This morning we were up bright and early, went upstairs for breakfast (continental with the loveliest custard pastries !!!) and then were out the door just on 9am to get the bus. We did all three tours before deciding where we wanted to go back to and hop off the bus for a closer look.
We were going to stop off at Sagrada Familia but after seeing the queues to get inside, we decided to stay on the bus and took photos from the bus. The Olympic Stadium was a stop we made - it is more impressive from the outside than from the inside. We were unable to get up close to the Torre Agbar building (the round one with no corners) and so landed up walking there in the evening (about a gazillion miles away from the hotel) and only when we got there did we think that we probably should have caught the Metro !!! We did manage to get the Metro to the Fountain Show (having first got on the subway going the wrong way so hopped off and caught the next one going the right way !!!) The musical fountains with lights was just lovely and so impressive. We had learnt our lesson earlier this evening and got the subway back to the hotel.
We went to see if we could find the cartoon artist but he had already left so will have to keep an eye out to see if there is anyone else who does something similar.
We are staying in the Gothic Quarter and it sure has been an eye opener for us. It is just amazing to see how different everyone is.
Kaitlin was fascinated when Al was showing her how the gangs work to pick-pocket the tourists (well anyone they can but more often than not a tourist !) - not that they actually saw anyone get pick-pocketed but she was fascinated watching them all work together. Now she can understand why we keep asking her if she HAS to take her big bag with her everywhere she goes !!!!
Barcelona is so different to Madrid - I really feel like I left my heart in Madrid. Barcelona is much dirtier and, while the buildings are still impressive, they are not on the same sort of scale of “amazingness” that the buildings in Madrid are. I think it is also because we feel a lot more unsafe here - we were always careful about where we were walking and where our bags were in Madrid but it just feels different here. By mid-morning we had all agreed that we prefer Madrid to Barcelona and, given the opportunity, probably wouldn’t come back. It has been interesting to visit but I will be glad to leave.
It has been very tiring on and off buses all day and that amount of walking we have done is phenomenal - Kaitlin has done very well keeping up with us but I have to say that I am looking forward to some down time when we get to the timeshare.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kal20m/Barcelona21Sep07
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