Saturday, May 8th, 2004, - Barcelona, Spain

Sight-seeing w/ Sue today :) She had planned to take us on a tour bus around the city, but it turned out to be canceled this w/e. So instead we headed to Las Ramblas - a long pedestrian walkway lined w/ trees stretching from centretown down to the waterfront. All the way along are stores, museums, monuments, kiosks selling anything & everything (clothes, jewelery, accessories, chickens, pets, flowers, food, you name it), outdoor cafes & mimes that put on little acts along the way. We took some little detours too to see the narrow sidestreets w/ old cathedrals, and more of the older character, not quite so urbanized.
Stopped at a tapas bar for lunch and then continued down to the waterfront. We spent an hour or so visiting the Barcelona aquarium which was great - I hadn´t been to an aquarium in years!! Then we took the elevator up the Columbus monument to get a good view overlooking both the city & the Sea.
Had fun on the way back up Las Ramblas checking out all the mime acts. Stopped and chatted w/ one guy, who´s head was being served atop a dish of paella, who Sue had met once or twice before when he was doing his act. Really funny, clever guy. Seemed tired tho ... I guess at 5:00 after a day of entertaining tourists like that, you´re not exactly fresh as a daisy. Checked out the huge grocery market on Las Ramblas ... so neat ... I just love markets ... I´m gonna have to start taking little trips to the market in Ottawa on weekends, cuz I just love walking around checking it all out ... you can get any fresh foods you could ever want there!
Hopped on the Tomb bus to get back to Sue´s - it´s a special inner city bus that costs only slightly more than the regular city bus, but it´s like being in the 1st class car on a train (or what I imagine it to be like, since I´ve never actually been on one); comfy chairs, lots of room, little lamps on endtables, music playing ...
Just before dinner time my stomach started acting up (as it is known to do) & I spent the evening feeling ill, just lying on the bed. Damn sensitive stomach!


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