Days 9 and 10

[Dan’s comments are italicized]

• Train to Barcelona

Before saying goodbye to Paris, Dan spent some quality time with our Airbnb host’s cat, for which he seems to have developed intense feelings…

Then it was another long train journey to Barcelona. It was late when we got to our room but we still managed to find the energy to do something we’ve never done before; after 26 years of marriage, it was time…

We booked a tour! Shame on you if you thought something else! 😁 Yeah, I fell for it, too. 😞 We’re not doing it for a few days so more about that in a different post.

Barcelona is lovely. Even though it’s heaving with tourists, it maintains a relaxed atmosphere. We took a friends suggestion and went to Parc Guall (thanks, Car) and WOW, well worth the visit! The map showed a metro station only half a mile from the park so we thought we’d take a leisurely morning walk. NO; it was all uphill! I think we climbed the equivalent to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I was a bit grumpy until…

So Google maps does a great job with navigation. However, it does not let you know the elevation changes of its suggested route. The shortest path was OVER the mountain to the back gate, not around the mountain, to the front gate.

So we entered the part of the park that was nondescript. The first monument we encountered was what I can only describe as a big pile of brown rocks with a couple of crosses placed on top. Turns out that this was actually the unfinished construction of what should have been a bigger pile of brown rocks with more crosses placed on top. Sadly, we were both unimpressed. But that quickly changed when we got to the other monuments.

They were truly fantastic! The Gothic quarter is also interesting with beautiful architecture and interesting people…

We’re getting into the groove of booking our train tickets a couple of days ahead of time (Jules!) so things are getting a bit easier 😁 Our packs seem to be getting heavier though; I can almost feel my spine compressing with every step but I’m too stubborn (so unlike me) to let Dan carry my stuff.

Now, if I could just get into the hang of booking the right times for our plans. I have made the mistake of booking an extra night at our next stop, Tarragona. I sure hope that is not a mistake.