January 6, 2010

I had trouble staying asleep and panicked around 6am. Why am I here?! I woke up for real at 11:15 to the third stage of my alarm. Oh, oops! My hosts will certainly have heard that!! I went out to meet them. Rik and two guests were there. They offered me breakfast, which I gladly accepted. They made me toast, an egg with red bell pepper in it, and tea. The two guests are from Amsterdam. We all chatted in English. They mostly asked about me and I tried to be gracious and ask about them and thank them as each bit of breakfast came.

After breakfast, Rik marked a map for me of neighborhood interests. He marketed a few squares and markets and a super market and the post office and where to throw away trash. Rik and his friends left to go to the Picasso museum. I waited for my friends who were supposed to arrive at 1:30. They had my purse because we were told there would be many pick-pockets at the parade. As I waited for them, I realized the absolute stupidity of this plan. They had ALL of my money so I couldn’t buy food or get into museums or pay for an internet café or anything. They also had my tour book so I couldn’t even do a scenic walk. Also, they had my school supplies so I couldn’t even study up. Around 2, I went outside to look briefly for them. I could only hope they’d find me so I could USE my day off and so I could EAT!





They came at 2:30, an hour late. Ohhh phewph. They looked around the apartment and declared they liked my neighborhood. Then we walked all of the way down Passeig de Gracia to La Rambla. On the way, we ran into Katie Reeves. It was a very odd meeting but we hugged and gave each other our best.

La Rambla is a famous pedestrian street where people do “paseo” or stroll. The first thing we saw was some stalls that sold pets. There were all sorts of animals: hedgehogs, iguanas, ferrets, turtles, rabbits, chipmunks… Then we noticed some street performers. They’re like the silver or gold painted guys that we have in San Francisco but more elaborately painted. They’re textured slightly so they look like real statues that are worn. Unlike the one in the city that dance or perform, these ones stay perfectly still. Some of them are also decorated in other colors or with plastic flowers or a scary costume something instead. They’re meant to be photographed for money. There were also tourist centers with postcards and other souvenirs. In addition, there were lots of flower stalls with a beautiful selection.



We had lunch at one of the restaurants on the Rambla. Mikaela and I had paella de pollo. It was quite good. It had peas, carrots, artichoke, and chicken. It’s like rice or risotto but also like it’s been stuck to the bottom of the pan—a little crisp. We found out the hard way that people in touristy areas are taken advantage of. We were charged 7 Euros for our drinks and individually for the bread they brought to share. Oh well. Lesson learned.




Then we went the rest of the way down La Rambla to the end. There was a large monument. It had lots of people statues around the base and an obelisk with Christopher Columbus on top pointing away toward the sea. Apparently, it’s meant to commemorate his return to Spain after discovering the Americas. Around the base, there were 8 lions. We walked to the edge of the water at the port and then went back to the subway to go home. We were all tired and Mikaela wasn’t feeling good. I would normally have pushed myself to go on and see more sights, but accepted the day instead and went home to work on some of my coursework. After a while, I went in search of internet. I tried my foccaceria first, but they didn’t have it. I went to Starbucks instead. I got a lemon cupcake and a card with a username and password. Perfecto!