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It is required first to be a tourist before you can label your residence “home”.  We are ready to be home in Barcelona so some steps have been taken.  We joined the “Kids and Family Walking Tour”, hosted by Runner Bean Tours.  I would recommend this for families with children, but not older than about 12.  Our guide, Ann-Marie, was excellent with knowledge, enthusiasm, and pictures, which she had painted herself to provide helpful historical detail.

The tour began in Plaça de L’Angel, where she explained the history or myth of the Catalan flag.  In the 9th century, after a battle, a count (possibly Wilfred the Hairy, love the name) wiped four bloody fingers straight down a gold shield which became the current gold and red striped flag.

In this same Plaça, to keep the youth (and adults) interested, Ann-Marie had us test the candy at La Colmena, a well known old bonboneria/pasteleria (candy/pastry shop), the age of the store acknowledged by a plaque, only reserved for truly long-standing establishments, on the ground by the entrance.

Ann-Marie then guided us through the Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic).  This is the old city of Barcelona and was essentially built on top of the even older Roman city.  We stopped in front of the Palau Reial Major (13th and 14th century), the residence of the counts of Barcelona and the Kings of Aragon.  This sits in the medieval square, Plaça del Rei; common chatter (perhaps in the interest of tourism) is that King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella greeted Columbus here when he arrived home from his first voyage to the New World, but those disputing the story argue that the royal couple was likely at its summer residence at the time.

Interestingly, below (meaning underground) the Plaça del Rei is about an acre of ruins from the Roman city that existed here between the 1st and 7th centuries. While our tour did not include a visit, the ruins are easily accessed through the Museu d’Historia de la Ciutat, in this same Plaça del Rei.  For free, you can also look down at some of the Roman remains through nearby street level windows.

Next, we stopped at Plaça Nova to see the gate to the old Roman City as well as the Cathedral, where construction began in the late 13th century.  Simply beautiful to look at from the outside, but admittedly we did not enter.

As I pen this, we have been back to Plaça Nova/Cathedral  to observe the Sardana, a traditional Catalan dance that can be seen on Sundays at noon or Saturdays at 6:30 p.m.  It is well worth watching at least once, to help understand what the Catalan people were forced to experience, only 40 years back.  While Catalan independence is another story, like the idea or not, the dance itself is simply a symbol of pride, unity, identity, and it was one of the traditions/institutions (not to mention the Catalan language) disallowed by Franco during his near 40-year rule.

While the history was interesting, the highlights of the trip for the youth were likely the costume store and the candy making shop.

El Ingenio has been in business since 1838, with its wonderful and unique toys and homemade Carnaval masks; we paid an extra euro to visit the workshop, well worth it, if for no other reason than the photos.

We ended the tour at Papabubble, watching the production of hard candy, not bad entertainment for the kids, followed by a related reward for 3 hours of attention.

Tags: Aragon, Barcelona, candy, Catalan, El Ingenio, Ferdinand, Gothic, Isabella, La Colmena, Papbubble, Runner Bean, Wilfred the Hairy

We stayed at 6 different hotels or apartments during the past week, spread throughout our 1,500+ kilometer journey.  In every instance, the scenario was as follows:  I check in at the front desk and return to the car.  I am immediately asked by at least one of the young three, “do they have wee-fee?”  Wi-fi , spelled the same way here, yet pronounced “weefee”, might have been the first word they learned in Spain.  On the other hand, Evelyn’s first question for me may be, “how does it look?”  Picture lips turned down slightly, with a hint of fear and skepticism in her mouth and eyes as well…and who can blame her, given my record?  Still, 60% of our family cares not about cleanliness, comfort, room service, but only about connectivity.  Of course, that 60% has a shorter memory than the 20% who is probably more important to please.

Then when entering the hotel room, it is always a race to the outlets to see who can capture the most territory.  These battles last throughout the stay and can be more fierce when chargers and other ammunition need to be shared.  And, at the end of the visit, when suitcases are packed and even out the door of the hotel room, it is only then that devices are unplugged from outlets, thus allowing for the greatest possible duration of technology use on the drive.

*The “do they have wi-fi?” question may be nearing its end, as even my favorite 1-star segment of lodging now always seems to provide this service.

Tags: hotel, wi-fi

I shaved my beard.  Ten days of stubly growth were admittedly enough.  But, sadly the blade work came right before the new parents orientation at BFIS (Benjamin Franklin International School), indicating that I truly cared about my appearance.  The beard did look awful and caused some degree of discomfort.  Still, I had turned it into what I thought was a respectable goatee; others with more reason did not agree.  (Actually, Ella/Maggie generally favor the fur with Evelyn/Max hostile to hair.)  I should have renounced vanity in its entirety.  So I am still the same guy, for now!  Just wait until I start wearing espadrilles.

Tags: beard, BFIS, espadrilles, hostile, school

Evelyn fortunately warned me that a thorough IKEA shopping experience is miserable.  So, my expectations were low.  The 7:30 p.m. aisle traffic at the IKEA in Barcelona is almost impossible to describe, but I am guessing frequent IKEA customers can relate.  We still had our rental car for another day, after returning from our roadtrip, so we decided to make good use of it.  Leaving three children in the apartment (safe on the 6th floor, right?) and promising to be home in 2 hours, we had plenty of time to buy a bed, desk, dressers, hangers, lamps, etc.  We actually moved fairly quickly through the maze, but for one reversal (picture hundreds of spawning salmon moving toward you) to find cloth napkins (for naught, only paper).  Then we entered the checkout line, which I am told can be a nightmare; yet only 10 minutes later, we were done…or were we?  Our misfortune awaited us, the delivery line.  We needed the bed and wardrobe delivered–take a number and wait, and wait, and wait.  The IKEA lesson is to stop by the delivery line before checking out, grab a number, go to the checkout line, pay your euros, and then join the delivery waiting crowd while the inexperienced wait longer.  This extra hour that we could have avoided had us home by 11, almost 4 hours door to door.  And with no working cell phones yet, we had to ask a kind stranger to borrow a phone to call home.  Still on U.S. time, more than a week into the European experience, the kids were wide awake, and hungry, when we returned.

Tags: furniture, IDEA, shopping

Heading East from the caves as quickly as Fred Flintstone after a long meeting with Mr. Slate, we arrived by evening in the French Mediterranean coastal town of Argelès-sur-Mer, close to the Spanish border.  The beach itself is wonderful and wide, but/and the town is seedy, and fun!  Plenty of arcades, OK food at best (though croque-monsieurs were good), tank tops required, all of the lodging average or below (why waste money when you are seldom in the room), and a stretch of sand impossibly uncrowded, given the population bulge seen on the streets/sidewalks of  this tourist town during late August—it is simply a massive beach.  After a day spent in Argelès-sur-Mer, we were back in Barcelona, two hours post-closing the trunk of the Kia in France.

Tags: August, beach, France, Fred FLinstone, Kia, Mediterranean