K....you do not have the benefit of a ton of swearing...seems I lost what I had written for the last hour....ack. I shall try again...google is an odd duck at times in how it thinks we should do things. I shall not dwell however and try to write it all again....I got time... 9 hrs lol....longggg flight. Oh an this entry is for three days whilst I looked around Barcelona....

So I woke up no alarm and no rush. I dwelled for a while on the concept of renting a bike or just wandering on me own through Barcelona for a few days while riding and finally decided to wander, no bike. I do not do that often but lets see how it goes. With that I was up on me own time and hosed off and spiffy and threw on some garb....non touristy stuff I hoped got some scruff going and it only took a bit to catch the clothes as they are getting much more lively now. I needed to change hotels as I only had this one for the night and wanted to get closer to the action but was not in a panic. The night before (before supper) I went to get me simm card sorted and bumped into me southern brethren Dan, Mike, and Lee in the lobby they were wanting to go shopping so I suggested to go to the train station as it was close and had shops. I was going so could show em the way. We did and off they went, I toddled off to talk to the dude that sold me me simm card. I found him and he did remember me I started with a bit of animation....and he took a very quick look...I learned something out of. Seems you need ... get this.....14 cents of credit as a minimum on your card for it to be active .... WTH!

Thats not written anywhere, I only used the data...but had received messages from the carrier....it must have eaten up the phone credit....frig that is stupid I thought. So I put a bit of credit on it...voila it was working again. Okay I can google (ya its handy when travelling) now all is good. So back to the moment. I needed some breaky but was feeling a bit...off either way off I went with a lil backpack. I saw me southern boys again and it seems there flight was now delayed until 5 from non so they were twiddling their thumbs now....I reminded them of the Sagrada Familia.....they gave a nod....I shook paws with all of em (really a good bunch) and hit the restaurant...lets just say I did not eat much...but tried...and did a couple of biffy breaks in there. With that I was off 

It was a hmmm where to go moment.....I decided to do a rip back to Sagrada Familia. Why you ask ....cuz it is amazing...and if you ever make it here and I hear you did not see it I will drive to your house and smack you. This cathedral is huge, it was Gaudi's obsession (Google it), he was a bit of a religious zealot and knew it would take seven generations to build it he knew he would not see the fruits of his labour. Now that is visionary I must say....there are also mystery financial donors and the funding is in place and every ticket sold to go inside also contributes to its completion.....dude had some serious connections. He was a very odd ball...walked around like a vagabond...and sadly was his demise. He got hit by a tram and no one recognized him and thought he was a bum until it was too late to save him. I do not get the artsy side of it but holy crap it looks cool whether you get it or not! I figure not a bad place to hang for a bit and act local.  

With that all decided I needed to get transit sorted...I stared at the info for a bit and tinkered and found a 4 day all transit pass....voila...done. Next I needed to figure out the transit map.....frigggg.... I hate those things....they never have a reference... I could not for the life of me find where I was....it was like trying to find Waldo. Hmmmm no panic....google to the rescue. I put me destination in and selected public transit and voila......everything I needed to nav. Feeling all pompous I went to the entrance to the metro....slid me ticket in and bzzzzzzzzzzzzz no open gate..... frig the gate broke! Couple of kicks and I got my ticket back...that was deflating. The next gate worked though....and I was off to the next lower lever and maze problem numero 2. The signs all described Line 3.....I was going to line 1....duhhhh looked and looked nothing made sense and I had two options....hmm a help box. Hit the button an a nice voice of calmness came online. I explained me dilemma....and I do not think I was the first with the problem seems you have to walk a bit past the L3 signs and it will all make sense. Who am I to argue off I went with a muchas gracious. Oh, I also decided to only speak spanish....best I can...a self imposed restriction....I had some scruff....don't think I was looking too touristy and I just wanted to blend in. One lil problem though...the stomach gurgling was getting worse....me thinks I got nailed but I shall fight through it.  I found me train and was off in less than a minute. 

After a fw minutes and a few stops...google actually even tells you how many....popped off the train....walked a bit...climbed a bunch of stairs....and voila there it was and it was a sunny day to boot. Found a cafe with a view and parked it...ordered a cortoda stomach gurgling and all....thought I would fight it to the bitter end. The view was crazy cool. Whilst taking in the view I made a few observations....there was a ton of tourists milling about. Firstly I have to say if you have a tablet. DO NOT USE IT FOR A CAMERA I REPEAT DO NOT USE IT FOR A CAMERA!!! It looks...uhhh..."retarded" using it for lack of a better word, you all have at least a cell phone with more megapixels than you know what to do with use it!! or an actual camera.

Selfie sticks.....oh boy did I miss an investment opportunity there. People pleasssse, at one point I started asking to take people pictures instead of watching the silly gymnastics people were going through. If you only saw yourselves on video...now that being said, it seems people are more interested in taking pictures to show how crazy cool it is is where they are and show off immediately to there twits...errr twitter feed or whatever than actually take in where they actually are! So wrong....   For example I saw group of 6 teens all in a circle staring at their phones....texting or whatever.. and the parents were doing the same. WTH.....take in where you are an tell em about it later. I gave up on em and sat back and ordered some cool pastries....stomach gurgling and all.... about here I think I really noticed things weren't right in my world. I was yawning and achy...and kinda felt like throwing up...Not a great feeling.  

I was not going back to the hotel that was for sure I shall ride it out...oh oh Bano time. Things are moving pretty quick through the factory now. I shall fight it....but I needed to find me new hotel as I only had the one I was in for the night....5 minutes later I was good and found one in the Eixample barrio. It is in the downtown area and seems close to the action. That being said I realized I needed to check out and get there to check in. With that and another bano stop....I hit the trail to thee metro....found me hotel no prob packed up....checked out....and got me a taxi to me new digs. That was easy... 

I got settled quick... and decide to wander off....and wow was I feeling queasy and achy. I decided to head south to just wander....and I was getting slower....and more achy and nauseous...and ughhhh it sucked. I wandered about and kept stopping at cafes..ordering Mojitos...they make em good here I was going to ignore me dilema as best I could. I finally hit the wall....I was at a cool cafe ordered some patatas bravas...and could only stare at em....3 bano breaks later I decided to head back to the hotel...I almost curled up on the pavement in the middle of an intersection I was so beat up. I staggered back to the hotel...made it to me room...and did a serious face plant on the bed....me derriere like a gas turbine out of gas. Then the shakes started....two shirts and me pjs and a pair of pants....and me sheets....I just curled up and was hoping to pass out or something....no luck. I seriously needed a fix... I only had tramadol...so popped a pill....and I have to say...it worked. Things calmed the heck down.....with that I passed out..... 

Whoa...talk about riding the dragons tail. That seriously sucked. I woke up and did a system check and things seemed better, I was not wanting to run to the bano and the aches were gone....and I was not exhausted. I think I was winning. So massive shower.....it felt good...dried off and packed up to go wandering again. Breakfast was not on me mind at this point. Off I went. I was just going to see where I ended up. In no time I was in Plac Catalunya....a big square for milling about....time for a cortado...and to test the systems. All seemed improved bit I was still off. but no where near the day before. Time to wander....and in no time I stumbled into the Gothic barrio...wow....mega cool. Narrow streets and this is basically the original Barcelona. it was not long before I found the catedral of Barcelona....it looks not too big from the outside but after wandering in....holy crap..it was huge. Very gothic....very european....very cool. I wandered about but mass was bout to commence so hit the exit...always afeared of the lightening bolt.  

Next I stumbled into the main museum of history.....very cool. It seems the city was built upon ancient ruins of the original Roman city. The museum goes down below the main level of the city and opens up the the main level of the original Roman city....you wander the city and its ruins. Amazingly cool.....there was a winery...and a fish market...main streets and you could see the wagon ruts. I took it all in...and it is cool as the modern city is above. I popped out and got lost....so I found a cafe....I was definitely feeling better.... So chillax time and time to do some people watching. I lost count of the languages I heard.....serious..lets see. spanish duh...english, french, german, dutch, italian, turkish, portuguese, russian, czech, ukrainian, yiddish then we get into the middle eastern ones those I heard a lot of different ones but do not know how to recognize them. So international and everyone seemed to be getting what they needed without barrier. With that it was time to wander again. 

I ended up wandering all over the gothic area as it is sooooo cool. I then spit out and headed south and found the beach. this seems like party central, beautiful day and tons of people on the beach and me without me trunks .... sigh. Off I wandered....this time I ended up hoping on the metro again to head to the Palac d'espanya (google it), it's actually a museum and has a very large set of fountains...that were not on. I decided to give the feet a break as I put a ton of miles on. Its suppose to be something to see though when is on.   I popped out in a square in front and it looks pretty impressive. I headed up to check it out....it was a lot of climbing to say the least. As usual nothing ventured nothing gained....I gained an amazing view of the entire city below. I sat on the steps for a bit to catch me breath and and take in the view, with that I headed down....time to wander back to the hotel. So far I have seen a fair chunk of the city....time to just do the cafe thing on me way back. Oh....did I mention Mojitos are good here....each stop...Mojito....after several cafes....I was staggering a bit and I was feeling not bad at all.    I managed to find me hotel...and it was time to crash. I slept like a baby.  

My last day started of very well with me feeling fine and fully recovered, My only problem was to decide where to go now.....I hosed off.....and had a nice breakfast that felt like it settled in the right spot. I saw the tour Barcelona buses all over the place.....so decided to get a ticket. Its a double decker bus with an open roof and it has three routes that drives all over the cool parts of town. You hop on and off as you want. I figured what da hell.....and it would save some walking. I wandered off to catch the bus as the stop wasn't far from the hotel....and promptly hopped on a blue bus that was doing the red route...I wanted the blue route...crap...not the best strat but it is kinda cool as the view is great from up there. Seems they are full of a lot of people that do not get of the buses but just ride them around....and that is their trip to some exotic place. What ever floats your boat I guess. I wanted to go north and ended up going south so decide to ride it out... I ended up at the Olympic village and stadium...very cool. I then wound down to the harbour and decided to hop off....I wanted to check out the Christopher Columbus statue. Very cool......and then wandered down to the harbour and looked at some big boats. It was a sunny day again and I wandered...and wandered .....and wandered....and ended up in the Gothic area again......then finally picked up the bus I originally wanted to get on.

Off I went north to check out Parc Guell, Its on the south side of the city on a hill overlooking the city. It was another Gaudi job. He built it to show how you can be entwined with nature. Its a park with buildings that are .... well....wild. Google it ...seriously. It was a heck of a hump around the place with weird buildings and trials that just went on and on.....eventually I popped into an opening...I reached the top...and it was hot and I was panting, it was all uphill and it was hot.

Dudes were selling water everywhere. Again...wicked view of Barcelona now from the other side. A young couple was taking pictures so I offered to to take pics for them. They thought that was great and turns out they are from Turkey. They were super nice and grilled me about the city. I told them what I knew and then they went on about Turkey and how I must come to see it....it is on me list......they were so nice, they made a good advertisement for it. I also passed on some restaurants for them to try...and with that, I started to walk out of the Parc...crazy...nothing is straight...took a while to find my way out...interesting but I do not get it.....I was done.....and the day was ending. I made me way back to a cafe I knew was near me hotel. I think I saw most of Barcelona..... 

Tapa time...not...it was 6....so you only get the drinks no food...not til 7...supper is not till 9...sheesh. This is where they were pouring massive rums. So I sat and plunked away on me tablet....watching the locals sipping and chatting and waiting for the tapas. They did show up and worth the wait. The food here is awesome....if you come...book a hotel with a gym.

Time to stagger back to me hotel for the big trip home...gunna be a longggggg day tomorrow.