Barthelona

My arrival in Spain has marked a different segment to my travels. In France, I had everything planned to the minute, and I´d done so much research, that I had a list of what to do. As far as Barcelona goes, all I knew was I had a place to stay (I didn´t really know where), there are some cool buildings by Gaudi, and they lisp their "s" sounds. That´s hard to get used to if you learned South American Spanish. Therefore, these few days were less about sight-seeing, and more about being in a cool city. Luckily, I´d met up with a friend who knew some people. A friend of a friend of a friend owns a chain of restaurant/bars in the city, and we managed to get the hook up.
These bar owners are all Irish ex-pats, and have built up a sizable Irish contingent in Barcelona. I felt like I was back home at the Olde Sod. tear. Many of the Irishmen sitting at the bar, when asked, didn´t know any of the owners in Ireland, but now that they´re together in Spain, they´ve gravitated over. It was pretty funny actually. One elderly man (it was whispered) even had some legendary affiliations to the revolts back in Ireland.
They all had the famed friendliness of the Irish, and we didn´t have to pay for anything either night we were there. It was nice to be able to feel at home a little bit, and have some beer with some cool folks.
I don´t have many pictures of Barcelona, unfortunately, because within the first few minutes of arrival, from the train to the apartment, we witnessed two pickpocketings, and then another one on the walk home. It made me realize how lax I had been in France (where I never felt in danger once) regarding the safety of my belongings. Here it´s a different story. Apparently, the officials rarely do anything worse than a slap on the wrist, if you´re even caught. Some of the thieves seemed to get a sick sense of enjoyment out of it. Therefore, I would put 20 euro in my front pocket, and nothing else, before I would head out of the apartment. That way I´d have nothing to steal, including my camera. It does mean I have no pictures. I snapped a few when I took a quick tour of Gaudi buildings, but I didn´t want to wait 45 minutes and pay 9 euro to get in, so they´re only of the outside.
After two days of relaxing by the Mediterranean, I can see why so many people relocate here. I don´t think Barcelona proper is my pace, but somewhere close by could be very enjoyable. And Sangria and tapas everyday, followed by a siesta is something else I could get used to!

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