Third City Transition

Woke up at a reasonable time today! Unfortunately Peter was still feeling kind of strange, but we pushed forth anyway. First stop: the cathedral, which looked huge from the outside but, like the Italian couple we met in Sevilla had said, was relatively modern and simple inside. We didn’t really spend that much time in there actually – it was nice to look at but not super engaging. So we headed up to see the Oso de Madrid (bear of Madrid) that we had passed several times but had missed because there was construction all around it. It’s very cute though! So check and check.

The Museo de Reina Sofia we also hit, without knowing the degree of crazy modern art we were about to subject ourselves to. Eventually we found the Picasso works (Guernica!) and those of Dali and Buñuel, though, so my curiosity was satisfied. We had lunch in an alley right by the museum purely because they had a sign for a third kind of ice cream company, although I forget now which one it was. Anyway I got a sandwich where the top piece was kind of like eggs in a basket, which was fun! And Peter’s hamburger was actually made with ham sausage, which was novel. The ice cream bar that we got tasted old though, so it wasn’t a good read on the company. Frigo probably still wins though.

Then it was time to go get our bags and head to Barcelona! The train ride was showing Yes Man this time, which was surprisingly cute even though it was both dubbed and subtitled in Spanish. I was proud that I got most of what was happening. The Barcelona metro proved easy as well, and our hostel this time is pretty snazzy looking. I booked two beds in a 10-bed room for the “true hostel experience” at least once, but it was pretty awkward in real life, considering that the room is made of groups of two or three that kind of kept to themselves (or were talking about going to get wasted later). It might be an interesting few days. But the wireless and AC (not much in use at the moment, sadly) and such are free and it’s a funky looking place so perhaps it will be okay. We walked around a little bit and found out that the Tour de France is coming through a street really close to our hostel tomorrow so that should be cool! They’re trying to break the world record for number of stationary bikes (imported from Ireland!) used in a spinning class as well. Should be pretty entertaining.

The dinner – mostly known as the Search for Vegetables – was not as exciting though. We were hungry enough to just pick a place to stop, but we forgot the cardinal rules – should be full of at least some nontourists, and shouldn’t have English top 40 playing. Oops. Our first attempt at ‘roast vegetables’ was slimy and soggy onions, peppers, and eggplant that came with anchovies. Blech! We tried to order a veggie pizza, supposedly with broccoli and spinach, but it came with zucchini and eggplant instead, and was greasy besides. Our first really disappointing experience.

We came back and looked up a few things, though, and found out that there is a Chocolate Museum in Barcelona! And a few famous chocolate stores as well. So perhaps tomorrow will be more promising, between that and the Tour and all the other sightseeing. Doesn’t solve our vegetable problem, but it might help us with the ‘find desserts that aren’t ice cream or questionable things like cookies that actually taste like fortune cookies’ (the latter was surprising but not that pleasant) issue. Spain, though big on ham and gardens, is low on good salads and desserts. Time to go to bed – I’m pretty done with today – and hope our bunkmates aren’t too loud when they come back!