The day started with me not getting up early at all. I had shipped my packages of things I bought the night before, so going out and buying more wasn't an option, and I had food at the condo, so going out in the heat only would have meant bad things. The good kind of bad, but still. I left the condo at 1:15pm after relaxing, getting ready, packing and cleaning the space.
I can't say enough about the guys that I stayed with, Ron and Tadaaki. They were so lovely, so helpful, so welcoming, I couldn't have asked for a better stay at their place. They even sat with me to find the tour information for the Dali trip, both of them on their computers as we sat and ate crostini with Gorgonzola and plums (think I mentioned that part before). And when I had to fill out the post office forms, which are like friggin' law school applications, they sat with me to explain what info went where. Without them, for sure the stuff would end up in another country entirely.
They were wonderful, and if you're ever going to Barcelona, let me know and I will give you their information. So great.
Anyhow, I left there, got to the airport and I have to say, this whole one carry-on for the whole trip is really working out! I saw the line for the "check luggage" when I got there, and it was at least 80 people long. I got to walk right by it, went to security with no other people, literally, and was done the whole process from getting in the terminal to being at the gate information section in 8 minutes. Very, very useful to only have one carry-on. I recommend it to the hilt! I've skipped those hundred people lines at every airport.
Then I sat, and ate and sat, and drank water. Let's talk about water drinking for a second.
I became a water-drinking-timing connoisseur in Barcelona. There are no public washrooms there, and it's so hot that you have to drink a ton of water, you know, to stay alive. I managed to learn how long it takes from the drinking point to the... washroom needing point, and it's like clockwork now. So, I drank the water an hour before I got on the plane, and all set.
And yes, if you're unclear, I did just talk about pee for a whole paragraph. You're welcome.
These are the chairs in the Barcelona Airport, terminal 2, section D area. Very comfy!
Then I watched a man pay more attention to his phone than his 1 year old, who ran through half of the terminal, alone, before I alerted him of the situation, and he ran after him. Yeah. The good news is that he said thanks?
From there we boarded. Good times, sold out flight. The guy beside me was nice, we chatted, then we left. There was some turbulence, enough that the whole plane gasped at one point... that was unpleasant. The good news, I'm in Paris!
While on the subway to get to the place I'm staying, I met these two woman from Portland, Suzanne and Debra. We chatted most of the ride, until a group of ten tiedied young folks got on, who had just come from a colour party, not unlike Colour Me Rad in Toronto. Except, here it was raining, and they were all dripping colour on the seats. The good news is that we met four of them and had a great conversation with them for about fifteen minutes. I wasn't even outside yet and I met six lovely people. Fingers crossed that keeps up!
And then it did once I got to my AirBNB location!
This is the place that I'm staying, and guys, I'm staying with the most fun couple ever. You can tell a bit of that by the space. I'll try to get a picture of the VERY fun spiral staircases (which make me afraid) tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, the couple invited me to breakfast with them, the guy seems to be some type of chef-like person, and then to stay around for an art chat that they do at their place (where I am) every Sunday. They have an artist come in and talk about their work, a discussion happens, and the guy here serves brunch.
How fun is that?!
That ends around 2pm and the rest of the day is mine. The rest of the eight days actually. I have a lot of planning to do, seeing what I want to see, etc.
Alright, I have to be up and ready for 9am for this breakfast, and the art thing is from 11am to 2pm, so off I go to get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow with some more fun and likely a pretty good art show story to tell.
Until then!
Paris day one sounds amazing! Glad you got there safe and sound.
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