La Boqueria, La Rambla, Barceloneta & Maryann!

Today was a day full of excitement and adventure, in addition to one difficult four year old.  In all fairness, it was HOT and muggy today and we were outside for most of the day.  After three days of kid-directed fun, we planned to explore some more of the city on foot.  The biggest news of the day, though, was the arrival of Erica's mom, Maryann, to Barcelona.  Erica met her at the airport and they got back just as the rest of us were getting up and going.  She's here for five days, then onto Germany for her 50 year reunion of a study-abroad trip in Germany.  She's even staying with her same roommate!  And, today's Maryann's birthday.  I think 21 again.

We all hoofed it about 2/3 of a mile through some new (to us) neighborhoods, including several muslim carnicerias (meat markets) and hardware stores.  Really felt like a new country altogether.  Sully stopped to pose for a photo for some Italian tourists, his only known paparazzi exposure today.  First stop was La Boqueria, a very old but extremely active market.  The word Boqueria apparently originates from the Catalan word for goat.  La Boqueria did not disappoint.  Incredibly crowded, an amazing array of foods was available.  I couldn't believe how many of the foods I'd never seen before.  Many fruits I couldn't identify.  Fish, lobster, shrimp, fruit.  Not so much cheese.  Lots of ham and pig pieces.  Dried kiwi seemed a popular commodity.  We grazed on rolli queso (cheese rolls) and a chicken empanada, washed down with coconut juice and strawberry/banana juice.  We browsed and only bought some fruit, plums and nectarines, for a grand total of 0.86 Euro, a bargain.

Beautifully organized dried fruits and nuts.  

Beautifully organized lambs' heads.  Not sure if the price is per head or per kilo but still seems pretty cheap.  We passed despite the price.

Lunch outside in a hot dusty playground.  Meandered through the gothic area, the oldest part of Barcelona.  Narrow, mainly carless streets with shops, apartments, galleries, restaurants, offices.  Lovely old cathedrals that were left unexplored by us.  Here, Henry is posing next to a sculpted elephant next to the building where Joan Miro was born.  None of the troops were terribly impressed.

Rambled down La Rambla, the most famous boulevard in the city.  City planners long ago decided to make the main thoroughfare mainly a pedestrian road and it works well.  Many street performers including this Don Quixote who would occasional sit up loudly when posing for pictures.  It's for this reason that much trepidation existed when little kids were asked by their parents to pose.  Madeleine, however, was feeling tough.  Lots of other shops, kitsch for sale, outdoor cafes.  Possibly saw one of the mysterious pickpockets but weren't victimized.

As mentioned above, it was blazing hot and Sullivan was an occasional pill (or more often), not wanting to do anything but be carried.  Cold tang water wouldn't even help.  He did eventually get back into riding his skuut bike before he was tossed into the sea to swim with the fishes.  Another round of ice cream bribery paid off, as he really did perk up.  M & H were strong today.  Maryann was most impressive, after having only a couple of hours of sleep at most during her trip here from Portland.

We walked a long way, including to the southern end of La Rambla to the Port of Barcelona.  Ice cream refueling stop was here.  M & H grabbed yet another geocache with great stealth, nearby this viewpoint.  This large boat was a trimaran which seemed to be designed to be able to go exceedingly fast though we didn't get to see it.  In the background is one of the two cable car systems in town.  Seems like it's the only mode of transport we haven't yet taken.

We walked/rode along the water for quite a way.  Sullivan had his mojo here but the rest of us were feeling tired and hot, with sore feet.

Short stop at Barceloneta Park for some play and a rest while I scoped out the restaurant scene on the beach.  This beach was gorgeous and packed.  Found a great place, on the beach, to have a birthday dinner.  It was the only one I found that was serving any food this early for dinner, at 6:30, and they were only serving tapas (no paella or other entrees).  All the restaurants along here start serving dinner at 8 or 8:30, which is typical, but too late for our crowd tonight.  This turned out perfect, the tapas were fantastic, and the views couldn't be topped.  Here, Erica and Maryann offer a sangria toast.  Kids got to be really sandy and dirty while we had some adult time polishing off the drink.  Everyone was thrilled.

Bus home and the tired crew has been wrestled into bath and bed.  The owners of our apartment today replaced the shelf we shattered and fixed a leaking shower too.  Headed in a good direction.  Tomorrow, we will likely take the cable car on Montjuic to the castle and swim in one of the Olympic venues.  This is the beginning of the last week of our big adventure.  .  .

-N