THE BEAUTIFUL BARCELONA ...

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Its really good to be here in Barcelona. I was so wiped out by the 'getting here', that I went to bed at 7pm and slept right through until now - it's 6.14am here.

No problem catching & changing trains to the Singapore Airport, none spending 5 hours there 'cause there's so much to do and passenger comfort is really well thought out. But 13 hours on a plane mostly filled with German people who seemed to think that the world revolved around them was not good. And by the time I arrived in Frankfurt Airport at 5.15am, there wasn't one part of me that was 'friends' with the other parts!

The weather was like the Frankfurt Airport (at -4deg) cold, grey and no 'heart' - just lots of S/Steel and glass and hardly any colour. The Frankfurt Airport appears not to believe in signs so people know where they are going. It's like they really would rather that these people would just go somewhere else.Nothing was open at that time in the morning and the one person who was there to meet the passengers, told me to¨just hang out¨ in the Transit Lounge until my plane went in the afternoon. No ATM´s, banks, anywhereto be seen and the Currency Exchange was closed.

The only cafe open would exchange American Dollars from my emergency hoard, and so I paid a very large amount for a small cup of (very good) coffee and a ham and cheese croissant.The only good thing about that was that the Germans don't appreciate the Yanks anymore than we do. I changed AM$20 and got back only Eu10.40! (and Aussie Dollars weren't on their list at all)!

At 11am, I started to worry because the 12.50 Air Iberian flight hadn't come up on the board. Was given so much conflicting information from various airport staff , my 'worrywort radar' went into overdrive. Everyone told me where to go, but none of it was right and I just got more tired walking from one level to another and up and down the unmarked corridors they would point to.

In the end, my guardin angel stepped in and I found the only two friendly German faces I'd seen all morning. In fact, they were like a young Laurel and Hardy duo. They looked on their flight lists and found the Air Iberia flight but couldn't immediately find which part of the Airport the plane was leaving from. However, they kept ringing around and eventually gave me very good instructions on where I really should be. In a whole other part of the Airport!!

The problem had started right back when I first arrived. Apparently, I should have been told to go through Immigration to get to this part, but because they thought I was in transit and I didn't have a Visa, I couldn't. Anyway this part of the Airport did have ATM's, restaurants, etc, I just didn't have time to make use of them. I only got to the Departure Lounge with 5 minutes to spare before boarding the Spanish flight but it was truly like the sun had come out again. There were signs (in Spanish and I could understand them), lots of excited voices (the normal Spanish way of talking) and colour and movement everywhere. It was only a 2hour flight and here I am - in Barcelona. I found my way to the Airport bus, found my way through the crowded streets carrying my (by now very heavy) bag, asked my way lots in Spanish and got good directions which I also understood. Hallelujah! Or perhaps that should be Ole!

So today after breakfast, I'm off to find where I can use my Cash Passport Card and 'discover' Gaudi, the main reason I came to Barcelona.

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