Barcelona Adventures Day 1

Hola! 
How are things? Hope all is well. I'm working on my upcoming trip to Europe. There is so much planning left to do! We are getting off the ship in Bareclona and I'm looking for the perfect place to stay. 

Its no secret that Barcelona is not one of my fav places, but I am willing to give it another try. 
These are photos I took in 2011.

Casa Batllo

Sagrada Familia

Inside

In 2011 we sailed into Barcelona from Texas, USA. The ship docked and we took a tour offered by the cruise line to see the sites. It was nice, but places were jam packed. I have about 1,000 more pictures, but they are all gone now. #FML So I guess I MUST RETURN. 

Anyway..Wiki it if you need to know more about Barcelona, k? 
Now I will tell you the story I mentioned onDayre.

When we were done the XXL touring coach (& all the other touring coaches from other city tours) dropped us ALL in the center of the city and we were on our own. #Yeah! Let the Adventures begin and it did..

So image a Extra LARGE group of (mostly American) tourists all jammed up together. We had been on the cruise 15 days so TONS of luggage. Cabs were lined up and it was madness as we unloaded our bags from the coach and got sorted. I walked over to a cab and began to talk in Spanish and he said, "Wait."  So I was like ok, maybe this is not how you hail a taxi here. NOTE: Hailing taxi is different in every city, so it would not surprise me. I began to walk away. He came after me and explained to me that they do not speak Spanish in Barcelona, they speak Catalan. I was surprised... "WHAT?" and as I recovered, I asked why are YOU  speaking to me in Spanish then? He laughed and said he was from Argentina. So I laughed and spoke to him in English. (Which he of course understood, lol) So we had bonded and he said he would take us to our hotel. 

So we follow him to the back of his car and put in our 3 bags. (2 people staying 6 months in Europe people, learn how to fucking pack. They have washing machines.) by now the jam has grown worse and bags, people, taxis are everywhere. We are in cab now, ready to leave and a large woman appears in front of us on the street. She is hauling bags into the road...WTF? I guess she is hoping to snag a taxi this way?? She has like 11?? They are the cloth bags not Rimowa;  which I guess if she paid that much for luggage she would not be throwing them in the dirty street?? 


She is now blocking the entire lane with bags. WTF?

There is major traffic now as some people have found taxis. Luckily we are next to pull out. Cabby moves up & honks for her to move...she looks up and ignores him, walks back to sidewalk and grabs yet another case and throws it in the road. WTF? He inches up...rolls down window and honks again...motions for her to move bags outta the lane. She ignores him. He looks at me like WTF? Do I have any clue what she is doing? I shake my head, because I don't have any idea what she is trying to do. (Make a road block?? Highjack passing cab? Have a sidewalk sale in middle of the road? The Fuck?)  Meanwhile Traffic is whizzing by at a fast pace.  She looks like typical soccer mom from US, by the way. She has bad skin, is over weight, pissed off and apparently crazy. He honks at her again..

She ignores us and the fact we are blocked in.  So what does the taxi do?

He pulls out and runs over her luggage. 

x ___ x

And yells, "Vaca!"

At her.

Do you know enough Spanish to recognize the word?

*Not actual picture of the woman.

It means COW.
Since he said it in Spanish I knew he was pissed. We made record time to the hotel and he apologized to me for the time it took.  I tipped well and fled. * ___ * 

Moral of this story? Don't pack 11 bags and throw them in the street. But if you do...move them outta the cabs way. Don't be a cow...     

:x

We stayed 2 nights in a hotel and then 7 days in a Gite downtown. 
More of those adventures later...
OMG there were MORE Things...

Me in the Gite. 
This time I want to stay closer to the beach. 
(And not take cabs.)

Taken from homeaway, credit to them. Go and book your stay now.

See, doesn't it look nice? 

I'm off for a jog (so I don't look like a vaca) and then to work.

See you at the airport-