When you ignore the fact that I initially set up this blog to you know, blog, as I entered and was physically in each country, it's not that bad that I'm writing about Barcelona a scant week after leaving. This time last Friday I was getting off a Ryanair jet on the tarmac of Girona airport. It was dark, and windy, and sort of strange to be walking outside when I'm supposed to flying being an inside affair- watching the planes fly over the car, watching the planes from the waiting lounges, walking through the snake thing that has a name that I can't think of but it's always impossibly long, and finally sitting inside the plane and praying you have an open seat next to you. I associate the outside with being bad, involving explosions and the movie "Alive" when the guy sitting in the very front snaps his neck and the back of the plane gets sucked out. There were a lot of random movies on TV back in my day.

In short- I would have loved to have stayed longer in Barcelona. It was absolutely gorgeous, and amazing to be someplace where I wasn't wearing a damp coat, or waiting for sunshine. However, in the 36-odd hours I was there, I saw a good bit. Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, and the soccer game we wandered into were the definite highlights. I've realized I'm the sort of traveler who enjoys just taking it easy and wandering. I'd rather rely on my sense of direction and metro maps than set itineraries and a list of notable sites.

Not to be misunderstood, I loved the Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas was nice enough. I'd just rather see people interacting with their environment, than watch tourists gawk with me. If I want tourists, I can find them easily enough.

{Edit, with real (er) info}

I'm probably the wrong person to be keeping a pseudo-travel blog, because I don't really travel in that way. I summed up that up last time, but I thought I'd come back and talk about what I did love.
-watching kids playing soccer on this dusty field
-these old men who'd hobble through the parks with their wives, while kids were playing ping-pong with their fathers
-the architecture
- the kids playing in the dirt on that part of Park Guell, where you can look out and see Barcelona and the sea. That part was really lovely

Labels: barcelona, europe, photos, spain