Sunset in the Morning

Most of my flight(s) from SLC to Barcelona were unremarkable, but in the morning as we approached Spain, the sunrise really looked like a typical colorful sunset in Utah- and it occured to me that this is because of all the ash still in the atmosphere from the volcano! Very pretty, in a way.

John met me when I got off the bus in Paza Catalunya, and helped me find the hostel (no easy task on this silly little streets) and haul my bags up three flights of old marble stairs. After a shower, I went out with him to see some of the local sights and get lunch. I also got a chip for my Nokia, so I now have a local phone number- and calls to the US are pretty darn cheap, no idea why that is.

I am between naps at the hostel, having explored some basic parts of Barcelona on the back of a tiny Chinese made motorcycle. John chose it to fit in a closet in his motorhome. I quickly decided to just trust, and not get uptight about the aggressive driving style, which is apparently necessary and expected. The motor bike saves a lot of walking.

We did walk the Ramblas, a wide avenue with lots of trees, here in old Barcelona. Lots of activity, like buscars and living statues and- especially since today is (was) a semifinals futbol (?) game between Barcelona and an Italian team, roving gangs of yelling, chanting fans wearing the team colors comprised more than half the population on the streets.

After walking around the famous unfinished Familia Sagrada church (part of the facade can be seen in the above picture), I had to get back and sleep. Tomorrow- or today, actually, I will see more, and upload my own photographs to send more. I was given a complimentary sangria by the young Pakistani host here at the hostel, while I watched the futball(?) soccer match with him in the cucina (kitchcen) . Barcelona lost by one point. So now it is time to try to sleep again.