Blogs from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 6

Although we were exhausted, both Alex and I found ourselves awake at 1 am sweating and unable to sleep. After a bit of flailing about the room in the dark with a phone flashlight we found the thermostat and put the air on. It did such a good job of cooling down the room neither of us wanted to get out from under the covers. Finally around 9:45 we drug our butts out and down to breakfast. Hilton offered a fantastic blend of local and US type breakfast foods. We both had huge plates of fruit. I rounded out my course with two churros and chocolate. While Alex went a more health conscious route. Energized, we snagged our stuff from the room and headed out. First stop off the day, Segrada Familia was a couple metro ... read more

Took our time getting up and having breakfast, because we weren't rushing for any particular bus into Barcelona, and anyway didn't know hlong the "10 minute walk to the bus stop" REALLY was. In the event it was only about 13, and we didn't have long to wait for the bus, which took about 25 minutes, and got us into the Plaza Catalunya about midday. First plan was to call in the TIO which was supposed to be in that square, to pick up a tourist map. Unfortunately the website seems to be out of date, as there's no sign of it, even standing on the precise spot it's supposed to be! If in doubt, grab a coffee. Then, after one more look for the phantom TIO, looked on a street newsstand for a map. 5€ ... read more

Today when we left the mountains there was a snowstorm blowing in. We got going as soon as possible because driving down the mountain in the snow sounded like as much fun as driving up in the dark. However, the snow quickly turned to rain and vanished all together with the quick drop in altitude. We were able to stop in a small town between Prada and Olette for coffee. It was definitely the center of the town. People in there nursing their morning expresso shots while the lunch crowd was starting on their first pint. Several people simply popped in to ask if so and so had been around. Transport to the bus station was slick and when we got into Barcelona we rented a couple of lockers and headed to La Rambla and St. ... read more

This will be our third transatlantic cruise and second westbound. It has been difficult trying to pre guess what the weather will be like whilst crossing the Atlantic. Another early start, as we wanted to get to the ship early to get a Posh Pass. Not holding out much hope, but being early will give us the best chance. This is a paid for pass to an exclusive luxury bathing area on the top deck. There is a kettle in the room but no tea or coffee, so no hot drinks to start the day. The first tough decision of the day. Last night, we ordered a taxi for our journey to the port. When we got out of the hotel, he was parked on the side of the road waiting for us. 15 minutes early. ... read more

I took spring cleaning to another level this year when I decided to pull myself out of my rut by starting to training for a 10K, this was to be the first time in 6 years that I tried to run anywhere. (And even then I ran four times and gave up) I coupled this training with quite an extreme no dairy, sugar, wheat diet and as you can imagine I started to see physical results quite quickly. The mental side was a whole other ball game. I started as many people do with the couch to 5K plan it’s a type of podcast that’s starts you slow 3 minutes walking 60 seconds of running and builds up over 9 weeks. Those first few weeks were some of the hardest of my life. I was battling ... read more