Skip to main content

Barcelona Part Three

After visiting the Cathedral, we decided to take the Metro and go see Poble Catalunya. It was on Trip Advisor's "Top Then Things To Do" and we liked the description of a model village that contained elements of all the architectural areas of Spain. We had been to a similar village in Palma and enjoyed that.

The Metro is very good, quite easy to understand and fast. We arrived and I pulled out my iPhone GPS to see which way to walk to get to the Poble. It reminds me of the old "follow the bouncing ball" as I watched the arrow move along the blue line when we were going the right way and then move off to the white/gray area when we didn't turn where we were supposed to. We had quite a climb to get to the Poble and when we were returning later realized there was a much easier way to get there. Another black mark against GPS. 

It was after noon and so hot. We sat at a table in the shade and had a glass of lemonade while we recovered from the climb. The Poble was great, though. It contains shops and shop fronts as well as a small modern art museum and a "monastery." I enjoyed just roaming around with no fixed agenda, looking and taking photos.





Yes, that is Richard!! He actually encouraged me to take a photo of him. Amazing.















This mural reminded me of Quinn's favorite fairytale stories.























While we were wandering around the Poble, Laurie and family were at the beach. CJ said that although the beach was clean, there was a rim of garbage in the water at the edge that he and Porter had to wade past to get to the water. Glad we didn't go--the beaches here in Ireland may be chilly but they are clean. And Porter was embarrassed by the topless women--hasn't seen any of that in Arizona!

We walked back down to the Metro from the Poble at about 3:00. By this time the heat was scorching and I noticed sweat trickling down people's arms and necks in the Metro. I felt it trickling down the back of my t-shirt too. Richard decided he was too tired to go out walking that night with the kids so he stayed in the air conditioned hotel room and family and I went walking along Las Ramblas which is a long, vibrant, boulevard with street vendors and mimes. Finally was able to share a paella with CJ--very, very good! And Laurie and I shopped at Mango and Zara for Quinn and Mercy. Loads of sales going on. At 10:00 p.m. Barcelona was still busy and restaurant staff were standing outside their establishments trying to coax us in for tapas and paella. No thanks, have had our fill. But a long cool drink at Starbucks--that was great.










Never leave your phone in the hands of your daughter when going to the restroom
Nor in the hands of your grandson!

Now that's more like it!



Lyrics from Abba's "Mamma Mia" soundtrack come to mind when I think of our time together:

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers all the time 

We said good-bye at breakfast the next morning but at least it is only for about three months. I will miss the opportunities to go over to Europe but I miss my family more.

One more day on our own in Barcelona coming up soon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 2024 and blogging

  I haven't posted on my blog for a long time. Partly that was due to not knowing what to write about and partly it was wondering if I wanted to put myself "out there" anymore. And in what way. I subscribe to a few blogs on Substack, which is a subscription-based blog. You can pay to have your own blog, you can pay for someone else's blog, and that means you get to write and post and get comments back from a whole lot of people. You can comment on other people's blogs--if you pay--or else you can just read the blog and not pay. Of course you might miss some of the "pay only" content--much like modern news media has teaser stuff but to read the whole article, you have to pay for a subscription. The Substack blogs cover all kinds of topics and there are a few "professional" writers--meaning they're journalists and writers who have published and been paid larger bucks than the $5 a month they get per subscription on Substack--but I think most
12 comments
Read more

It’s just another day

  Yesterday was the final day of my 8-day assignment in a 4th grade class; I’ve written something about that assignment in a previous post, “Revolt of the Guinea Pig,” It’s been a challenging 8 days which, as Dickens might have said, brought out the best in me and probably the worst in me as well. But yesterday morning I had that experience that every teacher dreads—shelter in place, also known as possible shooter situation. I had arrived at the school at 7:20 thinking how wonderful it was that our heat had broken a bit. The skies were overcast, we’d had rain the day before, there was a cool breeze. As I walked to my classroom (photos below of what the buildings look like), I waved to the students already gathered on the other side of the gate, who were waiting to rush in, some to the cafeteria for their breakfast, some to the playground to run and hopefully get some of that energy out before the bell rang at 7:55. I unlocked the outside door to our building, walked down the corridor t
2 comments
Read more

And now for something a little different from the substitute teaching lens

  I subbed for my daughter yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I’d cope as I am still somewhat jet lagged but she has a very well behaved fifth grade class: they’re respectful, good humored (most of the time) and willing to learn (most of the time). She warned me the night before that there had been some “issues” this week—kids fighting on the playground, some backtalk in class from a boy who’s normally a very hard worker. With that in mind, I started off my day in the classroom addressing this up front. “I hear it’s been a tough week,” I said and then waited for a response. Some shifting in the chair, some rolling of the eyes, a couple of “Yeah, it really has” emanated from the kiddos. I then sat on the corner of my desk and talked about how I remembered being their age, the emotions, how things seem so very important, so very “raw” in the moment. I shared with them how my own teachers reacted to misbehaviors, after-school detention (Wow, Mrs A, AFTER school? They could DO that?) But then I
1 comment
Read more