Intercontinental Blind Date©

So this is going to be the title of the book, and of course the movie. Intercontinental Blind Date©. Watch for it. ;-)

So what do I have to say, on this day three days before I get on the plane? The plan, as determined by my travel companion-to-be, is that he will show me Barcelona for a few days, however long I want, then drive up the coast, maybe stop in Roses, a town he has lived in. Then go to the starting point of the Camino de Santiago (Pamplona?), which I can walk while he drives the motor home to the day's destination, and walks back to meet me. I get to walk the pilgrim trail! Sounds perfect.

I have been looking at books about Gaudi, the famous architect in Barcelona, as well as the artist Goya. I think if I learn more about them now, I will better appreciate what I see, so I have homework. I expect to be overwhelmed in Barcelona, just trying to understand Gaudi's wild architectural shapes, and how they were seen by the people of his time. I understand that he was ridiculed for some time, and that George Orwell thought it was awful. But a few people admired his work, at least the wealthy man who hired him to create La Casa Mila, and eventually he became very popular and famous. So he is an example of the benefit of ignoring what other people think. I like him already.

Goya was a maverick also, painting people as they were, not flattering them as was the tradition. another great example! Maybe it is a theme, in Spain. According to Mary Lee Settle, in Spanish Recognitions, many famous Spaniards refused to go along with the program, and apparently valued obedience far less than speaking up for rights, equality, fairness.

I return to my preparations, while my future travel companion says he is spending a few days in the mountains north of Barcelona. He mentioned a very small town, name unknown, up in a steep valley where he stopped for breakfast in the town square. The town is all old stone buildings, many hundreds of years old. He says he tried the computer, just for fun, and was amazed that he had access to wifi.

Who needs anything else?