Traveling with Ray Owens

Day 2 in the city of Barcelona was very nice weather and by and large a near perfect day.   I had arranged to meet Matt and Michelle, our hosts, at the airport arrival station at about 9:00.  Jana, Dave, Alena and Cole (JDAC) were to arrive at 9:00 and would take about an hour to make their way through passport control and collect their checked bags.  I had arranged to take a 7:30 free shuttle from the hotel to the airport.  As I was on the way I got a text saying they would just pick me up from the hotel on their way to the airport.   So I said. I would just people watch when I got there.

There were indeed a lot of people to watch.  Matt tells me that Saturday is a busy airport day as lots of folks fly in to board a cruise from the port.   There were lots and lots of groups of people who clearly were on the way to a cruise.   There were also lots of people who were either traveling with their snow skis or were all bringing their weed eaters on the cruise ship.

Matt and Michelle arrived right at 9:00 and we sat and drank coffee and had a lovely time sharing life histories with each other.  JCAC arrive right at 10:00 and we made our way to the garage parking where we loaded Matt’s car with our luggage and he took the car and luggage to his home in Sant Cugat (it turns out that it means Saint Cugat the surname of a long dead monk from the city.) Do NOT go to Google translate on the internet and translate that name from Catalon to English.

Michelle escorted the 5 weary travelers into the city of Barcelona, by bus,  where we stopped at a coffee shop and had coffee (duhh) and orange juice.  I had the orange juice which was made from oranges that they put into the top of a large juice machine.  The OJ was great.

We then strolled to the repurposed Catalon bull fighting arena.   Catalon banned bull fighting from the state of Catalon about 40 years ago. It turns out that they became aware of the cruelty imposed on the bulls.  Recently the Spanish national government has toyed with the idea of requiring Catalon to allow bull fighting here. No changes as of yet.

  It is now a shopping mall.  The former arena now has a roof over it and a large outdoor walking area that you can see the city from.  It is a lovely mall.

After oohing and aaahing at the view we made our way to the subway station and then to a commuter train station.   We then were guided to Matt and Michell’s lovely home arriving about 1:15. There we met up with Billy Ray and Becky Gossett and Karen Rogers.  The gang is all here. We were fed lasagna, salad and bread.  For dessert we were given a small cup of warm thick chocolate and some cookies to dip in the chocolate.  It was wonderful.

After Lunch we were taken, 3 at a time, to our hotel with our luggage and checked in. On the way there Matt told the 3 people in my group that right up the road from our hotel there was a market that was opened on Saturday. The three of us who arrive early decided to walk there.  The market was fun.  Lots of places to eat food and some shops.  We went into the used book shop and they had a ton of book running from floor to a quite high ceiling.  Not surprising almost all of the books were printed in Spanish or Catalon.   I was able to recognize some of the world-famous authors, Emanual Kant, Zane Gray, and Stephen King, etc.

There was also a used music store.  It is amazing how much of the world’s music came from England and America.   I did not buy anything.

After shopping at the market Billy Ray, Becky and I walked to a recommended place to eat some dinner.   It reminded me of ordering food in Hong Kong.  You can order anything on the menu and they will bring you whatever they think you should have.  This was exacerbated by the language issues we had with the waiter that took our order.   We ordered something that was labeled with Calamari.  It came and it was a sandwich stuffed with something that may or may not have contained squid.  Billy Ray pointed to something on the menu and when it came it was not what he had pointed to.   The menu item above said Bacon.  That is what our waiter brought.  It was VERY crisp piece of pork with lots of fat.  Billy Ray and I ate it.   A bit later a different waiter with very good English came and we pointed and asked what it was.  He said Pig lips and cheeks.   We all got plenty of food and had a pleasant time.

We then walked to the city square and visited the Monastery of Sant Cugat.  This building was begun in the ninth century and finished in the 14^th.  It is a lovely building.

I was back in my hotel room at about 9:30, a very good day.