European Excercise VI: Propera Parada~ Barcelona!

T2
Swiped from williamnyk.

Early in the morning, we headed to the London City Airport. We were greeted by a long check-in line at British Airways. However, seeing that we were running late, we were bumped ahead of line. Before leaving the UK, we were meticulously asked about our itinerary and travel arrangements by the BA staff. The flight was quite pleasant and we had an in-flight breakfast of sausage, bread and hash browns. Arrived at Barcelona Airport T2. Quite empty at that hour. We did not know where to go to catch the Metro down to town, so we just followed the crowd. Actually we had to take a free shuttle bus to another terminal. The train ride was quite pleasant. Very amused by the Catalan "Next Stop" announcements: Propera Parada, Propera Parada. So catchy. Our stop was at Passeig de Gracia, one of the main Metro interchanges. Upon arrival we were greeted by stern warnings from the security staff regarding pick pockets. Seemed to be rampant. That kind of set us on an edge and suddenly we felt very self-conscious in the underground tunnels. Felt some suspicious stares from several teenagers in front of us but they scattered when the security staff came back in view. Goodness. We quickly found our line and made a bee-line for Mundet. Checked-in at Alimara Hotel, a four-star business-type hotel right out in the suburbs. All black and white with steel and leather furniture. Extremely close to the Metro station. The surrounding area was full of parked cars and apartments, but one hardly sees anybody walking around. Kinda like a zombie town. Weird.







Rested a bit before heading out to Parc Güell, a dusty park on top of a hill. The first stop on our Antoni Gaudi architecture trail. From the vantage point, one can see a whole lot of Barcelona in the distance. The style of the park is rocky with many collonaded pathways. The most recognizable feature of the park is the mosaic dragon at the main entrance. Practically too crowded to ever get a clear shot of it. Moving in, one can see the lower court which is supported by many Doric columns. On the ceiling are interesting flower mosaics. On the roof is the central terrace with tiled serpentine benches. Could not bear sitting there for long due to the dust that was being blown around. All around the park, people were busking and hawking their wares. All that hiking really worked up an appetite so we sat down at the the roadway benches and munched on our ham sandwiches. Early evening, we took the bus back to Lesseps and enjoyed a cup of espresso at Cafe Fiorino. Observed that Barcelona is really a city of pigeons and pet dogs!







Back in Mundet, we did some shopping at the neigbourhood grocery store chain, Consum. Bought smoked salmon, salad, strawberries and wholemeal bread for our dinner. The rest of the evening, we just rested and watched TV. Kinda strange watching "Family Guy" and "Sex and the City" in Spanish. The hotel was clean and newly-renovated, but the housekeeping was slow as molasses. A request for extra pillows took more than hour. And they took a day to reset our room safe. And I couldn't connect to their free WIFI in the lobby! Oh well. KH's ankles were swollen again from all the walking so we fished out the bottle of tonic water from the fridge and used it as a cold compress. Pity the next guests who decide to drink that. :P. Turned in early after some skanky business as we had another early morning excursion the next day!