ATW in 45. #31

I actually woke early this morning, 745. If I could only stay on a good schedule I could do this every day. Our flight tomorrow is at 720am so I think my schedule will be disrupted again. Oh well. We are on the downslope now on two weeks till we leave the continent. Well, this continent. We will be off to Africa in a couple days but then back again for a week. Emily and I have been on the road traveling for a month. Obviously, if you are a reader of the titles you know this. I write the titles, so I know it.

We are not planned out today. We just finished breakfast, and it’s 1035. I think we are going to visit some medieval basilica today. There are old churches all over Europe, they seem to be the biggest attractions wherever we go. Funny, I don’t go to church at home and here I pay to go inside the most sacred churches in the world. Weird.

So today looks like the basilica. Good news, there is a tour of the 400’ tower, and it has an elevator! Better news! The tour is sold out and I don’t have to go inside!

Europe is a tour of very old places with very old buildings. And drinking. And eating. Is this a surprise to anyone? Not me. I think the food is the best part. The medieval buildings, old military and religious installations, are cool and interesting. But, the food wins. Three times a day plus ice cream, gelato, glacé, etc. I forgot, we also visit old buildings full of old objects too. But, you seen one old statue you seen em all. Not really, but they can run together.

Now 11. Just got back to the room. We are all doing our morning ablutions in preparation for the days events which are far from the hotel. I am betting we may leave before noon.

I am going to lose that bet. We are not moving and it’s 1115. Maybe we need an actual goal to inspire us. I’m ready whenever. I will git and go as needed. That’s an old Okie expression. I have Okies behind me in the genealogy.

The waiting is killing me. I have things I could be doing. But I don’t want to get started and then have everyone ready. Then they would be waiting on me. So I just lay here waiting. Shoes on the bed even. Hotels are a place you can do that.

This afternoon, we have decided to go to the number one tourist destination in Barcelona, the Gothic cathedral. Sadly, my blog is screwed up and I can not get pictures uploaded. So my powers of written description will have to suffice. Or you could look at pictures online.

We are unable to go inside the basilica because tickets are sold out weeks in advance. And we did not plan that much. We plan as we go. Works, mostly.

So I must admit,on first sight, the gothic cathedral is truly breathtaking. It is awe inspiring. It is immense. It actually soars into the sky. I walked all the way around it because I felt compelled to see it from every angle and every side. The designer/architect designed a beautiful church that is not the usual cross shaped blockhouse of every other church. This one is unique, it stands alone. There are four main spires that I would say rise out of the ground like stalagmites, in size and shape and look. There are no flat surfaces. The height appears to be around 400’. The outside walls, to the top are covered with carvings, statuary and gargoyles. It looks in many ways like the castle from Wizard of Oz, or the evil queens castle in a Disney movie. And the creepy gothic look just adds to it. I am at a loss how this one got out of design and then built back when the church was in charge. It’s a scary, gothic, church. Majestic certainly, but as a medieval house of God I admit it’s surprising.

We hung around about an hour. Took a bunch of pictures, and w not to lunch. Lunchbis important. The central market areas aboutba half mile away, so there we went. Barcelkna’s Central market looks a lot like the Florentine central market. Lots of food vendors of ready to eat meals and drinks, spice stalls, meat stalls, cheese, etc. with counters to sit and eat at. And packed with people. I think I like the Florence version better but this one was fine. I had an empanada which I think is Mexican but whatever. Emily had nachos which seems strange since I know nachos are from our side of the pond. No matter. They were good.

The place we got the nachos had no seating. One of few that did not. The problem now, where to sit? Turns out nowhere. All available seats “belong” to certain vendors and they can not be used unless that vendor sold you the food. We had to walk out of the market to find a place to eat. A pain, but not too bad.

After lunch Em and I went back to the hotel. I have work to finish. So I got online and spent the afternoon working. Emily went shoe shopping. Might be her favorite thing to do ever, I think. She came back with two pie a couple hours later. I was still working so Emily took a nap. Lucky her.

When she woke up and Inwas done we went downstairs in the hotel and had Sangria. It was not as good as the Sangria I make but better than yesterday’s.

During all this, the kids went bar hopping and got drunk. Something they are quite skilled at. Marika was very drunk.

Dinner was not to late. Early flight tomorrow. Strangely, we had Tapas. Good news, least expensive dinner since we started. The food was very good as well. For anyone keeping track, it was called Bahia.

We went back to the hotel to pack. And the kids went to rooftop bar.

We packed and went to bed after we finished. My adult children got more drunk at the bar. Lovely.