People always ask me what has been my favorite trip, and I think I answer with a different trip every time. Depends on my mood… does a trip alone sound good – then my Alaska Princess cruise in a balcony room all to myself, definitely. Are my children being adoreable this week – then our Europe land trip – one month, touring 5 countries was wonderful. Feeling a little romantic? Then the answer is my husband and I scootering around Bermuda was so great! Those aren’t my typical responses though, cause we also had a great time on a Holland America ship last October, which was the last great trip I can remember. Don’t remember much about the ports, but we had such a wonderful time reading a book together in our cabin and just had some perfect alone time that it was memoriable. Barcelona still has to be one of my favorite trips – hubby was there on business and I did many things on my own.
Barcelona is a hard place for an almost 6 feet tall woman. I spent most of my time looking up at the buildings as they are so beautiful and so my vision didn’t include the mostly short Spainerds that I kept bumping into. I tried to say, “Pardon me” in a french accent so the Americans wouldn’t be blamed for such rudeness.
The one mistake, or one of many I made in Barcelona was my pre-planned goal of finding shoes while I was over there. My thought was – leather goods, Spain and Italy have good leather so I’ll find some shoes there, this will be my mission. Unfortunately after walking into about 20 stores, some with truely beautiful shoes and asking for my size -40-42 and having them all shake their heads, “No, sorry.” I got the clear impression that I had the largest feet in the country at that moment. So I went back to my usual mission of finding a Christmas ornament that represented the country. I have a fun collection. Some places I still don’t have one from, Las Vegas is one. Been there at least 8 times, and never picked up an ornament.
Back to Barcelona, we found this chain of small restaurants, only 3 owned by the same person and all different that had outdoor tables that we just loved. When you are a non-smoker it’s important to try to find outdoor seating in Europe. The European smoker differs than the basic US smoker. For starters – more people smoke in general from my experience. I haven’t seen US smokers – smoke while they eat much, but I don’t hang out in bars so maybe they do. I couldn’t believe how the teens in Spain would take a puff, and pop a french fry in theirmouth at the same time. I guess it’s all going in you, but ick.
Driving in Spain was wild. I tried to go somewhere, can’t remember where as I didn’t get there, so the memory of destination isn’t clear. I ended up on the border of France on a toll road I couldn’t get off until the next toll booth. When I got back to Barcelona I couldn’t figure out any of the signs and then went flying under the city in a long tunnel. When I got out at the next exit, thankfully I figured out where I was and was able to get back to my hotel before I had a heart attack. It was an exciting morning.
We took a trip down the coast and was amazed at how nice the roads are. I’ve read since then that the climate is ideal for not destroying the roads – so they don’t crack and break down as fast as they do here. We thought we were flying at 95 miles an hour and then a Mercedes or Volvo would fly past us like we were parked. It was wild. I felt like we should be wearing crash helmet and harnesses.
The beach outside our hotel in Alicante, Spain had a top-less section a ways down. My husband never got there. He was working and I was on my own. Seeing old ladies top-less and almost blackened from the sun is not a pretty picture.
We went to the Ikea in Barcelona. It was fun to see how they utilize small spaces – as all the rooms said how much sq. ft they were using. I still have the cactus collection that I bought there. We were giants walking around there – out of the tourist area, we were the site. People were following me around picking up things that I showed interest in.
Going to church in Barcelona was an experience to remember. First it was POURING rain as we ran in. It was a small office in a building, very tricky finding it. There were waste baskets around catching rain that was coming through the roof. We found the event to be extremely charming and the people were very warm and friendly. As we left we talked about how Barcelona would be a wonderful mission location for our later years. Recently I was at a funeral for my Uncle and his sister, my Aunt was telling us that they went on a mission to Barcelona and LOVED it. Talk about small world!
Some countries you can say – don’t worry they all speak English. I wouldn’t say that about Spain. We found that only some people speak English. Can you get around with your high school spanish? Not well. I don’t have any spanish, just carried a cheat sheet, which sometimes I resorted to just pointing to the phrase and not even trying to say it. My husband speaks Spanish pretty fluiently as he served a spanish speaking mission for 2 years, but he had a hard time understanding the dialect that they speak there. He could get his point across though. I learned the most important phrase you need when traveling, “How much for this?” I butchered it so badly that the shop keepers wouldn’t say a word, just type into a calculator and show me. Works.
The subway system in Barcelona is clean and fast – we were impressed with that. It fun to people watch on the trains and in city generally. People are so lovey -dovy. PDA is pollitically correct. Park benches act as hotel rooms.
The first time I saw a Ford Focus was in Barcelona, then on our drive down the coast we saw the huge factory where they make them. Years later I bought one. I was also wowed by all the scooters and the rows of scooters on the sidewalks. Families on scooters, people dressed up, in heels on scooters. I had to have one – now I do.
There are so many places that have been wonderful that I’ve visited, and Barcelona is in the top tier. I really think I could live there.
