19 June-Andy's Version

We are checking out in the morning and going to Madrid. We are not sure how good of an internet connection we will have. We think it will be good... We had a great day. We saw Picasso's early work today. It was stunning. We saw the Roman columns in the Gothic section of town. We saw the official Cathedral of Barcelona. Words can't describe it. Then we had dinner at a real tapas bar.

June 18-Andy's Version

We had a great time at Sagrada Família and Guell Park. Betsy took some great photos. We saw some more sunglass salesmen at Guell Park. It was interesting to watch them scramble when the cops came. They were also hocking water. We had lunch at a place inside Guell Park that translated into the "Beer Cave". They didnot apear to have beer which was fine with me, but it is neat to see how things translate. The overall impression of the day was Gaudi is the Shakespeare of Barcelona's architecture. We had a crazy taxi driver. He was doing 70/km in a 30/km zone! I am so glad we are not driving in Barcelona. I think I could do it, but I wouldn't like it. During the evening we walked thru what was a farmer's market. Today it is more of a fish market. It was located just off the Ramblas. They feed us some ham, cheese and local bread. It was good. Then we had a little dinner and went back to the hotel.

17 June

Barcelona. Today was day one of our guided tour of Spain with Rick Steves. Since our group didn't meet until 6 PM, Andy and I used the morning to sleep in and do our laundry. The laundry was a bit of an adventure as it took us down the Ramblas, the main drag of people and shops. We saw people from all walks of life. There are tourists from all over the world whom you can hear dragging their roller suitcases. There are hippies, who are sometimes called the 'black feet' because they don't wear shoes and you can figure out the rest. We reached the laundry. It had only five commercial washers and four dryers. The back half of the laundry was for the dry cleaning and ironing service they provided. We wanted to do our own laundry. The attendant was busy washing tablecloths, we supposed for some restaurant they contracted with. He told us which washers to use and yelled at us to hurry when we were too 'slow' to load our laundry. While we waited for the laundry, we watched the people walking down the street. We returned to the hotel and took a siesta. We woke and went to the same cafe as yesterday for lunch, El Mos. The prices are reasonable, the food is fresh and tasty, and the menu is understandable. We met our tour group at 6 PM at the hotel. Frederico is our fearless leader. There are twenty members of the tour. One of the families on our trip is from Jefferson, Georgia. Our tour group always matches you with a buddy. I am buddies with Nick, a sophomore at North Georgia College. It is really nice to have another group from the south on our trip. We usually have mostly Canadians, New Englanders, and people from California and Washington state. I think this is the first time that we've had another family from the south. Andy's buddy is Judith, a lady who had a flight delay and couldn't be here for our first night of the tour. Hopefully she will get to join us soon. We did a quick orientation to the neighborhood by visiting Placa de Catalunya, the main square in Barcelona. This square is just up the street from our hotel. We saw all kinds of people and Frederico reminded us to beware of pickpockets. As we walked on the Placa, I saw some hippies surrounding a third hippy who was passed out on the sidewalk. Frederico said 'too much wine' to me by way of explanation, but it looked more like 'too much drugs' to me. I don't think that many other people noticed this scene. We boarded the yellow metro line at Urquinaona and traveled south to Barcoloneta. This stop took us to the beach. We ate at a restaurant called Peru. We started with huge calimari that looked like fried onions. They were breaded and fried in olive oil. They were so fresh that they were easy to bite. They weren't chewy like we typically get in restaurants at home. We then ate a large salad of lettuce, rasish, carrots, boiled eggs, olives, and tomatoes with a dressing of vinegar and olive oil. Next, we were served paella. Paella is a dish that consists of rice, saffron, calimari, mussels, and langostines. For desert, we had a lemon sorbet served in champagne glasses that we slurped up with a straw. We enjoyed getting to know our group members better. We sat near Becky from Georgia, Shams from Pennsylvania, and Farokh from Rhode Island. Shams completed her PhD in Huntsville. So, she knows the Chattanooga area. After our dinner, we took the metro back and walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow is Gaudi Day. We will start our tour at 8:45 AM and do four hours with our guide.

18 June

Barcelona. Today was Gaudi Day. We visited the Casa Milà, Sagrada Família, and Park Guell today. Andy's pedometer read 7.94 miles at the end of the day. Andy would like to emphasize that it was uphill both ways.

We started with an incredible breakfast at the hotel buffet. The buffet has everything from freshly squeezed orange juice, espresso, water, yoghurt, varieties of jamon (ham), cheese, boiled or fried eggs, cereals, varieties of bread and rolls, fruit smoothies, and more. It's possible to have some regional specialties including the Catalan sausages with white beans. Another regional item is toast that is rubbed with horizontally sliced tomato, garlic, a splash of olive oil and a bit of salt. The buffet also has anchovy filets that would also be eaten with olive oil on a slice of bread. I've found a couple of new food items that I like. One of them is basically potato hashbrowns. They appear to be baked and are thicker than what we have at home. I also like a fruit called piel de sapo, or 'toad skin'. It tastes like a watermelon, but is much sweeter. The skin is green with streaks of yellow and the fruit is white.

We started at the Casa Mila. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi as a private home for the Mila family. The Milas lived on what we would call the second floor and they rented the other floors to other well heeled families. The building was the first in Barcelona with an elevator, but it took 15 minutes to go from the bottom to the top of the building, so many people took the stairs instead. Gaudi was 100 years ahead of his time in the design of his buildings. He took inspiration from shapes found in nature and gave careful thought to things like working with the natural environment for lighting and air cooling. He did such things as tiling rooms (in another house) with lighter tiles for the walls of lower floors and gradually going darker on upper floors and adding extra windows to the lower floors in order to have an even amount of light on each floor. We get the term "gaudy" from Gaudi because of the over-decoration of his buildings and the use of vulgar materials in construction that the rich found too common.

We viewed the Casa Batlló from the outside on the way to Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a cathedral that Gaudi started working on but did not complete. He left plans for the overall design, but left elements such as the design of the stained glass and sculptures of the facade for future generations to design and create.

The cathedral is designed for the modern age. Gaudi designed a new kind of column that supports the weight of the roof without the need for the flying buttresses that are used in Gothic cathedrals. His columns look like tree trunks that have knobs and branch off. The knobs have large images that represent the four evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) at the crossing of the transept and the nave. Those columns eventually rise to form spires above the roof. Once completed, the cathedral will have 18 spires. The other columns have jewel-like decorations that look a bit like electric pearls. I really like how the cathedral is built for the modern age and makes use of modern materials, colors, electricity, and equipment.

16 June-Andy's Version

Hello from Barcelona, Today has been a travel day. We have spent a lot of time on trains and buses. Mario Andretti never retired. He simply drives the bus we took from Cadaques to Figueres. It was making Betsy and I a little motion sick. We got a little lost after we got off of the two hour train ride from Figueres to Barcelona. We finally found our Hotel. It is very nice. It feels a little upscale compared to our prior Rick Steves tours. The neighborhood feels like the "Time Square" of Barcelona. After an hour siesta we went to a department store that was as good or better than anything in Atlanta. We bought a converter for the three prong computer cord. I packed the two prong. :( We looked for some dinner and saw one of the wildest things I have ever seen! Before we rounded the corner I noticed a handful of cops chatting. I didn't think much about it. I have seen groups of cops in Rome. We got about half way down the block and were almost in front of the Hard Rock Cafe. It was very crowded. I noticed about six to eight sun-glass salesmen. All of the sudden every single salesman pulled the strings on their "shop" and pulled the bag of sunglasses over the shoulder and ran for their life. I noticed one girl running too. I guess she was the look out. But when we turned around the police were just behind us. We found a quite less touristy place to eat. It was good. I think Betsy wants to go back for some of the treats. :) Tomorrow we start our Rick Steves tour. We don't start until 5pm. I plan on washing clothes during the morning. If you need a guest blogger drop me a line, Andy

15 June

Cadaques. Cadaques is in the Spanish region of Catalunya. This region is just as fiercely independent as the Basque region and has its own language, Catalan. In listening to the daily speech of Cadaques, you will hear many languages. The people of this small town often speak Catalan, Spanish, French and broken English. Luckily for us, Cadaques is a small-town, coastal town with a laid-back vibe. We headed out this morning at 8:00 to walk to the Salvador Dali House Museum. Dali and his wife Gala primarily lived in Cadaques. They bought up several fisherman cottages on the coast and patched them together into a beautiful house over the 42 years that they lived there. In 1982, Gala died and Dali moved out to another home in Pubol, Spain. The house feels relaxed with spaces for work and entertaining friends. The house is cool in the summer heat and airy with lots of natural light filling each room. Cadaques has a friendly population of stray cats that we encounter at every turn. Each one likes a good scratch behind the ears. We got to the Dali House before they opened and saw one of the workers leave a small handful of food in three different places for three of the resident strays. Windsor, England has its population of swans to feed, but Cadaques has calicoes and tabby cats. You'll notice the steep, narrow, curvy streets in some of the photos. The streets are paved with flint rock that is stacked and arrange in alternating patterns to allow feet and vehicles to grip. The primary vehicles on these steep, narrow passages are scooters that are driven at alarming rates of speed. We've learned to listen for the 'Africanized bee' whine of oncoming Vespas to avoid tragedy. About 10% of drivers in the historic area also drive four-wheelers, which seem much more appropriate for the terrain. We enjoyed a free afternoon of strolling the historic area, visiting the church, and a bit of shopping from a lovely shopkeeper. We watched a bit of soccer during our siesta (Ukraine and France) and went for dinner on Carrer do Miquel, a touristy drag with restaurants, and bars. Our first pick was eventful. As I pulled out my seat in front of a door that exited out to the patio, a stray and panicked kitten scrambled out from my chair into the main dining area. I felt sorry for the kitty and understood that he had accidentally gotten in to the room from the door. As I sat, I saw a roach crawling on the wall. Andy and I did a mind meld and headed out the door as soon as the hostess departed. We called this event 'the kitty and the cucaracha'. We found another place to eat and then headed home.

14 June

Montserrat to Figueres to Cadaques. We traveled from Montserrat to Barcelona to catch a train for Figueres, where the Salvador Dali Museum/Theater is located. From Figueres we took the bus to Cadaques, a small coastal town where the Salvador Dali House Museum can be found. The Dali Theatre in Figueres is unlike any other museum you've attended. Dali designed it himself and filled it with his own art. It is more like a fun house at a carnival than a typical art museum. Anyone would say that Dali is 'weird' without studying him very much. After a visit to the museum, the word weird still applies but with much more depth and range. Dali ran the gamut of joyful and exuberant to dark and macabre. His wife, Gala, kept him somewhere anchored to planet Earth. The Dali Theatre shows this range. After visiting the theatre, we strolled Figueres and happened upon a plaza where the evening paseo, or stroll, was taking place. Andy and I took a bench and did a little people watching for about 45 minutes. We only left because a nearby toddler alerted us to the pigeon resting on the lamppost above our shady bench. Sensing impending pigeon doom, we headed toward the bus station. The bus to Cadaques passes through suburban sprawl (home improvement stores, gas stations, supermarkets, etc.) on its way to the mountains. The actual road from Roses, a major beach destination, and Cadaques is a rural, hairpin-turn affair where anxious motorists passed our bus on blind curves with oncoming traffic. Just before succumbing to severe car sickness, we arrived at the Cadaques bus terminal. Our hotel was just around the corner. After a stroll to the coast and a dinner of fisherman's stew (prepared in a Dutch oven no less), we crashed at our place for the evening.