I don't speak Spanish, but neither does Barcelona

We left La Rochelle yesterday morning and began our 13-hour day of car and train travel to get to Barcelona. Stéphane generously drove us to Bordeaux, where we got a train to Narbonne, and transfered to another train that took us to Barcelona. The train Bordeaux-Narbonne train ride was mostly just countryside, but the Narbonne-Barcelona trip was filled with several breathtaking views. We rode through the Pyrenees mountains, and the train took us along the Mediterranean coast for most of the ride. We also saw a beautiful sunset. It pretty much justified such a long day of travel!

I only had one full day in Barcelona (which was today) because we decided to extend our time in La Rochelle by a few days. So today we really packed everything in. We got up early and took a quick swim in the pool on the roof of our hotel (since we changed the dates of our time in Barcelona, we switched hotels, and got a great last-minute deal on a better hotel) and then went out to see the city. First stop was La Sagrada Familia, Antonio Gaudì's beautiful, and still unfinished, cathedral. In the afternoon we took a 3-hour bike tour of the city. The bike tour was wonderful, because not only did it give us exercise, which we seriously lacked yesterday, but it took us all over the city in one afternoon. There's no other way I would have been able to see all of Barcelona in one day. We saw the Gothic Quarter, the Olympic Village, had drinks on the beach in Barceloneta, saw Gaudì's two apartment buildings...it was great. Although it was a bit humid - finally, in Barcelona, we've found the heat we've anticipated this whole trip - but there were enough clouds so that the sun wasn't beating down on us. Our tour guide was a Belgium man named Wim who was pretty low-key, in a good way, and we enjoyed his take on Barcelona.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant that's actually a culinary school, much like the CIA in Hyde Park, which we had heard people usually line up around the block for. Luckily, it's Sunday, so we got in almost right away. It was delicious. We sat next to a couple from Italy, and spoke to them in a half-English, half-Italian conversation. It was good practice for tomorrow, when I leave for Rome, since all these different languages have really been messing with my head. I needed practice with Italian!

Tomorrow my one goal is to buy a copy of The Little Prince in Catalàn. Last summer I decided to collect copies of The Little Prince in different languages. So far, with the help of my generous and well-traveled friends, I have 8 copies. All of the bookstores were closed today because it was Sunday, but my flight to Rome is in the afternoon, so I'm optimistic that I'll find a copy in the morning!