Getting to the airport

6:00 am Got up after pressing snooze 2 or 3 times
7:00 am Taxi from Villa Vignamaggio to Greve SITA stop
The taxi driver drove to a cafe to get change. When I offered a tip, he refused.
Had to walk down to Caffe Santa Anna to buy SITA tickets.
7:50 am Caught bus from Greve to Firenze
8:50 am Arrived at Firenze SITA station
9:00 am Bus to airport
9:15 am Arrived at Firenze airport

Florence airport

We waited on the wrong line for 1 hour, then switched
Flight scheduled to board at 11:10 am.
We ate at an airport cafe where you have to pay before ordering even though there are no signs or menus. I had an uninspiring proscuitto panino and Nicole had some crappy pastry and a yogurt. There were tall tables and no chairs so we had to eat standing.
11:25 am Still haven’t boarded yet.
12:15 pm flight left
Nicole slept quite a lot and I kept falling asleep while trying to read about Spain.

Barcelona airport

1:40 pm got into Barcelona airport
Took Aerobus (3.60 E x 2 = 7.20 E) to

Catalan

One thing you should know about Barcelona is that the people here have their own language. Barcelona is part of a region of Spain called Catalonia (Catalunya). The people of this region have a unique culture from the rest of Spain and some of them consider themselves Catalonian first and Spanish second (not unlike the relationship between Sicily and Italy). They have their own language called Catalan and that is the primary language here, although Spanish is widely understood as well. From an outsider’s perspective Catalan sounds like they took Spanish and French and put it in a blender.

Example:

• “Exit” in Spanish is “salida”.
• “Exit” in French is “sortie”.
• “Exit” in Catalan is “sortida”.

English and Spanish are widely understood in Barcelona though.

Plaça de Catalunya

and found Hotel Lleó with only slight difficulty orienting ourselves.
At 3:15 pm, we got to our room. While sitting in bed and fiddling around with what I thought was the air conditioning remote control, I discovered that we have adjustable beds.
I drank some water on a bench by Passeig De Gràcia and started sneezing right after, which was odd.

Les Rambles

This is the famous street of Barcelona that all the guidebooks talk about, but we weren’t that impressed.

Plaça Reial

Mercat de la Boquería

An impressive food market although I think the one in Florence was more impressive.

By the harbor

As we were walking along the waterfront looking for dinner, a jogging woman dropped her keys. She had headphones on and couldn’t hear our yells so I picked them up and ran after her and handed them off without either of us stopping. An amusing moment.

Dinner

8:30 pm Can Majó. Dinner was excellent at this Barcelona restaurant renowned for its seafood.

• Seafood croquettes
• Seafood soup
• Seafood paella (without shells!)
• Creme Catalan

10:33 pm Waiter forgot the check. Ergh we’ve been waiting over 40 minutes and we just want to get out of here and sleep.
They smoke in restaurants here – how annoying.
10:49 pm done
12:41 am going to bed