HOLA! FROM BARCELONA!

November 27, 2013

Hotel Pulitzer/Calle Bergara 8

After 3 different flights, beginning at 12:05 p.m. EST out of Erie on November 26, we arrived smoothly in Barcelona at 3 a.m. EST. We retrieved our modest luggage and took the Aerobus (5.90 € each) to Place de Catalunya which is near Hotel Pulitzer. I am very pleased that Tim figured all this out last year so we look like pros! We were checked in and getting organized in our room by 5 a.m. (11 a.m. Europe time). The weather is sunny and cool, mid 40s, but I am getting along with a sweater and a fleece jacket.

By 6 a.m. we were walking along the nearby Las Ramblas, an internationally acclaimed street for strolling, with many restaurants and shops, the wonderful and huge market, Mercat St. Josep/La Bouqueria, and more.  One store, something like Macy’s in New York, had 6 floors of women’s and girls’ apparel. I noted that Levi jeans 504 were 81 €, another Levis jeans were 131 € ($178), plain Dockers were 93 €, some shoes were 15-20 €. I am noting this because the euro is worth about $1.36 today. So, jeans are EXPENSIVE!!  Plus I wanted to show off that I know how to make the euro symbol (type 20ac then alt-x).

By about 8 a.m. Erie time TK was fading, so we stopped and had lunch at Hard Rock, not the most cultural of meals, but we needed regular food. Cheeseburgers and fries. Tomorrow we will eat like the Spanish!

It is now 9:30 a.m. (Erie time) and TK is resting while I write. We are sagging after 25 hours of travel and culture!

HOTEL PULITZER: Its Avant Garde design appeals to us, clean, modern, and comfortable, great location, free wi-fi, reasonably priced, and we stayed here last year.

MERCAT ST. JOSEP/LA BOUQUERIE: This is one of the most exceptional markets I have ever experienced. It is about three times the size of Philly’s market and the choices are astounding. For Brian, there are probably 15 different choices of olives, stuffed with feta, or ham, or anchovies to name few. So many varieties of mushrooms, morel selling at 40 € a kg.! Beef and cheese prices were comparable to Erie. So many kinds of seafood. The candies and cookies, the vegetables. The vendors seem like artists as they design and display their “groceries.”

 TK's TAKE: He did not sleep on the overnight flight, many interruptions, dinner and breakfast. He says he is not as young as he used to be.

JK's TAKE: Since we both wanted aisle seats we sat across the aisle from each other. My seatmates were probably early 70s, from Arizona, and also going on a cruise. They fought loudly with each other using foul language almost the whole flight, while drinking lots of wine. It was very distracting and disconcerting. At one time the lady asked the cabin steward to get her a flight out of Barcelona back to Arizona, she wasn't going any further with her husband. The steward replied that we still had 4 hours to go till we were in Barcelona. I did not sleep either but I did read over 500 pages of Greg Iles' Blood Memory. Thank goodness this couple is not on our cruise!