Missy - Barcelona

 

I had two strange tactile sort of goals for this trip One was to touch the Roman aqueduct in Segovia and the other was to put my foot in the Mediterranean. 

I put my foot in the Mediterranean!

Actually by the end of the day I even went swimming in it but my goals are small and specific so it was the foot that counted most of all. 

One of the ways I deal with my anxiety is by making lists. I have task lists for almost everything. It helps me not forget when I’m feeling scattered and helps me stay on track when I’m feeling unmotivated or too anxious to move forward. 

This was something I loved about the Camino. Every day the list was walk to the next rest area. 

For today in Barcelona I had three goals. One for me and from my readings was to be in the Mediterranean. The next was a very touristy goal and one that my aunt Laura asked about when she heard we were going to Barcelona.

I went to see the Sagrada Familia. This is Gaudis unfinished bacillica. Please follow that link and read about it if you don’t know the story. It’s fascinating.

I had personal and more mom oriented goals as well. Kiernan did not enjoy our massive train ride of yesterday so I wanted to make sure he had a much better day today. I therefore got us the all you can eat breakfast buffet. What a change that was for us both!

They had a warm thick chocolate fountain with tea cups next to it for filling dipping chocolate. Next to that a giant basket of churros!

They had healthy and unhealthy pastry, all sorts of juices and hot beverages (we’d both gotten a bit dehydrated over the last few days), they had yogurts and various breakfast meats. It was a feast. We feasted therefore. 

After breakfast I was ready to see the sights and he was ready to nap and play on his phone in the air conditioning.

We split up after a quick trip to the beach. He to quiet introvert recovery land an I to explorer the city. 

It’s funny, in a city full of easily accessible and relatively cheap taxis I wound up walking nearly everywhere. I wound up with 28,637 steps for the day and my feet felt great. 

After the Gaudi I walked over to the big built shaped building and to some parks. 

It was Sunday and the parks were full of families and strollers. They were also full of very fit people working out. I saw some fighters doing kicking drills and push ups. I saw people doing pull-ups and running and tons of volleyball and basketball playing. 

I rested in the shade and called David while looking at the architecture.

Then I took a cab to the National Museum of art of Catalunya.  

This one was recommended to me by an SCA friend who told be about how in the 1930s a lot of rural villages began selling off their ancient murals to get some infrastructure money. Collectors were buying them up for pretty cheap when the government stepped in to prevent the country from losing any more. 

They were great. I spent a few hours looking at beautiful art of the ancient and modern. 

I love the hounds at the feet of these. 

I love the infant Jesus holding a bird and wished Michelle were still with me to see it.

I saw a pilgrim and got all excited.

I loved the detail in his beard. 

I loved how personal and expressive their faces were. 

Then I loved how I chose to let myself eat sugar in Spain by having some excellent rich chocolate in a spectacular setting. 

I went next to the modern art and sculpture section. 

These last two are from the propaganda of the 1930s Spanish civil war section. The one below is my favorite   It was made to show the world the feeling of the people suffering under an illegitimate and violent government. 

I think the bullring is such a striking and deeply Spanish setting. 

I went out into the beautiful day and decided to call David again and to walk the hour plus back to the hotel. 

The sky was blue, the people were out, there were random orange trees over the side walk. 

I saw lots of cool street art and expensive yachts.

I went along the beaches until I got back to Kiernan.

We went for Donner kebab on my friend Martins recommendation. 

Kiernan loved it. 

We kept seeing these electric rental scooters. 

I want one. 

We went back to the beach and went swimming and found some cool shells and rocks. I went to the laundromat and washed lots of clothes then got some Uber eats Indian food for dinner. 

We were going to eat it on the rooftop of the hotel because the views are great but got chased off for bringing outside food. That freaked my rule following son out. 

We went back to our room, which was covered in drying clothes and ate ourselves into comas. 

I would not like to live in Barcelona. It is dirty and loud and busy. On the other hand it has the clearest water and the mountains come all the way down to the sea. It has the coolest architecture I’ve seen in any city and the museums are world class and cheap. 

It has a great diversity of people and lots of vegetarian foods and the cabs are easy. 

I’m glad to see it.