It Ain't Over Til You Get on the Plane...

...and even then, if you play your cards right, it ain't over.

Travel day.  We were up at 5am, which is 8pm Phoenix time.  And since we don't land until 8:15pm Phoenix time, we will, in effect, be up for 24 hours.  But that's just another reason why I think upgrading a return ticket is so important.  More on that in a bit when I step on my soapbox.

We had a few glitches to start the day.  First, we found out our main piece of luggage was overweight (yes, of course we carry a portable weigher.  Did you expect anything less from us?) so we had to start moving things around  so the two we were sending through would pass muster.  Then, the taxi didn’t show at 7 as order, nor did our local contact, who was supposed to arrive at 6:45am to give me back my 20 euros, so I could give him back the apartment keys.    So there we were at 7:05am and with no one in sight.  Oh well.  As I was standing in front of the building waiting while Gene locked up the apartment, since we had given up on our contact, a taxi drove by.  I flagged it, it stopped, we loaded up and off we went.  While we were riding to the airport, I got a text from our contact that slept through his alarm.  He made apologies up and down and will send me my deposit and I asked for an address for the keys.  I've since gotten an apologetic email from the owner of the apartment, so all will be well.

Getting to the airport way early was a good idea.  We were able to relax and take each step with no stress – finding the US Airways ticket counter, getting our boarding passes (I always worry some bigwig will pull rank and we’ll get booted off first class.  It’s a thing I have; perhaps some therapy will help), finding the "Value Added Tax" place to get a tax refund on purchases made (it's a hassle, but I got also 20 euros back for clothing I bought one day), getting through security, getting passport clearance, getting on the plane, getting our carry-ons stowed, etc etc.  It can be such a hassle and start your journey home with high anxiety and bring a fabulous vacation to a crashing halt in nothing flat.  So let me tell you why I feel so strongly that adding in the cost of an upgraded seat for the return home to the overall cost of a vacation pays off.  By the way, I wrote this while I was listening to Lang Lang, a fabulous young pianist play Chopin on the music channel:

1)      We went through the “Business Class” line to check our luggage and there was no one in front of us

2)      We went through the “Fast Lane” for security with no one there in front of us and when we got our passport & boarding passes checked, there was no one in front of us to put our carry-ons through security. 

3)      We spent time in the “VIP Lounge” – great coffee, munchies, anything you’d want, plus comfy chairs.  We watched the board in the lounge and when it said our flight was boarding, we went off to the gate.  What a change from 3 years ago, when we lost track of time and almost missed the plane!

 

 

 

4)      We got to the gate and walked right to the front, handed over our tickets and went on board

5)      We got to our seats with ease

 Here’s how we were treated during the our flight:

1)      We were offered our choice of drinks before the plane took off (boarding was 1 hour prior to flight time.  Not sure why, but that gave us at least 45 minutes to enjoy a pre-flight drink, even if it was only sparkling water for me).  They also asked you what drink you would like once the flight took off.

2)      I explored my seat and tried all the different positions from straight up to fully reclined.  The blanket was a pretty nice thickness.  The screen for watching movies is a nice size, as s the table for working on, which moves back and forth as you like.  Everyone basically has their own cubicle.  There is storage above, there is storage below, there is a little hanger for your coat.

 

      This is the view from the back of my seat, looking at al the leg room and storage I'll have.  The gray strip to the right of the seat houses a nice sized table that slides back and forth so you can pull it close or push it away.

 

The view from the TV looking at the seat I'll inhabit for the next 8 hours.  There are a bunch of buttons that allow you to adjust from fully sit-up to fully reclined.  To the left is a USB port, plug in for headphones and a remote for the TV where you can watch movies, TV shows play games or listen to music.

 

3)      As I was exploring the amenities of my seat, the attendant came by and offered me BOSE headphones for use during the flight.  They're collected before the flight lands, but meanwhile, you get noise canceling headphones to use.

4)      Then the attendants come by again and give you a kit with various and sundry items to help you through the flight: eye shades, tootbrusth, lotion, etc.  My fave was soft socks you could put on instead of having to wear your shoes during the 8+ hour flight.   And your choice of newpapers or magazines.  The choice wasn’t large, but I got a USA Today.

5)      Then we were given a 4-page lunch menu & wine list so we could choose what to eat and drink during the flight.  Not a large choice, but a nice choice. 

6)      After take-off, the attendants came around with a warm towel so you could freshen up whatever you wanted to freshen.

7)      Then the attendants came around AGAIN and gave everyone a bottle of water.  No sense in getting dehydrated during the flight, right?

8)      In a little while, the attendants came around AGAIN and brought you your choice of post-take-off drink and some mixed nuts.  They don't give you a bag of nuts.  The nuts were served in a small dish and were heated.

9)      When my glass was empty, the attendant brought over a can of diet Coke (my choice) so I could have a refill.  I didn’t have to wave him down and ask for a refill.

10)  As I watched the movie, lunch was served.  First they put down a small tablecloth – A TABLCLOTH !!! – over my table and then served me the appetizer for lunch.  Real dishes and silverware and a cloth napkin, of course.

11)  My entrée was then served.  With my choice of 4 wines they offered.

12)  Dessert was served.  I couldn’t decide between the cannolli or the ice cream sundae.  I got both.

And so it goes.  I’m not trying to show off;  I'm expressing my honest belief that if I’m going to take a vacation, I’m going to budget in the cost of an upgraded ticket home.  How I get to my location isn’t important.  It’s usually an overnight flight, I pop an Ambien, I’m in the next country.  Coming home, though, is different.  You’re tired, you’re a little sad it’s over, you’re a little anxious to see if everything is okay at home, if your pets remember you, what it will be like to get back to a grind (even if you are retired).  And so this final bit of pampering is very important. 

And then I watched “Philomena” and slept off and on.  Gene was passed out in his cubicle.  Neither of us got good sleep last night – maybe 3 ½ hours, if we were lucky.  So some good sleep was nice.  And then I watched "Tim's Vermeer" which is an excellent documentary on how a non-painter was able to duplicate a Vermeer (he of the "Girl with a Pearl Earring" painting fame).  If you enjoy art, it's a fun documentary

Then a light lunch was served.  Sigh. 

I am a firm believer that vacations don’t end when you leave the hotel and arrive at the airport.  I firmly believe that you must include the cost of a better airplane seat in the total cost of the vacation and today has proven to me that I’m on the right track. 

 

So farewell, blog!  Hello Phoenix!!  I'm rested!

 

 

OLE FLAMENCO!!!

Wednesday, June 18

What a wonderful show we saw.  I was concerned that choosing a flamenco show on La Rambla would be touristy and cheesy.  And frankly, they do cater to the tourists in Barcelona.  I doubt there were any locals in the room.  But dang!  They make sure some of the best dancers are there, so the tourists can really get an understanding of what flamenco dancing is all about.   It may not have had that down-home local atmosphere, but it had killer flamenco dancing on display.

The male dancers were amazing.  I still don’t know how they can keep their heels rhythmically tapping faster than you can imagine for longer than you can imagine.  You can see their legs just working and working and they never ever lose a beat.  The primary female dancer tapped her legs so fast and so hard, her face cheeks were jiggling.  And still she never stopped until she wanted to stop.

And the guitarist watched the dancers more than he watched his fingers.  It was his job to keep up with him or her while s/he danced and he also never lost a beat. 

They announced at the start that photos were not allowed until the last 10 minutes and they would give you a signal.  And they did.  And out came the cameras in full force.  It’s so hard to capture the emotion that just pours from the stage.  I put my camera on “super burst” – as long as I keep my finger on the button, it keeps clicking, so you get a kind of stop action effect.  So I will just end this with a series of stop actions of my favorite dancers. 

Man, I wish Phoenix had good flamenco dancing.  They have one place that offers it periodically, but again, seeing some of the best dancers has spoiled Gene and me.  This particular venue has been around since 1960 and many a flamenco superstar got his or her start here.  Thank goodness we at least have fabulous memories of this final Barcelona – and vacation – experience.

This man had legs up to his armpits and was beautifully lanky.  He was great and flashed a wonderful smile when some woman yelled WOOT! during a short break in a song.  The woman is the main female dancer.

This guy is obviously the male star of the show.  He came on last of all the dancers and his technique of tapping his heels blew us away.  He has the sexiness of Prince (yes, I think Prince is sexy.  Youse gotta a problem wit dat?), but is about 7 inches taller - lol.

 

 

This photo is blurry, but it shows the intensity and the speed with which they all move.  They knew they were being photographed, so they really put their all into it, even though they had been going over an hour by then.

 

Miscellaneous thoughts and photos

* Used to be I brought home some jewelry, a leather jacket, really cool stuff from Europe.  This time around, I have a collection of tea towels.  Couple from Harrods, couple from Tour d'Argent, one from the Dickens Museum that says "Please, sir, can I have some more", one from the Prime Meridian.  Lots of tea towels.  Oh and gourmet mustard.  Not sure what it says about me.  But there you have it.

*  We had a fabulous time and did lots of fun stuff.  But we're thinking maybe next time, we'll only do TWO weeks and TWO countries.  We're tired.

*  Airbnb is definitely the way to go.  Even though we got some funky apartments and had to climb up and down a very narrow winding staircase to get to bed and the bathroom, we had a blast and saved money cooking our breakfast in the apartments.  Plus we had refrigerators keeping late-night snacks cold for us and didn't have to constantly put out a "Do Not Disturb" sign.  There are advantages to a hotel -- having a concierge, for one -- but renting a flat is a great idea.

*  Somewhere along the way, the French became nicer and the English a tad surlier.  Perhaps their economy makes them a bit cranky?  Our hostess was wonderful, as were isolated shopkeepers along the way, but overall, the English seem to have gotten just a little less bubbly than I remember.

*  For traveling across countries and between cities in Europe, the high-speed train is really the only way to go.  The seats are roomier, you have more leg room and there's less hassle getting to the station and on the train than to the airport and on a plane.

*  Paris remains the most beautiful city in the world.  Seriously.  The architecture is spectacular, the Seine runs through it, there's history everywhere you look, the Eiffel Tower twinkles -- TWINKLES!!! -- it just can't be beat by any other city, imho.

*  Selling off half my jewelry to help buy 3 weeks of great memories including the hereafter referred to "meal of a lifetime" was absolutely worth it.

*  The French & English, especially the French, take their escalator etiquette very seriously.  If all you're going to do is stand there, no problem, but you STAND ON THE RIGHT.  In fact, way on the right, so the more compulsive travelers, who can't bear the thought of waiting 5 more minutes for the next train can race up or down the stairs as quickly as possible.  The English place signs.  The French will tap you and remind you "tenez votre droit" (keep to your right) as they push past you.  The Spaniards?  Oh my.  So loosey goosey.  They're all over the escalator, standing wherever they please.  Man, 1 week, hell 1 DAY in France and those Parisians would whip them into shape.

I have a couple of photos that for whatever reason I didn't put in the blog, but I don't really want to lose them and who knows when I'll actually go through all the photos I took and organize them.  So these are the ones I don't want to lose:

ENGLAND

This is the top of Harrods.  When we exited the store, the sun was hitting it while the rest of the store was in shadow.  I thought it looked pretty swell.

This is what London looks like at 9:30PM.  9:30!!!  I never got used to the sky still being light enough to walk around at 10.  Paris got a little darker a little earlier because it's more south, but even that was still pretty light, pretty late.  And in both countries, it started getting light around 5AM.  16-17 hours worth of light.  wow.

This is what a gate at Buckingham Palace looks like when it's closed.  This one doesn't appear to have those fancy handles & locks, however.  I never did get back there to look at each one of them. 

Still pretty cool, though.

This was just a miscellaneous residence I spotted during the Cambridge bicycle tour.  It looked so peaceful (this one's for you, Kebba!).  I wondered what it must be like to have a cute house like this on the river Cam in a college town like Cambridge. 

Finally, a close-up of Henry VIII (yeah, that one)'s suit of armor.  Think he might be over-compensating for something?   Well, they didn't have Porsches back then, so a king's gotta do what a king's gotta do:

FRANCE:

A few more swell crypts. 

This is Heloise & Abelard, the star-crossed and tortured lovers.  When their affair was discovered, supposedly she was sent to a convent and he was castrated.  But they spent the rest of their lives writing love letters to each other.  They were reunited after death.  Just as people (used to) kiss Oscar Wilde's tomb.  People leave love letters on the fence here.  There were a few visible when we were there.

This one was featured, but it's a good angle of the guy holding his wife's head.  This crypt will remain my fave for now

This is just to give you an idea of how the crypts are stacked.  Such an old old cemetery.  Some graves probably older than the United States!  Just fascinating to me to walk among them and see how much money must have gone into paying tribute to loved ones:

I found it curious how the man had such a great bust made of himself and the woman?  not so much.  And is it me or does she look eternally pissed off?

The Eiffel Tower at dusk when they light it up.  Later on, it twinkles for 5 minutes or so at the start of each hour. 

The subways of London, Paris & Barcelona are full of musicians just trying to make a living.  These guys were playing in the Paris Metro.  They sounded pretty damned good, too.  They were Hungarian and were selling their CDs.  I would have bought one, but they were a tad overpriced at 20 euros.  That was just a little too much at the time.

Tuesday, June 17

And today, we slowed it down even more.  Got an even later start, made it down to one of Barcelona's famous beaches and sat and watched the waves for about an hour.  Even took turns making it into the water and found it was really refreshing once you got used to the coolness.  The beaches are all strung together along Barcelona's coastline and we went to Barconaleta, mostly because it was accessible via the Metro:

We took turns going into the water and taking photos of each other.  This is the Mediterranean Sea, after all and how often would we ever be able to get into the Mediterranean?  The various web sites warn you not to leave your stuff unattended, so we didn't.  Plus we left everything of any import home and only took a little cash.  Once we got there, we could see that all would probably have been quite okay.  A mix of families with little kids, young couples just soaking up the sun and people just having fun.  There were a few topless women.  No one seemed to care; it was all taken in stride.  One more heavyset woman, proudly strolled along the water's edge, completely naked from the waist up.  Good for her and her self-confidence.

I think we could have gone into the water together, but we were fine.  Neither of us are swimmers, so standing there is pretty good for us.

First Gene went in:

 

 

 

And then it was my turn:

 

 

As I came out of the water, I did notice Mr Gene had the camera suspiciously pointed to his right as he looked at me.  The brat was trying to take a photo of the young woman sun-bathing topless next to us!  Unfortunately, he was too nonchalant and the sun prevented him from getting a clean picture through the lens, so all he got was:

I had better luck:

A walk down LaRambla -- it's become our go-to spot -- for dinner, to make reservations for a flamenco show tomorrow night, some fruit & chocolate truffles & ice cream from the open market there, then back to our street.  There we picked up soda & a little more fruit and back to the apartment.  It had started to rain by that time but waited until we were inside before the skies really opened up and treated us to a good old-fashioned thunderstorm for about an hour.  Our balcony has shades coming down and giving us a little shelter & privacy, so we were able to keep the sliding glass door open and let the cool air in and listened to the sound of heavy rain.

Tomorrow is our last day.  Nothing is planned.  We'll work our way out of the apartment, but for what reason, we haven't figured out yet.  Maybe just to enjoy a final walk-around.  We really got to know Barcelona much better this time around. 

Reminds me of David Tennant's first appearance as The Doctor.  Before the 9th Doctor regenerated, he spoke of taking Rose, his companion somewhere and rattled off a bunch of cities including Barcelona.  But alas, the regeneration occurred and suddenly Christopher Eccleston morphed into David Tennant.  He checked out his ears and nose & hair (not ginger!  Why can't I have ginger!) and then said "Now where was I?  Oh yes:  

BAAAR CE LOOOOOON AAAAAH !!!!

I could never hear "Barcelona" without thinking of his exaggerated pronunciation and now I will always pronounce it that way.  (apologies to non-Dr Who fans out there who don't know WTF I'm talking about.)

Steps today:   13,092
Total for trip:  257,631

whoo hoo!!!  A quarter-million steps left in Europe.

Tomorrow is just icing on the cake.

Monday for reals

Monday, June Whatever -- okay June 16 according to Gene.

Getting harder to keep track.  But this is Monday, even though I'm writing this on Tuesday morning. 

A leisurely day, but we explored Montjuic.  We did this 3 years ago, but it was a gloomy day and all we could really remember is that we both had to go to the bathroom and we couldn't because it was closing time and things were locked up and guards wouldn't let us in to use the bathroom, even though I used my best pigeon Spanish on them and we had to walk half-way down the hill because the cable cars weren't operating and it was all a mess and painful to our bladders as well.

So I decided we needed to give this Barcelona historical site a 2nd chance and this time we got it right.  Montjuic started out as a fortress back in the 1600's.  Now it houses an a municipal building and Olympic Stadium.  It offers an unobstructed 360 degree view of Barcelona.  Last visit, we saw a lot of low-lying clouds.  This time we got the view.

We counted two very large and two smaller cruise ships.  Then we spotted yet another one on another side of the lookout

We got there by taking the subway to the funicular and as we were walking to the funicular, I believe I thwarted a pickpocketer bent on targeting Gene.  I was walking along side Gene and a few steps behind (I can never keep up -- thank goodness, this time) chatting away.  Then in my very far peripheral vision, I thought I saw someone reach out as though he/she were going to tap Gene on his shoulder.  So I turned to say "can we help you?"  Because last night someone did come up to us in the subway asking if we could please show him what and where the LaRambla stop was.  He was totally lost (had a German accent, I think).  When I turned the guy disappeared and when I looked, he was waaaaay down the hallway leaving the place.  He had looked like he was following directions and coming along with everyone else INTO the place up to that point.

In about a half-second, I put everything together and asked Gene to check to see if he had everything -- wallet, phones, whatever.  And he did.  HOWEVER, the clasp on his ubiquitous leather pouch was undone.  And so I think I had turned around just after this guy undid the clasp.  He probably wouldn't have gotten anything.  Gene takes FOREVER to pull his wallet or phones out the pouch.  He's like George Costanza in that old Seinfeld episode with the overstuffed wallet.  But we were super-cautious for the rest of the day. 

From atop Montjuic, we spotted Sagrada Familia, the famous church that the family's been working on since1882.  Gaudi became involved in the project in 1883.  My understanding is that it's scheduled to be completed by 2026 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.  The church is, well, interesting.  Perhaps the best example of why the name "Gaudi" represents what it does:

Christmas tree?  Check:

Year-round manger scene below Christmas tree?  Check:

Piles of fruit for no apparent reason?  Check:

A little bit of every type of design?  Check:

Whew!  Actually from a distance, it makes an impressive landmark.  Up close, well to paraphrase what the lead character in "Clueless" said of a boy, "it's a Monet.  It looks fabulous from a distance, but when you get up close, you see what a mess it is."   And yet fascinating and moving when you realize how generations of one family are pouring so much emotion into this one structure. 

Starting to forget to record the exact number of steps before it switches back to 0 at midnight, but when I last looked around 10:30pm, and was back in the apartment, it was about 13,152, so I'll stick with that.

Steps for the day = 13,152
Total for trip   =     234,539

Everything's coming up Gaudi

Sunday, June 15

We're at the point in our trip where you have to write the DAY as well as the date because you start forgetting what day of the week it is.  We are also at the part of the trip where we are beginning to look forward to getting home to our own bed, showers, kitties, familiarities. 

Yeah, we're tired.  I thought we were getting too cranky too easily. So we decided that we would truly become Spaniards:  do 1 easy sight-seeing thing, end around 3 or 4, come back to the apartment and take a siesta.  Then we'd get up, go out to dinner and call it a day. We don't want to spoil a fab vacation with a terrible couple of last days.  And this schedule is so easy to do here, as it was in Paris.  I'm still not used to the skies still being light at 9:30 pm.  And dusk only beginning around 10pm.  It gets light at 5am and stays that way for the next 17 hours. 

I can see our schedule working -- strange, though, how you have to give yourself permission to take it easy on vacation.  Like you have to go go go or you'll be wasting your money.

But even with a slower pace, we're getting a real taste of Barcelona.  Sunday was a good example, as we got to experience two iconic Barcelona sights.

In the morning, I finally got to Park Guell.  Not sure how I missed it 3 years ago, but there you have it.  So off we went.  The weather here in Barcelona -- perhaps all of Spain -- is unpredictable.  Bright blue sky overhead, no clouds, but gee, way off in the distance, look at that big puffy thunderhead that's turning a little darker gray than we'd like.......

And so by the time we reached Park Guell, that big gray cloud was overhead.  And, yeah, it did rain on us.  But fortunately, not a downpour kind of rain that soaks you through and through.  More of an Arizona "6 inch rain".  You know, a drop here, 6 inches later another drop, etc etc.  It was a Barcelona 2 inch rain.  And frankly, I was worried about being too hot in the sun because Saturday was a bear walking around La Rambla in sun & heat.  Now I got to walk around and climb stairs with no direct sun, a nice cool light rain and breeze.  It made touring the grounds very easy.  And the rain was over in about 15 minutes and partly cloudy skies remained.  A good day to walk.

Not that much to say about Gaudi except that his works are whimsical, intriguing and, well, a little gaudy (which, I understand is where the term came from).  Here are some photos that perhaps prove the point:

That's the Mediterranean Sea in the background there.  It's really a gorgeous sight up there.

This is Gaudi's iconical lizard, seen on many of the postcards and posters advertising the park.  Awfully cute.  And very popular.  Took me a loooooong time to get a photo without another tourist standing in front of it.

This is one of the more coherent designs put on the back of a wall. 

This was one of several designs on the ceiling of one section in the Gaudi area.  When you see you this, you realize how much work goes into any one piece.  There just are no big chunks of stone.

 

In another section are flowers, so I tried my hand at photographing lavender.  It smelled luscious and I would have stayed there all day smelling it, but the bees thought it was luscious as well.



 

After our siesta (what a fabulous idea the Spaniards have there.  I'll have to do more of it when back in Phoenix.  I've been resisting for too long), we ventured out to view the "Magic Fountain of Montjuic" which we had been told is indeed magical and a "must see".  The fountain was first built in 1929 for the World's Fair that was held in Barcelona (what ever happened to "World's Fairs" anyway?), and renovated just before the 1992 Olympics held here. 

 

It goes from 9:30pm to 11:00pm (and beyond if Sunday was any indication) - Thursday through Sundays in the summer.  It also operates in the winter, but shorter hours and only weekends.  This was our only chance to see the water show.  We were both thinking "okay, Bellagio, but we'll check it out." 

 

Well, omg, because it was fabulous.  The waters were just wonderful and the combinations they put together were very artistic.  Surprisingly, you just didn't get bored watching for 90+ minutes.  You were just fascinated at all the different combinations that could be put together.  Most people watched the waters through their small iPhone lenses or their big Canon lenses (seems everyone has purchased the Canon Rebel DSLR).  I resisted the temptation and tried to just take it all in through my eyes and little else.

 

Alas, I succumbed and here are my results.  They don't do this experience justice, but hopefully the photos will give you a taste of what enthralled us for over 90 minutes:

 

 

Sometimes the water looked very crisp and sharp, sometimes the water looked like fog.  Sometimes it was beautifully white, sometimes, it was colorized.  It was constantly changing and we marveled at what great entertainment it turned out to be.

 

Steps for the day = 13,765

 

Total for trip = 221,387

 

Can I make it to 250,000?  We are getting veerrry lazy now and using elevators to emerge from the Metro and we're are doing less each day.  Still, we are only 29,000 steps away.  We shall see, we shall see.  Since I don't really count walking around the apartment once we return for the day, I'll probably call it 250K even if my Fitbit doesn't.



Catching up

The last 24 hours were a blur of sorts, so I'd better get them down so I don't forget.  In fact, things in general are becoming blurry.  What's my telephone number at home?  Where in Phoenix do I live?  What's Phoenix?  Was I really at Westminster Abbey 2 weeks ago?  Getting to be time to end this whirlwind.  We've vowed to take it easy in Barcelona -- well except for a few things we want to see.

Friday, June 13:  First off, here are a few more photos of the interior of Tour d'Argent:

This is a three-dimensional sculpture they have hanging on the wall over the fireplace in the drawing room where you wait to be called up to the elevator that will take you to your table.  It's about 5-6 ft tall, I would say.

And this is a big mosaic on the floor as you enter the dining room.  And yeah, there has been a restaurant on this spot since 1582.  Still not the oldest.  Restaurant Botin in Madrid takes that honor with a 1529 establishment.  But it's still pretty damned impressive.

Continuing with Friday, after we left Tour d'Argent:  We decided to walk to some Notre Dame souvenir shops, so I could break my rule and get some cheesy ones and Gene wanted a gargoyle anything as a prize for climbing Notre Dame again.  We crossed over a nearby bridge and dang! it was filled up with locks!  So there are at least TWO bridges in Paris loaded up with locks.  I had a photo.  I swear I had a photo, but now I can't find it in any of my trip photo folders.  I'm sure it will turn up some day in September, but for now, remember the pictures I took of the original "love bridge" and put them here:

XXXXX

We crashed when we got back to the apartment and I started to sort clothes so we could pack, but as evening approached, we knew we had to get to the steps of Sacre Coeur and watch at least dusk fall and drink a little wine for our last Paris experience.  The area was a little less manic than it had been on Monday when we first arrived.  No crazy guy balancing a soccer ball and climbing a light pole.  We had the steady sound of drums beating out a nice rhythm and people talking.

A final toast with wine.....

A final look at Sacre Coeur

And farewell, Paris, for a while.  I believe I'll be back at least one more time.  I have to always believe I'll return to Paris one more time.  It's become a thing with me.  It's a good thing to have.


Saturday, June 15:

WHO THE HELL'S IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE A 7:15 AM TRAIN TO BARCELONA?!?  HUH?  HUH?

Especially when you're paranoid you'll miss it and have to pay for another ticket.  Especially when the taxi in London never showed up, so you're paranoid this one won't either, so you leave yourself enough time to take the Metro, with one change, to the train station, bouncing 4 suitcases down stairs if necessary.  Oh I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

But it all went so smoothly:  taxi was right on time.  We still had to bounce suitcases down stairs, though.  Remember those circular steps we had to go up to reach our Paris apartment?  The only good thing was that we tossed a bunch of clothing, as planned, so our suitcases were a little lighter and we were able to consolidate camera cases, totes, etc.

We got to the train station, found the hall our train was leaving from, found out the work stoppages were still going on, so our train would be 25 minutes late leaving Paris, but we were where we needed to be with time to spare.  So whew!  The paranoid one of the traveling duo was able to relax.

Okay, so maybe Gene was able to relax as well while waiting for the train.

The train ride was great.  I'd be a train buff right along with Gene if American trains were this comfy and this smooth and this fast.  And I had views like this as I rode along:

I was a little disappointed because the web site said you did get snacks delivered to your seat in first class, and I had splurged for 1st.  But all we got was the thrill of bouncing all our bags up yet another circular staircase because 1st class was the upper compartment of the train.  But we survived, the seats are much wider than on a plane, the leg room is greater and we made it to the club car and got our own snacks.  And the train made up time, I think, because we arrived in Barcelona less than 15 minutes late.  Here's the beauty we rode on:

Pretty slick looking.  And a short wait for a taxi and a short ride later and we arrived at our apartment for the final 4 days of our trip.  And yay!!!!!  Modern!!!  Updated!!!  Elevator!!! Air conditioning!!! Balcony!!!  Modern bathroom!!!!  (I didn't mention that our Paris apartment, which we did love, had old plumbing, so we were warned to be very careful because if we clogged the toilet, we'd be billed for half the cost of repairs.  Things to remember to check for the next time I use Airbnb.  And I will use it again.) The elevator opens up into a small cubicle of a lobby on which only 3 apartments are centered.  So when we open the front door, we are only about 5 steps away from the elevator.  No long corridors.  Yay!

We were met by Dani, a handsome, young Spaniard who spoke good English with an adorable accent (aren't they all?) and showed us around the place.  We just kept jumping up and down with glee:

 
The view from the front door looking towards a nice balcony where sits a washer AND DRYER!!!!  Yay for clean clothes!!!!

And the view from the balcony towards the kitchen.

And the kitchen!  And very well equipped and stocked.

And finally, a modern bathroom. 

We are winding down and now, at much as we enjoyed the apartments we've had and as much as they allowed us to really get a flavor of the city we were in, we are happy to start decompressing in a 21st century flat.

But we wasted no time and we were off for dinner at La Rambla, the famous pedestrian strip loaded with shops and a farmer's market of sorts.  The place where we had dinner is basically a bar where you pull up a stool and they cook all the stuff in front of you.  Some chaos, but never ever dull:

Then some fruit, a Barcelona-style smoothie, a run-in with a fruit vendor who didn't like me touching her mangoes because I wanted to get a good one.  She gave me a stink eye, I gave her a stink eye.  Mango was .80 euros, I gave her 1 euro, told her to keep the change and we turned away from each other.  C'est la guerre.  Wait, wrong country.  I'll get it eventually (probably Thursday morning).

Meanwhile, lots of sitting and eating over the last 2 days, lots of sitting on a train, so total steps for Friday & Saturday combined was 20,298.

Total for trip = 207,622.

Lots of walking in store for today, though.