we were going and what we were seeing. Mind you....it was all in Spanish but lucky for us....Rafael speaks both Mexican Spanish as well as Catilan (again...sorry about the spelling) Spanish so Lynda and I got to practice our Spanish as translators and as luck would have it....Rafael had just enough English and we had just enough Spanish that it all worked out perfectly! :-)
Our tour first took us past Gaudie's church, Sagrada Familia, where Karen found her first cache of the day and her second since our arrival in Barcelona. The cache that was near Gaudie's church was also her first cache of 2011 so memorable by many accounts. By the end of today....she would have found 7 Spanish cache's in total! A little trivia that you may not be aware of.....the term gawdy, as in gawdy clothes or a gawdy decor, comes from the architect, Gaudie of Barcelona so it made it even more interesting to see his work....which is by the way.....very gawdy!
Gaudie's house was next on the tour and we found it also to be interesting and more of the same style as his church.
I have to include here that our tour with Rafael was so much like Jesus of Toluca!!! Every time we arrived at another location worthy of our time and photos...Rafael would stop the cab as close as he could get to the front door, even if it was right on the street, and let us out to take our pictures and enjoy the views. Rafael would dust the car until our return 10 or 15 minutes later at which time we would all load back in and take off for our next destination.
Rafael was quite taken with mom....he said she was so young and beautiful and I think its pretty fair to say that he quite enjoyed touring us around. Today was the perfect day for us to tour. It is possibly the only day of the year when pretty much everyone and everything is closed so we were able to drive places that a vehicle cannot normally navigate because of the simple numbers of people and shops that block the roads. As well....the fact that there was really no traffic we were able to zip around the roads in record time and see twice as many things as normal in the time that we had.
After the Gaudie house we were off to the historic/gothic part of the city and once again Rafael was able to take us right to the heart of the place. We drove down skinny little streets, many of which are so narrow that it doesn't look like the van would fit but it does and no scratches either! The streets are as narrow as 6 feet so you can get a bit of an idea of how tiny they are. Doorways are short, buildings are right up to the edge of the road (ie: no sidewalks at all), everyone hangs their laundry out on their tiny balcony, and all in all....it is like walking (or driving) into a picture out of a history book. In the historic district we saw the cathedral and the aquaduct that brought all the fresh mountain water into the old city. Before we left the historic district, Rafael even backed his van into one of the skinniest streets of all so we could take a photo of the vehicle in the lane....he really was a great guy! As we were driving down the crowded streets, he would even reach out his hand to pat the head of a little kid walking by the van or call out of the open car window to his friends in other taxis to have a nice day....something that we were surely all enjoying!
Our final stop with Rafael was at the bottom end of La Rambla where there is a statue of Christopher Columbus. As we said good bye and thank you to him he gave each of us a kiss on both cheeks in true European fashion.....gracias Rafael for a wonderful couple of hours!!
Ambling up La Rambla was really vibrant and alive with people. Even so....we could all imagine what it would look like to see it on a day when all the shops would be open and the number of people magnified tenfold. It really would be a sight to see...maybe next time we're here :-)
We made our way back to the hotel via the Arc del Triomp and through a couple of parks. One of the things we've all been impressed by here is the fact that there are commuter bikes everywhere for people to use. People purchase a card (kind of like a phone card) from the little corner stores and then swipe it on the machine beside a long row of red and white bikes. Swiping their card unlocks the next bike in the row and when they return their bike to any other bike location that they want to drop it off at, they swipe their card again and it automatically takes the correct amount off of their card. Very good idea....there are so many people here that use them and simply so many people that I guess they can afford to have that many bikes available at so many locations for them to access.
Another thing we've been so impressed by (and a little confused) is that there are NO cell phones in sight. Not one person on the streets is using one and there are thousands of people. We have no idea what has happened. The last time Lynda was here...everyone was on a cell.....any time I've ever been anywhere in Europe...everyone is on a cell.....it's really weird. Will have to ask the reason...maybe they've passed a law???? They're not even texting....there are just no cell phones! Europe is a few years ahead of North America though....maybe this is what we have to look forward to?! :-)
Back at the hotel and after a little nip (in the form of a Rusty Nail)...Lynda, Karen and I headed back down to La Rambla for dinner where we enjoyed pizza, paella, and sangria...yum yum!
And of course...there had to be a crazy end to this unforgettable first day of the year.....our taxi driver back to the hotel after dinner was a great guy from Portugal. Actually,,,,he was pretty quiet until the music in the car came on and Lynda started to dance and sing. He joined right in and I even have proof in the form of a photo of the two of them dancing (yes...that means no hands on the wheel) while he is driving down the main streets amidst the traffic and the pedestrians at speeds beyond those posted.....it was as unforgettable as the rest of the day and ran a close second to riding in the bed of a pick up truck in Mexico!
What a day!!! Full of fun, laughter and learning with all the new sights and sounds. Tomorrow will be another one when we board our boat, the Norwegian Jade, for our Mediterranean cruise.
Till next time,
L & L
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