Hola!

It’s Friday now in Barcelona, and I’m hoping to finish today’s episode before collapsing into bed! Definitely time for a nap!

Up around 7 and ready to go about 8:30 a.m. Another truly lovely day! We’re sleeping at night with both sets of French doors open on to the balcony, and it’s perfect sleeping weather! As I have been unable to get tickets to Sunday’s Barcelona/Deportivo game on-line, I figured that we would go to Camp Nou and see what we could find! Took the 43 bus directly there; let us off right in front of the stadium! Walked 50 feet and there was an open ticket window! Three minutes, one credit card and one passport later, we’ve got tickets to the game! SOOOOOO excited! While Juve (Juventus) of Torino, Italy has always been my favorite soccer team, Barca has always run a close second. And now to see them play at Camp Nou – wow; doesn’t get much better than that! Of course I’m also going to have to get a jersey…and a scarf…

From Camp Nou we headed directly to Park Guell, Gaudi’s incredibly interesting but ill-fated housing experiment, which has been turned into a park. Some wonderful Gaudi sculptures; two amazing buildings (I LOVE his chimneys!). Problem was, everybody else on the bus wanted to go to Park Guell too! Talk about a scrum…unreal how that bus driver got all of those people up the hill safely, but he did! We’ve decided that we now know the Spanish equivalent to Italy’s Spanish Steps – and it’s Park Guell! Whew, what a madhouse, especially when we had tour groups from the latest ships in port all over the place. Walked through the park and then downhill and back to the bus. Headed back to the flat to have a bit of a rest, and put the tickets away safely.

Out again about 2 down to La Rambla. Very interesting area, especially the Botega market area. Lots and lots of lovely fruits and veggies, meats, fish and flowers. R bought some beautiful cherries for a terrific price, and has been enjoying them ever since! Stopped for some lunch at a little bistro along the street. R had pizza marguerita and I had a tomato and mozzarella salad; both good! Also stopped for some groceries – bread, more water and laundry detergent…tomorrow is hopefully going to be washing day!

Met the Zappalas and Hilary at 7:45 p.m. at Bar Mut just off Diagonal, but they were booked solid for the evening! Decided to walk until we found something, and ended up at Cerueseria d’Or, a basic tapas restaurant. What a great spread! We had: fried artichokes, chorizo sausage, calamari, green beans with shrimp, sautéed mushrooms, mussels, and my very favorite – fried potatoes with aioli – YUM! All washed down with a couple of bottles of local white wine. Everything was great; really a fun evening! (Also were able to watch the Barca victory parade and rally at Camp Nou – the place was packed, and it seemed like everybody was enjoying celebrating their winning the Spanish league championship!)

From there we walked down Gracia until we found an Italian gelato place, where everybody but Robert indulged…oh well! Then we found our bus back to the flat, and Zappalas and Hilary took a cab back to their hotel.

They’re going to treat us to an anniversary lunch tomorrow – 29 years; can you believe it?! So, we’re meeting them at one. Then, in the evening, we’re going to a concert of Spanish music at the Palau de musica Catalan – my very favorite, Rodrigo’s concerto de Andeluz as well as Bizet’s Carmen (suite) as well as some de Falla! Should make for an interesting day; will just need to make sure we get naps in the afternoon!

More later! Lots of love!
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