After Rome, Barcelona feels so much wider and warmer. There are actually crosswalks and traffic lanes here — hallelujah! Hardly anybody jaywalks, even if the streets are free of traffic. We are still in Rome mode, so we are often the only ones crossing the street while people bunch up on the edges of the sidewalk waiting for the walk sign.
The hostel we're staying at is a clean, well-lighted place. I met a young couple from Switzerland who recommended we check out an outdoor market called Mercat St Josep, but we forgot the street name and ended up at a little touristy restaurant on Las Rambas instead, drinking sangria and eating tortilla espanola. Las Rambas is a long boardwalk filled with street performers and little streets branching off into swank areas with tapas bars. You can buy anything here, even roosters.
LAURA GEGGEL / SPECIAL TO THE SEATTLE TIMES
The Sagrada Familia, April 2, 2006.
Tom and I ate and ate, naming this and that in Spanish. We couldn't remember how to say "plum," but we asked the men beside us who thought we were hilarious and asked us if we wanted to know any other words.
Today we visited La Sagrada Familia, a huge basilica designed by Gaudi that was 100 years in the making. Everything about it looks as though it was stretched vertically. After our hike to the top (Sarah came too, "boot" and all), we walked over to a nearby park to play Frisbee and naps. I don't remember falling asleep, but I must have because when I came to, my arm was asleep and rubbery. Viva la siesta!
Marketplace
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