We spent most of New Years Eve in bed, not getting up ‘til lunchtime. When we did surface we hurried over to the airport to meet and greet Sandeep and Rachel (Jen’s sister & boyfriend). Their plane was nearly an hour late and by the time we got back to the hotel it was late afternoon. A beer on the square and a couple of cocktails at Hard Rock followed before we all met up with Mum and Ken at 7pm. After a quick pint at an extortionate Irish Bar (45 Euros for 8 drinks, that’s about 4 quid a drink) we headed to a square full of cafes with outside seating. That’s the good thing about Barca at New Year, although it’s not boiling hot it’s warm enough to sit outside at night, a far cry from home at this time of year. So we found a spot for eight and got Mum and Ken involved in some drinking games. First up was drink while you think which saw Verity drinking and thinking progressively more as the game went on. Ken’s ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ was by far the poorest attempt at a celebrity. The best game we played though was the animal game. Basically everyone assigns themselves an animal, and then an action for said creature, and then you take it in turns doing your own signal and then someone elses. They then have to do theirs and someone elses…ad infinitum. Ken struggled a bit to be fair, although Sandeep (drinking on Rachel’s behalf) seemed to put away more red wine than anyone else. We ended up at the restaurant at about 9pm, to find they had put us in our own little alcove. Agut D’Avignon is known as one of the nicest, poshest, and most expensive restaurants in Barcelone, specilaising in traditional Catalan fare. Another couple of bottles of cava washed our starters down, and our mains duly arrived. I have it on good authority that the lamb was wonderful. My steak was fantastic too, in fact everyone’s food and the service was exceptional. The food bill came to about £30 a head which Mum paid for. We paid for the drinks…47 Euros (35 quid) for 4 bottles of wine…BARGAIN! By this time it was nearing midnight so we headed out to La Rambla once more and made our way north to Placa de Catalunya. There were thousands of people, and some unfortunate ones in cars. They were jostled, sometimes rocked, and some lost a tyre or two thanks to the amount of champagne bottles everywhere. Funniest was an old bloke in a BMW 5.40 whose tyre made a loud hissing sound as it deflated much to the onlooking, and pointing crowd’s glee. His face was a picture…if you’re stupid enough to head to this part of town on New Year’s Eve you got what you deserve pal! We just about made it to the square to hear a couple of chimes, although we lost Mum and Ken, and Rachel and Sandeep in the process. We tried to eat a grape for every chime (a Catalan tradition) but soon realised this was no easy thing without the seedless variety…I managed 4, which I think was as good as anyone else. A few minutes later we found the other 4 and stood and watched the hoards of hammered people dancing, drinking and singing. The police turned up a bit later, and made their presence felt, although without being heavy handed. The crowd started to disperse around 1am and by the time we walked back to the hotel (1.10) you wouldn’t have known there had been thousands around just over an hour previously.

Back at the hotel they offered us a glass of champagne and even put some chocolates in every room, a nice touch. We finally hit the sack at around 2am, thoroughly exhausted after a fantastic New Year celebration.