Tuesday in Barcelona

So today was a REALLY BIG DAY for us, our last full one here in Espana. Pardon me if I come off too travelogue-ish, but there was a lot on the agenda today...and it mostly all got done. Which is a good thing, yes?

I started out with a short bike ride down to the beach, along the paths there, and then back to the hotel. Sunrise was not officially until 0738, so I was reluctant to be out before 0730. This shortened up my window for riding as we had 1030 tickets for the park we wanted to tour. Anyway, it was not a bad little ride...and the beachfront is much less hectic at that hour.




Lots of runners, a few cyclists, and your standard dog-walkers and such. The streets are very busy at that hour, of course, so I had to keep very attentive to all the traffic on the way to and return from the pseudo-Boardwalk. (I gave up fighting this software to uncapitalize boardwalk.)

After my return to the hotel and cleaning up, we took off for the subway and our venture to Parc Guell. This is another Gaudi site, which was originally conceived as a housing development. Unfortunately, there were not enough takers, and the city eventually re-established it as a park.




Gaudi was a little ahead of his time as a developer. A bunch of real estate guys learned the same lesson in 2007-2009. Just because you build it, there is no guarantee that buyers will be there to swoop-up your vision. In any event, the city has now capitalized on the tourist trade and there is literally a waiting line to view the property.

From the park, we took the subway back downtown and stopped at the bike shop to pick up the shipping box that I will need next week to bring the bike back to the states. The store was very accommodating and we walked out with the box as requested...no charge. This was a HUGELY easier effort than what 4 and I went through in 2013 when we brought bikes back from that trip. The next step will be getting the bike and box conveniently(?) in the car tomorrow.

Our next small adventure was to find the office that is supposed to refund the value-added tax that I paid on the bike. (Around $130 U.S.) we actually got to the right place, but were turned away. Their system was down...why wouldn't it be?, but I got the impression that they weren't going to fork over my change regardless. The next attempt on this effort will be at the Bordeaux airport when we actually depart for home.

The Over/Under bet for the return of this tax money is definitely the Under.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad