Ok... Had a great couple of days in Barcelona.
Discovered I'm not a big fan of Gaudí's architectural style.
I prefer the symmetry of more traditional styles,i.e. Gothic.
But, I leave the Catalan city that little bit more knowledgeable.

Here are a few pics... now that iCloud is working again. siriala, I hope you are seeing this. You know how bad I am with posting pics afterward! :)

I'll apologize straight away for the size, which I cannot control it appears...

( piccies here...Collapse )

On my 2nd day in Spain, we had a lovely breakfast at our B&B and set off up the coast to visit little towns. We came upon Sant Pol de Mar. So pretty... Why I don't have the pics on here, despite the fact that my phone is on icloud escapes me, but it is revealing of the kind of day I had.

Still a bit crewed up with the 6-hr time zone change AND the different eating habits of the Spaniards - they eat breakfast 9:30-11:00, lunch @ 3-4pm and dinner @ 9-10pm. Here's me with my new eating habits trying not to go for long periods between food (eat less, more often). During the day, I tried nibbling on fruit, drank loads of water, but on the whole, did not really have a meal until 9pm. Not a good plan. I was ravenous. I had these traditional toast with olive oil & garlic (which I had to rub on myself) and fresh tomatoes. I don't do well with raw tomatoes at the best of times, but hunger & survival took over. Washed this down with white wine & water. Then I had my main meal which consisted of black cod in a ratatouille kind of mix (aubergines, tomatoes, onions, etc). It tasted very nice, but I felt the fish could have been cooked more. I ate it anyway. BIG MISTAKE.

I felt so ill all night, I couldn't sleep and I could feel the contents of my stomach fester. I decided there was only one solution to this @3:42am, I forced myself to throw up. I should have done this sooner. So though I felt somewhat better, there was still part of my meal which had begun its slow descent into my digestive track and was not about to come back. So pain persisted and I felt like I wanted to die. The next morning came and I was still feeling like crap, dizzy and generally miserable. I didn't get up for breakie. I asked for hot water or a weak tea. I was given chamomile tea! 2 bags to boot.

I forced myself to get up @ 11:40, we had to check out by noon and be on our way to Barcelona. I'm not a usually weak person. With my 5'7" solid fame, I generally move about with purpose. You should have seen me, I felt frail, like a porcelain doll that would shatter in pieces at the slightest touch. My head was not cooperating no doubt due to lack of proper food, sleep, heat, whatever.

We stopped on the way for dry toast (melba types) and a soft drink for energy. I was feeling a little better, then again, all I had to do was sit and read sign posts while the hubster drove. So we arrive in Barcelona on the busiest of streets! DIAGONAL, aptly named because it crosses the city diagonally. This makes reading cross streets a little difficult at a driving pace. No way to slow down amidst the unending plethora of cars, scooters weaving in & out, buses, taxis, etc. We got not so much lost as trapped on this never-ending artery which kept posting straight ahead signs. You could'nt turn left or right off of this fucker. There you are in a rental car which is clearly identified as such thanks to the ORANGE sticker on the back. A marked car. An easy target for the less than honest of this world.

So when we decided to turn off anyway, we went left, right, left... and this was no small feat to accomplish seeing as everyone is busily weaving their own way. At one point, this scooter was so close, my hubby thought he'd hit our rear wing. And weirdest thing, he followed our same manoeuvre. So minutes after, we had a FLAT TIRE.
Thank God we'd made it off the main drag, onto the side road, still parallel to it. Or so we thought. Hubster was reaching breaking point, he was already pissed off at the traffic signs. He steps out of the car and immediately sets to work on changing the tire. His window fully open. I took the keys from the car and stood by my door, also with my window wide open, but with my eyes on the floor content, my handbag within another bag, surrounded with glass cases, iPad, chargers... You get the pic.

While hubby is cursing and lifting the car up, another car approaches and the driver screams at us "mecanico, mecanico" waving his hand and telling us to get help. "Don't need it," says my hubby. While he was getting our attention, another fella on the other side of the car leans in and tries to grab my bag. Quicker than him, I scream "Hey" and reach in and hold my bag. He recants and walks away, with his hand in his pocket. At this point my hubby turns to look and realizes that it's the same scooter guy who was on so close to us. Yep, he slit our tire and then was waiting for us to stop and do his sting. I never saw the other car leave. But it was over in a second. Then some ladies are trying to tell us that we'd been robbed, but at this point, we weren't sure if they were trying to help or distract us some more. Like a professional car racing team, my hubby had the spare on, threw the slit tire and all equipment in the back and we left, shaken AND stirred.

Luckily, instead of removing our bags from the back of the car, Rob in his anger shoved our bags forward right up to the seats and was able to lift the panel hiding the spare. That saved him getting his duffle robbed b/c it was squeezed so tight between the big bags and the driver seat. The scooter/pickpocket guy tried but couldn't get his hand in, which is when he went for mine. I was lucky there. Everything is in my handbag: passport, money, credit cards, phone...

We immediately found the rental car drop off (we were so close) and took a cab to our hotel. I still felt like shit through all this. In fact, it's 1-2am now and I'm sitting in bed typing my story... a story about food, a story about indigestion, a story about a sting.

Not what I was expecting as my first impression of Barcelona.

So seeing as I don't have my pics to post, I'll include one incredibly sweet take of Tom.

So pleased to see that face again. Have to see this movie, Parkland.

• Cirque du Soleil "Love" show (Tribute to the Beatles)


• Frank Marino's "Divas" show (Drag Queens impersonating singers)


• David Alan Grier at the Improv


• shopping day at some out-of-town outlets


• driving to the Grand Canyon (and back)


• visiting various Casinos (shops, piano bars, bistros) including Fremont St (OMG!!!)


• NOT going into MGM's Hakkasan Night Club (long lines, beautiful people, not me)


• NOT going to eat at Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill in Ceasar's Palace ($22 for bangers n mash, no thanks)


• walking up and down the Strip (an eye-opening exercise in itself)


• lazying around the resort pool (oh yeah)


• gambling a whole $5 and leaving with $100 (yeah, baby)