Barcelona 2010: arrival

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THis was our second trip to Spain but our first to Barcelona, a city I have always wanted to visit!
Our flights were fine, on time and non-eventful. We left MPLS at 7:20 pm and flew to Chicago, and overnight to Heathrow. From Heathrow it was a few hours to BCN. We treated ourselves to a taxi since we didn't know the metro system, we had luggage, and it was getting dark out.

So it was actually Friday the 19th by the time we arrived in Barcelona, and there was no one there to let us in our apartment. It was dark and I started out looking for a phone booth. ( I speak Spanish and my husband doesn't!)I stopped in a little paper store and she directed me to one, but it didn't say how much to pay. I stopped in the pharmacy and she told me there was a locutorio (internet and phones) somewhere on our street but I couldn't find it. Finally a lady in a lottery store agreed to call the number I had and say that we had arrived. When I got back to the apartment Pat had been let in by some other tenants, and the guy who was supposed to meet us was just coming into the lobby.

Our apartment was on the 4th floor (5th) and 100 steps up. There was a tiny elevator I never took. The rental guy reminded me of Charles Grodin, deadpan and not at all friendly. The apartment was big and clean - it was an upgrade from our original apartment so it was lots bigger. For some reason our original one was not available and we got this at the same price. It was a great location and VERY quiet at night.

We headed to the little grocery store open 23 hours a day and stocked up on water and some food for the next day, and went to bed.

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