Friday, April 17th, 2009, Barcelona, Spain

Bob:

We were already docked in Barcelona's harbor area when we awoke; the Captain had done it so smoothly that we had felt nary a bump or jar. Taking the shuttle bus to the Christopher Columbus monument at the mouth of the harbor (3 Euro), we walked up Las Ramblas, which is the main promenade street for downtown Barcelona. It was a beautiful Spring day with bright sunshine and moderate temperatures, so hordes of people were streaming up and down the promenade area in the center of Las Ramblas (the two narrow streets that carry vehicular traffic lie on either side of the pedestrian promenade).

Given the hordes of people, there were of course the corresponding hordes of vendors selling everything from pet animals (mice, parakeets, rabbits, chicks) to newspapers and magazines, and quite a variety of street entertainers. Bozo the clown was greeting people at one end of La Ramblas and various costumed folks up and down the street were willing to pose for tourist pictures for a fee, of course. We have seen these street entertainers before, but the variety on Las Ramblas was far greater than we had seen elsewhere. Along with benign themes like an angel or Don Quixote, we saw quite a few darker themes: two severed heads on a table, two demons complete with wings and long, black taloned fingers, two zombie bicyclists (I think!), and two vampires who popped out of their coffins to scare the unwary. All the customs were quite elaborate and sufficiently compelling that they seemed to scare the youngest children while being merely entertaining for older children, teen-agers or adults.

I enjoyed seeing the architecture of the buildings on either side of Las Ramblas. Every time I'm in Barcelona I seem to see new things by just walking around and looking up. This time, for example, about midway up Las Ramblas I spied a house that had Chinese decorations on it including an elaborate carved stone dragon protruding out over the street, kind of like a gargoyle on a cathedral but more fanciful and much, much larger.

Just off Las Ramblas we spotted a Mercado (market place) sandwiched in among the buildings and wandered up and down the aisles there. Although the Mercado was stuffed into a small square with shops all around, it was quite extensive and sold an amazing variety of fruit, vegetables, meats, fish, and baked goods. For me, a Mercado is a true multi-sensory experience; I enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and general hustle and bustle of the place. In fact, most of the stalls were doing such a good business that I found it difficult to get a clear photograph without a crowd of people.

But we were on a mission to find Monika a pair of lightweight pants, which was one thing not to be had either at the Mercado or on Las Ramblas, so we continued on to the upper end of Las Ramblas where we checked out a couple of department stores. I won't go into the excruciatingly boring details of my standing around in a women's clothing store trying to look inconspicuous while Monika was rummaging around the aisles (I was emphatically told not to sit with the dummies on display by one very earnest young sales lady who rather huffily re-arranged the display after I wearily got up again). Suffice it to say that when we finally found two pairs of dress slacks for 10 Euro each at a "Q and A" store I was very, very happy.

I was even happier (bordering on euphoric) after I accidentally found a pair of khaki cargo pants for Monika that had 8, count 'em 8, pockets in them! Women's pants with plenty of pockets, what a concept! I managed to cajole Monika into buying them even though they were at full price because I figured as long as I could get her to wear those 8 pocket pants, I wouldn't be pressed into service as Mr. Substitute Pockets for all the stuff she wants to bring with. I mean, it's going to be embarrassing if I ever get hit by a bus and taken to the hospital with her lipstick and makeup in my pockets!
(Monika: Anybody who knows me will Laugh Out Loud).

Shopping mission accomplished, we returned to Las Ramblas through the Gothic Quarter, bought a beer (for Monika), a Coke (for me), the Spanish equivalent of Goldfish, and a ham and cheese sandwich at a Carrefours food store. Together with the eggs and rolls we had brought from the Noordam, that all made for a very satisfying lunch as we sat out on a park bench and watched the people rambling up and down Las Ramblas. Thus fortified we walked back up the street in search of the Gaudi-designed houses that Tom had talked about in his shipboard presentation. We did find two of the most famous, but there was at least a 30-minute wait to get in either one of them, and by that time we were starting to get a bit antsy about getting back to the Noordam in time. So we finally decided to delay seeing the interiors until our next visit to Barcelona.

Scooting back down Las Ramblas as quickly as one can scoot in throngs of people, which is not very, we got back to the Internet Cafe we had seen earlier with just barely enough time to sign in, check our email, and send off a quick "Alive in Barcelona" note to our family. Then it was back to the Christopher Columbus column to pick up the 4:10 shuttle back to the Noordam. We finally arrived back on board about 3 minutes ahead of the 4:30 deadline, which was cutting it a bit close for my taste. Shortly afterwards a thundershower started up, but the rain held off just long enough for me to retrieve the clothing we had hung up to dry on our balcony, which I thought was very polite.

The evening entertainment was another energetic production show loosely organized around the theme of dance. And dance the troupe did in many different colorful and exotic costumes. Afterwards the complete staff of the Noordam was brought up on stage to receive their Kudos for a job well done on the cruise.