Day 4

There are some days that just do not work out.

Ann and I spend hours and days prior to our trips reading books and pressing our noses against computer laptop screens to plan our days away from home. Together we decide what country and cities to see. I work out the nuts and bolts of getting from one place to another, the hotels and anything itinerary related. Ann works on what we do when we are there, i.e. what to see and logistics of getting the most out of sights and events. It works to perfection. Well, not so much today.

[One nice event each morning in Barcelona is the coffee. A simple café con leche (coffee and milk) is a work of art, making a latte or cappuccino seem like sloshing coffee in a cup. What a delightful and beautiful way to deliver my drug of choice for the morning wakeup]

This day started off simply enough walking the five blocks to the car rental office in Poblenou, the district we were staying in. No, there was not a problem getting the car since it was there waiting for us. We were the only people there. Oddly, the car pick up was at a Citroen dealership. Needless to say that was a deserted place due to the economy! First off he wanted my driver’s license AND passport. We had both neglected to bring them with us. So back to the hotel I went, up to the eleventh floor and back down. I went up in the elevator with a man rubbing his eyes, blowing his nose and coughing. When he got off I got off too and took another elevator to my floor - leaving the other elevator teeming with Swine Flu virus, I am sure. Then I walked the five blocks back again. So much for us getting out of town before the morning traffic.

Getting out of town to the north was supposed to be a piece of cake. Never say that when on vacation. It just invites disaster. We did not seem to be able to leave Barcelona. With the one way streets and no left turn intersections we never could get where we wanted. Wishing to get out of town by 8:00 we finally escaped at 10:00. This all would seem reasonable except we had GPS. Apparently this GPS was not a fully capable GPS. Just like smart and dumb children there are smart and dumb GPS units. We got a GPS that rode the short bus to school. I will not say that this is a Microsoft product that Ann received for testing software on the MS campus – Sorry, Johnny B!

We headed north of town to Girona, slightly inland from the Mediterranean. Parking was ridiculous. The first free lot we found had no places after quite a search. We gave up and went into a subterranean parking garage that charged 3 euro cents a minute!!! Actually, that is only $2.70 an hour. I only wish Seattle charged so little. Lunch was al fresco (or whatever al fresco translates to in Catalan) in the old part of Girona. Our big meal of the day was three courses for 10 euro ($15) per person. It was quite good and the weather was perfect. The half liter of house wine washed it down delightfully. We walked the 90 steps up to the cathedral only to find there was a fee ($7.50 pp) for entering and immediately walked down the 90 steps.

Tossa de Mar was next (a sleazy seaside town which is considered the least sleazy of the tiny Spanish seaside towns). I was not impressed. 15 miles of switchbacks along the cliffs of the Mediterranean coast to get there at 25-30mph made for a longer trip than imagined. The weather was hazy, low clouds and generally not sparkling as we had anticipated.

In both of the cities today we drove to the center of town. Several years ago in Italy we drove to the center of the town we stayed in for a month and were stopped by an angry policeman ready to send us to prison for being in the “centro storico”, old town, where no cars were allowed. In these cities today, one with Ann driving and one with me, we drove into the center, streets getting narrower and narrower until the tiny car could barely get through between the buildings, people walking literally against our car. At some point we felt we would have to back up to get out, a daunting thought indeed. Both times we escaped having seen the old town by car.

Arriving back at the hotel with our newly rented car we needed to park it. Parking is absolutely impossible in Barcelona and parking on the street more impossible. The hotel has parking available across the street. Simple enough, right? Oh, how wrong you can be. To get to the parking garage (I could see it from the lobby) it was so complicated that the young gentleman behind the hotel counter came with us in the car to get us to the garage. I would have been embarrassed except I had read online this was difficult. In addition I truthfully think I would have not been able to do it myself without very detailed directions.

Dinner was cheese and a baguette in our room with wine, of course. To bed went hoping for a better day tomorrow.