USA-BARCELONA DAY 1-3
Well, it was about three weeks ago now that Cam and myself flew Airfrance out to Barcelona. It was a long trip with a stop over in Paris. I had figured we'd be too tired to see much of the city upon arrival but once checked into our hotel we just had to get out and wonder. That night we spent exploring the tiny back streets, getting a bit tipsy and enjoying this new world. We found the nights in Spain don't start until ten and they don't end until sunrise. We had plenty of sight seeing ahead of us so eventually we went to bed. The next day was all on foot. Our hotel was minutes away the medieval district and that is where we started. First, was the city museum where were learned a bit about the two thousand year old metropolis. Underneath was a well excavated Roman city block. We then visited the 700 year old gothic Cathedral of Saint Eulalia. Unfortunatly, its main facade was under construction at the time, thus covered in scaffolding. Inside was what you would normally expect for such a Cathedral but was Cam's first time in one. She was much impressed. Upon its roof you could admire its great steeples up close and see much of the city from a bird's eye view. What I enjoyed most was its gardens which contained a fountain so old moss had grown on it at least a foot or two outward in layers. Milling about were ducks and geese. Next to the cathedral we viewed a rather uninteresting, for me anyways, palace dating back to the same age. We strolled through the gothic distic for another couple of hours viewing what was the center of the city hundreds of years ago. Next, we walked down Las Ramblas, the Barcelona equivalent to 3rd street promonade. Anytime of day the strip is filled with life. From merchants, to street performers, to you name it, it was there. We would go back many times during our stay in the city. The street led us to the waterfront, one of the more interesting I have seen. Passing the Columbus Column we visited the Maritime Museum. Not much interesting here. Next, we walked across the water on a newly constructed pier to the old port where we visited a few shops and the aquarium. Boasted as the largest in Europe, it was a lot of fun, but not much bigger and maybe a little smaller than the Long Beach or Baltimore equivalents. We ate dinner back on Las Ramblas and made sure to have plenty of San Gria.