The Trip of a Lifetime: May 2 to 5, 2022 - Rome, Barcelona & Valencia

5/2/22 Captain’s log: Startdate15: Barcelona
The first leg of getting to where we are going was finished this morning and the second leg started this afternoon. We are in Barcelona again. We don’t mind. We both love it here. Hopefully we can see Parc Guell this time. The picture is of the building our Air BnB is in. We are in the Gracia Barrio, a place we never visited before. There are so many cafes and tapas joints here. Pretty sweet!
Thursday we pick up our car and head south. The first “destination” of our trip is Alhambra, a bucket list item for me. But for now we rest and recharge. Peace out!

5/4/22 Captain’s log: stardate 17: Barcelona
When you do a one or two week trip, you leave with a suitcase of clean clothes and return with one of dirty clothes. This is not a one or two week trip. We left with a few suitcases of clean clothes and need to maintain that for a few months. Yesterday and today we did some wash. I got a haircut. One hour for a cut and beard trim, replete with hot towels. They put a long sleeve, full length smock on you. The chair is like a dentist chair. You are upright for the haircut part and leaned all the way back for the beard. Jose was amazing. Even Roz was happy with his work.
I’ve been getting ky runs in. I missed one day of not running or actively walking on the boat. Ever since getting here, I’ve set out each morning for a famous site here. I went to Sagrada Familia today. Tomorrow I set out for the Arc de Triomf. I’ve also been doing the videos for my grandsons. I often overplay trips. This one I think I got a good mixture of touring and leaving a legacy.
We walked to Parc Guell today. It was all uphill going there. Roz did great. We logged almost five miles. A funny thing happened while we were there. Roz was resting while I roamed around. I saw two lines of people going into an opening in the side of the mountain. They were long so I figured it must be spectacular. IIt looked like a cave. found Roz and told her I was going to check it out. I went back and got into the shorter line. I could see there was a sign at the entrance, but my eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be. The line went very slowly. Roz came up and said she would take my backpack and wait for me on a bench. As we slowly moved to the entrance, I noticed the other line was moving quicker than mine. I thought, “That’s funny. Almost like the difference between the lines to a mens room and a ladies room. Then I noticed that everyone in the other line was a man, and I was the only man in mine. Well, in case you are wondering, Gaudi did not make a spectacular cave in Parc Guell. A blew years ago, someone would have said, ”Old man you need to get your ass out of the ladies room line,” but today they probably thought I identified as a woman. Well, let me tell you this. The one time a man who identifies as a woman will re-identify as a man is when he has to pee in a public place! Roz will never let me live this down…20 or 30 minutes in line to see ‘the cave.”
We have had some great food, some good food, and some non-spectacular food since arriving here. The best by far was Pepita’s, so we decided to have tapas there for our last night. We got there and our seat was next to the door. It was cold, cigarette smoke was wafting in, and no one took our order after 15 minutes - so we wafted out of there and discovered a microbrewery a half block away. What an amazing place. Tapas style bar food and a great staff. The beers are so good. They even have one with mushrooms in it.
Aquarids meteor shower happening tonight, but it is overcast and rainy.
We are off to Valencia in the morning. Film at 11…

5/5/22 Captain’s log: stardate 18: Valencia, Spain
Good bye Barcelona. We picked up our rental car and headed to Valencia. Barcelona is a traffic nightmare, but we were soon on the highway heading south along the East Coast.
Roz booked us into a student dorm room at the local university. It is awesome! The perfect Air BnB. We wandered out for a little bit to stretch our legs. There must be a hundred cafes and restaurants within a few blocks. All filled with students drinking beer and smoking cigarettes.
This is just a layover for us. We are off early in the morning for Granada, our first destination. Crazy huh? 19 days to get to the first place. Hang in there. It will get crazier. Trust me.