Day 3 - Monday Monday

We must have had too much fun last night at the casino because we ended up going to bed around 3:30 AM and waking up at 10:30. Katie really wanted to do the Fat Tire Bike Tour which started at 11 so we rushed to get ready and then we headed across town to make the 11 AM meeting time. The meeting place for the bike tour is a courtyard in the middle of a bunch of government buildings that you can't drive to. Our taxi got us as close as he could at 10:58 AM, we had to find our way through the maze of buildings with only two minutes to spare. Fortunately we had our sneakers on so we were ready to run. However, we had two problems. Problem 1) we didn't know where we were going and Problem 2) there were so many people,,, like, a LOT of people,,,, imagine the halls of a middle school minutes after the kids were told Justin Beeber was in the auditorium.

We were "politely" passing through a sea of people that were shoulder to shoulder. I say "politely" because we had no idea how to say "excuse me" in Spanish so we just smiled, bobbed our head a little and kept running. We made it to the bike tour meeting place just in time. The group was getting the "how it works" speech just prior to walking over to the shop to pick out a bike. We joined in,,,, caught the end of the speech and went over to select our favorite beach cruiser. I chose the red bike inspired by Pee Wee Herman while Katie chose the yellow bike. I can only assume she chose yellow because she looks good in yellow (well, she looks good in everything).

We quickly realized it was a bad idea to stay out all night, wake up and rush out of the room without food. Right as we were getting our bikes the hunger hit us like a ton of bricks. Fortunately it takes a bit of time to get 15 tourists on the perfect bike and teach them how to shift gears. Sadie, our courageous bike tour leader, suggested we grab a quick bite to eat at a fast food joint just around the corner. I ordered some pig sandwhich on a baggette and 5 minutes later we were on our way to happy stomaches. The tour started out through the tiny streets around the courtyard but on the side of the courtyard with less people then the side we came in on. Regardless, there were still enough people that the less experienced riders were really struggling. It was hysterical to see grandmas on bikes bouncing off of people and structures as we made our way to the first stop. It wasn't too long before everyone on the trip, including those that hadn't ridden a bike in a very long time, were getting the hang of it just fine.

We stopped every 5 to 10 minutes to hear a story about whatever landmark we were in front of. It was interesting and surprisingly relaxing. We weren't biking hard at all and the seats on the bike were like a lazy-boy chair which is good because I forgot my padded bike shorts back in Florida. Mostly on the tour we learned about a famous hometown hero, architecht Antonio Gaudi. This guy designed some pretty crazy stuff about 200 years ago. Towards the middle of the bike tour we arrived at a church that Gaudi had designed but never finished. The city has been working on it for over 50 years and they predict it will take until 2026 to complete. When it's done it will be the tallest church in the world at 176 meters. Sadi explained all of this and then said she would stay with the bikes as the rest of us go explore the church. Katie and I decided to grab a beer at the deli and hang back with Sadi and the rest of the guides to discuss life in Barcelona. After the church we biked down through downtown for the last stop on the tour,,,, the beach.

The beach is manmade with sand from the Sahara Desert. The sand was definitely a far cry from the amazing sand we're used to on Siesta Key. However, the plethera of topless women made up for the lack of high quality sand. We stopped at a neat little bistro on the beach and we ordered pizza and beer (Katie ordered Sangria).  We stayed there for about 30 minutes chatting it up with everyone. The rest of the group had some interesting stories to tell as well as some good suggestions for food and other places to visit. After we were full and tipsy we headed back on the bikes to the shop. The ride from the beach to the shop was just over 10 minutes. We put the bikes away, paid our fare, tipped Sadie, said our goodbyes and headed back on the town to do some more walking around.

This time we walked towards the north side of town where the shops are a lot more upscale. The north part of town has all the usual suspects; Cartier, Tiffanys, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, etc,,,, there were also a lot of upscale places I had never heard of. In the mix were a few of Gaudi's other designs --- check out the pictures, his designs definitely make for some interesting places. A few hours later the beach food had worn off so we found a neat little hole in the wall to grab some tapas. We ate spicy potatoes, onion rings, cheese poppers and buffalo wings (there went the diet). They also had some great hand crafted beer. We were the only two in the place so we sat at the bar and chatted with the two bar tenders.

After stuffing ourselves (again) we did some more walking around. Katie and I both agreed it was time for a massage so I made the call to the hotel and they set us up for an 8 PM massage. By the time we got back to our room it was 7:10 which meant we didn't have a lot of time to sit around. We took showers and headed down to the spa for our treatments. The spa was nice but I only gave my massage a 6 out of 10. -1 for the bright lights, -1 for having to wear disposable underwear and -2 for the quality of the masseuse. Overall it was worth it. We were back in the room by 9:45 and ready for bed. However, we knew we had the rest of our lives to sleep so we forced ourselves to shower and head back out on the town.

We walked for about 45 minutes before agreeing to eat (yes, we were eating again) at some little hole in the wall tapas joint. We walked in to this dark, small bar which also happened to serve food. It only had 4 menu items but that was all we needed. I ordered a beer, Katie ordered a glass of wine and we split a hamburger and a bean and cheese empanada. We quickly noticed that everyone in the bar was speaking english to each other. The four people next to us were discussing how they are looking forward to a new US President,,,, I felt right at home. After finishing our food and drinks we paid our tab and headed for our room. We decided we had done enough walking for the day and bailed in to a cab. Back at the room I finished my blog from the previous day and posted it for the world to see. I did a few quick emails and then called it a night. Overall it was a great day,,, we accomplished a lot. Stay tuned,,, there is much more to come.

J

PS: see the link below from Saturday for the pics --- I uploaded all the new pics to the same album.