Barcelona and Beyond!!!!

Hola from Barcelona, well actually that is a lie I am on a plane half way between Barcelona and Rome so maybe I should be saying Ciao from Rome. Anyways Barcelona was an interesting city and sine I actually flew in and out of Girona I guess I can say I have seen a little bit of Spain.
I was fortunate to have well traveled parents and a hip father for that matter that told me where the coolest area in town is to stay. It is in the heart of the city in an area around this main street called Las Ramblas.

But first let me say that I can’t drag luggage through a subway without remembering Evan’s and my trip to Washington DC where we lugged like four pieces each through one of the busiest subways in the US. But that’s a whole nother story.

Barcelona is of course not what I expected although I am not sure exactly what that is. Las Ramblas is a long street with all kinds of stuff going on. From street performers doing crazy things or just dressed funny and standing still to flower stands, to even pet stands. OK that’s one that I have never seen is pet stands in middle of the street.

Since Barcelona recently hosted the Olympics here they have a fantastic public transportation system which is great because I bought a pass and was able to explore a whole bunch of the city. I guess for sure one thing that I was really caught off guard by was these huge pig legs that they have dried and are hanging in every restaurant, bar or grocery store. Which was quit different because this is not the kind of thing I am a custom to in the Middle East. In fact it made me really wonder what a Muslim visiting the country would think of.

So what else to talk about. Oh the typical Spanish dish Tappas!!! I know in Texas some restaurants open and serve Tappas and it is very trendy although going against the grain because Texans like big portions and Tappas are anything but. But anyways, I can not say that I support the whole Tappas idea from mainly what all I saw was food that was prepaired that was a little over a bit size or two along a bar like setting in all of the restaurants. The problem here is that they are all like cold. And for those of you that have been here or for that matter my Spanish friend Vivan your going to say no wait a minute there are hot Tappas and yes there are but a lot of the restaurants hot Tappas are in warmers in front of the counter as well. So I guess as you can tell I am not a Tappas fan, give me a home cooked meal or at least made to order meal for that matter.

So onto the Sangria Familia which is the famous church designed by Gaudi that is on every post card that you get from Barcelona. After like several hundreds of years they are still building on it. It was kind of funny like the Sphinx in Cairo from all of the photos you see for some reason you have this larger then life impression of what it is going to look like. But you get there and it is big but not the size for some reason you had put into your heads. It was kind of funny because it is located in this neighborhood with a kind of small park next to it. And some how in all of the post cards there is this perfect photo of it . Well I had a little trouble getting like half of it in my photos and you can forget about being able to get back enough to be able to be in the photo with it. But anyways I was just a little surprised to say the least.

Well on to the beach exploring their own style of board walk and beach where you can watch the cruise ships come in and out of like South beach in Miami. I enjoyed a traditional Spanish glass of Sangria and felt like a true Spainyard well as much as one as a white boy from Texas can. But you get the point.

Well I guess thats all for now. I will do an update later about my time in Rome.

Chad

PS - I have added a bunch of new photos so check them out