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Nancy and Lynn
On our apratment Balcony-BarcelonaDAY 0
After much planning and even more anticipation, we left for JFK at 2pm on Thursday the 8th. We knew we were in for some added excitement when the livery driver drove past our exit on 91, and, realizing it was the one we needed to take, proceeded to slam on the brakes and BACK UP on 91 to get on said exit.
We were so fortunate that Lynn decided she would take the front seat, as Khan, the driver, really enjoyed her company. So much so, that he spent half the time looking at her in stead of the road. AND….now we know that he really thinks Bangkok is a REALLY good deal in terms of vacation spots. Unfortunately (or rather quite luckily) Trish and I missed the first hand details on that story.
We made it to JFK in record time, and with a short delay, took off with little fanfare. We made quite a sight, all three of us in a row with our different colored neck pillows. Other than 3 somewhat odd fellows in front of us, and Lynn’s seat refusing to recline, it was pretty much an uneventful flight. Little
did we know that things were about to become a little less calm…..
DAY 1
Day 1 found us arriving in Barcelona 9am their time. We were all holding up fairly well, considering the fact that none of us got very good nights sleep. (Kind of hard to when they wake you up 2 hours prior to landing….don‘t want you to miss the stale croissant and box-o-juice!) Holding up well until……dum…dum….dum….the PHONE!!!!!!!!!!
After picking up our luggage, we had been directed to call a number to get instructions regarding locating our rental apartment. One would think that 3 women, all educated and gainfully employed, would be able to carry out such a task. The first challenge was to actually LOCATE a phone. Once done, we then needed local coins to WORK the phone. Trish bit the bullet and paid 3 Euros for a pack of gum, leaving us with some coins to use. I will spare you the description of the stress-filled minutes that followed. Suffice to say that the Australian tourist, who had our best interests at heart and was only trying to help, really, will get over the experience sooner or later.
Once we actually made telephone contact (between getting cut off 3 times) we were told to take a taxi to Plaza Palau. They would be “watching for us to arrive.” I may have forgotten to mention that we landed to find the previous weeks’ 90 degree sunshine had decided to go on vacation during ours! It was rainy and maybe mid-60’s. With a forecast of much of the same for many, many more days…
Anyway, the three of us, luggage and all, found ourselves at Plaza Palau, looking for someone who was” watching for us”. Other than a couple of permanent residents of the plaza and a couple of pigeons, there was no one watching for us. There was, however, another dreaded payphone. This time, sans assistance from our kindly well-intentioned fellow traveler, I was able to make the call on the first try. With some vague directions in hand, we headed towards a small square off the plaza, and were met by a young lad from the Netherlands. He brought us to our apartment, which was a couple of streets in from the plaza.
From the start, the area we were in felt very much like
Soho in NYC- very funky, somewhat gritty and understated, trendy, and quite happening. The front of our building (and most of the others around us) was not all that impressive- the stairs up to the apartment even less so. The apartment itself was beautiful-very rustic and European.
Here are some additional photos of the area.
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