Day 03 - Make New Friends But Keep The Old...

We started the day at our corner cafe, where our darling waiter has our orders down pat (J = cappuccino, H = hot chocolate, T = cafe americano). Of course, we proceeded to ask him to take pictures of us. We sat outdoors, enjoying the unseasonably warm and sunny Barcelona weather and mapped out our day. Our first order of business was to visit the tourism office to see if some honest soul had returned the lost jerseys I purchased at the Barca Futbol stadium the day before. The tourism lady barely lifted her pencil and made a vain attempt to "call" the Lost and Found office six steps away to see if someone had turned in the bag. Shockingly, all we got in return was a cold and distant shaking of the head "no". The stadium mega store would have to be re-visited. We used our second day pass to get back on the "hop on hop off bus." Our first stop...Gaudi's living masterpiece, Parc Guell (www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/park-guell.http). An interesting turn of events occurred as usual... We naturally toured, taking picture after picture as if we were subjects on Top Model - straddling posts, climbing pillars, lying across benches - anything for a great photo. We finally made it to the top of the park and sat down with a sweet pitcher of Sangria. Of course we asked the table next to us to take a photo of the three of us. Heather launches into her extremely limited Spanish...unfortunately, they were from France. Jill and I expected Heather to be able to communicate after her 1.5 years of high school French with Madame Bettendorf. She was totally blank...Thankfully, Jill and I pulled out a few words in French. The American-French relations are vastly improved. we made four new friends and got in another fabulous photo shoot (ironically, we ran into our French neighbors randomly on the Metro and Heather gave a booming shout out through the crowds "Bon Soir!") We hopped back on the bus and made friends with Xavier, the 18 year old ticket taker. Looking for a fabulous Tapas restaurant we asked for some recommendations. When they say "Lost in Translation," they really mean it. Xavier, thought we were asking for "the top of something" because that makes perfect sense. We were reminded of our first week of Spanish class where the accent goes on the first syllable- ta'pas. Apparently, that made all the difference and we were rewarded with a bevy of ta'pas restaurants to visit- none of which we were ultimately able to locate. Just so you know on your next visit to Spain, do not look for tapas on Passeig de Gracia! However, Chanel, Escada and Cartier are waiting for you. Blood sugars were dropping on Passeig de Garcia. Terry was eager to eat and open to the Greek restaurant. Heather was intent on holding off for true Spanish cuisine. Jill just wanted to lay low as she felt a storm coming in, even though the skies above were clear. In our defense, we had walked 15 miles in 75 degree weather in our winter clothing all day, but to be perfectly honest the folowing are quotes: Heather: "I did not travel thousands of miles to Spain to eat Greek food on the Rodeo Drive of Barcelona! This is a tourist trap!" Terry: "Heather! Tourists do not eat on Rodeo, they can not afford it!" Heather: "You don't understand Terry, I just need an authentic Spanish meal. I am not going to eat sub par tourist trap food!" Terry: "Heather, I am not going to let this ruin my night! Let's just go back to our neighborhood to eat!" We headed back towards the metro. Jill let twenty steps pass for us to calm down. She tried to break the ice by jokingly saying "Thanks for having a meltdown so that I am not the only one." I responded all too proudly "I did not have a meltdown!" We went underground to the metro. Got lost just when we thought Jill had mastered the metro, but maybe it was the stress that broke her mastery. Another twenty steps and Heather said "Let me be the first one to apologize..." as she remembered the girls scout motto "Make new friends, but keep the old. Some are silver and the others gold." We resorted to finding another quaint and authentic local restaurant in our neighborhood. We got a recommendation from a lovely couple, who spoke just a little too quickly for our limited comprehension levels. We did not get the full name of the restaurant or it's actual location so we continued to walk and walk and walk and walk until Jill activated her cellular data ($$$$$$) and found the actual name and location. We had a fabulous meal of tApas, paella, wine and traditional dessert. We walked home, again getting lost but eventually making our way home (we just considered it a way to burn a few calories after a hefty-ass meal). We keep reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be here and how lucky we are to be able to laugh at each other and ourselves. To see our glamour shots, go to the Top Model tab on Facebook otherwise known as Barcelona Day 03. "But man does not create...he discovers" -Antonio Gaudi