Pat, Mum and Ken arrived a couple of days ago and we spent most of Sunday just walking around town. The most amazing sight was the sheer number of people milling around a town centre that was completely closed. It was almost like watching 10,000 people turn up at the Trafford Centre on a Tuesday, at 4am.
Literally everything was closed, all the big shops, even bars and eateries. We can only imagine how strong the Spanish economy is that they turn down footfall like this. On Sunday night Mum and Ken treated us all to a lovely meal at their hotel and we came up with a plan for Monday and Tuesday…

Monday started with an amble down La Rambla and a visit to the local produce market. It was a good fun way to start the day even if the local McDonalds didn’t stock breakfast items…we finished the morning with a trip to the Dali museum, which was well laid out but disappointing as nearly all the exhibits were prints not originals, it was expensive (8 Euros, about 6 quid) and their was little or no explanation of any of the exhibits or photos accompanying them. After lunch at the Hard Rock Café (fantastically lardy) we headed to the Palace of Catalan Music which was fully booked for the day before wandering round the Barri Gothic for an hour or so. We eventually found a cafe and stopped for a drink before we had our own siesta. In the evening we managed to find a semi-decent tapas bar and indulged. Afterwards myself and Pat went to the airport to pick Verity, Pat’s friend, up. Her plane was delayed by nearly 40 minutes and by the time we got back to Plaza de Catalunya (midnightish) we were all too tired to sit in a bar so they headed back to their hotel, and me to mine…

We were up early on Tuesday and met up at La Sagrida Familia, Gaudi’s work in progress. There is some conjecture as to whether they ever want to finish it (work started some 130 years ago) as it is almost as famous for being a building site. What is complete is spectacular, and the views over the city from one of the towers equally so. It is due for completion in around another 25 years, but if the complete lack of activity today is anything to go by it will take considerably longer.

Second up on our second day’s touring was to be the Picasso Museum, but with the queue seemingly endless we decided to give it a miss, maybe manana…We headed to the chocolate museum only to find it was closed on Tuesdays, so instead headed to El Xampanyet, one of the ‘’best Cava bars in town where they well and truly ripped us off. We had a drink each and about 4 plates full of tapas and they charge us over 40 Euros…when I tried to ask him to explain, the prices he charged us showed no correlation to the ones on his price list, so we left more than a little miffed at the ‘tourist tax’ we’d just paid. The afternoon was much more fun though as we took a trip out on the cable car and over to the Olympic Stadium and surrounds. The cable car itself gives you a great view (at the end) of the port, which is nice if you are a ship-spotter but not great if you’re not. Barcelona is the exact opposite of Rio. You get up high and the city looks horrible, all highrise with no character, but at street level the architecture is a joy to behold, paradoxically, Rio is the most beautiful city in the world when seen from Sugar Loaf, but up close it is a hole.

The Olympic Stadium and surrounds, whilst not as spectacular or well kept as Sydney, was an interesting detour, and made you realise once again why London should never win the bid – there just simply isn’t enough room or infrastructure in the English Capital. Rachel and Sandeep arrive tomorrow so 6 will soon be 8…