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Community Recycling
Big bins that everyone puts their recycling inUp early to get ready for our trip to Beauvais and flight to Barcelona. We did a test run on the Metro last night just to make sure we knew our way around and how long it would take us. Packed and out the door at 7:25, down the street and around the corner to the Metro. One train, 3 stops, another train 3 stops and we arrived at Gare du Nord at 7:52. Train leaves at 8:50 so plenty of time for a pastry and coffee. Had a German sounding fellow frantic to find someone who spoke English. I said I did and he promptly told a story of everything being stolen and asked for 5 Euros to help him out. I decided that should the same thing ACTUALLY happen to me I would hope someone would help. I gave him the money….no clue if he was legit but I felt better having helped.
Found the platform, it said Beauvais but we weren't sure we believed it. A nice gentleman said yes this was the train for Beauvais. We promptly walked on to the the First Class car 😊 Whoops, that is not the class of service we paid
Barcelona Harbor
lovely harbor walk for so left and walked down further. The car we chose happened to be the same car as the nice gentleman. We sat across the aisle and he instructed us in French to put our luggage in the designated area. We sat for a bit and then he asked to see our ticket…I showed him one…he asked for the other….THEN GOT UP AND LEFT THE TRAIN WITH THEM!! He did ask for us to watch his portfolio on his seat. We grimaced/second guessed what he was up to but back he came and explained that he validated our ticket. Showed us where it was now imprinted and tickets were validated. Shame on us for being concerned 😊 Also had a great young man behind us who helped us get the right bus from Beauvais to the Airport. We then looked at the departure screen together and determined we needed Terminal 2 and he was good at Terminal 1. Thank goodness for friendly folks that helped us throughout our stay in Paris.
Ryanair has an interesting approach. Name the BIG CITY on your online reservation system and then in small print add the actual city. Makes for having to leave
Barcelona Street
lots of cool streets to wander down earlier and arrive later as the airports they use are about 1 hour away from the actual city. No harm as between the train/bus fares and their air fares you are still ahead.
Barcelona is hot. The apartment is perfect, Eduardo is the consummate host and gave us the run down of the city along with many dining spots he recommends. We are off to try Cal Pep, recommended by the Shannon's and a walk around this city. Eduardo says you can walk the whole city in an hour!!! We shall see 😊 We left the apartment with the general idea of the location we needed to reach and set out. We are getting good at finding our bearings and just winging it. We were on the right path and end in the Gottic district. Very cool streets and shops. Couldn't resist a gelato. Asked a delightful shop keep if they new Cal Pep and she directed us straight there. We were off by a couple of streets and 5 minutes. Oh boy, what a dinner. Tapas….many, often and delish. Started with toasted bread with tomatoe & olive oil spread then deep fried artichoke and prosciutto, chick peas, spinach
and pork sautéed in garlic & olive oil, croquetes de pollster (potato & chicken deep fried) and egg omelette, botifarra con foi (sausage & foi) with beans, bread, blueberry sorbet. No menu here, they ask if you have any food allergies or things you don't like and then they just make up what they want. We, meaning me, decided no seafood. The waiter explained that they had very limited meat options….2 to be exact. Great ambience and the service was outstanding. Definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Barcelona. Good thing we could walk off all that dinner. Time to get the feet up and cool them off for tomorrow. Love this city already.
A lazy morning waiting for Duane and Derek to arrive at 11. Promptly went across the street and got coffee and a pastry 😊 Decided to walk from our apartment to an area we had not been. Loved the streets and the market. Drank the local fruit smoother, at pistachio filled dates, fresh figs and fruit salad. Saw some pretty gross looking items but they locals seem to like them. Walk more and then had amazing gelato!!! Coconut and Dulce de leche for me, Trev
Barcelona Street
so many cool lanterns had pistachio and vanilla, I think Derek had coconut and chocolate and Duane was pistachio and ??? Duane headed off on a local bike to get the car. Locals can pay an annual fee to access the bikes that are scattered around the city and go from point A to point B. You can use for 30 minutes and then you have to put it back for 10. Great idea. Paris and London had this same type of thing but for tourists. We kept walking with Derek guiding the way and Duane picked us up and we headed to Sagrada Familia. What an amazing building. Walked a bit more and decided to buy stuff for lunch and take it to the park nearby. Derek & Trev were on main course duty and Duane and I were on dessert duty. Delightful repast with 2 great guys. They dropped us back at our apartment where we immediately wilted in the heat and humidity and had a siesta 😊 They recommended we go the opposite direction on the street we are on and we would find some interesting sites.
Amazing to feel so comfortable in all the cities we have been in
Barcelona Square
Many squares and plazas so far. We have not see any of the pick pockets we were cautioned about. I'm sure it is happening but it isn't obvious.
Took off walking again and went to the Gottic district. We happened on this the first night and enjoyed it so went back. Found a delightful restaurant in a plaza with front row people watching seats! Sat there for a long while and enjoyed a light dinner. Salad, Country Bread (delis - hard crust, soft melt in your mouth center), croquettes - ham, traditional Sangria, Trev had to try their creme brûlée and I of course had something chocolaty! Nice leisurely stroll back to our apartment - took about 20 minutes. Now comes the trick of trying to be still so it doesn't feel so hot. Apartment doesn't have air conditioning but has several fans so we are good.
Oh no, Trev is sick...stuffed head, aching jaw and no sleep. Left him this morning and went to find breakfast. Had a lovely cafe con leche and pastry and brought him back 4 shots of espresso! Still feeling gross so I went to meeting with Duane on my own. A 90+ year couple have meeting
in there apartment and we were 16 in all. Duane interpreted as the others were speaking. You could feel what they were saying by their facial expression and body language. Singing in a foreign language is fun. I knew the tunes. So wonderful to feel the love and openness on the other side of the world. There are 3 meetings here in Barcelona. We leave before gospel meeting so said goodbye to Duane but not before we stopped at a pharmacy and picked up some ibuprofen & sinus tablets for Trev. I was glad of Duane's help.
Trev's really liking this city and wants to put it on the return list! Time to pack up and take the Metro to the airport. This is our first time with the Metro system here so let's hope it goes without a hitch.
Off to Nice......
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Donna
non-member comment
Barcelona
Thank you for taking us along! Really enjoyed your account of this delightful city. So nice you had time with Duane and Derek. You are getting some great "family" time. Hope Trevor is better for Nice.