After everyone was dropped at their destinations, Dolly and I were taken to the Split airport. We were able to get a bite to eat before we began our journey. We were flying Air France from Split to Barcelona via Paris. Ah Paris!
Our flights were uneventful. We had a layover in Paris for a few hours and we tried to just relax while we waited for our flight. We had a small meal in a great little bistro in the airport and then we cleared security to the boarding area.
Finally, at about 10:40 PM local time, we landed in Barcelona. We went to the baggage carousel to await our luggage. We both waited and watched all of the bags go around and around, but not ours. Little by little, the number of bags that were circling around was getting less and less. Finally, we went to the baggage claim counter for Air France to complain. We were asked for information and the color of our bags and handed a form. The staff person said they would put a trace on our bags and they would be brought to us. There was nothing else to do.
We caught a cab to our lodging for the night, Hotel Frontair Congress Aeropuerto, which was about a ten minute drive from the airport. The hotel was quite modern and very slick. Our room was very nice and we settled in as best we could. Finally we went to bed.
The next morning we went to breakfast in a very nice dining room with a terrace. All the while we were hoping that our bags would be at the front desk when we went down. No such luck! The hotel had a free shuttle into downtown Barcelona, so we decided to utilize that and get into town. We only had our carryon bags. As a note, I have long preached to carry a change of clothing and clean underwear in your carryon bag. Somehow I did not and Dolly had just a pair of underwear I believe.
We got on the shuttle bus and were discharged in town. We quickly caught a taxi and were taken to our apartment, Apartamentos Descartes. I had received an email from the management that no one worked on weekends and that the key to our apartment would be elsewhere. When we arrived, I called the number on the reservation, but got no answer. Shortly, some people were leaving and they said they had gotten their key from a parking garage down the street. I walked the half a block and the key was there waiting for us.
The apartment was very European modern and quite nice. We settled in as best we could and made a plan regarding getting some interim clothing. We had trip insurance and it had a monetary provision for lost luggage. It was Sunday and we were wondering what was open. We managed to get into the center of town using the Metro. We got off at Las Ramblas station and began to look for stores. We looked in a department store, but they did not have anything to fit me. As we strolled down Las Ramblas we noticed a number of stores were closed. A gentleman in one store we visited told us to go to MareMagnum, a mall. It was at the end of the avenue.
We walked down to the mall and it was teeming. It contained a variety of shops and boutiques. We went into several menswear shops and they had no pants to fit me and we found one long sleeve polo shirt that fit. We got that and went to look for underwear. Finally, we found a store that had underwear to fit me. Of course, we anxiously waited for a call from the luggage services office.
We went back to the apartment and waited a little longer. No call.
We went back to the hub of life for tourists, Las Ramblas, to get some dinner. We found a very interesting restaurant and had our evening meal. Before we decided where were going to eat, we got several "pitches" from people about their respective restaurants, but we chose a very active restaurant with a good menu. The food and the service were good. After I got some great gelato, we took the metro back to our apartment. Another day without our luggage :-(
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