Barcelona

After taking a roughly 1-hour nap on the plane, the sun was up and we were in Barcelona. Not knowing whether my cousin had received my last text message to pick me up at 1 PM, I decided to risk turning on my cell phone to try to call him, regardless of the international roaming fees but, obviously, it was not going to work. With suitcases in hand and after a quick wash in the airport bathroom, I boldly ventured forth.

First impression: smoke. I was fairly sure there was no smoking allowed in the airport but the smell of smoke in the air was so strong that I started to doubt that belief. However after stepping outside I realized the smokers outside were causing the smoke inside. After waiting for a while I decided I should give him a call. Easy enough, except he was bringing a cell phone for me to use. I tried to see if any of the phones in the airport would accept credit cards. No luck. Is there an option for collect calls? Nope. Can I get money from the ATM...I will explain later why not, but yeah, no dice. I was about to ask a stranger to use their cell phone when I recognized my cousin's truck and minutes later saw him.

We ended up hanging out that afternoon and doing useful things like going to an ATM, which refused to give me money for a while until I charmed it into doing so. Not really. A quick call to my bank did the trick, apparently a transfer had not gone through but it worked after some trying. Also got a cell phone and changed the batteries in my watch.

Parking in Barcelona was one of the most painful things. The finding of a spot took over an hour of circling the neighborhood. And we had to make sure we were up by 9 AM to put money into the meter. There are zones in downtown were meters run for only 2 hours starting at 7 AM but one can refill it every two hours. The nice feature is that if you find a spot at 1 AM, the timer actually starts at 7 AM. However, something extremely awesome happened. I got to ride a bike! Full on Euro riding a 1-gear, coaster brake, city bike with no helmet on while following my cousin as he looked for a parking spot. We did that for about an hour and I eventually got really tired and sweaty so it was time to shower and chill for the rest of the night.

The next morning, after a well-deserved rest, I set out on a morning run by the city of Barcelona. My first destination was Montjuic the famed mountain and site of the Olympic Games of 1992. I ended up climbing up to the top of the mountain and touring the Olympic site. The highlight of my excuersion was to do a stair run on the Olympic Satdium. I had always wanted to set foot on the Olympic venue and after having done stair runs with Ollie last winter, I wanted to do that in a historic place so I got my wish. Even though it was closed due to Bon Jovi playing there the following day but I decided I got all the way there so I just went ahead and was
shooed away by a caretaker.

After getting a little lost getting back, I ended up getting in about a 30 km run in almost 3 hours. And then I knew where I wanted to take pictures. Then I went out with my cousin touristing. To be super Euro, we got a baguette and a jar of Nutella and that's what we ate throughout the day. We drove to Sagrada Familia or Sacred Family which is a really neat Cathedral building that is still being worked on. Then we also went to the Gaudi Park which was a major letdown to be honest. Then we went to the beach and walked the length of it enjoying the scenery. Lastly we went back up to Montjuic and took pictures of the Olympic sites and met up a friend who had
the inside track and we got to see the training facilities for the next wave of super athletes. Finally it was dinner time. We went to a very cool restaurant that served mostly pizza but there was a heavily loaded calzone that I just had to have since I had eaten nothing all day except Nutella-laced bread. It had an interesting blend of everything including mushrooms, peppers, and assorted meats and veggies. To top it off I had "Leche Catalana" which is very similar to creme brule, except that the sugar on top is struck with a hot iron to caramelize it. It's alright but I expected a bit more.

Finally went back and hit the bars for a bit but it was time to sleep since my flight to Vigo was early in the AM.