Back to the USA (long post)

We got back Monday from our wonderful trip back to my homeland. I had not been in Barcelona for 15 years, and it was great to be there again with my two daughters, it made it so much more special.  Thanks Marvin for making it all possible J

I will write a few days at a time. Just some highlights.  Another day I will write about the next days, and so on.. And lastly I will write about my thoughts and impressions of the trip.

And of course I will add some pictures too.

Sunday, Sept 13 – Marvin drove us to LAX, our plane was leaving to Atlanta GA at 9:30AM. It took over 4 hours to get there and we had to hurry to get our connecting flight to Barcelona that was leaving at 5:39PM.

Monday, September 14 – After a 10+ hour flight we arrived in Barcelona! 

Sonia and Eric were waiting for us and drove us to our first apartment in Carrer Bertran 156, very close to the street were I used to live. 

Hurrying to get to the door, I fell on the steps and hurt my knees. Way to go!

After checking things out we walked to the house where I used to live,

and after that we went to a bar called El Rincon and had some tapas and beer. It’s good to be back.

Tuesday, September 15 – The girls and I took the Metro and went downtown. Our goal was to have hot chocolate and churros for breakfast, and so we did.

 After that, we walked and walked and walked (6 ½ miles). We went down the Ramblas, to Columbus Statue, to the big market La Boqueria, to Plaza Real where we sat in an outdoor tapas place that was not the best choice L but we saw some dancing Brazilians that were eye candy. 

  We had an unexpected bonus: at the Virreina palace we saw some of the “Giants” that would be in the Merced parade. It was fun.

We also stopped to what became a favorite place, Els 4 Gats.

That night we went to El Pescadito in carrer Balmes and had dinner (monkfish for me).

Wednesday, September 16 – Another walking day. We walked all over the Gothic Quarter, Cathedral, Plaza del Rey, Beautiful.  

We went back to Els 4 Gats to have some tapas that were very good: croquetas, pa amb tomaquet and patatas bravas. Yum.

Later that day Sonia and Eric came by with Nicole. I had never met her in person; she’s a 13 year old typical teenager. We all went to visit Sonia’s father Jordi, Nuri’s ex husband. He’s been pretty sick for the last couple of years but he was excited to see us. I’ve known him since we went to school together; it was nice to see him and his wife Elvira.

After that we drove to la Barceloneta to meet Eric’s 2 older daughters Katia and Melanie. We had a before dinner drink at Juanita Lala

and then we went to Els 3 Nusos Restaurant. I had some wonderful anchovies from La Escala, and codfish in orange sauce with red onion and pine nuts. Good food, good company!

To Be Continued