Wednesday, April 3, 2002 11:40
Weather: Gloomy with persistant drizzle
Location: Hostal Goya, Barcelona, Spain

I had a nice afternoon yesterday, strolling around Madrid. I had an ice cream cone near the Palacio Real and sat under a tree in the Plaza de l´Oriente to read my newspaper. A busker set up in front of me and casually assaulted passersby by playing the Titanic theme on his violin. On the way home I spent another hour on the Internet, mainly reading up on the villages of Cinque Terre and copying out train schedules.

At seven, Kelly found me in the lobby of the hostal copying things between journals--I´ve filled my first journal and will be sending it home with Paul--and we picked up Justine and Alex and headed out to the bar where Patrick and Paul were camped out. After a drink we found yet another good tapas menu in another bar on Calle de la Victoria.

It was nice to get more of a chance to talk with Alex, who had been out of commission with a cold and cough for two days. He´s just completed his training as an architect, and we talked about the harm caused to society by the diminution of public space in favour of private yards, gardens and living rooms. Alex wants to change society through better architecture, certainly a worthy goal.

Justine has quickly become a good friend. Her travel plans around the world were recently altered to include meeting her new English boyfriend Simon in Canada: they both have ´round the world tickets, but in opposite directions! It looks like I might be in Scotland when she passes through, unfortunately, though Paul & Kelly offered a bed in their new house, should their renovations be complete in time. In the mean time, Alex and Justine will be passing along a similar itinerary to mine after spending a couple more weeks in Spain and Portugal, so I´ve promised to keep them posted on highlights of my trip.

After finishing dinner we headed back to the hostal together. Paul, Patrick and I went up to pick up the bags while Kelly, Alex and Justine went into La Suiza to buy a selection of lovely little pastries for our train trip. We said farewell to the Australians and set off for Chamartin station.

When we boarded the train, we had an unpleasant surprise: I had thought I had booked us literas (couchettes), but in fact they had all been sold out and the agent had sold us second class seats instead. Worse yet, the compartment we were in quickly filled to its capacity of eight people, with very little leg room and no way to stretch out. Though we all managed to doze, none of us slept well and by the time we arrived in Barcelona we were badly in need of coffees, showers, and naps (in that order).

We hopped on the Barcelona subway and headed for Plaça de Catalunya, at the north end of the main street, the Rambla. There we found one Café Zurich, which brought us closer to consciousness with coffee, juice, and cheese sandwiches served on lovely baguettes. Then we set off to find a hostal.

The first try was disappointing. We located the Hostal Fontanella easily enough (although it was up about four flights of stairs) but there was no answer to the doorbell, or, later, the telephone. Hostals Campi and Peninsular were full, and Lausanne and Rembrandt didn´t answer their phones. Finally, Hostal Goya said we could get two double rooms for one night only. We´re hoping to be able to extend that, as it turns out to be a nice place with hot showers and pleasant rooms.

While we waited for the rooms to be cleared, we dumped our packes and walked down through the drizzle to the Cathedral, a wonderful Gothic pile built on, and integrating, some Roman ruins. The organ was being tuned as we walked through, and the discordant whine prodded us through to the cloister, where it was replaced by the gentle honking of the cathedral´s geese, walking aimlessly around the middle and gawping at the tourists.
posted by Tom at 9:35 AM | link |