The Barcelona blues

I awoke to the strange sounds of the room phone ringing. Groggily, I answer and hear "This is your wake up call!" Then I remember. It all comes back to me. I have no alarm. I have no camera. I have no phone. The night befores events come flooding back in. After a quick shower and some grub, I start out on my journey to find Apple. Mind you, I couldn't Google directions, no phone and all, so I had to do it the old fashioned way... A map. Needless to say, I got super lost (no surprise there). Finally I arrive. At this point, I'm actually thinking that everything will be ok. That this was just some sort of test and I had proven myself worthy and would be handsomely rewarded with a fixed phone. Oh sweet, dumb Pam. I was way off. The phone was done. Finito. Dead. There was no way they could fix it. They couldn't even swap it for a new one because they didn't have any American phones in stock.  I burst into tears in the middle of the store.

**Side note**

I put on a brave front when I travel alone. The truth is, I'm scared. It's scary to be away from home with strangers. Even though I have this great group of people with me that is in a sense, my new family for a few weeks, it still gets lonely. I rely on my phone because it is the only way I feel like my real family and friends are with me. It's like a security blanket. I know that when I'm feeling down, I can reach out to someone or even check Facebook to see what's up. At that moment, without my phone, I had never felt more alone in my entire life.

 

When I calmed down and wiped the tears and boogers off my face, I crossed the street and entered El Cort Ingles (like a Macy's). Not to be without pictures on this amazing trip, I needed to buy a camera. I purchased a hot pink Coolpix and felt a little better. I also realized that I had no way of telling time. Since I'm not super good at using the location of the sun as a timepiece, I picked up a cheap sparkly watch at Claire's. Excited to set up my camera, I headed back to the room. What a disappointment that darn coolpix was (or at least I thought). I felt pretty glum as I took pictures and deleted them, not feeling too pleased with the results. Determined to not let this setback keep me down I headed back to the fountain, the scene of the crime, to enjoy the sunshine, people watch and journal. As I wrote the bit about feeling lonely, I got teary eyed. I'm not even exaggerating when I say that at that moment I looked up and there were my pals Karen and John, who had just been talking about me! Everything happens for a reason, I'm telling you! We chatted for a bit then parted ways. Back in the room, I decided to have a siesta when two others from the tour (Shelley and Brenda) rang my room phone and invited me to join them for lunch. We had a blast! A pitcher of cava sangria with tapa after tapa, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Brenda and I grabbed a glass of cava while we waited for a shop to open. At 5, we headed to a small meat market (she and Shelley had been the day prior) they remembered her so treated her like family, and by association, me too!  We tasted many different cheeses, meats, and crackers. He even poured wine, literally, down our throats. "Abre la boca" 

Since we were pretty much family at that point, it was time to make it official. We headed into the back room. With meat hanging from the ceiling, the meat man in his best English and Brenda, in her best Spanish conversed. It was awesome, weirdly awesome. Such a random experience and one of the reasons I love traveling. Later that night, I joined Jeremy and Christine in the lobby for some wine and chit chat. So much fun. Great conversation with great company. What started out as a crap day, really turned out to be quite wonderful. But after all was said and done, I was ready to say "adios" to Spain and "bonjour" to France.  

Barcelona Day 1 & 2

Day #1 

I arrived in Barcelona. After I cleared customs and got my luggage, it was time to see if there was anyone waiting for me. Surprise! There was! And not just one person but a whole group. Wahoo! Once we collected all our peeps, it was time to head to the hotel: The Hotel Catalonia Barcelona Plaza. 

Right on the Plaza Espana, the hotel had wonderful views of a fountain and big building. I made a mental note to explore that later. After checking in, I had just enough time to get some exploring in before the welcome dinner. Perfect time to explore what I had seen earlier. It's called Montjuic. It's a massive hill. A beautiful fountain, called Font Magica, sits halfway up the hill. At the top of the hill is the ornate and opulent Museu Nacional d'art de Catalunya.

 I felt like Rocky when I finally reached the top! The views of and from this hill were absolutely gorgeous.

 On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at a tapas restaurant (Tapa, Tapa) which was right by the hotel. Ready to get a table for one, I hear, "Do you want to sit with us ma'am?" My first thought was, "wow, people are super friendly here." But once I turned around I realized it was people from my group (John and Karen) and they had said Pam not ma'am. We had a ball, the 3 of us, drinking, eating, and laughing. I have new friends!!

Soon enough, it was time for the welcome dinner. My goal for this trip is to do and try new things, so I did. I ordered starry eggs and baby eel. It was delicious. 

After a long day it was time to head to bed. 

Day #2 

Today began with breakfast then a tour of the city. Barcelona really is beautiful. The beaches, buildings, monuments, each unique and special. The views are simply breathtaking. The highlight for sure, La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished work. Wow. There aren't enough words to describe it, and pictures don't do it justice.

 Spectacular. I would love to return to Barcelona in 2026 to celebrate the finished product. Some tapas and beer and then it was off to the next tour: more Gaudi. We headed to Casa Mila and Park Guell. So quirky and fun! The colors and architecture made me smile.

 I had asked the tour guide for some suggestions as to where I could go to really experience Barcelona's nightlife. 

After a quick siesta, I was ready to explore some more. I decided to get some beer and tapas. I stopped at a wonderful little place: MonDoré Cerveseria Gastronòmica. The food was delicious, the beers were local and the staff could not have been more helpful (and hot!) Sated and giddy, I decided to head to the fountain to watch the light show. Wow, was it packed. I managed to find a spot on the bottom step. I watched some street performers do some crazy good moves. They were really entertaining (and cute too!) Now it was showtime. Well, I should say that the show started, but I missed it all. For you see, at that moment, I dropped my phone. Not from a high distance, but from my knee, as I sat on the bottom step. It didn't crack, so I didn't think anything of it. I didn't notice it was broken until I went to take a picture of the "magical fountain." I tried to turn it on. No luck.  A sense of panic spread through me as I frantically tried various ways to make the phone work. In shock, I headed back to the hotel to see if any familiar faces were around and could offer suggestions or even fix the phone. I ran into a sweet couple from my tour (Jeremy & Christine) and was able to reach TD Tini. She suggested visiting the Apple Store in the AM. My new friends agreed and even made me feel a little better about things. Deciding that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to go out late, Barcelona nightlife was off the table. No dancing for Pamcakes. I went to sleep instead. I needed to be well rested and ready for what was to come. 

#Independentpam is at it again.

Hello friends!!! If you're new to Pamsnickety, welcome! If you're returning after my long hiatus, welcome back! I apologize if this/these next few posts aren't up to par. It's been a long time since I've written. My hope, for this trip, is to push myself just past uncomfortable. I want to push myself to do and experience even more than I have in the past. I don't want to miss any opportunities to do something cool. Here goes nothing...

I'm at it again. I'm ready to embark on another adventure: Barcelona, Southern France, & the Italian Riviera. 

Things I learned while waiting at the airport:

-I have a staring problem

-Male airport employees are hot

-People eat a lot more than they need to

-I love the airport

I had an awesome flight. Had a window seat, with no one next to me. And the aisle seat was a delightful man, who just so happened to be a part of my group! He and his wife have been married for 55 years and have visited 87 countries and all 50 states. So cool. 

I listened to The Smiths greatest hits and Ed Sheeran. Swoon. 

When dinner came out, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. It was more food than I typically eat in a day! And I ate it all. 

We landed in Frankfurt. I got stopped going through security. I'm a badass apparently. All was well again though once I got my pretzel and beer :) 

Connecting flight to Barcelona wasn't anything spectacular except for this awesome view of the Alps. 

I can't wait to meet my group and see what Barcelona brings me.