December 22, 2003

Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 08:04:01 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Barcelona...

... was a dissapointment. It doesn't rank anywhere close to other major world cities like Paris/Rome... and i'll throw in San Francisco along with those two. And I'm not much into the nightclub scene which is what the city is famous for, so not much for me here.

i went to sleep last night sometime after 4 am and woke up COMFORTABLY at 11:30 when the hotel maids were knocking on the door. By the time i got ready and left the hotel, it was almost 1pm.

Now it's 4:25pm and i'm basically done with the city except for one last thing after dark tonight.

First thing this afternoon was the 14th/15th century "Catedral" - probably the #1 tourist attraction in the city. As soon as i entered i couldn't help thinking, "if you've been to one big huge gothic cathedral with tall stained glass windows and detailed stone carvings on the exterior walls, you've been to them all!" Nothing special about this one compared to Notre Dame or St. Chappel in Paris. They had an elevator to the top - literally to the top -- i was on the roof. Such a big dissapointment here, because the cathedral is quite short and all the surrounding buildings take away the view of the city. Only good thing was that there was an elevator to the top and i didn't have to climb the stairs! Anyway, after spending about 10 minutes there i came back down, then roamed around the gothic quarter -- (one of?) the oldest areas of the city. That was nice, letting myself get lost in all the narrow stone streets - passageways actually... it was fun, but i was getting hungry too...

One "jamon y queso croissant" later (ham & cheese -- why is cheese sooooo common all over the continent???) i was on the metro going to the Temple de la Sagrada Familia - under construction for the last century and simply not the entrance ticket price except for the elevator to the top. The exterior of this is actually very nice -- several 100+ meters tall columns (there will be 12 eventually when the thing is complete, 1 for each of the Apostles). Right now it looks like it's probably half done, and i didn't stick around long enough to find out when it'll be finished. may even take another hundred years... The interior is all under construction. There is literally NOTHING inside worth looking at except the construction work in progress and....

... and the elevator to the top. That was the only good thing i've seen today -- so far. This view is actually above the rest of the city and it's fantastic! STILL, there's no place which gives a full 360-degree view... everywhere you have to look through tiny openings in the tower to see some portion of the city. But it was still nice. Unfortunately you have to pay 8 euros to enter the complex to take the 2-euro elevator ride to the top of one of one of the towers.

Now I'm in a very cheap internet cafe close to Barcelona University and "Las Ramblas" - my last destination for today. The guidebook i have (i.e. the phone book from the hotel) compares Las Ramblas to Champs Elysses in Paris -- one broad boulevard with lot of shops and restaurants on both sides. After everything i've seen so far, i'm not expecting much, but still hoping to be pleasantly surprised. That will be it for Barcelona, and this is really one of the few places in all of Europe that i don't feel like returning to on a future trip.

Maybe in my mind i was just expecting too much...

I didn't visit any of the museums here... maybe that was a mistake. There is a famous museum of Gaudi. Maybe tomorrow morning. Maybe not.

Btw, i haven't yet "gorged myself" on the many wines of the region ;-) ... partly because i've been driving on this trip. And that's another thing -- all the things i love about driving in the U.S. -- none of them apply in europe! There are no motel 6's conveniently at every exit, no mcdonalds, burger king, denny's, olive garden's, etc at every exit, the cities are crowded, the hotels are deep within the city far away from the highways, they charge for parking (those of them that have parking), the parking garages are extremely tiny and difficult to get into and out of -- i've already scraped my car behind both side mirrors, on the back passenger door, and back wheel area.... i think only reason to rent a car would be to drive in germany. Everywhere else, trains are the way to go!

I'm rambling again ... sorry. actually i'm just waiting for it to get dark, then i can stroll down Las Ramblas. ok... time to proofread this email.

(insert a 10-minute pause here)

and it all started with a metro ride to the cathedral where a guy was playing jingle bells on the accordion..... like i haven't heard it 100 times on the radio in the last 3-4 days! Now they're playing "Johnny Be Good" on the radio in this internet cafe.

About last night and one of the many reasons why i didn't fall asleep until 4.... I was watching movies on tv that were dubbed in either spanish (Splash) or french(some movie about a circus knife-thrower)... or english with french subtitles (American Graffiti) ... and a phone call that lasted about 2 hours or something? i dunno...

tomorrow, it's off to Madrid with a coastline-detour through Valencia.

adios,
-yo.

Cathedral: