Barcelona - Finally!

5-3-11

It was a long first day.  First, our flight from SFO departed about 45 minutes late.  We didn’t worry too much because we had a 2 hour wait at Newark, NY airport, so now we wouldn’t have time for dinner before our 7:20 pm flight.   After about 5 minutes into our 2d flight, a flight attendant, then one of the flight crew came to our row to look out at the right wing, which lead to our returning to the airport due to a small malfunction.   As we were landing, we saw a line of about 6 fire trucks – some small malfunction.  After a while sitting on the ground, they decided we would have to switch planes.  Net result is that we didn’t take off until 10:20 pm, about 3 hours late.  Luckily, we didn’t have to attend a meeting an hour after our original landing time like our seatmate who was scheduled to make a presentation at a conference in Barcelona. 

5-4-11 Once on the ground in Barcelona at the le Meridien hotel, things we felt much better though tired.   The hotel is on the most famous street in Barcelona – las Ramblas.  Having been in Barcelona before, we looked for lunch in the giant produce market called the Boqueria, which is only a couple of blocks from our hotel.  We found a small stand and Marge and I shared a serving of tortilla (potato omelet) with a glass of beer.

Teri, Marge & Bob at lunch

Kiwis in the market remind me of ??

We then took a walk down the Ramblas.  The weather was very nice – shirt sleeve weather.  I was surprised that most of the people walking up and down the Ramblas appeared to be in their 20s.  

Walking down the Ramblas pedestrian street

We had dinner at 7 pm, which is very early by Spanish standards, but we ate it at a tapas bar, which is acceptable because tapas seem to be served all day and night.  We ate at Irati, which was recommended by Rick Steeves.  It was a short walk from the hotel.  All tapas were 1.8E, were served on a slice of a baguette, and you are charged by the number of toothpicks left on your plate.  It was like a sushi boat place.  Our favorite tapas were one with a mixture of crab, hard boiled eggs and mayo, another was a prawn wrapped w bacon then deep fried, and another was prosciutto with cheese.  Marge and I shared 10 of them and she had a glass of wine while I had 2 small beers for 25 Euros. We were happy and pleasantly full.    We like tapas because we can sample a variety of tasty bites without going to bed hours later with full tummies. 

Marge & Joe prepare to pick out some tapas