The Cougar Patrol

Part I: Barcelona (getting there is half the fun)

Well, Europe was certainly one of the more interesting trips I've taken. A nice little hit on the billy and it was off on the subway for only my 2nd flight ever out of JFK. Well, of course I went and got there 3 hours before my flight (travel delays and all), while my family showed up after the plane had already shut the doors and we were the last ones to get onboard. Truly a sign of things to come.

We flew KLM to Amsterdam, then transfered to our flight to Barcelona. Which was nice, cause I got to see an extra country for almost no $$$. Granted we were there for 30 mins, so it's not like I got to go party there. The stewardesses on KLM were HOT, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

We got to Barcelona the day after we left NYC, thanks to the red-eye over the Atlantic, and it was two things when we arrived: Wicked early, and wicked hot. Yup, the temperature was just what you'd expect in Spain, dry, dusty, and in need of some A/C. We took a bus service to our hotel, where everyone (except me) promptly went to bed. It was about 9 am. Not one to sit around doing nothing, I went off exploring. Here's a shot of our room, it was a bit small.


Of course, I went out to shoot some pics on my own, and also to find myself a liquor store. That was definitely a long strange trip. It took almost 3 hours to finally find a place that sold liquor, which was amazing as I was in the heart of downtown Barcelona. Here's where I finally found the liquor store, tucked into a giant department store on the town's main square (building on the right).



So I got some booze, brought it back to the room, then woke up the family for a trip around the city. Basically, I dragged the folks to a few tourist spots, and of course they enjoyed the walking. Walking long distances in oppressive heat was definitely the unofficial theme of the trip.

We Finally arrived at La Sagrada Familia, the biggest church in the city and one that is still uncompleted. It was beautiful to see, and you really have to get up next to it to get an idea of the original artist's work. It is pretty breathtaking. Here's some pics:







After the church, we walked over to check out another one of Gaudi's creations, Le Pedrera, which was a funky looking apartment building. You have to admire the fact that the construction is just so different from anything like you'd see in NYC.



Also differing from the NYC look, especially in the more historically younger northern section of the city, the Mediterranean construction style of large opened doors and light airy spaces really came to the forefront during the walk around the city. Here's a few pics that illustrate that aspect (our hotel is on the far side of the street at the very left end of the row, with a tarp covering it).




Upon finishing our walk, we headed down to La Rambla, the biggest pedestrian market in town and also the most famous one. It lead directly from the public square by our hotel (home of the liquor store as well) all the way down to the harbor, and was full of restaurants and shops. Of course, I was the only one to eat anything resembling Spanish food, as I ate paella for dinner, while the family scarfed down pizza and sandwiches. Oh well.



Our second day in Barcelona we decided to take a tour around the city on a double decker bus. Obviously, the first two stops were places that I had taken my family the day before. Great. But there was a lot left to do on the ride as we managed to pretty much knock off all the major sites in the city in about 5 hours.

So, Without too much more exposition on the matter, here's some more photos of things we saw on the trip (roughly the order in which we saw them):

A Funny Little Car:



More Works by Gaudi (note the rooftops):



A View of la Sagrada Familia from on a hill top to the north of town. We took a blue street car to the top of the hill. At this point we're at least 600 ft up as we're above the tops of the church by a bit. The wide shot should give a good idea of where we're at:





These houses have a very nice view of the city from on the hilltop. Open and sunny houses too, there's pools there that you can't see in the photo:



A submarine. Because it's nice and random and all:



FC Barca's home grounds. There was no way to get a good shot of this place without paying $$$ to get in for the tour. Obviously I didn't take the tour:



The next area we visited on our tour is somewhat reminicent of a Washington D.C type of area. The Royal Museum/Olympic park complex takes up a huge chunk of the landscape on the southwest side of the city. The first 3 shots are the lead up to the building. There's a large fountain at the beginning of the plaza, a gate flanked by two large brick towers, then a long road down to the hill itself. That's Mom standing at the base of the hill.





So we walked up the hill to this massive building, and got some shots behind us of the panorama, which was quite impressive. I have to say, it is much more fun to go to places with hills, because then you can get a pretty sweet view of things. Unlike, say, Indiana?




After going inside the building (which had A/C...yesss), we continued up the hill to the Olympic stadium area. While not exactly as awesome as, say, Notre Dame Stadium, it was still a great place to have the chance to visit. Also, as far as views go, the view from the front plaza (3rd pic) was yet another awesome scene to behold.





That was pretty much the culmination of our tour. We hopped on the bus back to downtown, and comign down the hill I got this shot of our cruise ship in port. It's the big one in the front.



We got back to our hotel rooms, cleaned up all our stuff, and then it was off to the boat to check in and get ready to get loaded. To Be Continued...