We awoke at about 8:00 AM and Dolly went out for her walk. She said she needed to burn some more calories because we have been eating well. I lounged a little bit and then I got up. Dolly came back with some goodies for breakfast. We ate our European breakfast in the apartment and planned our day. We had another day of touring on the Open Top Bus so that was the plan for the day. We got dressed and headed out. It was a slightly cool and somewhat overcast day with mild temperatures. We caught the metro and headed down to the circle adjacent to Las Ramblas. We found the area where our bus line was and waited to board a bus. The area was crowded with tourists and shoppers as there was a large department store and restaurants in the area.
Finally we were able to board a bus. We had to sit down in the covered area because the top level was full. After a stop or two, we were able to get upstairs. It was getting cloudier and there appeared to be a serious threat of rain. Fortunately, I had my rain jacket and Dolly had a poncho for raingear.
Going down El Diagonal
These buses have different routes and we took a different route today since we had done the entire circuit of one route yesterday. The bus started down El Diagonal again and once again the view of the shops and buildings was amazing. The bus headed north toward a very different part of Barcelona. Today we were passing through more residential neighborhoods, but one place we passed was La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Gaudi. We decided to go there tomorrow when we could spend more time and go inside.
We stayed on the bus until we were in the area of a local marketplace with vendors, fresh food, and a few restaurants. We selected an alfresco place in the market to have lunch. The food was good and we enjoyed our meal there. The proprietor was impressed that I spoke Spanish and he wanted to talk. A small group of Anglos sat at the table next to us and wanted to engage us in conversation. We talked for a bit and then paid our bill and left. We wandered around the market and bought some gifts for folks back in the U.S.
We reboarded the bus on the same route and proceeded on our day's tour. We headed toward the area of the Universidad de Barcelona. It was a very open and spacious area that housed the numerous buildings of the university. We also passed near the Parque Gaudi. We decided that we wanted to visit the park tomorrow. Dolly wanted to go to El Museo del Gaudi, but it was in the suburbs and not easy to reach.
The rest of the tour was rather uneventful, but quite interesting. It rained some during the afternoon, but we were prepared. The bus took us back through some of the residential neighborhoods and we returned back to the Las Ramblas area. We got off of the bus and wanted to get something to eat. We ended up going to The Hard Rock Café. The food wasn't bad, but it was so loud.
Gary in The Hard Rock Café
Dolly refused to have her picture taken in the Hard Rock. She said it was too American.
We left there and walked down Las Ramblas for a bit toward the harbor. It was raining intermittently and we decided to head back to our apartment. But first, I had to have a gelato. Good eats!!!!
We went back and decided to tour on our own tomorrow.
Dolly had the idea of calling Air France and complaining about how we had lost two days of sightseeing because we had no luggage. She did not make any headway. I took the phone and requested to speak to a supervisor. Eventually, a very nice agent in Atlanta came on and began helping me. Air France, Delta and KLM are all in the same alliance and ownership. After about an hour on the phone the agent booked us on a KLM flight out of Barcelona through Amsterdam to Dulles International scheduled for September 20, 2013 as opposed to September 19, 2013-- a day later, but it did not cost any fees. Bonanza!!!!!
After that, we went to bed and got ready for our adventures tomorrow.
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