Firstly, I’d like to thank Delta for turning my 8-hour flight into a Gosling Fest by offering Ides of March, Drive and The Notebook as selections for in-flight movies. I didn’t sleep much but The Notebook provided a nice background for dozing.
Upon landed at BCN, I lugged my incredibly heavy carry-on through the streets of Barcelona, and the 40-minute trip to the place I’m staying turned into a two hour one. I arrived at Natacha’s apartment around noon and she greeted me with tasty coffee and a croissant that tasted like heaven after refusing to eat airplane fare. Her place is so cute and just what I need. Wireless, own room, central location, cozy and adorable as all get out. And Natacha is SO friendly and amazing. We started speaking in English off the bat, but I’m going to try to speak to her in more Spanish.

We went to quickly see the Catedral de Barcelona before stopping at Mercat Santa Caterina. I marveled at the stands and bought some overpriced figs and nuts, then she took me to hole-in-the-wall fruit stand with great produce for a fraction of the price. She also showed me a little grocery store to buy daily miscellanea. Back at the apartment, I took a quick nap before meeting Nat at a little bar called the Fuzz Box (sucio!) for tapas.


It’s co-owned by this very nice Dane who makes a killer mojito, and a callus in the center of his palm to prove it. I ate and drank too much, and stayed up way too late.

I ended up getting to sleep around 2 or so, then didn’t wake up until three in the afternoon. There goes my Jet Lag Recovery Plan.

Today was lovely. At first I was pissed that I slept so late and missed half a day of Barcelona. But then I realized I could stay here a month if I wanted. Leaving my guidebook and maps behind, I ventured out. Bracafe had cute tables and coffee, so I ordered cafe con leche and sat down to write. It was mostly journaling, and I’m looking forward to discovering a place where I can hunker down for a few hours for serious fiction writing.

Properly caffeinated, I wandered back to Las Ramblas and through little streets.

Gorgeous fan shop. Ladies only:


Condom shop, cause there’s that many kinds of them:

And La Boqueria! I love markets so much, so this was heaven for me:

 

By the way, I’m totally coming back fat.
I also visited Catedral de Barcelona for realsies and took lots of pictures. That will be another post because I’m exhausted despite sleeping in so late. Here’s a little taste: