[A] Barcelona- August 26- 28

Having arrived in Madrid too late to take the high speed train, we instead boarded the last option, a night train to Barcelona, which would give us 7 hours of decently restful (Drammomine induced) sleep before dropping us off at Estacio Sants near my old apartment. We passed a short cab ride before reaching our Hotel, in a brandly new developed area, l'Hospitalet, recently connected to the city center by metro, near Montjuic and Les Corts. The hotel although cheap was brand new and refreshingly well designed, with a truly formidable breakfast buffet. We slept a few hours more, enjoyed breakfast, and set out for our first of two days.

We went first to Parc Guell, the elevated early 19th century setting designed, overseen, and lived in by Antonio Gaudi, hero of architecture, native of Barcelona. We enjoyed the view, the mosaic tile masterpieces, the earthen protrusions the constituted flowerbeds, and did not so much enjoy the heat or the crowd. After about an hour we walked back down the hill towards the metro. We caught it towards Las Ramblas, the pedestrian arteries of the old city that nowadays find themselves full of fake statues and gambling scams, as well as typical Catalunyan beauty. We walked the length of the main Rambla, from Plaça Catalunya to the Port Viell, and rested for a while by the water. We then went in search fo tapas, and settled at the same place as had my mother and company when they came with me to Barcelona in 2006. The Pan Catalan was still soggy, but the rest was also still splendid.

That night we walked towards Montjuic to see the musical fountains, which begin anew every :30, and to find dinner. I judged that the walk would take 15 minutes. In fact it took 45, but thanks to the flexible schedule we arrived no more damaged (except for Pomai's poor feet). The show was elaborate and colorful, with a strangely eclectic soundtrack. The clarification of such a vague memory for me brought back a world of others, and I was transported to the summer I spent in the city four years earlier. We wandered down Par-allel and found a huge paella and possibly larger pitcher of sangria in front of us before long.

The next day we took the metro to the Sagrada Familia, a Gaudi masterpiece of unparalleled proportions. I was renewed in my fascination for the stained glass work, and we spent about an hour inside. It is a truly spectacular structure. We admired both the inside and outside for the total of a morning, the went to Starbucks for a bit of energy and breakfast. We walked away in the wrong direction, and had to hop on the metro to view la Pedrera, a Gaudi building built originally as a massive private residence, from the outside. We got back on the metro within the 90 minutes and proceeded to Les Corts, my old neighborhood, to have a nostalgic look around. We stopped by my old house, my bodega, my bus stop, and the park through which I walked every day. We then wandered towards our hotel via the newly completely (and appropriately vacant) Rambla de Brasil, where we found lunch and from where we proceeded home.

In the evening we headed to Caixaforum, a free-entry art gallery put on by the largest regional bank, which was featuring exhibited artowrk by Miguel Barcelò, native of the province and contemporary master (his work was featured in Avignon- the upside down elephant is his.) It was a terrific exhibit which inspired me to ask for his illustrated version of Dante's Divine Comedy in three volumes for my birthday from my father. That night we went to the new port, Port Olympic, to find dinner and see where most night outs wound up for me when I lived in Barcelona. Our food choice was not spectacular, but we were starving. Certain sacrifices are made. We walked around a bit before and after, and began the long journey home.

The next morning we left around 11 from Sants Estaciò for Valencia. The two days in Barcelona were a whirlwind of memory and tourism, and while I wish I had alloted more time there to reminisce and to show Pomai all of the great things it has to offer, I was eager to explore beyond previous horizons.