MICHAEL and JEANNIE
in BARCELONA
18 - 22 August 2005

Our plane landed in Barcelona about 3:30 in the afternoon to partly cloudy skies and about 80ºF. We took a taxi to the Hotel Barcelona Universal. We were thrilled with the nice big room. The front desk told us they gave us a nicer room because of our anniversary. We had the second largest room on the floor according to the fire escape blueprint. The bathroom was at least three times bigger than in our hotel room in Vienna. And we had two big closets in a changing room. Our room was a quiet one away from the street on the 8th floor. We never heard any noise during our 4-night stay. We were fascinated by the light in the hallway outside our door that came on only when we got close to our room. And best of all is the price was great for such a hotel in Barcelona.

The water from the tap in Vienna was very tasty. We found the tap water intolerable to drink in Barcelona.

After unpacking, we walked just outside the hotel's front door to the Paral·lel subway station. Just three stops got us to Plaça de Catalunya at the north end of La Rambla. There we purchased 2-day passes for the Bus Turístic and a Barcelona Card with unlimited public transportation access for 4-days.

We then hopped on the next tourist bus going along the south ("blue") line. We rode past several interesting sites, including the National Palace, the 1992 summer Olympic stadium, and the monument to Christopher Columbus. It was in Barcelona where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella held a triumphal reception in 1493 for Columbus after his return from the New World.

At Port Vell (pronounced "vay") we hoped off the bus at the mall where we found a nice restaurant. We sat at a table on the terrace as the sun was setting. Supper included the cold tomato soup the Spanish call gazpacho. (We thought the gazpacho made by Diane Woolly, Jeannie's sister, is tastier.) Jeannie then had grilled pork and Michael enjoyed a sampling of meats and seafoods of the region.

We got on the next tourist bus at the same stop where we had earlier disembarked. It was too chilly now to sit on the open air top deck, so we sat inside where it much less breezy. It was too dark to see architectural styles, but the lights were pretty, especially at the fountains we passed.

On returning to Plaça de Catalunya, we found the subway station and returned to the hotel. We walked a couple blocks on the street in front of the hotel to scout out possible places to eat breakfast on Friday morning, since we thought the hotel breakfast was a bit pricey at €13.