Man oh man -- how time has zipped on by... It has, however, been a busy month since the last flurry of entries.
- France managed to lose the World Cup...
- We have spent two weeks in Barcelona for Orlaith and Justin's wedding (Wow -- more to follow)...
- And we have had all the paint stripped off our house and had it taken down to bare wood... More stress than it should have been...
- And work has been generally miserable with layoffs weighing on everyone's mind...
I'll break this entry into multiple sections because there is plenty to get caught up on -- so if you want to know more of our impressions of Barcelona - click below....
I will later on get some photos etc of Justin's wedding up -- but for now it is just my Barcelona diatribe.
So Barcelona is a very interesting city -- with plenty to see and do...
We stayed in the Cituat Viella (Old City) -- which means all the "attractions" are in walking distance. Picasso, Zoo, Aquarium, Modern Art Museum etc etc.
Apartment was nice - although I wish I'd have known that "air conditioning" applied only to one room... And the 'hood we ended up in, really felt like a 'hood. The below photo was NOT takenin our 'hood -- trust me...
One turn to the right from our apartment and you were affronted by some pretty nasty prostitutes (nasty in every sense). We never felt fully safe around where we were -- the area was in the process of "turning" -- so it had an eclectic mix of cool bars/restaurants with some plainly dodgy places.
I do have to pause and ask you, dear reader, when was the last time you saw a real street fight? And I don't mean handbags and pushing and shoving -- I mean that terrible sound of fist on face and head? Hopefully, it has been a long time -- as it had been for us too --- but somehow in Barcelona we managed to get close to two fights -- close enough to hear that sickening thud of fists...
Not an accurate reflection of our time in Barcelon -- but a memory none the less....
Turning left (instead of right, in order to avoid the hookers) brought us closer to El Raval -- and the 'hood that hosts the Modern Art Museum (not recommended by Gordon and Staphanie), some cool independent shops, nice places to eat and is close to the university... It ended up being our favourite part of town...
Cafe's overlooking kids' playgrounds too -- it worked out well....a good strong cup of coffee was needed by us -- and Cian needed to burn off some energy... So these places were the perfect marriage....Hey -- most times -- it is the simple things that save the day...
Life there is late -- at least for those of us who are used to putting our 4 year olds to bed circa 8.30 at night... We usually found ourselves still up with Cian around midnight most nights...And bless him -- he was a frigging trooper on the trip.... He put up with late night chocolate ice cream feasts and was happy fending off the locals whenever they made a comment about his Arsenal shirt.
We definitely realized on this trip that a two week stint in a city is not our ideal.. We feel best when we have space to wander and roam and feel safe in having Cian run around. Space is what we need -- I guess our Tuscany trip spoiled us. We felt a little hemmed in --- in a city we did not really know and where language was a barrier and where the taxi drivers had to be the grumpiest wankers on the face of this planet..... Come on -- has anyone had anything that comes close to meeting a nice taxi driver in Barcelona?
But there were so many great things to see in Barcelona:
- it is a city made up of really independent neighbourhoods... El Raval, Barri Gotic etc etc. Each area has its own really true sense of identity. That was very cool
- Gaudi -- have to confess -- I had no real idea about him until I went there.. Wow -- what a frgging genius. Sagrada de Famillia was one of the most astonishing buildings I have seen.
- Miro
- Picasso
- Cian would give thumbs up to the zoo, the ice cream, the sky trams, the beach, the warm ocean (a whole new concept to him...)
So as I reflect further -- I will add and edit my rantings -- but all in all Barcelona struck us as this city that has so much to offer -- but I don't think we'll be rushing back.
It's a good thing that the wedding was so frigging fantastic....
