The alarm sounds. Monique gets up and cooks us breakfast in our tiny kitchen. Our bags are packed and we leave our hotel with a clean kitchen (or you pay 50 Euros) and roll down the cobblestones to the bus station. We find stop #5 and are greeted with a smiling face from a woman in line. Dave asks if she speaks english and a conversation begins. We learn she owns a house in Talloires - a small town across the lake from Annecy. She and her husband live full-time in Doublin and take a two hour flight to get here. Must be nice. We wonder who watches the place when she is away and learn there is a store on the bottom floor so the shop keeper keeps an eye on everything. What a great solution. The bus arrives and we all get in. Guess who arrives - the honeymoon couple - how funny!
At the airport - we are booked on "EasyJet". Their reviews are mixed. They have newer planes but sometimes run late and also have complicated fees for bags and are known for closing the doors earlywhich means you need to be at the gate a minimum of 30 minutes before departure. We check the departure board for our flight but it says the gate is TBD.
Lucky for us - we have access to a lounge and get some free food and snacks then wait for departure. We talk to the guy in the lounge and he says it is a twenty minute walk to the gates so we leave a little early. We checked our bags because we thought we had to but learn it is not as complicated as the online rules appear. Next time we know their game.
After a small delay on the tarmac we take off and arrive in Barcelona, Spain. We collect our bags and make a quick visit to the TI to get a map of the subway, purchase the museum cards and learn about the Metro. After purchasing two T10 packs of tickets we are off to the city (It is half price if you buy them that way.) We catch the green north train into the city. Both of us start to fade. We don't feel so well - oh that's right we have not eaten anything since breakfast. Dave pulls out some nuts to recharge us enough to get to the hotel.
We pop out onto Passeig de Gracia, in the Eixample area, just above the Old City, where much of Barcelona’s Modernista architecture is found. Monique looks to the left and spots Casa Batllo and is amazed that this is a building she has studied.
As an artist, being in the places you have studied is hard to explain - it’s like making the ultimate connection - finally seeing in person - in 3-d - what you have only seen in print before. I am so excited to see all of the art there is to see.
Our hotel is beautiful and 2 door-men capture our bags to bring them in. We have a balcony that overlooks the street and I can see Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s grand masterpiece right from the window. How cool is that. We are burning points with the addition of cash to live in luxury for the next six nights. We were really hungry so room service is in order - and surprisingly the foodis really good.
Fernando Botero’s Horse right by the TI - welcome to Barcelona
OMG - I didn’t know our hotel was so close to Gaudi’s Casa Batlló, - I studied this and am totally geeking out right now.
Hello - are you kidding me - as we are walking down the street another Guadi building appears - Casa Mila.
Our fancy “home” for 6 days in Barcelona - Hotel Casa Fuster. It’s like an exclamation point at the end of a grand boulevard.
The doormen come to greet us. Okay, we will surrender our bags.
The view from our balcony - La Sagrada Família pierces the sky. They don’t really have big skyscrapers here like we do in the states.