- We arrived in London shortly before 7:00 AM (about thirty minutes early). We were extremely tired after our long (mostly sleepless) night of travel, but we managed to successfully navigate our way from one international terminal to another where we awaited our flight to Barcelona. Since our flight was more than two hours away, they hadn't posted it's departure gate. In the main terminal area, we found a huge aquarium which distracted us for a short while, and then we found some seats with head and foot rests--after our long flight they were quite comfortable, so we tried (unsuccessfully) to nap while we waited.
- About forty minutes before our departure time, they finally posted the gate on the flight monitors. We must have seen it first, because we beat a small mob to the departure lounge. They told us that we would be restricted to one piece of carry-on luggage that was under six kilograms. While we each only had one piece of luggage to bring on board, we weren't so sure they were under the weight restriction. An elderly American couple was seated near us in the gate area and the husband told the wife (who hadn't been present during the announcement) they might have trouble getting their large bags on board. She told them "they're fine!" and every time he tried to explain the situation further, she'd interrupt saying "they're fine!" Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but we had a good laugh
- Our flight to Barcelona departed a few minutes late but close to the scheduled 9:30 AM. Given the two-hour flight and a one-hour time change, we arrived in Barcelona at 12:30 PM. We had a beautiful view of Barcelona during our approach to the airport. The airport is just off the Mediterranean Sea, so Lisa was able to spot our hotel as we made our final approach over the water. It looked like a warm sunny day, and we couldn't wait to get out of the airplane
- We went through a perfunctory customs check in which they simply collected our customs form and stamped our passports. When we collected our luggage, we looked for a more formal customs check (in which they would be able to check our luggage too), but apparently they don't do anything like that in Spain. We took a taxi to the Hotel Arts which is where iPlanet Club was being held and everyone was staying. The taxi was 2,800 pesetas (about $16)
- We found the iPlanet hospitality desk. They had a bag of goodies waiting for us--it included two nice iPlanet wind breakers, a small metal sculpture, a folder of maps and information, an invitation to our event that night, and a pottery plate that had been made in Barcelona. The plate had been hand-delivered to each room the night before along with an invitation to our party Monday night at Casa Batlló designed by Gaudi, but we obviously weren't there to receive it
- We got to our room, and it was incredible--probably the nicest hotel either of us have stayed at (and we've stayed at some nice ones!). We were on the twenty-first floor and our window overlooked the marina and Mediterranean. It was an amazing view. We called Steve and Ari to see what their plans were for the afternoon (no official afternoon events were planned during iPlanet Club) and they said they were going to Montserrat to tour the monastery. Unfortunately, they were leaving in ten minutes and we were in no condition to go with them.
- We turned on the television (they were showing some events from the Olympics which had had its closing ceremonies the night before) and took a quick nap. We really didn't want to sleep too much since we were afraid it would make our jet-lag worse, but we couldn't help ourselves. After about 45 minutes, we each took a shower and made our way out for the afternoon. We decided to go to Las Ramblas to get a feel for the city and to get something to eat (we were both starving by this point)
- We took a taxi to Plaza de Cataluña which is at one end of Las Ramblas. It was a short ride (just 600 pesetas with tip--the driver chuckled when I gave him a 100-peseta tip, but I'm still not sure what that meant), and we started walking down the street checking out the local shops and getting a feel for Barcelona. We thought we were walking down the main street, but (we found out a bit later) that we were on one of the main side streets. A woman stopped us outside an art gallery and asked us (in English) to come in and have a look around. We spent twenty minutes or so looking around, and we saw several nice pieces including a black-and-white water color of a narrow Barcelona street that we really liked. It almost looked like a black-and-white photograph that had been slightly blurred by a light fog in the air
- One of event coordinators back at the hotel had suggested that we go down Pi Calles to some nice outdoor cafes for some lunch. We found a little square with outdoor tables near the "Bar of Pi" where we sat down. We waited a few minutes for a waiter, but no one came by and we started to think we might not get any assistance, so we went inside. We looked over the menu and started to order (luckily the menu was in English as well as Spanish) but the woman behind the bar told us we had to wait for a waiter outside if we wanted to eat there. Eventually, we got some help. We had some olives, a sausage sandwich on some nice bread, a bottled water (one of the few things we knew how to order in Spanish), and a Coke Light.
- It was a little intimidating communicating in Spanish (or not in Spanish, which was our real problem). Lisa had an electronic English-Spanish translator which we used to try and learn some important phrases, but it's not as simple as it seems. Of course, words or phrases in English can have different meanings based on their context, and we were never absolutely sure which meaning was being translated into Spanish
- Once we finished our lunch, we got our bearings enough to find our way to the main street in Las Ramblas. Along the way, we stopped at an ice cream shop to get Lisa a chocolate malt. Our first clue that this was not a great place for a malt should have been the fact that the place was deserted--Lisa ended up getting something closer to a chocolate milk than a chocolate malt. We walked along the main street in the general direction of our hotel. After a few minutes, we decided to walk back to the hotel rather than take a taxi. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to get through the Olympic village and back to the hotel, but we ended up making it in a 25-minute walk
- We only had enough time to shower and change clothes when we got back to the hotel. We were supposed to take a bus to our evening event at 7:30, but we decided to meet the Carlson's, Smith's, and Toney's a little after 7:00 in the lobby for a drink. By the time the whole gang was there, it was time to head to the party, so we never had our drink
- The party was held at Gaudi's Casa Batlló, which is an amazing home designed by Barcelona's most famous modern architect. We wandered around the bottom three floors and were amazed by its unusual design. We took a few pictures of the exterior and a couple in the first foyer, but I'm disappointed that I didn't take more pictures. We ended up on a patio where we had several glasses of champagne and had a bowl of paella. I noticed that they had a bottle of vodka at the bar, so I decided to have a vodka-tonic--this was a bad idea because the bartender didn't speak English and he had no idea what I was talking bout. I ended up with a vodka and soda that was fairly nasty and that didn't last too long before I found another champagne
- We should have eaten more paella, because it was the only real food we got at the party. Steve and I went downstairs to the main buffet to get something to eat for us and the girls. After waiting in line forever, we got fondued meat that wasn't cooked, some bad bleu cheese that no one liked, and some raw scallops that no one would eat. It wasn't much later that we decided to find a restaurant where we could get some real food to eat
- We (Nelson's, Carlson's, Toney's, and Smith's) went outside and walked to the first restaurant that we could find. We had a very nice dinner and a lot of good conversation. Among other things, we learned that Jeff Toney has an irrational fear of Abraham Lincoln (go figure), that "pesetas" is most accurately pronounced "procedures", and that Pam Toney is part of the support organization
- After dinner (which ended about midnight) we talked about going to the casino that is attached to the hotel. This sounded like a good idea before our bus ride to the hotel, but by the time we got there people wanted to head to bed. Unfortunately, Pam and Jeff Toney didn't get the message (they were the first off the elevator), so they waited for the rest of us for quite a while
- When we got back to the room, we had another gift waiting for us--two hand-made glass goblets that were made in Barcelona. They're beautiful and will soon be on display at home. We also received an invitation to a black-tie event tomorrow evening at Museo Nacional de Arte de Catalunya
- We were in bed by 1:00 AM (not bad, considering how tired we were). After a couple of hours sleep, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. It was so frustrating after such a long day, but I finally dozed off after a little more than an hour