Back in Barcelona

Safely back in Barcelona, we still had an action-packed busy week before Hal, Mitzi and Brock left for the USA. After Pablo picked us up from the airport, Hal & Mitzi found that their hotel had not kept their booking! Luckily, Pablo knows how to argue long and determinedly and he got the hotel to put them up in a room in a different hotel for the night. The next day, unhappy with this hotel's service, we found them a different place and everyone was happier about the results anyway since the hotel was closer to our house and had a little kitchenette and living room. They said it felt like their little home away from home. Brock and Joel enjoyed the tiny swimming pool on the roof, too.

Everyone was pretty tired the next day and we just hung around, resting up and getting organised. As usual, the cuisine was excellent and we enjoyed our privileged 'booking' in the al fresco terrace at home.

Sunday was St. Paul and to celebrate, we all went to tour the Gaudi building called 'Casa Batlló'. You'll be able to see the pictures of our visit soon. Grandma wanted to invite us all out to eat to celebrate Pablo's Saint's day so after the tour of the 'freaky' architectural wonder (evaluation by the two younger members of the party) and a quick peak at the Ametller House we headed down Via Laetana towards the beach and our lunch destination. But on this scorching Sunday afternoon, Melinda's well-worn car simply could not stand the heat and in the middle of the Sunday traffic full of irritated drivers determined to get to the beach, it simply stopped and refused to go any further.
Luckily (?) there were about five policemen standing on the curb. All of them came rushing over to let her know that the car could not stay where it was. She explained to them that she was aware of that, but could not really do much about it. So that they told her to steer while they pushed her car. Unfortunately, they gave conflicting instructions about which way to go and she steered as if she were drunk as she turned to the right, no to the left, no to the right and finally, ignoring all of them, steered the car into a corner turning lane. Eventually Pablo found us, got the car started and we still managed to make it to our lunch date (after having to argue with the parking lot attendant to get our cars into the lot to park). As Pablo said, when we all finally got into the restaurant, "Melinda doesn't like to do anything simply. Every where she goes, she needs an adventure or simply isn't fun for her." Just the same, we had a great lunch at one of our favourite seafood eateries, the 'Sea Goose' (Oca Mar). Its English menu is fun to read as well, featuring such obscure items as "Prawns in a Raincoat" and a "Quick Shave in See Food Blanket".

After an uneventful ride home, we got ready to enjoy the Eurocup Finals: Spain versus Germany. At 8 in the evening, we crowded around the flatscreen TV, made fun of the Spanish anthem and opened our Polish beers specifically selected and brought for the occasion. Our visitors were pleasantly startled by the enthusiasm of the Barcelona's inhabitants as each goal was punctuated by car horns, firecrackers and noise-makers across the city. As most of you know by now, Spain was the underdog, fielding a group of extremely young but talented players against formidable, enormous German veterans. But Spain won! The first Eurocup in 4o odd years. Pablo said it was the best Saint's Day present he could ever ask for.

The rest of the week went by like a blur. On the days that Melinda had to work, the Tennessee travellers relied on Hal's map-reading ability to get to know Barcelona. They checked out the Gothic Quarters, the Cathedral, spent time on the beach, 'did' the Rambla several times, learnt the streets around the house, became experts at catching the metro, and enjoyed some down time by the pool on the roof.


One day, we took an excursion to Tarragona (Grandma and Joel stayed home). Everyone was really impressed by the conjunction of Roman ruins and medieval buildings - it was a really great day trip (hot but cool). Hal's favourite was the ampitheatre you can see here.
On another evening, we went to the 'Magic Fountains'.
This is a sound and light show that uses the water fountains on the Montjuic hill to create an outdoor show for everyone. It's a great place to have a relaxing summer night. While it might sound kind of corny, it is pretty sensational when seen live. It would be fun to the the light and sound engineer in charge of it!(If you want to see an amateur video recording of part of the show, click here.) After the fountains, we headed up to the fortress on top of Montjuic to see a panoramic view of Barcelona by night.
On Friday evening, we all put on our best rags, got dolled up and went to the Liceu opera house to watch Luisa Miller (by Verdi).

On their last day, we crammed as much as we could into 24 hours. A morning trip to a 14th Century Gothic monastery was followed by an authentic paella lunch. Then, after an authentic Spanish siesta, we took a quick trip to the Güell Park while Joel and Brock went to the cinema.



We were sad to see them go. We hope they had as good a time with us as we did with them!