Day 15

Woke up this morning feeling a little groggy. We seem to have this pattern of over doing it on the first night of somewhere new, buts that's okay we're having fun.

We decided to take it very easy today and didn't leave the apartment until midday. The apartment has a lounge, two bathrooms and a washing machine. It is a luxury having clean clothes so Ive taken advantage of having a washing machine at my disposal.

You need a map in Barcelona, it's a big place with a lot of fantastic attractions in places you would only stubble upon by accident unless you have a map. Our intent was to get to the beach for a swim but still being a little paranoid about street rats we left everything at the apartment except for some euro and keys. Without a map or iphone to take picks we managed to stubble through the Gothic Quarter, which is the centre of the old city of Barcelona. I love Mediterranean Architecture and seeing the Gothic Quarter triggers a small desire to design again. With out any means to take photos we rushed through with an intention to return later that evening.

It was a long walk to the beach but we finally got there and it was packed. Europeans are obsessed with tanning their skin and looking immaculate at all times. Ryan and I looked like a couple of pale bums in comparison. We went for a quick swim to cool down and before getting a feed at one of many beach restaurants we had to dry off in the sun because had no towels.

By the time we returned to the apartment we'd walked around 10km and my legs were aching. I'm starting to feel tired from travel and really looking forward to the comforts of home and family. I'm less inclined to make an effort with learning Spanish even though it's an easier language. We rested until around 9pm and decided to head back to the Gothic Quarter to get some pics before dinner.

Dinner was pretty nice. We had a lobster paella and apart from it being a little fiddlely it was delicious. We went to wine bar on the way home and Ryan made an Italian friend who I left him with before calling it a night.