Field Trip

I took a day off the bike today and headed down to the coast. As Tom Russell would say, ¨Barcelona is a woman´s town, ¨so I had to see for myself. And in fact, it is a woman´s town, although I think it´s great for men as well. It´s kind of like Miami, only cleaner, better laid out, and more people speak english.

Barcelona dates back to a while ago, with tons of interesting history. Western civilization is cool and all, but for trip one my priorities were boats, beach, and olympic village. I headed toward Barceloneta and checked out the ports so that I could choose the boat I am going to buy with my next fellowship. Some good options, but nothing really caught my eye, so I walked along the beach and laughed at the wind surfers that kept falling over.

I know, I know, it was their first time.

You´re right. I probably couldn´t do any better.

That doesn´t mean I can´t make fun.

It was comical because they were all on these boards with flourescent bright sails, and they had a knack for all falling over at the same time. It was all, ¨wheeeee! surfing, surfing, surfing, WHAM!¨

You might have had to be there.

I kept going along the coast to the olympic village, which traces its roots to 1992. I got to see where the torch was lit and all the flag poles that now stand empty. Pretty cool reminder of the event that was once there. The olympics played a big part in revitalizing Barcelona´s waterfront, so after finishing the village, I grabbed some lunch at the port de olimpic and ate on the beach. I spent the rest of the afternoon sampling ice cream before talking a walk through the old town on my way back to the train station. Kind of crazy to be in the middle of a major city, people running their stores, cops writing tickets, folks zooming by on motorbikes, and you look up and see gigantic castles and cathedrals just dotting the skyline.

Spain reminds me a lot of my legos.