Day 02 - Hop On, Hop Off....

We started the day with Terry's tooth brush falling into the bidet from the medicine cabinet- thankfully, there was a spare...a Girl Scout is always prepared... We went to the neighborhood cafeteria for the best coffee and hot chocolate around (we must admit, the young Spaniard eye candy may be making the coffee taste better than it is). We have been starting each day with a very cheerful, "holaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa."

After walking no less than five miles in boots on Day 01, we decided to spend the day on the "hop on/hop off" bus. Our first "hop off" was at the world famous soccer stadium Futbol Club Barcelona. As excited as Heather and I were to be in the midst of such greatness, Jill was unfazed by the entire location and experience. Heather and I spent 45 minutes in the Barca Mega Store picking out the perfect jerseys for Heather's kids, my daughter and my daughter's bestie. Standing in line with our purchases, Jill marched up to us with sweat on her brow giving us the "wind it up" signal with a feverish pitch of her index finger. We made made our purchases and then begged for a few more photos in front of key statues and flags. Jill acquiesced but said, "This is ridiculous. Truthfully, I really don't like what you bought. This place is soooooo one dimensional. This is the last picture I am taking for the trip!"

We proceeded to quietly tiptoe behind Jill to the bus where Jill sat with a German family in an attempt to cool down. Heather and I sat in the back, talking about Jill quietly under our breath. I knew it was just low blood sugar. We let her have her time. By the time we were ready to "hop off" all was right with the world. We were in Plaza De Catalonia.

We approached at least four different groups of tourists to take our picture in exchange for taking theirs. We approached four groups because shockingly no one could quite capture the obvious beauty of all three of us at the same time. As we walked to our next destination, Heather noticed I was walking in a carefree, strutting manner (those are her words). Heather said, "Terry, where is your bag?????????" I said, "Right here," proudly patting my travel document organizer which I had safely and discretely concealed beneath my shirt. Heather exclaimed, "NO - THE STUFF YOU JUST BOUGHT at the stadium." My heart dropped as I realized I did the ultimate "hop off"" the bus leaving my bag of purchases behind. Thankfully, there is a Nike store on Las Ramblas. I hope I can replicate my purchases.

The rest of the day was spent looking for good dinner chow, shopping (Heather almost had her melt down moment as Jill and I spent two hours trying on boots), soaking in tAndrocles farmers market and having a drink along Las Ramblas. We closed the night at Escribir where our waiter told Jill as she was trying to order in Spanish, "In English please." How bad must our Spanish be....even after 8 weeks of Spanish courses.

It's 1:00 am and Jill is now ready for dinner. Technically this is day 03 but we'll get to that later. Adios!


"In Spain, attempting to order a chicken salad sandwich, you wind up with a dish whose name, when you look it up in the Spanish English dictionary, turns out to be 'An eel with a big ass.". - David Barry