Sunday, August 18
Barcelona
I really enjoyed the energy of Las Ramblas (or is it La Rambla? I keep seeing both ways) -- street performers, artists, al fresco dining (even McDonald's and WhataBurger have al fresco dining), flowers, souvenirs and plain old people watching.
Stephanie wanted her photo with one of the living statues -- she picked Columbus:
Rachel had already taken a photo with the alien:
We went back to the hotel to pack, rest up a bit then do one last thing -- go to the beach! We had not as much as put our toes in the Mediterranean Sea so far. We put on swim suits and went down to the reception desk to ask for beach towels. Oh, yes, he said, and called someone for towels. We waited and he asked was there something else. The towels, we said. Oh, you need to go back to your room and wait. So we did. We waited and waited, then finally after about 15 minutes left without towels. We could have easily taken the bath towels, because when we returned, we found extra towels in our room, but they were the same as the regular bath towels.
The walk to the beach was about 30 minutes from our hotel.
The waterfront is very nice, and very lively with many young people, many vendors and many restaurants.
The sand is very gritty, and we decided that since we didn't have any towels, we'd just put our feet in (much to Rachel's disappointment). Stephanie saw a topless woman or two and said she was scarred for life (she's very sheltered....)
On the walk back to the hotel, we saw some interesting buildings that reminded us that this area has a real sea-faring history. I love this stonework:
After the beach, we walked back to the hotel and then to the Magic Fountain to show the girls. Perhaps we built it up too much, or they were too tired, but they seemed underwhelmed by it all. Maybe it was just too hot and crowded.
Well, this concludes my trip report. If you made it this far, thank you for reading!
JoAnn