Got up early today to head into Barcelona (our hotel for the first two nights is in Sabadella, about 30 min away). When I opened up the shades, it was cloudy…im pretty sure when
we flew into Barcelona it was warm and sunny, you saw the photos from my last post…what the deuce happened? It was than that Jody let me in on a secret, she’s good luck when it comes to doing things (things just end up working out) but bad luck when it comes to weather…oh well right? So we arrived in downtown and picked up our walkabout info from the tourist information center in the heart of the city…only once we got out, it was raining…and Jody had decided back at the hotel that she wanted to wear her sandals instead of shoes…soooooo the day starts off on the right foot (haha no pun intended). Since it was raining and Jody’s sandals kept slipping off her feet, it was decided that we’d find a pair of shoes for her. Sadly, just yesterday she had told me a story about the last time she took a guy to go shopping with her…it took so long he ended up celebrating 3 birthdays before they found him deep in a department store sitting on a couch in front of a woman's changing room.We found a department store but it didn’t open for another 15 min…so we joined the ever increasing crowd pressed up against the glass like it was the day after Thanksgiving waiting to score sweet sales. When 10am arrived, the doors were unlocked and people started pouring inside but a lone security guard told them to stop and head back outside and wait a little longer…surprisingly enough, everyone listened! Had we been back in the States, everyone would have completely ignored him and gone about their business. So, we waited a little longer and when they finally let us in. Getting through the doors was something like what you would experience if you were participating in the “Running with the Bulls”…the flow of the crowd moved us through the entrance and up a flight of stairs as quickly as salmon fight their way up a riverbed to spawn. Let me tell you something, this was probably the biggest department store I have ever been in, nor ever want to be in again. It was called El Corte Ingles and from the outside it appeared to be about 10-12 stories high and a solid 2 blocks long and wide…did I say huge? I meant
GIANORMOUS! We finally found a sales rep and asked where we might find zapatos (shoes) and were told “Plata tres” (3rd floor). We weren’t fooled this time, we promptly went up 4 sets of escalators to find ourselves in a room the size of a football field exculsively for woman’s clothes and accessories…a female’s paradise (and a man’s hell). Thankfully Jody promised to be fast and within 30 min she found a pair of socks…fast eh? Ahaha no she got herself a pair of shoes too and just to be safe, we picked up an umbrella. Walked back to the car so she could put her new sneakers on and drop her sandals off...We made our way out of the store and went underground to take the Metro to see some sights. One of the more famous of them is La Sagrada Familia, a Roman Catholic church that has been under construction since 1882, 127 years and still is to this day (set to open for Mass in Sept '10 but not officially finished until 2026)! The original architect, Antoni Gaudí, was very particular in his work, so much that he insisted on selecting each stone that would be laid and precisely where it would be set. So, in attempts of keeping authenticity, it is still being constructed in great care.
Along the way from place to place we saw rather random things…for example, did you know there is a giant blind AOL guy roaming the rooftops of Barcelona? Its true. Would you believe 
me if I told you that Paul Bunyon’s wife lost her purse here and as strong as Jody is, she just couldn’t lift it? At one point we were walking across a bridge and head quite a ruckous and thought (because we had been warned earlier) that we were nearing a protest…nope, it was a soccer match. A little later, we heard the whinning of a motor…and much to our surprise two little go-cars
(similar to go-karts) zipped down the road, almost thought the carnival was in town
somewhere. Remember that owl from the "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a lollipop?" Well, he's finished with commercials and retired to Barcelona now.
We made our way to the site of the 1992 Olympics, climbed a ton of stairs to the top of the hill side where most of the events happened and had a spectacular view of Barcelona.
And then we found it, the stadium where it all happened. For me, I always get a historical feeling whenever I find myself in a place I knew something big happened, and here was no different. The biggest thing I remembered about these games when they happened (and yes, I do remember these games) was when the torch was lit by a flaming arrow. On our way down, we walked through a jardin (garden) with a maze of pathes, archways, and a fountain that made its way down the side of the hill 3 stories down.
After walking and taking the Metro all day, we took the car back to the hotel and took a quick siesta with the idea that we’d head back into Barcelona around 730pm to catch the “Magic Fountain” show…it’s a rather large fountain right at the base of the Olympic hill that during certain hours on certain days, lights up and with the accompaniment of music, it dances. We left around 715 as planned and got into the city by 745 but for the life of us, could not find a parking space…and Barcelona isn’t a very structured city like Minneapolis is, you know…perfect 90 degree intersections...nope, it has roads coming onto the main drags from all sorts of angles, and on top of that, stop lights are EVERYWHERE. You can’t drive 30 feet without having another stop light. The roads can be so narrow that only one car can fit or so wide that there are 4 separate sections of traffic…the middle two sections each have 3 lanes going in opposite directions and the outer 2 sections are one lane each flowing in either direction…and every so often, these roads interchange so the stop lights are CRAZY to understand during daylight hours but now its dark, rainy and slightly confusing! To top all that off, there are what the Europeans call ‘rotaries’ every other block…its a round-about…where you have an island of land and everyone has to spin in a circle until you see the road you want to turn off on and make a bee-line for hoping you don’t get hit. Its night time. Its confusing. So at one point I somehow got stuck on the inner most part of a rotary and it probably took a good 5 min and 3-4 laps to finally make our way down the road we wanted…this is where our dilemea began…the Magic Fountain only ‘preforms’ until 9pm and by this time we had been searching for a place to park for nearly an hour with no luck. Wait, I take that back…there were 2 separate occassions where there were spaces BUT no luck. The first was in a narrow alley and when I pulled to a stop and put my flashers on and got ready to back in, (as seems to be quite common here), I was immediately and aggressively honked at. Stupid American. Hahah. After attempting unsuccessfully for 10 min to get back to that road through the maze of streets that makes up Barcelona, we saw another spot on one of the outer sections. Two cars were pulling out so as fast as I could I made my way to the next stop light and whipped a U-turn…but by the time we got back, they were already taken…seriously!
Now this is where things started to get a little dicey. Tom, our GPS, was losing battery power…neither of us really know how to even find a highway that might take us towards Sabadell and even if we were able to get on a highway they are confusing as highways signs don’t depict North or South, East or West. Instead, they give the highway number, such as A-2 or C-23 and the name of a major city it is heading towards. So, Tom is dying and we’re stuck somewhere in downtown Barcelona with no clear way of even finding a highway of any kind. At this time, we know the fountain is out of the question and now the focus is on getting back to the hotel. We made a pit stop at a gas station and inside attempted to break the language barrier with some Spanglish. The two woman working there were very helpful in helping us try and get directions but when they pulled out a map of Spain and were looking for Sabadell well into the countryside, I was pretty sure they weren’t sure where it was. After pointing it out on the map for them, it was still unclear how to get there unless we were on a highway since the map didn’t offer much detail for the inner city. However, a man came in and when we was told of our dilemma, quickly explained in Spanish with some English how to get back on track. We thanked them and started out. Things were looking good and we made it on a highway…but then thanks to the strange way the highway system is set up, got confused again and missed the turn onto the next highway we wanted. To make it worse, we ended up going on the right highway but in the complete opposite direction! Now, in the states a mistake like this can be quickly corrected by getting off on the next exit where there is a bridge and on-ramp heading the other way right? In Spain, no such luck..and we found that out the hard way….by taking the next exit which took us to another highway heading in a completely different direction. So, instead of going North like we origianally wanted to, we took the first wrong highway that sent us South…and in trying to correct that mistake, we ended up on a new highway going East…TOTALLY LOST at this point. It was at this point that we saw light at the end of the tunnel (or so we thought) as the Golden Arches of a McDonalds shone brightly in the darkness. Getting there, was a problem. Took the next exit, hoping it would lead us easily to Ronald…no such luck. After driving for another 10min through rotary after rotary in an industrial district that seemed to be leading us away from civilization, we finally came across another gas station. This time, along with getting directions, I had to pick up some food. Lesson point for all you reading this, when I don’t eat for a very long time, I tend to get a little edgey and I could feel it coming on so even though Jody had been a real trooper up to this point with it raining all day on us and now being completely lost with no real way of figuring things out, witnessing Tom pass away as she held him in her lap, and now me, possibly hypoglycemic, getting cranky…I figured I should get some sugar in me. Bought a 9-pack of Little Debbie type dounuts, some ritz crackers and water, sin gas (without gas…carbonation which is popular here and very easy to purchase accidentally if not paying attention). Again, I asked anyone in the store if they knew how to get to Sabadell and one motorist came to my rescue…I thought. The language barrier was difficult when he started rattling off Spanish very quickly. He drew a “map” of his directions which consisted of a road that lead to a rotary, followed by which road to take once at the rotart and something that looked like a bridge leading to another road that he named “Ave de Diagonal” which I knew was in the heart of Barcelona…so at least I had an idea of where he was trying to take me…however, he insisted that Ave de Diagonal (surprisingly enough this road actually does run as you might think, diagnoally through the city) would take us all the way to Sabadell…although I knew it didn’t, I thanked him profusely and walked back to the car with my bag of goodies…at which point I immediately ate 5 of the donuts and downed some water before leaving the station. We successfully followed the first portion of his directions but again, somewhere, at some point, the goblin of Barcelona pulled us into some sketchy area and we were, for the 3rd time, completely lost. It was at this time that Jody, knowing CPR, revived Tom and we were able to memorize a few of his directions before having to turn him off to conserve his energy. Slowly but surely, some of the highways began to look familiar and finally saw a sign with Sabadell…we made it back…it was 10pm. It took a solid 2 hours to make our way back to the hotel…much sooner than I anticipated I might add. Getting lost in a foreign country, something I wish every person in America would have to go through as it has given me an appreciation for many things. First, for being able to speak the same language, it makes it so much easier to get around when lost if you understand what the other person is saying (granted i do know enough spanish to get by but was challenged on a few occasions to understand). Second, being a lost foriegner gives you an opportunity to engage in conversation and break that confort zone. We were vulnerable. We had no clue where we were and coming to a point of ‘hey, we’re lost and we need help’ is not just humbling but a way of discovering that people are so willing to help as best they can. Just hearing me speak what little Spanish i could caused each person’s eyes to light up when I tried to get directions from them. Thirdly, an appreciation for Jody. To be able to get back into the car after the third stop, look at Jody and find that she was laughing at the situation was a breath of fresh air and a relief. Not once during this whole ordeal had she complained which is nice since some people I have traveled with would have bitten my head off at that point. Thanks Jody!
We made it back, ordered some pizza (I know! I know! We just needed some comfort food at that point) and called it a night. What’s next? Bring it on because we’re ready for anything! But before heading to bed, I made sure Tom was set in his charging crib so we could make it to the coastal town of Sigtes tomorrow.
After walking and taking the Metro all day, we took the car back to the hotel and took a quick siesta with the idea that we’d head back into Barcelona around 730pm to catch the “Magic Fountain” show…it’s a rather large fountain right at the base of the Olympic hill that during certain hours on certain days, lights up and with the accompaniment of music, it dances. We left around 715 as planned and got into the city by 745 but for the life of us, could not find a parking space…and Barcelona isn’t a very structured city like Minneapolis is, you know…perfect 90 degree intersections...nope, it has roads coming onto the main drags from all sorts of angles, and on top of that, stop lights are EVERYWHERE. You can’t drive 30 feet without having another stop light. The roads can be so narrow that only one car can fit or so wide that there are 4 separate sections of traffic…the middle two sections each have 3 lanes going in opposite directions and the outer 2 sections are one lane each flowing in either direction…and every so often, these roads interchange so the stop lights are CRAZY to understand during daylight hours but now its dark, rainy and slightly confusing! To top all that off, there are what the Europeans call ‘rotaries’ every other block…its a round-about…where you have an island of land and everyone has to spin in a circle until you see the road you want to turn off on and make a bee-line for hoping you don’t get hit. Its night time. Its confusing. So at one point I somehow got stuck on the inner most part of a rotary and it probably took a good 5 min and 3-4 laps to finally make our way down the road we wanted…this is where our dilemea began…the Magic Fountain only ‘preforms’ until 9pm and by this time we had been searching for a place to park for nearly an hour with no luck. Wait, I take that back…there were 2 separate occassions where there were spaces BUT no luck. The first was in a narrow alley and when I pulled to a stop and put my flashers on and got ready to back in, (as seems to be quite common here), I was immediately and aggressively honked at. Stupid American. Hahah. After attempting unsuccessfully for 10 min to get back to that road through the maze of streets that makes up Barcelona, we saw another spot on one of the outer sections. Two cars were pulling out so as fast as I could I made my way to the next stop light and whipped a U-turn…but by the time we got back, they were already taken…seriously!
Now this is where things started to get a little dicey. Tom, our GPS, was losing battery power…neither of us really know how to even find a highway that might take us towards Sabadell and even if we were able to get on a highway they are confusing as highways signs don’t depict North or South, East or West. Instead, they give the highway number, such as A-2 or C-23 and the name of a major city it is heading towards. So, Tom is dying and we’re stuck somewhere in downtown Barcelona with no clear way of even finding a highway of any kind. At this time, we know the fountain is out of the question and now the focus is on getting back to the hotel. We made a pit stop at a gas station and inside attempted to break the language barrier with some Spanglish. The two woman working there were very helpful in helping us try and get directions but when they pulled out a map of Spain and were looking for Sabadell well into the countryside, I was pretty sure they weren’t sure where it was. After pointing it out on the map for them, it was still unclear how to get there unless we were on a highway since the map didn’t offer much detail for the inner city. However, a man came in and when we was told of our dilemma, quickly explained in Spanish with some English how to get back on track. We thanked them and started out. Things were looking good and we made it on a highway…but then thanks to the strange way the highway system is set up, got confused again and missed the turn onto the next highway we wanted. To make it worse, we ended up going on the right highway but in the complete opposite direction! Now, in the states a mistake like this can be quickly corrected by getting off on the next exit where there is a bridge and on-ramp heading the other way right? In Spain, no such luck..and we found that out the hard way….by taking the next exit which took us to another highway heading in a completely different direction. So, instead of going North like we origianally wanted to, we took the first wrong highway that sent us South…and in trying to correct that mistake, we ended up on a new highway going East…TOTALLY LOST at this point. It was at this point that we saw light at the end of the tunnel (or so we thought) as the Golden Arches of a McDonalds shone brightly in the darkness. Getting there, was a problem. Took the next exit, hoping it would lead us easily to Ronald…no such luck. After driving for another 10min through rotary after rotary in an industrial district that seemed to be leading us away from civilization, we finally came across another gas station. This time, along with getting directions, I had to pick up some food. Lesson point for all you reading this, when I don’t eat for a very long time, I tend to get a little edgey and I could feel it coming on so even though Jody had been a real trooper up to this point with it raining all day on us and now being completely lost with no real way of figuring things out, witnessing Tom pass away as she held him in her lap, and now me, possibly hypoglycemic, getting cranky…I figured I should get some sugar in me. Bought a 9-pack of Little Debbie type dounuts, some ritz crackers and water, sin gas (without gas…carbonation which is popular here and very easy to purchase accidentally if not paying attention). Again, I asked anyone in the store if they knew how to get to Sabadell and one motorist came to my rescue…I thought. The language barrier was difficult when he started rattling off Spanish very quickly. He drew a “map” of his directions which consisted of a road that lead to a rotary, followed by which road to take once at the rotart and something that looked like a bridge leading to another road that he named “Ave de Diagonal” which I knew was in the heart of Barcelona…so at least I had an idea of where he was trying to take me…however, he insisted that Ave de Diagonal (surprisingly enough this road actually does run as you might think, diagnoally through the city) would take us all the way to Sabadell…although I knew it didn’t, I thanked him profusely and walked back to the car with my bag of goodies…at which point I immediately ate 5 of the donuts and downed some water before leaving the station. We successfully followed the first portion of his directions but again, somewhere, at some point, the goblin of Barcelona pulled us into some sketchy area and we were, for the 3rd time, completely lost. It was at this time that Jody, knowing CPR, revived Tom and we were able to memorize a few of his directions before having to turn him off to conserve his energy. Slowly but surely, some of the highways began to look familiar and finally saw a sign with Sabadell…we made it back…it was 10pm. It took a solid 2 hours to make our way back to the hotel…much sooner than I anticipated I might add. Getting lost in a foreign country, something I wish every person in America would have to go through as it has given me an appreciation for many things. First, for being able to speak the same language, it makes it so much easier to get around when lost if you understand what the other person is saying (granted i do know enough spanish to get by but was challenged on a few occasions to understand). Second, being a lost foriegner gives you an opportunity to engage in conversation and break that confort zone. We were vulnerable. We had no clue where we were and coming to a point of ‘hey, we’re lost and we need help’ is not just humbling but a way of discovering that people are so willing to help as best they can. Just hearing me speak what little Spanish i could caused each person’s eyes to light up when I tried to get directions from them. Thirdly, an appreciation for Jody. To be able to get back into the car after the third stop, look at Jody and find that she was laughing at the situation was a breath of fresh air and a relief. Not once during this whole ordeal had she complained which is nice since some people I have traveled with would have bitten my head off at that point. Thanks Jody!
We made it back, ordered some pizza (I know! I know! We just needed some comfort food at that point) and called it a night. What’s next? Bring it on because we’re ready for anything! But before heading to bed, I made sure Tom was set in his charging crib so we could make it to the coastal town of Sigtes tomorrow.
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