Barcelona, Spain

We finally have some fog lifting and get to take off from Lisbon.  We have an uneventful (except for getting a Belem pastry for

 snack) flight to Barcelona and land without problem.  Our bags made it there as well and we head off for the bus.  We know that we’re supposed to take the A2, but can’t seem to find it.  Even asked the lady at bus A 1 where it was in my broken Spanish and she pointed us to the bus in front of her, but

 it was another A 1 and then a bus to another terminal.  The guy at the terminal bus, told us that the bus behind him went to Placa de Catalunya, so we finally deduced that the A 1 went where the A 2 goes….and finally got on the bus that we had been walking around for 10 minutes.  Now, figuring out

  which of the huge roads radiating off the placa is the one we want….we walked in a couple different ways until it seemed right and we finally got confirmation from a sign that we were headed toward our Air BnB.  We find the café that we’re supposed to meet our host at and Oscar and I look

around while John tries to make contact.  We find that there are Roman sepulchers that have been unearthed in the plaza in front of the café which I think is so amazing.  Barcelona has just built this ramp and walkway down to look at them behind glass and there are tours that are stopping

 up top to talk about the site.  I guess this was outside the walls of “Barcino” that Rome built.  We meet our host’s friend and get shown to our room with our own bath and a shared kitchen with 3 other suites.  I’ve been warning Oscar that he won’t be able to take a bath for a while, but get proved wrong with the

first stop.  Big bathtub in a newly remodeled bathroom.  We head out to get some food and head straight for ---wait for it---McDonald’s and Taco Bell right next to each other.  Oscar because he deserves to see that he’s not going to starve on this trip and John because he thinks Taco Bell with beer is the best 

   thing since sliced bread.  So, I just go with the flow because I don’t have the strength to fight it.  And then I have a bear with my surprisingly good food and that’s it for me.  We walk a little way down La Rambla to buy some supplies at Carrefour before turning in.  John and Oscar to act like they have all this energy, me to fall asleep while they’re having peanut butter and crackers in the kitchen.  I tell John that I know that I should stay up later, but can’t and go to bed by 7pm, both Oscar and John falling asleep before I get my routine done and hit the pillow.  Oscar didn’t move for 12 hours.  I know because I checked on him 3 times

because he has a habit of falling out of beds, but when you don’t move, it’s hard to fall out.  I had to wake him and John up at 8am and 9am Barcelona time respectively.  We take our time having a “picnic” for breakfast, John can’t concentrate on the writing that he’s supposed to be doing and we head out at 10:30 for a trip to the cable car that goes up Montjuic.  Now, I kept calling it a funicular, so John is looking for something on the ground and our laminated Barcelona map doesn’t show the spur line that Barcelona has built from the subway stop to the cable car stop.  So, even though we meant to ride up to the castle at the top and walk down, we ended up doing it backwards.  Oscar started complaining about his legs while we were still walking down La

Rambla, but we told him we’d stop whenever he needed to, so stopped immediately at a little café to have breakfast.  I got him some bacon, but it didn’t look exactly like bacon at home, so I got double.  We walked and walked and walked (and you did notice that this place has “mountain” in the name) and then got to the first cable car stop and decided to look around there since we hadn’t ridden there in the cable car.  We found a donut for Oscar at the little stand, a croissant for me, and a beer for John.  Perfect.  We ate our food overlooking the Mediterranean.  We went to the station and were told that we needed to take it one way from the top, we couldn’t do the other

two stops from this station.  Are you serious? So, even though we could buy a ticket here, get on here, we could only go to one of the other stations or end up right back here…so, we walked up to the castle….to the top of Montjuic….walking.  And then caught the cable car going down and one way…..beautiful views, but don’t do it backwards like we did.  Also, know that there is a now a real “funicular” spur from the Parallel subway stop to the cable car….then you don’t have to walk at all.  We took the funicular to the subway and the subway to the door of our Air BnB practically.  The central location of our Air BnB is not to be understated and then on top of that, you hear nothing from outside because every building in Barcelona is built around a central courtyard that must have a noise ordinance that is punishable by death.  The loudest thing we’ve heard out the window are doves in the morning.  And they’re loud when they’re on your balcony….