November 18th -19th

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Monday was still a grey day, but we needed to go out. We decided it would be perfect for the aquarium. I went out in the morning and got what we needed for meals. I do like wandering around the big markets. I'm so glad there is one just at the end of our street. Then we went out strolling in direction aquarium. La Rambla was still full of people, regardless of the dreary weather. The aquarium was fantastic. It's the largest salt water aquarium in the world. There are so many fish large and small that you truly feel you are with them under the sea. I particularly liked the rays. They had one tank that you could look over and then crawl under a tunnel and look under. Rays will come to the surface, turn sideways and ruffle their side through the air splashing water as the go. In almost all the tanks there was intact ecosystems with anemones, very large snails, coral and lots of plant life. I loved the different, bizarre looking sea horses. The best part was riding in the underwater glass tunnels on a wooden moving passageway. There is a tank that they have designed with a tube tunnel running in a loop inside the tank. The fish swim beside and above you. So that you don't walk into the next guy or stumble from not looking at your feet the whole thing has a sliding walk way. All you have to do is stand and gawk. Sharks, schools of very large fish, weird large sun fish, and many rays float, glide and shoot ahead and around you. For those of us who will never learn to dive or have the opportunity, this is the closest it gets to swimming under the sea. Loved every minute. We got outside to pouring rain. Jacob saw no reason to change our agreement now, so we did not take a metro and walked up the Rambla to home. There were not nearly so many people now, although have umbrella will travel is the motto here. We were offered many by the pedlars, as we made our way through the downpour, but our rain jackets stood up to the test.

The next day came with sun. We went back to the beach. This time the waves were high and the were tons of surfers riding. We sat and watched for ages. I find watching the rise and fall, chase of the curl, mad paddle to catch the crest all absolutely fascinating. Jacob gracefully told me that he would learn to surf so that I could watch him in the future, when I said it was something that I could never learn to do. We walked further up the beach and found a climbing structure that was strung with thick corded rope reminiscent of the Eiffel in shape. It was close to a work out centre built for common use on the beach and huge cement recliners made for anyone to relax in the sun. I relaxed, Jacob climbed ropes. We slowly made our way back through the Gothic quarter and found a restaurant after passing many others that offered a menu de Dia. The menu of the day offers you a narrow selection of first plato and then secundo, accompanied by bread, water, coffee, a half litre of wine, and dessert, at The Conch for 10€. We had traditional chicken croquettes in tomato sauce with salad. The croquettes are found on every tapas menu. Then I had calmar marinera, while Jacob had there version do hamburger and chips. The hamburger is spiced mildly and is solid meat with a thick layer of extremely good caramelized onion on top. We finished our meal with the regional specialty, Crema Catalonya. It is very like to crème brûlée, which is Jake and my favourite dessert. We rolled out of the restaurant and returned home to read, work on assignments and watch a movie. I'm not sure how Jacob will return to school when each day is: 2-4 hour field trip, math and reading in your pyjamas curled up in bed, and discussions about your learnings held over bubbling mineral water during three course meals at lovely restaurants. This is the life.

Good Night and Sweet Dreams

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Comments

[Darien]

I am loving your blog
Barcelona is indeed one of the beautiful cities on the world, in my opinion, and you are seeing things we didn't have time for - I am hoping to get back there again. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying it vicariously.

[GillStrange]

Thank you, I'm having fun writing, and we will find it difficult to leave, although we are excited for Turkey.