First Day Away

5pm Friday
We were waiting to board the Iberian Airline Transatlantic flight to Barcelona, via Madrid, and I noticed I was the only natural blonde on the flight! We were on an Airbus A-30. It was so big, 8 seats across with 2 aisles. We no longer have any cell phone service and I’m secretly so glad! Rob’s phone won’t ring with anymore calls from subcontractors or home owners for the next few days. He’s all mine! J I’m not worried about the kids at home. I know they are in great care and they probably don’t realize we are gone because they always have so much fun with Aunt Cookie.

The flight was interesting. Very smooth. At first I thought the leg room was great, and it was compared to the earlier flights on Friday. But after you sit for hour after hour, I realized there wasn’t much leg room at all. The flight was 9 hours from San Juan to Madrid, 10pm until 7am.

The flight wasn’t completely full and everyone was sitting with headphones on listening to the video instructions on the TV monitors. We were served a little dinner on a little tray with little silverware. After dinner the party began. All the lights were on until 2am. People were turned around in their seats visiting or walking around. It was the Madrid ‘party’ airbus. Rob and I tried to sleep and we did get some rest. That equivalent to a night with a newborn in the house, i.e. awake every two hours because of someone’s laughter or our rump, leg or arm was asleep.

We landed at 7:20am. It was 11 degrees Celsius. While in the Madrid airport, we tried to translate the signage, and we did pretty well. We made our connecting flight with time to spare, so we did some of our first shopping for the kids, Spanish chewing gum, and a frog that croaks when you squeeze him, and Rob found the Cuban cigars he’d been dreaming of.

7:20am – Bumpy flight. Landed in sunny Barcelona and exited the plane onto the tarmac. When I walked out the door to the top of the stairs, the sea air took my breath away. Rob has always said there’s always a breeze at the beach and now I know he’s right. The landscape flying in looked sparse and scruffy out the plane window. There are hills and valleys. Every shade of tan and brown you can imagine. All the things you think of when you think Mediterranean. We then exchanged Dollars for Euros and hailed a cab.

All the cars are tiny, buzzing around really fast like little bugs. Lot of bicycles and Vespa scooters, too. We checked in our hotel and then began to explore the city. We had lunch at a Falafel and Pita Café. It was delicious. We walked around the corner from the Café and discovered an incredible open air market. Think Publix without walls. J Every color fruit and vegetable, some we had never seen before, meats hanging, salt rubbed fresh fish, fresh eggs. It was just like something in a movie scene. We were walking by the stand with dried fruit and nuts and a lady handed us a chocolate. It looked like the homemade truffles I make with Susanna at Christmas. I hesitated to eat something a total stranger gave me, but I ate it anyway. It was wonderful, a chocolate covered toasted hazelnut. We bought a box of them from her. We also bought a trail mix which has the biggest pecans and raisins I’ve ever seen. It’s terrific.

We navigated the subway system. The routes are color coded, so it wasn’t too difficult. I am so thankful that numbers look the same here as they do at home. We took the green train from station 3 to station 5, then connected to the blue line and exited the Sagrada Familia. Go to www.sagradafamilia.org and look at this. They began construction in 1880, and they are still working on this cathedral! I’m including some pictures of it, but they don’t do it justice.

We came back to our room and the front desk recommended a seafood restaurant at the port. We tried to purchase something on the way to dinner and discovered that the fraud protection we activated on our credit card was working quite well. They had locked our account when they began seeing international charges. It’s comforting to know that the fraud protection works until you go to the other side of the planet and you’re stranded without enough cash or euros. Rob took care of it with the help of the front desk. So we were off to dinner again. Now it’s around 8:30.

We walk to the end of La Rambla, a main, really busy thoroughfare, and we stop at the huge statue of Christopher Columbus and the King and Queen of Spain. We make a left and walk parallel to the Mediterranean Sea. I know that water is no older than any other body of water in the world, but because it’s surrounded by so much history from the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Columbus explorations, being here was slightly overwhelming for a moment. It’s all very surreal. Quite dreamy. Walking under palm trees, not in a hurry, with the man of my dreams. It’s more than I ever imagined our day in Barcelona to be.

Our dinner was at La Gavina Restaurant at Port Vell overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. I couldn’t believe this place. White tablecloths, live musicians, no high chair or happy meal. . .it was a fantastic dinner. We had new things. Fresh pasta with wild mushrooms and shrimp in garlic sauce for an appetizer. Then Rob ordered Scampi and they brought him a bowl of lemon water to clean his fingers and the biggest WHOLE shrimp I have ever scene. I had a Mediterranean dish, Paella de Bacalao, stir fried rice with fresh vegetables and Cod. It was delicious. The website for out restaurant is www.lagavina-rte.com.

We are back at the Husa Hotel Oriente. Tomorrow we board the ship and we’ll try to secure a connection from our cabin. Buena Notte. Ciao.